THE lOUTHERN COUNTIES CIRCULATING LIBRARY. ESTABLISHED 1832. 17 and 39, LONDON ST., READING. CATALOGUES and TERMS SENT OH APPLICATION. Subscriptions from Half-a-Guinea^ ^ i^i y^ LOVEJOY'S LIBBABY, (Proprietress-MISS LANGLEY), LONDON STREET, READING. Title Folio Supplements to the General Catalogue are issued periodically and can be had on application. ^,mmiMmi«^ti«mKi«mm5m:KmimKi L I E> R.ARY OF THE U N IVLR5ITY or ILLINOIS &2.3 P /i^:) PHILIP EOLLO; OK,. THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. BY JAMES GKANT, AUTHOR OF " ROMANCE ^OF WAR," "JANE SETON," &c. &C. *' 'Tis a tale of campaigning, of love, and invading, Of marches, of routes, bivouacs, enfilading; Of batteries and breaches, howitzers and mortars, Of posts and iutrenchments ; of in and out quarters; Of advancing in line, by columns, divisions. And fighting 'whole days without rum or provisions." IN TWO VOLUMES. YOL. I. LONDON : GEOEGE EOUTLEDGE & CO., FAEEINGDON-STEEET. 1854:. V M'CORQUODALE and CO., PRINTERS, LONDON. — WORKS, NEWTON. Cr 7^f P CONTENTS OF VOL. I. ^ Page 3^ CHAPTER I. — Of my Family, and the Misfortune of not having a Large "i Mouth 1 II. — How I became a Soldier of Fortune .... 8 ^ III. — Sir Donald and his Regiment 17 A^ IV.— We Sail for the Elbe 23 J v.— Gliickstadt 28 ^ VI. — After escaping a fall into the Elbe, I am in danger of falling in Love 34 ^ ' VIL— The Repast 38 VIII. — Our Cantonment 44 IX. — The Mysterious Door — a Discourse on Nymphs . .* 49 ^imk IjiB ^Hnnit. X. — Full effect of a Spanish Petticoat .... 55 •^^ XL— My First Guard 64 ^ XII. — Who Prudentia's Spouse proved to be ... 74 f^-^ XIII. — Two Kisses for ten Doubloons 79 ^ XIV. — I prevail on Prudentia to accept of a Ring . . 88 ^^ XV. — My Goddess deceives me. I quarrel with the Haiismeister, and run him through the body 94 ^ s XVI.— The Scottish Standard 104 J XVIL— The Sconce of Boitzenburg 112 (>L XVIIL — How our old Scottish blades pommeled the Imperialists 120 ^ . XIX.— The Crown of Fire 125 XX. — Rupert- with-the-Red-plume 135 XXL— The Fair Hair and the Dark Hair .... 142 iv CONTENTS. Page CHAP. XXII.— Dandy Dreghorn 149 XXIII. — Ernestine and Gabrielle 157 XXIV. — Probability of escaping, and leaving my Heart behind me 165 XXV. — A serious Mistake, and a learned Discussion on Women 170 XXVI.— The Scout, and the Effect of a Sneeze . . . .179 tok tllP fli% *■ XXVII. — The March towards Lauenburg 18« XXVIII.— Count Tilly's Opinion of the Presbyterians . . .192 XXIX. — Cairn na Cuimhne ! 199 XXX.— The Jesuit 205 XXXI. — Of the Good Deeds our Blusketeers were undoing . 212 iimlt llR Irillr. XXXII.— The Merodeurs 216 XXXIII.— The Hunter's Cot 224 XXXIV. — I obtain a Company of Musketeers .... 233 XXXV.— Proteus again I 242 XXXVL— A Forest on Fire 251 XXXVIL— The Prisoners of the Pistoliers 259 Mmk tfi5 Irmiitlr* XXXVIII— The Pass of Oldenburg ....... 265 XXXIX.— The Night of Horrors at Heilinghafen ... 273 XL. — "We sail for the Isles of Denmark 280 XLI.— On Board the good ship Anna Catharina . . . 284 XLIL— The Rittersaal .290 XLIII.— March for the Castle of Nyekiobing .... 298 INTRODUCTION. At a sale of the effects of an eminent antiquary lately deceased, it was our happiness and good fortune to become the possessor of a certain little MS. volume, closely written, in a neat small hand of the 17th century. It is very thick, contains nearly a thousand pages, is bound in black leather, and is fastened by two brass clasps. On the title-page was written, '' The Storie of my Lyffe, concludit to this year 1660." On examining our literary and antiquarian treasure, which we did with ardour, we found that it was the ad- ventures of a Scottish gentleman, of that stirring period indicated by the date, who had served for a time, as a soldier of fortune, in the armies of Denmark. We found the book interesting, from the glimpses of wild adventure, hair-breadth escapes, high military courage, and raciness it exhibited ; thus, the more we read, the more pleased did we become. Philip Eollo, for such was the name of the writer, seemed to be beside us relating his own starthng adventures; and we were upon the point of handing over the MS. to our enterprising friends of the Bannatyne Club, when, lo ! we discovered that there were two serious gaps in it. Though VI INTRODUCTION. having little doubt that the archaeologists would gladly publish these curious memoirs even in their mutilated state, we preferred to restore the thread of the narrative, so far as we could do so, from the quaint pages of the Amsterdam Courant, the Svedish Intelligencer, the warlike story of Colonel Monro and others, and, after modernising the spelling and language of the whole, so as to make it more generally readable, handed over our transcript to our friend Mr. Routledge, of London. Those portions of the work which have been made up from contemporary authority, we are much too cunning to point out ; though we have little doubt that the critical reader will easily recognise them. But we may add that, historically considered, we have found the military details to tally so closely with those given in the Low Dutch " Relation," ^' Ye Danish Warres," and other works, that our soldier of fortune may defy the closest scrutiny. When we read the memoirs of any eminent man of whom no portrait is extant, we are naturally curious to know what like he was — the colour of his eyes, of his hair, and so forth ; and, most fortunately, before entering upon the adventures of Philip RoUo, we are enabled to afford the reader a pretty good idea of these matters; for at the same extensive sale, where it was our fortune to find the MS., a portrait of the cavalier was " knocked down" to us for a comparative trifle — nothing, absolutely, when we consider that it was a real and well-authenticated Jamesons, an artist, so justly esteemed the Vandyke of Scotland, and who studied with Sir Anthony under Eubens at Antwerp. INTRODUCTION. VU This portrait, which appears, by a date inscribed thereon, to have been painted about the year 1630, exhibits an eminently handsome cavalier in the gallant and picturesque costume of that time. The face is oval — the forehead white and high — the mustaches and imperial well pointed — the eyes are dark — the hair long and of the deepest brown. The left hand rests in the bowl hilt of a long Spanish rapier, which hangs in a magnificent baldric, worn sash- wise over the right shoulder; the right hand rests on a helmet, to show that it is the portrait of a gentleman and soldier. We have also an admirable example of the Scottish costume of the period. This cavalier's doublet having loose sleeves, slashed with white, the collar being covered by a falling band of the richest point lace ; a short crimson cloak hangs jauntily on the left shoulder; the breeches are of blue velvet, fringed with point lace, and meet the long riding boots, w^hich have tops of ruffled lace. A military order sparkles on his breast, and a dagger dangles at his right side. Under the helmet there peeps out a slip of paper, on which is written, Philip Hollo, liys portraitoure. There is a proud and lofty expression in the face of this old portrait (which is now hanging above my writing-table), that is remarkably pleasing and impressive. While gazing at it, the dark eyes seem to fill with dusky fire — the proud lips to curl, and the manly breast to expand with the high military spirit the original once possessed, while the clouds of battle, which envelope the background, seem once more to roll around him on the wind. This is power of the viii INTRODUCTION. Jamesone's pencil — that magic power which the lapse of more than two hundred years has failed to obliterate ; and we hope that the reader will, erelong, be as interested as we are ourselves in the fortunes and misfortunes, loves and adventures, of Philip Rollo, whose personal memoirs appear to have been compiled by himself for his own amusement, rather than for that of others. PHILIP ROLLO. f}uk tljE fust. I CHAPTER L OF Mr FAMILY, AKD THE MISFORTUNE OF NOT HAVING A LARGE MOUTH. I WAS born in the year after King James VI. acquired the dominion of England, at my father's tower of Craigrollo, which overlooks the great bay of Cromartie. The youngest of four sons, I was (God knows why) a child of ill-omen from my bu'th ; for, before that event came to pass, my mother had various remarkable dreams, which were darkly and mysteriously construed by certain Highland crones of the district; and the whole family made up their minds to expect that I should never be the source of aught else but discomfoi-t and disgrace to them. All unconscious of the disagreeable impressions regarding me, I was ushered (poor little devil!) into this world on a Friday, the most ominous day of the week for such an arrival; when a furious storm of wind was rolling the waves of the North Sea against the Sutors of Cromartie; and a tempest of rain was lashing the walls and windows of the old tower, and drenching the older pine-woods that surrounded it. A knife and spade had been placed below my mother's bed, a Bible below her pillow, and the room was plentifully sprinkled with salt, to avert the mal-influence of the fairies, and every way the old fashions of the Highlands were complied with strictly. VOL. I, B 2 PHILIP ROLLO; My father had been particularly anxious for a daughter, that he might marry her to his nephew, M'Farquhar of that Ilk, to whom he was tutor or guardian; and various wise women, who liad been solemnly convened in council before I was born, had all been morally certain that my mother would have a daughter. " You have long loved French apples," said old Mhona Toshach ; " your ladyship is sure to have a daughter." My sudden appearance upset all their calculations, and none more than those of my father. " The devil's in the brat !" said he. " There goes the estate of M'Farquhar, with its five hundred broadswords ;" for, in our Scottish fashion, he was what we call the tutor of the property. As if to increase the general prejudice against me, I squalled right lustily, which made all the old crones of the household, and the wise women of the parish, with Mhona Toshach, my mother's nurse, at their head, tremble and predict that, through life, " sore trials and evil would attend the course of the Fridays bairn'^ All the crickets in the bakehouse disappeared that day for ever, a surer foreboding of dire calamity. Though we were a branch of a Lowland or Perthshire family, the gallant Rollos of Duncruib, my father, partly to humour my mother, who was a daughter of the race of M'Farquhar, and partly to please his Highland neighbours, resolved to celebrate my arrival in the old country fashion. The old family banner, with its azure chevrons, on which the spiders had been spinning their webs since it had been last unfurled on the birth of my brother Ewen, (for my father was eminently a peaceful man,) was displayed on the old tower; and more than one gallant puncheon of ale, and bombarde of Flemish wine were set abroach in the yard. I was baptized over a broadsword. Then came the solemn and important ceremony of placing in my mouth " the Hollo spoon," which was done in presence of the whole household ; and which, from the consternation it occasioned, requires some explanation. An ancestor of ours. Sir Ringan Rollo of that Ilk, who had accompanied Earl Douglas (afterwards Marshal of France and OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 8 Duke of Touraine) on his successful invasion of England, in tlie year of God 1420, when sacking the manor-house of a certain English squire, found therein a silver spoon of great size and curious workmanship, which he brought home with him to Cromartie, leaving in place thereof his right eye, which he lost by an English arrow in the assault. This spoon, doubtless the palladium of a long race of well-fed Saxons, became the heirloom of the house of RoUo, on which it produced a very remarkable effect — not unlike that which Rigord tells us the loss of the true cross at Tiberiade, had upon all children born afterwards in Christendom — for instead of thirty teeth they had but twenty. So all the future Rollos of the Craig, came in time to be distin- guished by the unusual size of their mouths from the first year after this spoon was deposited in the oak charter-chesfc of the family. I had a great-uncle whose mouth, when born, extended from ear to ear ; but still it was almost insufficient to contain this capacious English spoon, which was quite round, measured three inches in diameter, and on which our valiant ancestor had engraved his crest, a stag's head, with the legend, " This spune I leave in legacie To the maist mouthed Rollo, after me. *■ RiNGAN Rollo, 1421." Thus, whenever a son or daughter of the family was born, the insertion of this remarkable heirloom into their mouths was one of the usual ceremonies, and was considered as indispensable as marriage or christening. Such a trophy was considered some- thing to be vain of, by the RoUos of the Craig, who were sorely jealous of their neighbours, the Urquharts of Cromartie, who deduced their descent from Alcibiades the Athenian!* It had been remarked that every Rollo of the Craig, whose mouth would not admit this spoon, or at least a portion of it, was remarkably unfortunate; thus, of my father's ten brothers, three, who were so unhappy as to have mouths like other people, after being distinguished for their facility in getting into quarrels and turmoils, were all cut off, early in life; one being slain by the English at the Raid of the Redswire; a second with Buc- * See Sir Thomas Urquhart's Works. 4 PHILIP ROLLO ; cleuch in tlie Lowlands of Holland; and tlie third, who had be- come an oflS.cer in a Scottish frigate, being taken by the cruel pirates of Barbary, who basely murdered him. Most happily for themselves, my three elder brothers were blessed with enormously wide mouths — in fact, they were like nothing that I can remem- ber but the mouth of a cannon, or the stone gutters of a cathe- dral; but I — poor little Avretcht — had a mouth so remarkably small, that no part of this capacious spoon would enter therein ■ — not even a segment of it; and from that moment I was unanimously considered as a lost, an untrue Rollo. My father turned his back upon me from that day, and vowed there was less of the E-ollo than the M'Farquhar about me; so, from thence- forward, I was, as it were, delivered into the hands of mischance and misfortune. A goodly volume would be required to narrate all the heart- burnings and sore taunts I endured in boyhood, for the smallness of my mouth ; the studied coldness of my father ; the gibes and laughter of my brothers; the ominous forebodings and doleful anticipations of the old nurse, Mhona Toshach; and the equivocal taunts of the good-natured friends and tenantry, among whom I seemed to be viewed like the poor dog, that should be hung after aquiring the bad name, the mob and their misdeeds, have given him. That diabolical old spoon was the bane of my existence; and, influenced by certain hints from my poor mother, who, having a very small and very pretty mouth herself, sympathised with me, I made more than one essay, to obtain possession of it, for the purpose of throwing it into the deepest part of Cromartie bay, with a pretty heavy stone attached thereto. But the ancient charter-chest, with its iron bands and triple locks, defied all my efforts ; and many a hearty kick I gave it, in pure rage and de- spite, after every attempt of myself and Mhona had failed to widen my mouth to the family size, by the simple mode of in- serting our fingers therein, and pulling the corners in contrary directions. Had my father (worthy man !) been of a jealous disposition, I doubt not that it might have occasioned some dispeace between him and my mother, who told him often, that " he ought to love OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. my moutli tlie more for being so like her own;" but, wedded to his own opinions, based as they were on the traditions and pre- dictions of two hundred years, the old gentleman, who had him- self a singularly open countenance, was inexorable, and sorely dreaded that little Philip was foredoomed to bring disgrace, or at least mischance, on the Rollos of the Craig. Save this peculiar prejudice, he was one of the best men in the county; and was one of those old gentlemen who are always looking back and never forward : he stuck manfully to the bombasted doublets and fashions of his father's days, and never allowed a Micliaelmas to pass without eating a St. Michael's bannock, or a Christmas without seeing the yule log laid on the hearth, and never was known to kill a spider, in memory of the good service once rendered to Scotland and the Bruce in the days of old. Though I suffered severely from his strange pique, it was perhaps the source of good to me ultimately. Instead of being retained at home, like my brothers, spelling over the Auld Pry mar, and trembling under the ferrule of Domine Daidle, the tutor, fiddler, and factor of the family, and spending three parts of tlie day in hunting, shooting wdth the bow, banqueting, dancing, and learning to handle the claymore and target, I was despatched to the King's College at Aberdeen, where I was duly matriculated in 1621, about the time when the battle was fought in Leith Roads between the Spaniards and the Admiral of ' Zealand; for I remember well that it formed the constant topic of conversation among my brother students, many of whom were from the south country. Here my usual mischance accompanied me, for I was always involv^ed in quarrels with the ruffling gallants of the Brave City, or lost my money among cheats and sharpers at p6§t and pair, or the old game of trumps. Lord knows ! I never had much to lose, and I nearly reached the end of my wits and my purse together. Then, to crown all, I fell deadly sick of that terrible pestilence which . has so frequently desolated Aberdeen, Laving swej^t away its citizens no less than ten times between the years l-iOl and 1647. So great was the panic latterly, that 6 PHILIP ROLLO; the classes of the universities were removed to Peterhead ; but I, unable to accompany them, was borne to the huts erected for the sick on the Links, Avhere we were strictly guarded by soldiers, to prevent the infection spreading. While there, I received a letter from my father condoling with me on my doleful case, and hinting broadly, that, had my mouth been larger, I could have eaten more, and should assuredly have escaped, like my brothers, who were strong and well. As I had been robbed of my last plack by the cniel nurses, a few silver crowns had been more welcome, and I crushed up the poor man's letter, for the least mention of my " small mouth" was sufficient to make me tremble with rage. My dear mother sent me two jara, one filled with usquebaugh, and the other with honey ; but as the soldiers drank the first, and the nurses eat the second, I got no use of either. Tliere, among the pest-stricken, I lingered long, hovering, as it were, between life and death, sighing to be beside my mother, to feel her gentle hand on my hot and throbbing brow, and to hear her kind voice whispering in my ear; for, boy like, I thought if I were only once again beside that kind pai-ent, and she touched me, I should become whole and well. I thought of the old tov/er too, though, save one, none loved me there; I saw the dark pines that shaded its old grey walls; the whin rocks, the heath-clad hills, and the blue bay of Cromartie, with tlie great Sutors, like two Cyclopean towers, that overhang its narrow entrance; and sorely I longed to see them all once again, before I died. Weary, weak and feeble, I ho[)ed to die soon ; but by the blessing of God, and the strength of my own constitution, I recovered; nor must I omit to make honourable mention of that worthy chirurgeon, Donald Gordon, author of the learned " Fharmaco-pinax, or Table and Taxe of the Ysual Medicaments contayned in his Apothecarie and Chymicall shope, in New Aberdene;" and but for whose skill and kindness, I had never lived to write these my memoirs. I recovered, the plague passed away, the Senatus Academicus once more returned to the King's College, and the classes were OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 7 resumed. I commenced my studies again with renewed ardour, and again became immersed in the classic pages of Plutarch, of Sallust, and of Nepos. I longed to become a great scholar, a -renowned statesman, or a gallant soldier — any thing fauious and lofty, that I might cast from myself the slur that hateful heirloom of the Rollos had fixed upon me; that I might leave for ever the atmosphere of ill omens with which it had surrounded me, and the dark predictions that were ever grating in my ears and rankling in my memory. I perfected myself in mathematics and the humanities, and spent my whole spare time in acquir- ing the use of arms; thus, before I completed a year at King's College, I could handle the bow and the arquebuse, toss the pike and throw the bar, vault and ride, use pistolette, rapier, and backsword to perfection, so that the oldest and stoutest — yea, and the boldest — of our students were somewhat wary of offend- ing me ; for on the shortest notice, off went my gown, and out came bilbo and poniard. I know not whether it was the nature of my studies, the force of circumstances, or my natural inclination towards high enter- prise, that have guided me; but this I may boldly aver, that never, to my knowledge, have I swerved from the proper j^^ath which a gentleman of honour and cavalier of spirit ought to pursue in his intercourse with society. 8 PHILIP ROLLO ; CHAPTER IT. HOW I BECAME A SOLDIEB OF FORTUNE. Having completed my studies at the King's College, I left it in the June of 1626, and returned to my father's house, from which I had been so long absent, and as I felt with bitterness, unregrettedly so, by all save my poor mother, whom to my sorrow I found on the verge of death. She had long been suffering from a pain in her side, and was divining away (as we Scots say,) but I was not prepared to see her only live to bless me, and then close her eyes for ever. I felt that the only friend I possessed on earth had left both it and me ! I was very — very desolate. Many a ghastly visage, and many a stiffened form, have I seen since that day of grief, which passed so many years ago ; but that pale face, and those kind sinking eyes, come vividly before me at times, out of the mist of the years that have gone. My father, as he closed her eyes, averred sorrowfully, " that, had her mouth been larger, she would have respired more freely, and might have lived for ten good years longer;'' but she died — ■ and on a bed of pigeons' feathers too, to the dismay of all the wise women in Cromarty ; for it is an old superstition, that one cannot die on the fea.thers of those birds. Though a numerous host of relations were around that gloomy bed, and crowding the chambers of the old tower, I felt lonely (for such was the miserable prejudice against me), and that I was viewed as somewhat of an alien among them — even by those of my own blood and kindred; and the consciousness of that filled my heart with mingled rage and grief. My father was cold as ever, the more so, perhaps, as his heart was full of sorrow, and sorrow is ever selfish; but my brothers, OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 9 Farquliar, Finlay, and Ewen, were colder still with unkind envy, for they had heard such glowing reports of my progress in all those studies which most become a gentleman. Being certain that I had outstripped their slender knowledge, which was con- fined to the narrow limits of Dominie Daidle's classes, they were so full of jealousy, that our mother had scarcely been lowered down into her dark and lonely home, before these youths, who were now grown into tall and swinging Highlandmen, challenged me to various trials of strength and skill. Though I could easily encounter them with broadsword and target, or with single- stick, Farquhar could beat me at throwing the hammer, and Finlay at tossing the bullet, as Ewen could at bringing down an eagle on the wing with a single shot, or splitting a tree by one blow of a Lochaber axe ; for they were all strong as young horses, untamed as mountain goats, and from their cradles had been wont to sup usquebaugh with their porridge. My mother's funeral was celebrated after the good old fashion of the Highlands, and we buried her by torchlight in the ancient kirk of St. Regulus. Under their chief, Ian Dhu, three hundred of her kinsmen, the M'Farquhars, came down from the hills, with six pipers playing before them, and I shall never forget the sad, low wailing of the lament performed by those mountain minstrels, as the long funeral procession wound by night, along the margin of Cromartie Firth. The pall was emblazoned with sixteen proofs of her gentle blood, and the nearest kinsmen carried "her poor remains on a bier, around which all the old women of her own clan, and my father's barony, moved in a melancholy crowd, beating their breasts, tearing their dishevelled hair, and lamenting wildly. There was no prayer at the grave, because we were old Pro- testants; but the Seanachie of her father's race pronounced a long oration on her virtues ; the M'Farquhars fired their pistols in the air, with an explosion which nearly blew out all the church windows ; then followed a frightful shovelling of earth, the careful adjusting of a large stone slab — and all was over. I was the last who left the darkened church. I followed the procession, which, with the pipers strutting in 10 PHILIP ROLLO; front, returned to the tower of Craigrollo, where the funeral feast was spread and the dredgie to be drunk, the great silver spoon of Sir Ringan being laid, on this solemn occasion, beside my fa- ther's platter, which stood above the salt. The dredgie I willingly pass over, and would as willingly com- mit to oblivion ; for I may safely assert that, of four hundred men who were in the tower, not one was sober when the morrow dawned ; and not less than two hundred gallons of mountain whisky were consumed as a libation in my mother's honour. Happily there was no fighting, but only a blow with a dirk and a slash with an axe exchanged between a M'Farquhar and a Rollo of Thauesland, about precedence at table. After six years of a quiet life at King's College, being somewhat unused to our Highland manners, I was scared by this terrible debauch ; for, amid it all, I saw by the hall fire, a chair which stood vacant, and there seemed to be ever before me that black coflin, with its gilded handles and armorial blazon — the wreath of rosemary and the hour-glass on its lid — the deep dark grave yawning horribly, in the red light of the torches, that had glared on the groined vaults of the ancient kirk. On the morning after the dredgie, leaving the hall encumbered by more than four hundred armed Celts, who, in their plaids, were sleeping and snorting on the floor, I walked forth from the tower to ruminate? and view again the old familiar scenery from which I had so lonor been absent. Rising in his full refulgence from the sea, the morning sun was soaring high above the noble Firth of Cromartie, and no prospect that I have since beheld, (and in my wandering life I have looked on many,) can compare, in my estimation, with the wild mountain shores of my own native bay. Its entrance is by two steep and lofty hills named the Sutora, which are covered with wood, and overhang the water about a mile apart ; between these natural towers, as between the piers of a floodgate, the morning sun poured all his splendour on the Firth, which at my feet spread out for seventeen miles in length, until it vanished in the deep bosom of the Ross-shire mountains, and those of the Black Isle. It is the grandest bay in Britain, OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 11 and after experience has shewn me, that, if its promontories were fortified by cannon, there is no place wherein our Scottish ships could ride with greater security. In pure white haze the morning mists were rising from the pine-covered glens, and the fishermen were putting forth their nets upon the Firth, which was dotted by the brown sails of their little craft. The sky was cloudless, and the waters of Crom Ba, (the winding bay) slept like a sheet of polished gold and crystal blue, at the base of its steep green bordering mountains. I sought M'Farquhar's Bed, a large and rocky cavern which lies below the southern Sutor of Cromarty. It had been a favourite haunt of mine in boyhood; for there an ancestor, Doughal Glass, had once found shelter and concealment, after having slain a.n Urquliart of Cromartie by a blow of his dirk in a sudden quarrel. The rock in which this cavern yawns, and above which the hill rises, possesses an enormous arch, forming a grand natural brids^e, below which the waves are ever chahno: and boomino: : and within it lies another, hollowed by the billows of the eternal sea. From the roof and sides of this cavern, there is a continual dro{)ping of water, which petrifies whatever it falls upon, into a hard substance, whiter than snow; thus myriads of white pendants cover the walls and deep recesses of this cavern, the whole sides and roof of which glitter as if built of ice, of crystal, and alabaster, presenting the most wonderful and beautiful ap- pearance when a casual ray of the sun glides along the waves which roll within it, lighting up the countless prisms of its rocks and stalactites. To sit there, as in a fairy palace, and dream, with the summer sea murmuring at my feet, and the Sutors shaking their dark gi'een woods above me, had been my favourite employment in other days ; and now, with a heart saddened by recent events, and somewhat anxious for the future, on this fair morning in June, I sought my old fixmiliar haunt. When approaching, I was surprised on being suddenly con- fronted by the figure of an armed Highlander, in the M'Farquliar tartan, with his plaid belted and claymore at his side. My first 12 PHILIP ROLLO; thought was of Grey Doughal, whose spirit is said to haunt the place which yet bears his name; but when he turned, I recog- nised the dark locks and handsome face of my motlier's nephew, young Ian Dhu, who, having been earlier abroad than even I, impelled by his own solitary thoughts, had sought this place of so many old memories and dark traditions, the shelter of our common ancestor. " Your servant, my cousin," said he, drawing off his gauntlet to shako me warmly by the hand. The keen expression of lan's clear bright eye, showed that he was a Duinewassal of spirit and bravery, while the ardour of his manner and the full tone of his rich voice, betokened a good and sensible heart. After some conversation upon the beauty of the morning, the wonderful grotto in which we had met, and then a few observations on the sad ceremony of yesterday, Ian became impressed by the melancholy of my manner. " You say that in my kinswoman, the good lady, your mother, yon have lost your only friend," said he ; " Dioul ! I marvel much, cousin Philip, that you continue to tarry here, where all men show you the boss of their bucklers, and the crust of the loaf, your father's race and kindred though they be." "True, Ian," I replied; "but what would you have me to do?" " Push your way in the world, to be sure." " But I have no friends," said I. " Friends ! what other friend than his sword does a bravo fellow require? With a good buff belt to keep it at your thigh, it will go all over the world with you, and is the best knife I know of, with which to carve out a fair fortune; for it will never fail you, if you are but true to it. Now, Philip, when all the brave spirits of Scotland are flocking to the German wars, in tens of thousands, why should you stay behind ? All the troops of the great Gustavus Adolphus are led by brave Duinewassals and Lowland cavaliers — yea, every company, regiment, and brigade of his Swedes and allies. All his cities and fortresses are governed by Scotsmen, and there are not less than fourteen thousand valiant Scots covering themselves with glory and OR. THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 13 honour in the war against the tyrants of the empire. Ten thousand other Scots are going to Denmark to fight the battles of King Christian against Ferdinand of Ilapsburg; and my cousin, Sir Donald of Strathnaver, is now raising three thousand soldiers for that service. Under his banner, I am to lead a hundred of my father's men to the Lochlin of the bards of old." "For what?" " Dias Muire let! Can you ask? to seek honour for ourselves, and to add one ray to the martial glory which for ages has encircled the tribes of the Gael." Fired by the romantic energy of my stately Highland kins- man — " Ian," I replied, " I am sorely tempted ; for you open up the path I have so long wished to piu'sue. Here I have nothing left to care for, and, if you allow me, I will gladly trail a pike under your orders, and march to the wars of Low Gemianie." " There spoke the M'Farquhar blood, and I was thinking you no better than a Lowlander !" said Ian, his eyes flashing as he clapped me on the shoulder ; " but it shall never be said that a kinsman so near and so dear to Ian Dhu, trailed a pike as a private man under our banner, when so many Gunns, Grants, and Munroes, cock their bonnets as commissioned oflScers. I shall write to my kinsman. Sir Donald, and in a fortnight from this time you shall hear from me. Come, take new courage ! together we will push our fortune in these foreign wars, and in the hour of battle and danger, my hundred steel hearts of your mother's tribe will be ever as a shirt of mail around you, Philip!" I gave my hand upon it to this high-spirited youth, whose energy — as he spoke in his native Gaelic — I cannot infuse into this dialogue, which is written from memory. " I will leave this place, Ian, with sensations of bitterness rather than regret," said I, as we ascended to my father's tower ; " the only being who would have wept for my departure we laid yesterday in yonder chapel, on which the morning sun now shines so redly. None seem to love me here " " The more reason to march — eh?" 14 PHILIP ROLLO; " From my birth my father has hated me, because " (I could not mention the ridiculous reason, for it always filled me with anger.) " Because — why? " " I was not a girl, whom you might have married." Ian burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, and kissed the silver brooch by which his plaid was fastened. " By my soul!. I think my good uncle was mistaken; for the more sons a baron hath to defend his hearth- stone and hall-door, the better in these unruly times." " I was bom on a Friday, too, and that day has ever been regarded in all countries as an unlucky one." *' Because it was the day on which our Saviour died," said Ian, uncovering his head; "and doubtless," he added with a smile, " it is an unlucky day on which to march, to fight, to hunt, or to marry; but as for being born — Dioul! as that is an event over which we possess no control in our own proper persons, I cannot see any ill fortune in it. And you will quit your student's cap for the bright helmet, your studies for the camp and leaguer, without regret?" " Without regret, and with ardour!" "It is true that here, at CraigroUo, you have no great scope for indulging your taste for book-learning " " Our literary resources are indeed small; for the only book in the tower is Bishop Carsewell's Prayer-Book for the Beformed Kirk, which Robert Lickprivick printed in Gaelic, in 1567, and even that lacks half its leaves, Ewen having used them as w^adding for his pistols." This gallant mountaineer, to whom my heart drew the more closely because there were few or none else for whom it could care, marched back to his native glen with his people, and I waited anxiously for his expected letter. Punctually at the close of the fourteenth day, lan's henchman, Phadrig Mhor M'Farquhar, a tall strong Highlander, presented himself at the tower of the Craig, and taking a letter from his sporran, kissed the seal to shew that it had been respected, and handed it to me with the deepest reverence, for it contained the OR^ THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 15 handwritiDg of his chief. While Mhona, who was now house- keeper, gave refreshments and a stoup of whisky to Phadrig Mhor, I opened his missive, which proved as unintelligble to me as Sanscrit, being written in that ancient character the Litir Eirdnich, or Gaelic letter, which bears some resemblance to the Hebrew, but was even then (1626) becoming somewhat obsolete and antiquated. I was compelled to have recourse to old Dominie Daidle, by wdiose aid I learned that the missive ran as follows : — " For my Right Honourable Cousin, Philip Rollo of the Craig — theae, " Loving Cousin, — I have conferred with our kinsman, Mackay of Strathnaver, and he was proud to have the honour of appoint- ing you to be an Ensign in my company of pikes. Our cousin M'Alpine is your lieutenant, so that it will be no dishonour to be commanded by one who shares our blood. Sir Donald will embark with the entire regiment for Denmark in two king's ships, which are to be waiting us in the Bay of Cromartie, immediately below your father's tower, about the end of this month; so that, against that time, I beg you will prepare your best coat-of-mail, consisting of back, breast, and pot, together with the breacanjheile of the Mackay tartan. " I need scarcely remind you again of how many brave Scots, by their good swords, their true hearts, and indomitable valour, have raised themselves from humbler rank than ours, to the highest honours a subject can attain, in the courts and camps of that glorious arena on which we are about to enter! Loving cousin, the wide world is all before us, and we have our fathers' swords ! If we live to return to the land of the Gael, I hope we shall do so covered with wounds (here the dominie shrugged his shoulders) and with honour; if we fall, we shall do so gloriously, fighting for the civil and religious liberties of Europe. We may die far from our homes ; but, believe me, the dew of heaven, as it falls on our unburied faces, will not be the only tears shed over us, Philip. I have but one real regret — that we may find our last home, so far from the homes of our kindred; for the dying 16 PHILIP ROLLO; wish of the true Highlander is ever to be laid in the grave of his fathers, beneath the purple heather and the yellow broom. But away with such fears, for it matters little where a heart moulders, if that heart be true ; and so, with the assurance that you will be in readiness to meet us on the day we march into Cromartie, I commit you, loving cousin, to the protection of God, " MacFarquhar " Post Scriptum. — The bearer, my cousin and henchman, who is to be a sergeant in our said regiment of Strathnaver, will afford you all other information." OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 17' CHAPTER III. SIR DONALD AND HIS REGIMENT. From an eminent armourer in the Castlegate of the Brave Town of Aberdeen, I had purchased a suit of plain but well-tem- pered armour, such as a gentleman might wear, and such as no gentleman could be without in those days, before the wars of the Covenant. It consisted of back and breast plates, curiously inlaid with many rare and quaint devices; steel gloves, arm- pieces, a gorget and open helmet, with three iron bars, to protect the face from sword-cuts. As leg-pieces had now gone out of fashion, and withal I was to wear a kilt like my comrades, tassettes were not required. I had a good pair of our Scottish pistols, with iron butts, a back sword and dagger. These cost me many pounds Scots, all of which I had saved, with some trouble, from the small sums sent me by my poor mother, per the favour of John Mucklecuits, the Aberdeen carrier. On receiving the letter of Ian, I showed it to my father, and so strong was his silly prejudice against me, that he said — with an unmoved aspect which stung me to the soul — he feared much I would never return again; for my uncle Philip, whose mouth was too small for the spoon of Sir Pingan, never again darkened the door of his father, and so forth; but, having pledged my word to our kinsman, I must march, or rather sail for Low Ger- manie, whither his blessing would assuredly follow me. Filled with ardour at the prospect before me, and the life of wild and warlike adventure, happiness, and pleasure (for such I deemed it,) on which I was about to enter, I spent my whole time in putting on and taking off my harness, polishing the VOL. I, C 18 PHILIP ROLLO; pieces, burnii^hing the handles of my sword and Glasgow pistols, until they shone like silver; and I hailed with joy the appear- ance of two of our Scottish ships of war, which, on rising from bed one morning, I saw at anchor in the Firth of Cromartie. The early dawn was beautiful, and I remember well how gal- lantly those vessels rode, with their heads to the wind, and the pennons of St. Andrew streaming astern. Sent round from Leith, by order of the Privy Council and of His Grace James Stewart, Duke of Lennox, who in that year was Lord Great Chamberlain and Lord High Admiral of Scot- land, they were the Unicorn and Crown Royal, two of our bravest ships. Each of them carried thirty gross culverins, and had two galleries on each side. Their poops and aftercastles, which rose like towers above the water, were carved over with trophies of artillery, and blazons of honour. Their cabins were all loopholed for musket shot, and two gallant frigates they were, as ever unfurled our Scottish flag above the waters. And so I thought, as on that beautiful morning in September I saw them riding in the noble bay, with their gilded sides, the polished muzzles of their brass cannon, and their snow-white canvass shining in the rising sun. Their captains breakfasted at the tower of CraigroUo, and about midday, with a beating heart I began to arm me in good earnest; for afar off, on the western hills, the glitter of steel announced that my future comrades from the wilds of Ross were approaching the shore. The bitter pang of leaving my father's roof, perhaps for ever ; of breaking bread where I might never break it more; of per- forming the little routine and courtesies of our family circle, each as I felt sorrowfully for the last time, had all to be endured on that morning. My father's austere look was softened, and it seemed at times that his usually cold eye almost glistened when he gazed on me. I thought that my three uncouth brothers were kinder and gentler than was their wont. All this might be fancy, but my heart was full. I was hearing their voices for the last time, I was going far away for a long and indefinite period; the future was full of danger and obscurity, and never more might 1 be under my father's rooftree. But I flung these OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 1^ chilling thoughts from me as one would do a wet plaid, and betook me to my armour. For the first time I put on my kilt and hose, and to my sur- prise, found that they were not only exceedingly warm, but easy and comfortable; much more so than the bombasted breeches I had hitherto worn. The aspect of Sir Donald's men, this brave regiment of Strath- naver, whose name in future wars was fated to carry terror and defeat into the ranks of the Austrian and Spanish Imperialists, would have fired even a coward-heart with a glow of chivalry, 8i,s on that morning they marched down, by the shores of the Firth of Cromartie, fifteen hundred strong ; raised entirely among his own. clan and kinsmen in Farr, Strathnaver, and Strathalladale, together with a few Munroes and Grunns. The regiment of Sir Donald well deserved the name given it in the " Svedish Intelligencer," the Scottish Invincibles. Though it was the fashion in foreign armies to have compa- nies of infantry vaiying from one hundred and fifty to three hundred men, those of Sir Donald were regularly composed of one hundred men each, the officers being invariably the kinsmen of their soldiers; thus my cousin Ian led the company of M'Farquhars, and young Culgraigie the company of Munroes ; the Laird of Tulloch led a company of the clan Forbes, and old Kildon, the company of Mackenzies, and so on. In the Low- lands, and among the English, it was then customary to have a colour for each company, with a certain number of halberdiers to guard it, then so many musketeers to flank the halberts, while the pikes in turn flanked the muskets; but the regiment of Strathnaver, with five hundred pikes and a thousand muskets, had only two standards, our Scottish national ensign, and the great banner of Mackay, bearing a chevron argent, charged with a .^i^abuck's head, and two hounds grasping dirks. The same designs were painted on all the drunis, and on the little flags that waved from the pipers' drones. The whole fifteen hundred were uniformly accoutred in steel- caps and bufi'-coats, the officers being fully armed in bright plate to the waist, and having plumes in their headpieces; their kilts ^0 PHILIP HOLLO ; were of dark green tartan, and belted up to the left shoulder, according to the custom of Highlandmen when going on service. The musketeers carried their powder in bandoliers ; and, in addi- tion to his dirk, every officer and man wore the claymore, or genuine old Highland sword, which could be used with both hands. Their purses were of white goatskin, and profusely adorned with silver. Marching in sections of six abreast, this noble regiment poured down the steep and narrow pass overhung by Craigrollo, and I shall never forget how my heart expanded, when I beheld them moving far down below where I stood, with their colours waving, the tall reedy pikes, the burnished musket barrels, hel- mets, and breastplates glittering in the sun; the waving of the tartans; the regular motion of the bare brown knees and gar- tered hose; the hoarse bray of ten great war-pipes, and the hoarser battle of fifteen drums, beating the old Scottish march, and making wood, rock, and water echo, as if the thunder of heaven was floating over them. The waving plaids and nodding plumes, the flashing steel and martial music, the measured tramp of so many marching feet, all combined to raise a wild glow in my bosom, and I exulted to think that / was one of theses and never assuredly did finer men depart for foreign wars. They were the flower of Koss and the Lewis, but chiefly from Duthaich Mhic Aio, or the Land of the Mackays; and many of them exhibited a strength and stature such as our Lowlanders never attain, having always at their command the best of game and venison, with all manner of animal food, for the mere trouble of shooting or slaying.* Though accoutred like the rest, and wearing the Mackay tartan, I knew the company of M'Farquhars by the badges in their steel caps, and by the remarkable plume of Ian, who marched at their head. It was the whole wing of an eagle, with the feathers expanded over the cone of his helmet, which gave him all the formidable aspect of a Koman warrior. As I descended the rocks, he sprang from the ranks to greet me. * How different with the poor Highlanders note ! OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 21 *' My cousin and captain," said I, laughing, " a thousand welcomes to Cromartie ! " " Philip, a thousand welcomes to our ranks ! My children," he added in Gaelic to his company, " this gentleman is one of ourselves — 'tis our kinsman, RoUo of the Craig — his mother was a daughter of our race ; remember that, and be his Leine Chrios (his shirt of mail) in every danger." A wild Highland hurrah was lan's response. While the regiment marched down towards the beach, Sir Donald of Strathnaver, my colonel, in obedience to a courteous invitation which I tendered him in my father's name, turned aside to visit our poor tower on the Craig, and attended only by his henchman, and a piper who played before him, rode his horse slowly and carefully up the steep and rocky path which led to the outer gate. Mackay was somewhat lofty and reserved in manner, but brave and generous as a prince of romance ; his dark grey eyes were keen and bright ; his form was sinewy, but flexible and full of grace; he was about forty years of age, and, although long reputed to be one of the most ferocious and predatory a^iong the western chiefs, he had a singularly pleasing suavity of man- ner. All the Highlands were then ringing with the story of the terrible vengeance he had recently taken on the bandits who dwelt in the vast cave of Ben Radh, a mountain in his parish of E-eay ; and I gazed on him with no ordinary interest, for he was the chief to whom 1 had committed my for- tunes, and whom I was to follow to far and foreign battle-fields. Two sturdy Highland pages carried his armour; and thus the handsome olive doublet, which he wore slashed, after the Spanish fashion, imparted a somewhat courtly aspect to his lordly figure, and formed an agreeable contrast to his tartan truis, his steel gauntlets, and cliobh, or basket-hilted sword. Conforming to the spirit of his forefathers, who, coeval with the Lollards of Kyle, had been among the earliest promoters of the Reformation, this brave chief raised at different times no less than three thousand men for the German wars; such was his enthusiasm in the cause of religious freedom and of 22 PHILIP ROLLO; Elizabeth Stuart, the daughter of James VI., whom, with her husband Frederick, the Austrians had driven from the kingdom of Bohemia. I cared not for the elector Frederick, for we Scots deemed him but a pitiful German princeling ; but I sympathised with the fair queen who had honoured him with her hand, for she was a Stuart and a Scot, born in our ancient palace of Linlith- gow; and, when at college, I had heard much of the sufferings which her husband's base cowardice compelled her to endure after the great battle of Prague. Yearly our stout-hearted Scots were crowding in thousands to the German wars; I longed, like them, to have an opportunity of avenging her on the cruel and aggressive Imperialists ; and it was this sentiment which shed the glory of chivalry around our mission. Our hereditary enemies, the English, who naturally hated us as Scots, were wont to taunt us as mercenaries, who sold our swords and our blood to the highest bidder; though, God wot! we got more blows and bullets than silver dollars in Low Germanic; and once, by the banks of the Rhine, for lack of those same silver dollars, I saw old General Morgan's brigade of English and Dutch refuse to attack the enemy, when our Scottish invincibles, and a regiment of gallant Irishmen, fell briskly on, and did their work with pike and rapier. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 2'B CHAPTER IV. WE SAIL rOB THE ELBE. The culverins of the Unicorn and Groivn Royal fired a salute to the chief of Strathnaver as we embarked, on. the first day of October, though contrary winds delayed us till the tenth, when we set sail. I have an indistinct recollection of feeling then a suffocating sense of sorrow — the more bitter and sufibcat- ing because pride compelled me to repress it — sorrow at finding myself fairly adrift from my old parental home ; and the pres- sure of my father's hand, the first kindly pressure it had ever bestowed on mine, yet lingered there ; and, amid the din and hurry of the embarkation, I still seemed to hear his parting blessing, mingled with the obstreperous lamentations of old Dominie Daidle, to whom I promised to bring a real metal horologue from Germany, which was then famous for that new invention. The anchor was weighed, and the sails spread ; the sun was setting behind the mountains; the shores of the Black Isle receded fast, the figures on the beach lessened to small black dots, and then faded away. My father's tower grew less and less, while the old chapel of St. Regulus, where my mother lay in her dark and narrow home, had long since disappeared. There was a roar and din of voices around me, and it seemed sad and strange, that the good being who had loved me so dearly should know nothing of this eventful day, which threw me on the world like a leaf on the blast ; but, as I gazed up- wards on the blue sky, I hoped that her eye was still upon me. The waters of the Firth were gleaming in gold, and the clouds cast a purple shadow on their bosom. 24 PHILIP ROLLO; The deep green or russet-brown tints of the hills gi'adually became blue, and as I lay against a culverin, watching — with a heavy heart — the setting sun and the receding shore, I felt like the hundreds around me, very sorrowful and very sick. I knew that when again the sun whitened our sails, we should see those old familiar hills no more. The wind favoured, and as the strong current which is ever passing in, or flowing out between the steep Sutors, ran with us, the two ships rolled heavily. On our larboard lay the old town of Cromartie, and as we passed, a great copper bombarde, which belonged to the j)rovost, was repeatedly discharged in our honour. A flag was displayed at the ancient cross, which was then at the town-end; though I had heard my poor mother tell me, that its place was wont to be the centre of the royal burgh, before the sea swallowed up one half its streets, the ruins of which, covered with sea- weed, were visible to us as we passed along the shore. The cavern of M'Farquhar's Bed seemed to open and shut again as we shot past it ; we were soon between the stupendous brows of the Sutors, against whose shining rocks vast sheets of snow-white foam were hurled by the Murray Firth, though within the bay we were leaving — perhaps for ever— the water was smooth as a mountain lake. Being sharply built, and swift sailers, our ships glided through the narrow passage like shafts from a bow, and almost immediately the shores of the inner firth, the town of Cromartie, Craigrollo with its tower — already diminished to a speck — vanished from our view ; and, like an ocean -gate fenced by the Sutors, two mighty towers of rock, with a narrow stripe of water between, was all that remained of the place we had left. The tide was ebbing, and the sunken reefs, known as The King's Seven Sons, were showing their naked and ghastly heads above the foam; there, as Mhona Toshach told me, the seven sons of a king had perished by shipwreck. The features of the shore lessened and changed in hue and aspect, while the deep green water was thrown up beneath our bows in spray, leaving under our quarter galleries a long track of white froth on the ocean path behind us ; but no sooner were # OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 25 tlie vessels clear of the Sutors, than a very sensible alteration in their motion made us remember that they were ploughing the stormy waves of the Firth of Murray, amid whose waters I saw the hills of Cromartie, reddened by the last flush of the sun that had set, sink gradually low and melt, as it were, away. Till darkness settled on the northern deep, the sides of the ships were lined with soldiers, who gazed with sad and eager eyes at the last blue stripe of their native land ; many wept, and uttered emphatic ejaculations of sorrow, with all the poetical energy of their native Gaelic. Though feeling far from comfortable in many respects, I drew to the side of M^Farquhar, who, being accustomed to boating expeditions on the vast lochs of the Great Glen, kept his feet manfully ; and, as the shore and the daylight had faded away together, he was now gazing by the light of the moon on the large silver brooch which fastened his tartan plaid. ♦'A love gift, Ian ?" said I. His dark eyes flashed in the moonlight, as he replied with one of his honest smiles — " Yes — the brooch of Moina Kose, which she gave me before we parted at the chapel of Gill Chuimin. If I should be slain, Philip, you will take it back to Moina, by the hills that look down on Loch Oich ?" " I will, Ian ; but if I, too, should be slain " " Chut ! then some other brave fellow will surely live to do so. There is Munro of Culcraigie, or Mackenzie of Kildon, or our kinsman, Phadrig Mlior, for we cannot all be knocked on the head. My poor Moina ! " " Take care you do not forget her among the blue-eyed Danish damsels." " Forget ! " reiterated Ian, with honest warmth ; " I swore by the great Chief of the universe, and by our fathers' graves in lona, to be faithful and time to Moina, and, as we dipped our hands together in St. Chuimin's well, she pledged the same to me. Nay, nay, Philip, judge me not, as you would by a rake- helly student of the King's college." Ian kissed the brooch, which is the dearest gift of a High- 26 PHILIP ROLLO; land love ; for, among the mountains, the bridegroom gives his bride, not a ring, but a brooch, engraved with some lieraldic de- vice, or affectionate inscription, and as the same gift served for many generations, those love-tokens became priceless reliques of re- membrance, by their hallowed and enduring associations, and such ■was the brooch of Moina. It had been her mother's, and Ian was to wear it until he returned to espouse her in Kill Chuimin. " And why did you leave her, Ian 1" " Eighteen months ago — fully six months before I was so happy as to know and to love her, at a great hunting match on the braes of Lochaber, I unfortunately pledged my word to Sir Donald that I would go with him to Germany. Like a generous gentleman, he offered to release me from my promise ; but a hundred of my people expected that I was to lead them, and I alone; thus it would ill become M'Farquhar to keep his sword in the scabbard when he had pledged his word to unsheath it» I could have made Moina mine before I left the hills of our race; for a missionary priest, who acts as chaplain to her family, Sheumas Stiubhart, or James of Jerusalem, as the Lowlandera call him, offered to unite us secretly at Kill Chuimin ; but I would not run the risk x)f leaving Moina a wedded mourner, a widowed bride, like the dames of Fingal's warriors, who spent half their time sitting upon the seashore, with hair unbound and harp in hand, looking tow^ards the ocean for the return of their absent spouses. Thus, if in three years and three days I come not again, I will hold Moina free to be wooed and free to won by another." lan's voice quavered, though he endeavoured to assume an. air of bravado, but I saw through the sickly effort. " From your gay manner yesterday, Ian, I deemed you happiest of the happy ; but, doubtless, every heart has some inward sorrow which the eye sees not." " True, true, the loudest laugh does not always come from the lightest heart." " Thank God!" said I, observing how his dark eye glistened* " that I have no regret of this kind to render yet more sad this day of parting with my home." OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 27 " Be happy, Philip," said he ; " for all who love you truly are here — myself and the hundred brave men of your mother's name, who follow the banner of Mackay." " And you will return in three years ? " " If alive, I will return in one year, despite the offers of our Lowland Chancellor, who has promised me a feudal charter of my hereditary estate, to be granted under the Great Seal at Holyrood, on the day we enter Prague. Dioul ! as if M'Far- quhar valued the right that was held otherwise than as it wa» won, by the edge of the sword. Nay, nay, as Donald of the Isles said, I hold my lands by this (laying his hand on his claymore), and not by a sheepskin." 28 PHILIP ROLLO ; CHAPTER V. GLUCKSTABT. His Danish majesty, the gallant King Christian TV., whom - we were about to reinforce, was at this time wagingf with the vast forces of the empire, an unequal warfare in the same cause which the great Gustavus Adolphus, a few years after, main- tained so successfully, though he did not survive to behold the conclusion of that bitter contest, which from the gates of Prague spread along the banks of the Po and the shores of the Baltic. The edict of toleration granted by the Emperor Rodolph II. to the Bohemians, had been revoked ; and thus they rose in arms. They had" been defeated at the White Mountain, where the chivalry of the Empire trod the standards of the elector Frederick in the dust, and the laurels of the Imperialists were drenched in Protestant blood. Though wedded to a princess of the house of Scotland, the Elector was the basest of cowards^ and fled, leaving his queen to her fate. Two hundred thousand T)ersous had been driven into exile; and though the illustrious Count of Mansfeldt, and Christian Duke of Bavaria, for a time defended the Bohemians and the Reformed faith with the most heroic valour, they were driven headlong before the conquering Tilly, whose ferocious legions burst like a torrent into Lower Saxony, giving all to fire and sword, and carrying terror and despair into the hearts of the Protestants. It was at this desperate crisis, and while Gustavus of Sweden was warring with Poland, that Christian IV. of Denmark, anxious to have the entire glory of saving the Reformed Church of Germany from utter destruction, commenced, as it were, a new OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 2$ crusade against the mighty power of the Emperor Ferdinand, and drew to his banner the flower of the Saxon circles and of the Danish isles, and I may add of onr own dear Scottish moun- tains; for, in addition to nearly fourteen thousand Scots who followed the standard of Gustavus, there were in the Danish army, in addition to our own regiment of fifteen hundred men, Sir Alexander Seaton's, of five hundred ; Sir James Leslie's, of a thousand musketeers; while in the same year we were joined by John Maxwell, Earl of Nithsdale. Alexander Lindesay, Lord Spynie (a gallant grandson of Cardinal Beaton), and Sir James Sinclair, son of John Master of Caithness, levied each a regiment of three battalions ; and each battalion being a thousand strong, made altogether about eleven thousand Scottish soldiers, who were marching under the Danish cross.* The noble King Christian, then the rival of the Swedish con- queror, from his peculiar position, as sovereign of Lower Saxony, of Jutland, and of Denmark (the isles of which secured for him a strong retreat in case of reverses), had many advantages which induced the Protestant powers to give him the command of those forces raised by them to protect the liberties of Germ^y. Christian urged on Gustavus the necessity of co-operation; but that brave prince being at war with Polahd, the Dane was left single-handed, and fearlessly he undertook the terrible task of waging battle with the overgrown empire. Trusting to those supplies which were promised to him from every part of Keformed Christendom, he had attended the con- vocation of the Saxon states, held at Lauenburg, in March, 1625, where he entered into a league with the rich burghers who in- habited the free cities of the circle, and was chosen Captain- General of the confederate army, which was to muster in the duchy of Holstein. From thence, with 25,000 Danes, Scots, and Germans, he crossed the Elbe, and was joined at the Weser by 7000 Saxons. Under Tilly, the forces of the Catholic league hovered on the opposite bank; while Wallenstein, attacking Count Mansfeldt at Dessau, cut to pieces 10,000 Protestants, and received the * Here the Denmylne iMSS. corroborate our Cavalier. S& PHILIP ROLLO; title of Prince of Friedland. Mansfeldt died of a broken heart; Duke Christian died soon after; and thns the Danish monarch was left alone to cope with the two greatest generals the empire ever possessed. One town after another became their prey, and at a decisive battle fought near the castle and village of Liitter in Barenberg, the Danes and their Scottish allies were defeated by the Catho- lics, with the loss of sixty standards, their whole artillery, many officers of distinction, and four thousand men, who were left dead upon the field. This was on the 2 7th August, 1626, a full month before we sailed from Cromartie. This severe blow at Liitter compelled Chris- tian to retreat to Stade, in the duchy of Bremen, and to that place we supposed Sir Donald would march the small portion he commanded, of the quota sent by our mother Caledonia to the German war. After an easy voyage of five days, during which the Unicorn and Crown Royal never lost sight of each other, on the 15th of October we entered the broad bosom of the Elbe ; and, just as the hazy sun was setting, dropped our anchors in the mud, opposite Gliickstadt, a little city on the northern or right bank of the river. The sjDire of the great church, and the cannon on the ramparts, were shining in the last rays of the sun, and the many trees which encircled the fortifications gave a pleasant aspect to the place. The harbour is large, and at the end of the canal which ran from it into the town, there was a large tower built on piles of oak, encircled by platforms having batteries of cannon to command the Elbe. This tower has long since disappeared. Our cannon saluted the Danish cross which was flying on the wooden tower, the cannon of which replied by a salute of forty pieces to our double flags; for, according to the order of his majesty James VI., issued in 1606, we carried the inter-, laced crosses of St. Andrew and St. George at our main-masthead, and the Scottish ensign on the coloi- ^tr^ff at our stern. Soon , after we anchored. Sir David Drum >j. i (a cavalier of the house., of Meedhojoe), who commanded tw i ^asand Danish ioot in the OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. $1 city, came off in a gay pinnace to bid us welcome, and pay his respects to our colonel, the great Sir Donald Mackay of Farr and Strathuaver. Being Scotsmen, we naturally looked for hills in surveying the coast, but we might as well have looked for the pyramids of Egypt ; for there were only swampy morasses lying on both sides of the turgid Elbe, which was dyked, to keep out the water from the fields where the fat sleepy cattle were chewing the cud, sur- rounded by rich grass, and the drowsy hum of the evening flies. The broad river flowed slowly and turgidly, and being im- pregnated with mud, was all of a yellow colour, unlike the pure deep blue of those fierce torrents, that, bearing trees and rocks with them, rush from the giant mountains of our native land. The fortifications were built on piles, and innumerable water-rats were swimming and paddling among the mud and slime that oozed between the timber. Though the sun was shining, a frowsy pestilential fog rested on the bosom of the river, and overhung the town; there was a closeness, a stillness in the atmosphere, which imparte(J a strange dulness to the place, and seemed to infect us; for our soldiers while they crowded the sides of the vessels, instead of being full of gesture and animation like Highlanders, were silent and inert, like the fat old burghers who sat on the parapets, smoking their long Dutch pipes without any sign of motion or life. The sentinels stood like statues on the rampai-ts, and their motionless pikes glittered like stars in the sunlight. By break of day next morning — at least an hour before the sun had risen from the flat morasses, and while the same white mist was resting on the river — we disembarked in larsre flat- bottomed boats, and drew up in order under our colours, by companies on the quay, while our pipes played Mackay's pibroch, Br attach hhan clan Aiodh, till the Holsteiners stuck their fingers in their ears, and the stones of the street shook below us. Here Captain Torquil M'CoU of that Ilk lost his brother, who was sergeant of his pikes. Falling overboard into the muddy river, des^Dite all our efforts to save him, the poor man 32 PHILIP ROLLO ; sank under the weight of his headpiece, back, breast and bracelets, and was drowned, or rather suffocated. In my haste to succour this unfortunate, when floundering among that hideous mud, I nearly fell in after him, but was saved by Ian grasping my plaid. " Dioul!" said he, " the tide is out — are you mad? the water is thick as piper's brose — the man is lost — would you too lose your life?" It was fortunate my strong kinsman seized me, otherwise I might have perished with M'CoU. The sergeant was a brave man, and had fought for his majesty James VI. at the battle of Belrinnes, twenty-eight years before. That maxim of the great Count Tilly, " a ragged soldier with a bright musket," applied not to us, for our harness was polished as bright as when the armourer had sent it from his shop; and I was astonished by the finery displayed among our poorest private soldiers. The mouths of their sporrans, the brooches of their plaids, and the hilts of their dirks, were either ornamented with silver, or such precious stones as their own mountains afforded — the topaz, the amethyst, the cairngorm, and the river pearl; for it was their ambition that, if they were slain, or should die far from their home, there should be wherewithal on their persons to pay for a respectable funeral. My brave comrades ! too many of them were doomed to find no other grave than the maws of the gorged and hideous crows that hovered over the battle-fields of Low Germanic, when the boom of the culverin summoned them from the four winds ot heaven to their terrible feast. We were formed in line, three ranks deep, on the quay, and there were exactly one thousand five hundred and forty men in their helmets ; the colours, with the pipes and drums, were in the centre; the pikemen flanked the musketeers. Well mounted, and clad in a magnificent suit of Italian plate, which was covered with so many rare and gold devices that it was usually be- lieved to be enchanted-. Sir Donald, with his claymore drawn, gave the words of command rapidly, as became a cavalier of spirit. " Gentlemen, height your musketeers — dress your ranks, pike- men ! To the right — turn ; quick march." OK, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 33 The colours bent forward rustling in the wind, five hundred pikes and a thousand muskets were sloped in the sunshine, and with our drums beating that brave Scottish march, which has led so often to death but never to defeat, we entered Gliickstadt, being duly saluted at the gates with all the honours of war, by the Laird of Craigie's regiment of Danes, who formed line, with pikes advanced and drums beating. This city of Gliickstadt had been so strongly fortified by King Christian IV., in 1620, that it held out against the besieg- ing forces of the Emperor Ferdinand II. for two years, and defied the whole power of the imperialists to take it by sea ; and, being then all unused to regularly fortifiecl towns, to me it seemed the strongest place in the world. Its locality was originally a mere swamp, and there is still a possibility of laying the whole outworks under water. We crossed several of the canals by which it is intersected, as we marched through tlie narrow streets into the quaint and old-fashioned market-place, where we halted before the gi-eat church, which stands at otie corner thereof, and wherein the German colonists and the old Catholics were both allowed a chapel for their own worship^^— a toleration and good-fellowship which somewhat surprised our Scottish cavaliers, who believed it could exist nowhere but in the Highlands; for there the real and traditionary ties of clan- ship were dearer and stronger than those of religion, the powers of the pa triarchal chief being superior alike to those of priest and presbyter. In the market-place we received our billets from the burgo- master ; and by good fortune, as it afterwards proved, my cousin the captain, M'Alpine our lieutenant, and myself, were quartered in one house — a tall building, situated immediately over against the great church. VOL. I. Q i PHILIP ROLLO; GHAPTEK VI. AFTEK ESCAPING A FALL INTO THE ELBE, I AM IN DANGER OF FALLING IN LOVE. Though the majority of the inhabitants of Gllickstadt had retired to adjacent villages or elsewhere, on the town being oc- cupied by foreign troops, a considerable crowd surrounded us in the market-place, attracted no doubt by the martial and im- posing aspect of the garb we \^re. The women — they interested me most, of course — seemed to be all rather pretty, with bloom- ing complexions and fair tresses; and I — being fresh from King's College — was reminded of those yellow-haired dwellers by the banks of the Elbe, of whom I had read in Lucan. They were all gaudily dressed in hoods, cloaks, and fardingaies, of many colours, among which the Danish red predominated. By command of the magistrates, the whole regiment had free inquartering on the burgesses; and thus, after marching our colours, under a guard of pikes with pipes sounding, to the residence of Sir Donald, who had been invited to occupy the mansion of our good countryman the governor, I looked about for my billet, which, as I have said, was at a corner of the Platz, and almost opposite the great church of the town. The house was a large building of Dutch brick and plaster, crossed in various ways by diagonal bars of wood, like many of the old timber-fronted " Lodgings" in the borough-towns at home in the Lowlands ; it had a row of poplars before it, and was sur- mounted by a high peaked roof, with a double tier of dormer windows. Several solemn-looking storks sat on the sharp ridges, twisting their long throats and clapping their wings. I would not have discovered the place (each fantastic house being OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 35 just like its neighbour) but for the kindness of a cavalier whom I met in the street, and knew by his white silk scarf to be one of my countrymen. This was the renowned Sir Quentin Home, rittmaster of a corps of mounted Holsteiners, of whom more anon. On showing him my billet order, addressed Otto Ros- kilde, Hausmeister, he led me at once to the place. Like the houses of the Scottish and French towns, this man- sion had six or seven stories, opening on each side from one common staircase; but, as nearly all its inhabitants had either fled or perished of the plague, there were but two flats occupied, and one of these was by a personage who styled himself the Hausmeister, having been appointed by the proprietor, as he afterwards told me, to watch over the building and its tenants, and generally to attend to its safety and preservation. Among the Austrians, I have since met with many such officials, who "were considered little better than gate-porters or link-boys ; but my Holsteiner, or Dane, or Dutchman (for I could not discover what country claimed the honour of giving him birth), received me with all the formality of the governor of a fortress welcom- ing his successor. There was an ill-concealed scowl on his forbidding face as he met me at the door, on which I had knocked loudly more than once, with the hilt of my dirk, before it was opened. " Otto Roskilde 1 " said I inquiringly, shewing my slip of paper, stamped with the town arms. He replied with a "Yes," which sounded like a long yawn, and bowed. He was a great and powerful fellow, with a broad tiger-like mouth, and sinister eyes, that shone like pieces of grey glass. He wore enormous red roses on his shoes; a plum- coloured doublet, a pair of bombasted fardingale breeches, Spanish leather boots with lawn tops, a high sugar-loaf hat, which every puff of wind that shook the poplars threatened to blow away; a long Dutch espadone and spurs, though I suppose the fellow never had a horse in his stable, or rode any other nag than the wooden mare, or cheval de hois, with a six-pound shot at each of his heels. To my words of compliment — crav- ing pardon for my intrusion and so forth — he answered by 36 PHILIP ROLLO; aiiotlier profound bow, which tilted up the end of his great sword ; then, ushering me in, he shut the door, and left me to shift for myself. The staircase was dark, the building silent; I felt as if still in the rolling ship, and my footing seemed wavering and uncertain, as I ascended. Every apartment sounded hollow, and appeared to be empty — unfurnished and uncarpeted. I knew that my billet was to be on the third floor, and continued my ascent, but by mistake tried the doors on the second. Six different ajDartments which I entered were empty, destitute of furniture, cold, desolate, and rendered damp by the slimy atmo- sphere of the canal, which flowed beneath the window. .1 was on the point of retiring, and descending again to seek this rude and unceremonious host or Hausnieister, who treated me with such inattention, when before me there appeared a door half open, revealing beyond an apartment, that was, at least, furnished. "Zounds !" thought I, "right at last — this is the floor, and that is my room ! " I knocked gently, however, but without receiving an answer ; pushed the door fully open, and entering, found myself in a bed- chamber furnished with innumerable articles of ornament and luxury. In the chimney, which was lined with the blue ware of Delft, a cheerful fire burned on the hearth, between the brass-knobbed andirons. Warm tapestry covered the walls, which were hung with pictures and gaudily tinted engravings, by the great West- phalian engraver, Israel Van Meknen, who died in the last century ; statues of alabaster and vases of flowers, jars of red Bohemian glass and little figures, decorated the mantelpiece and oak side-tables ; a guitar and music-book lay on a chair in one corner; a small library occupied another, and within a recess stood a most enchanting little bed, with graceful silk drapery. There, indeed, beauty might sleep softly, intrenched among downy pillows edged with the finest lace. " All this for me?" I muttered aloud; " Oh no! it cannot be — there is some mistake." One glance had just made me ac(juainted with all these items OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 37 of luxury, when another made me aware that this pretty little boudoir, or bedchamber, had an occupant ; for on a sofa, which stood between me and the fireplace, a young lady lay fast asleep, with a book in her hand. She had fine features, a brilliant complexion, long lashes, and the most luxuriant jet hair. Her figure was small and graceful in its contour ; her hands and fine bosom white as snow, for though she wore a high ruff", it opened considerably in front. She had on a great tub-fardingale of crimson satin, with a monstrous hoop, like those of the Countess of Essex (of happy memory), flounced and slashed with black velvet; but this, instead of spoiling her figure from her position, gave it rather a new charm ; for it permitted more than usual to be seen of two very handsome taper ankles, encased in scarlet silk stockings, which were embroidered with silver about eight inches above the shoe, in the Spanish fashion. In the whole aspect of this sleeping beauty there was a nameless charm, which extremely interested me. Courtesy com- pelled me to retire immediately; but I could not restrain my desire to know what book she had been reading, and it proved to be a Spanish drama by Cervantes, that brave soldier wiiose name will ever reflect immortal lustre on the noble profession of arms. Charmed with the air of innocence and candour which per- vaded this unknown beauty, I would fain have kissed the little hand that drooped over one arm of the sofa ; but hearing voices, I softly and hastily withdrew, mentally resolving — like a rogue who had fought his way through all the classes of the King's College — that our acquaintance should end less abruptly than it had begun. Ascending to the third story of the great and seemingly de- solate house, I found myself in presence of my cousin Ian, and our lieutenant M'Alpine, for, as I have said, we had all been happily billeted in the same edifice ; and in one of its un- furnished chambers Phadrig Mhor was lighting a fire, and preparing a meal with all the ease and rapidity of a Highland mountaineer. 38 PHILIP EOLLO; CHAPTER YII. THE KEPAST. " Welcome, Philip, as we are here before you," said Ian ; " in the name of mischief's mother, where have you been wandering tor " Over all this empty house, which I vow is like a great castle, and is almost without furniture." "Almost!" replied Ian; "why, my cousin, except this room, and that one occupied by the Hausmeister, it seems quite deserted. Its inhabitants have all died of the plague " " The plague ! — pleasant that, for their successors." " This was four years ago ; or else they have fled to Copen- , hagen, to escape the chances and mischances of war — the troubles (as the Hausmeister calls them) which always attend the march of foreign troops." "Troubles?" said I. "Ay," replied our lieutenant, Angus Roy M'Alpine, who had been in the Low Countries and Germany before ; " troubles — for so the Hausmeister was pleased to name free inquartering, and the occasional abduction of a pretty maid or a wine-cask, things that will now and then happen, where soldiers shake their feathers." " He is an ill-looking dog, that Hausmeister," I observed, " and wears a devilish odd hat and pair of breeches — I hate the aspect of the varlet ! " " Hate no one, Philip," said M'Alpine, quietly ; " for hatred and anger are sure to go together — and sorrow perchance may follow; but I instinctively dislike this person, too." M'Alpine, a fine-looking soldier, and brave fellow, was' OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 39 somewhat of a gloomy and tliougbtfal cast. Having once slain a friend in. a single combat (as we were informed) — the result of a sudden quarrel — he made a vow to wear ci'ape on his left arm till the end of his days, and never to give another challenge, though he had often received them, and been compelled to fight more than once in defence of his honour and reputation. " I am sorry you are averse to the Holsteiner," said Ian; " for I have invited him to dine with us." "Dine!" we exclaimed together; "surely it was more his part to have invited us." " Four hungry Plighlandmen to dine with one German or Dane" replied Ian; " oich! gentlemen, the thing was not to be thought of." " I hope I shall not quarrel with him," I continued, remember- ing how he had received me; "in those green eyes of his are the very smile of a Campbell." "And you know the adage?" added Tan, as he flung aside his sword, plaid, and pistols. " While there are leaves on the trees, there will be guile " " Do not say in a Campbell," said the sergeant, Mhor, pausing in his culinary occupation, and bluntly interrupting M' Alpine; " do not say so, lieutenant, for my great-grandmother was a daughter of Barcaldine." "I crave your pardon, sergeant," replied M'Alpine; "but my father, Torquil Dhu, was slain at Glenlivat by the men of Loch Awe, and I have a score to settle with that tribe." " Hush ! " said I, " here comes our Dane." "Dane — dost thou call him?" said Angus; "nay, being a Holsteiner, he is pure German." " What a clatter he makes!" " 'Tis his espadone on the stair." " Dioul !" said my cousin ; " and now let us to dinner." "We all rose to receive this personage, whom our Highland education made us disposed to treat with the utmost respect as the master of the house, or hushonde, as the Danes would call him (though only his deputy) ; Ian bade him welcome in Gaelic, and Phadrig Mhor, whose vast stature made the Northman open 40 PHILIP ROLLO; wide liis eyes, placed a cliair for liim, and we proceeded to dine. I have said each of the five or six stories of the mansion liad two dw^ellings, consisting of several apartments. Phadrig Mhor had ransacked the whole place, and collected within our chamber such furniture and utensils as he could procure among the vacated and desolate rooms. From one he brought a table ; from another a high-backed antique chair; from a third a stool; from a fourth a tabourette; from another a pot, a kettle, and so on, until he had almost furnished our damp chamber, which overlooked the row of poplars, beyond which, in the Platz, we saw a regiment of Scottish pikemen being drilled to the use of the pike, according to the new fashion, as laid down in the Pallas Armata oi t\vciki eminent tactician. Captain Sir Thomas Kellie of Edinburgh and that Ilk. Our dinner dishes had been borrowed from the old house- keeper of Otto Roskilde ; for knives each of us had his skene- dhu, and for cups each had his hunting-quaigh or shell, hooped with silver; but Otto Roskilde brought his own pewter pot which reminded me of a Low landers beechwood bicker, A saddle of mutton, which Phadrig had procured (Heaven alone knows how), with boiled Russian tongues, bread and cheese, composed a repast on which Fingal himself might have fared with satisfaction; and we brewed a brave tappit hen in a gigantic Flemish jug, with Dutch skeidam and hot water in equal proportions, sweetened with sugar from the Indian isles. Beside this, we had four bulbous-looking flasks of French brandy, which Phadrig had found when foraging about the rooms, and to the evident chagrin of our host, whose grey eyes glistened with surprise at the discovery, and anger at our henchman. As neither M'Farquhar nor Phadrig Mhor (whom as his fos- terer we always treated as an equal) could speak one word of any language but their native Gaelic, nearly the whole conver- sation fell to the share of the lieutenant, M'Alpine, and myself. He spoke a little German, having served in the Low Countries under Sir James Ramsay, and I knew a little Spanish, having acquired it at King's College. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEEKS. 41 Now it chanced that both these languages were spoken by the Hausmeister, who, though at first somewhat reserved even to suUenness and silence, when his heart warmed by the contents of our gallant tankard, became loquacious in the extreme. Though his name was Scandinavian enough in its sound, hav- ing imbibed certain undefinable suspicions about this man — awakened doubtless by the deep and secret smiles which I detected stealing over his sallow and swarthy face, like the quiet ripples on the surface of a Dutch canal — I found myself baffled in deciding to what country he belonged ; for one moment there was something of the Danish softness in his voice, the next it had the deep twang of the Swedish, or the harsh growl of the German ; and all these various tones were least discernible in his Spanish, which he spoke with the greatest fluency. Filling up his quaigh to the brim, my cousin Ian, believing that we were in presence of a Holsteiner, stood up and drank courteously — " To the honour of the brave and faithful Holsteiners." I translated this to Otto Koskilde, who thereupon stood up in his great calf-skin boots, and returned thanks with tolerable politeness; then we all drank to each other's healths again, clinking our cups together, above, below, and side by side, in the old German fashion. The peg-tankard was refilled, and, as the afternoon subsided into evening, the evening into night, and the shadows of the Platz were thrown upon the stagnant canals, our good-fellowship increased; and we spoke openly of the chances of the war, and our hopes of beating the Imperialists back to the gates of Vienna. At this our Hausmeister shook his great curly head of black hair, assuring us that all the power of the North could never withstand the torrent which the Emperor Ferdinand was rolling against it. "And which way do you march, sirs, on leaving Gliickstadt]" he asked. " We know not," replied M Alpine. "Towards the Weser, probably ?" he continued, with a casual but inquisitive tone. ^. " That is as King Christian shall direct," said I. 42 PHILIP ROLLO; " Your route must be towards the Weser ; for all the Danes, Holsteiners, and Germans wlio follow Christian lY., have been, marching in that direction since the battle of Liitter was won." "T thought a Holsteiner would have said lost,'' observed M'Alpine. "True !" replied Otto, with some confusion of manner, "for it was indeed lost to the princes of the Protestant confedera- tion ; but how many more of your brave countrymen are coming to join king Christian ?" " We know not," said I ; " but if they come here as they are flocking to the standard of Grustavns Adolphus, like his, the army of Christian will be all Scots, I think, and nothing but Scots." " And you know not how many more are expected 1 " " You are very inquisitive," said I, laughing ; " about nine thousand." "All Scots?" "All — Murkle's, Spynie's, and Nithsdale's regiments — each being a brigade." " And of the English, how many?" " We know nothing about the English," replied M'Alpine, imbibing somewhat of my distrust at these categorical queries; " nothing save that, when we sailed, Scotland expected a war with them about this new court called the Commission for Grievances, which King Charles is about to thrust upon us, and we consider to be only that devilish Star-chamber under another name." " Then, are there no English coming?" " One regiment of pikes," I replied briefly, " for they generally prefer the service of the Prince of Orange ; but why are you so anxious for all this information, Herr Otto?" The blood rushed into his sallow face, and he stammered — " Is it strange that I, a Holsteiner, should be anxious to learn the number of our friends?" " Oh ! 'tis quite natural," said I, feeling the justice of his reply; " but now, Herr, since I have answered all your questions, will you please to answer a few of mine?" " It will afibrd me the utmost gratification if I can do so," he OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 43 rejoined, filling up his cup, and letting out another button of his doublet to make room for its contents. " On what matter can I give you information?" " Who is that very attractive damoiselle that occupies one of the apartments below?" " Damoiselle ! " he reiterated, while the paleness of anger over- spread his face in the twilight ; " you are mistaken, young gen- tleman ; there is — assuredly there is no young lady there." " Come, Herr, rally your thoughts," I continued, with a loud laugh, as the liquor mounted to my brain ; " you will be sure to remember her — fair and handsome, with the most beautiful dark hair, and the longest eyelashes in the world. I warrant me, there is not a -prettier jun//-fer in all Holstein!" " You mean jung-frau," replied Otto, with another of his quiet but obnoxious smiles, and this time the fellow was laugh- insf in earnest, for I had made — what I afterwards learned to be — a mistake ; " but I beg to assure you, that no young damoiselle could be hereabout without mv knowledleasures love strews on its way." My voice actually became tremulous. "Tut!" thought I; "'tis only a little actress." But she had the eyes of a queen ! " And you love me — how droll it is ! " " Dearest Prudentia," said I, becoming quite giddy with pleasure, as I timidly placed a hand on each side of her slender waist; " dearest Prudentia, with my heart — with my soul I do!" "O los ojos negros!" she exclaimed playfully, as with her pretty hands she patted my eyebrows. The blood rushed to my temj)les — I ventured to kiss her cheek, and then drew back, abashed at my own temerity; but the graceful girl merely Idughed, and said — 8i PHILIP ROLLO; " I assure you, Senor Don Philip, that if any other person hut you had ventured to do that, I should have been exceedingly angry." With a being so playful and artificial as Prudentia, I did not reflect how much good and sincere feeling I was perhaps lavishing before the shrine of a goddess who might yield me no reward; but, as I kissed her, my whole soul seemed to tremble on my lips, for I was but a boy — an ardent and impassioned boy. In Prudentia nothing charmed me more, next to her winning manner, than the luxuriance, the gloss, and the lustre of her magnificent hair. It was her most glorious ornament ; fastened by two pearl pins, which contrasted so well with its blackness, it towered behind in rich braids, and fell over her neck in a shower of ringlets. I have heard it remarked that women of good hearts and happy dispositions, have ever the most luxuriant hair and the finest teeth. " 'Tis all very well to get pretty presents from lovers," said she ; " to have them applauding my songs and dances, to have them for laughing with and talking to ; but as for marrying — pho ! I can never marry!'' "Never!" I repeated, not knowing very well what to say; for much as I loved her, and I did so with all the heedless ardour of twenty — I had not considered the chances of a climax so awful. " No' — never! look, at these two couples on the benches under those trees on the rampart. There is a gentleman with a scarlet cloak and white feather; see how earnestly he talks to the young lady in the hoop fardingale; he looks into her eyes, as if he would there read what passes in her heart, but her eyes are cast down, and timidly she plays with her fan, and now with the fringe of her stomacher; she is pleased and confused — he earnest and im- passioned ; 'tis the Baron Karl, of the pistoliers, and the burgo- master's daughter — they are lovers ! Nearer, look at that cavalier in the barrelled doublet and calfskin boots, who sits beside a lady in a coif and veil. He looks superbly vacant at the still waters of the canal, while the lady gazes quite as listlessly down the vista of the opposite street, Aydemi! they are married! 'Tis a conjugal tete-a-tete — a married pair seriously employed! Dost think that I could ever come to that, and liye? Santos, no! Give me OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 85 plenty of admirers, but never a husband, until T am as old as dame Krumpel. See yonder dames — one in a red and the other in an orange fardingale. They are an old baroness and a countess — yet they are the most miserable women in the world. One has had two husbands without any children — the other has two children and no husband." " How " " He was killed at Liitter/' said the senora, with a burst of laughter. I was somewhat silenced. I knew not whether to be per- plexed or pleased by her curious morality and strange flow of spirits ; but the warnings of Ian came to my memory. " Believe me, senor, I am very happy as I am ; marriage is only a traffic in which two people try to cheat each other, as sliarpers would with cogged dice. I saw that nothing would be made of this little one by gra- vity, and resolved to encounter her with some of that banter which one picks up so readily at camp and college, when she resumed — " And you would have me to go with you to the camp — ha ! ha ! where I should be scared by the aspect of your bareknee'd S<5Dts." " Nay, seiiora, I had no such intention. The camp is not the place for one so fair — so tender. Women should never be there. Old Anacreon, who describes female beauty as being more powerful than fire or steel, was convinced of the impropriety of women going to war, as they were meant only for a soft and luxurious life." " How ! " exclaimed my actress, after the manner of Medea, in the tragedy of Euripides; "dost thou not know that I would rather stand thrice in the ranks of war, than once endure the pains of childbirth r' Then, blushing with the most charming modesty at the vehemence she had betrayed, she said — " Did you not hear some one laughing?" " I heard something behind the wainscot, again." *'• 'Tis a rat scratching — the place is full of those animals; but now, senor, yotx must go, for I expect another visitor. 86 PHILIP ROLLO ; " A visitor," said I, as my old jealousy of the Haiismeister returned; " I vow to you I will not go; for if this visitor is a man I will run him through the brisket." "Now, seiior, do retire if you please; why linger T' " Because I am so fond of speaking to pretty women." " Doubtless you think to conquer in the field of Cupid, as Tilly and Wallenstein do in the field of Mars." " Your friends the Imperialists will have another tale to tell at Vienna, when Lord Nithsdale's nine thousand Scots unfurl their banners against them." " Seiior — go — for now you annoy me." " I am incapable of doing so." " You tire me, then," she said, sharply. " I am deeply sorry for that." Prudentia saw that I was not to be beaten. A sudden gleam shot over her eyes ; but she laughed, and half turning her back to me, began to read the comedy of " Florinea." " How very unkind of you — to be displeased, because I still wish to talk with you ! " said I, still bent on banter. "Of what?" " The admiration with which you inspire me." " 'Tis all very fine," she replied, keeping her back to me ; " but none will love me as I would wish to be." " In what way would you be loved, senora." " To desperation." Then she burst into another fit of laughter, and I caught the rogue looking at me over her snow-white shoul- der. " Seiior Don Philip," said she, suddenly closing her comedy; " could you lend me six doubloons — it would be such a favour — and then, as there is no play to-night, if you will dine with me, they shall be returned then with a thousand thanks." " I have just ten doubloons in the world senora, but they are at your service," said I, and, opening the mouth of my sporran, which was a gift from Ian, and secured by a remarkable spring, I handed over the whole money I had received from the regimental scrivener to maintain me on our march towards the Weser. Prudentia laughed excessively at the fashion of my Highland purse, and put both her hands into it. To resist kissing her OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. "87 again was impossible; and fortliat I would have given ten times ten doubloons. " A'dios ! seiior Caballero, at three I will see you again ; then we shall have such a nice little dinner, and a game at chess, or something else. Do not forget." " Forget !" I exclaimed, kissing her hand ; " how could I live and forget 1" 1 hurried away, and the mysterious door closed behind me. My heart was brimming with delight ; I paused a moment in the passage, and heard a sound like the voice of the Hausmeister. He seemed to be laughing somewhere, but it might be my own fancy. In addition to my own pay, I had lent Prudentia five doub- loons of poor lan's; so I did not wish to see him until after dinner, which was yet two hours distant, and, leaving the city, I took a quiet stroll along the sunny bank of the Elbe. 88 PHILIP KOLLO j CHAPTER XIY. I PKEVAIL ON PRUDENTIA TO ACCEPT OF A RING. I WANDERED loiig among the fields and green hedges by the margin of the river, musing on the sudden success of my love affair, marvelling how or where it was all to end, and unable to determine, whether I was a fortunate youth or a prodigious fool. I was very much in love with Prudentia ; yet on reflection could not but acknowledge to myself, that to marry her, at the outset of my career as a soldier of fortune, would be very like tying a cannon-shot to my heels; and would inevitably curb my pursuit of that honour and fortune, which I had hoped to win by my sword in the German war. But Prudentia was so beautiful, so winning and attractive — she possessed such a piquant manner and mode of expression — that I was completely blinded to the future, and felt myself falling helplessly into the snare which the little god had laid for me. At the shop of a Jew in the Biirger-platz I procured a handsome ring for Prvidentia. For this I was to pay on the morrow, when she returned me the doubloons ; and lest by any chance, I should require money in the interim, the friendly Israelite lent me ten dollars, on condition that I should repay him fifteen on the third day, making in all, with the price of the ring, twenty five-dollars to be paid him. I j)laced the ring, which contained a fine Oriental amethyst and two pearls, on my smallest finger, and punctually presented myself at the habitation of my actress, not without fears that her door might again vanish, but happily the passage was open. As I entered, Prudentia, who was singing to the notes of her mandolin, came forward to welcome me, and motioned towards a seat with her hand, snatching it away the moment I attempted to kiss it. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEEES. 89 " Now, senor," said she, pouting ; " thougli I have invited you to dine with me, you must be respectful, or I shall be angry. I would expire with vexation, if you deemed this little return for your attention an equivocal advance on my part." " How can you imagine such things ?" said I, quite charmed by her frankness ; " but ah, senora ! why will you still repulse me?" " Because," she replied with one of her brightest smiles; "■ that is the very way to attract you." " True — I remember that Ovid makes Daphne fly from her lover, and as she flew his ardour increased." " Ah ! Ovid, knew human nature very well." " Then you wish me to be distant and diffident 1" " Diffident at least; for diffidence is the best sign of a lover's sincerity." " Senora! then you do permit me to be your lover?" said I, more and more enchanted, and approaching her despite her injunctions. " Senor Don Philip, you will be my lover, whether I permit it or not." " Oh yes ! " I replied, while my heart beat like lightning* and my voice sank ; " for to see you, to know you, and to love you, Prudentia, are the same." I slipped the amethyst ring upon her finger, and was just touching her downcast brow with my lips, when the door opened, and, if a look would have slain, the intruder had assuredly per- ished on the instant ! The wrinkled dame Krumpel, who acted as sevant or housekeeper to Otto Poskilde, appeared with a tray. I now perceived for the first time that the table was covered for dinner, by a white damask cloth, edged with red silk fringe ; upon it stood a trencher-salt and mustard-querne of silver, and several flasks of Malmsey, Orleans, and Spanish wine, cooliilg in a jar among ice. Covers were laid for two, with a knife and/or/l- on each side of them. The latter, being a new invention in Italy and Germany, was wholly unknown among us in Scotland; and though I had read of it in "Coryat's Crudities, or Travels in High Germany," printed in 1611, being quite ignorant of how this steel 90 PHILIP ROLLO ; instrument was to be used, I resolved to observe and imitate tbe fair senora, my hostess. It may be supposed that I had but little appetite, for a true love fit always deprives one of that ; but the dinner, wdiich was both sumptuous and extravagant, by the number of dainties pre- sented, must — as I reflected-^have cost at least two of the ten doubloons I had lent to Prudentia — and would fain have given her ; for it seemed altogether ungallant and intolerable to accept of them when offered back ; but how was I to march without money, especially in an army like the Danish, where one had to . pay for every thing, and where all plunderers were tied to a post and shot without mercy? We dined. T remarked that Prudentia had a very good ap- petite, which I considered unromantic, and unfavourable to my- self; the cloth was removed, and we lingered over the vino tinto cle Alicante, and some of the luscious fruits of her own sunny clime. Reclined on the soft down cushions of the sofa, with her long veil spread over her shoulders, the senora lay half at length like a Moorish queen, taking from time to time a grape or a sip of her sweet wine, and looking at me with roguish eyes, through lids half closed with fun and merriment ; for as the fumes of the wine mounted into my brain, I gathered new courage, and spoke only of love — love — but in broken sentences ; for between two circumstanced as we were — a young cavalier and a dark-eyed coquette, a soldier and a gay actress — it may easily be conceived that darling theme was paramount. 1 know not now all the tender and all the foolish things I said; but I remember that, at many of them, my pretty droll laughed immoderately. I sat by her side. In the last gleams of the sunset her glossy hair and radiant complexion were glancing with that glow of light that made her like a beautiful picture. We were convers- ing hand in hand, at least mine rested on hers — but quite by chance — when she suddenly proposed that, to pass the time, we should have a nice little game, when she would afford me an. opportunity of getting back my doubloons with interest. The old slipshod dame Krumpel, who attended us, having OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEEI^S. 91 been summoned, a pair of playing tables whicli stood in a corner — inlaid as for playing cliess — were arranged beside the sofci, and I sat opposite Prudentia, who reclined among her cushions. Producing a pack of Spanish cards, she offered to teach the old Castilian game of omhre. I say Spanish cards, for they were essentially different from those used amoi^ig us in Scotland (and against which King James VI. passed a law in the year 1621), having but forty-eight in the pack, being without a ten, and having the king represented by a crowned figure. As there is no queeen, the next in rank is a knight, armed on all points, and designated el caballero. She taught me omhre certainly — but whether after a fashion of her own, or that of the Castilians, I know not; but I rapidly lost my dollars, which she arrayed in line on her own side of tlic table, with the most pretty and provoking air. Lights were broucjht, and then more red tent and macaroon bis- cuits, for the hour was growing late; still the protracted game went on, and if I regained a dollar I always lost it again; for between the attention I bestowed on the bright smiles and jewelled fingers of Prudentia, and my own intense desire to please, I was a very bad pupil and worse gambler. The moments glided away, and so did my dollars. At last Prudentia clapped her hands, and laughed loudly as she threw down all her cards. She had made me bankrupt ! " Oh foolish senor ! bravo ! Que fortuna ! " she exclaimed ; "how ill you have played! You must beware of sharpers and knights of the post. Ay de mi ! You are much too guileless for this bad world. Ah! if I had the making of it, how much better it should have done." "Better?" said I, thinking of my dollars and doubloons. " Yes, senor, for I would have left all the evil out of it." " How innocent this creature is ! " thought 1 ; " and how sad it is, that she is committed to a career of such perils as the stage !" " Now, to punish you," said she, sweeping all my cash int^the pocket of her Spanish guardain /ante, " I shall keep your^'purse till to-morrow, for really I do not think you know how to take care of your money." 92 PHILIP ROLLO; " While playing, in my desire to please I did but confuse my- self; yet I am sure Prudeiitia will pardon me — a first love will make the boldest heart tiniidj' " This is all very pretty," she replied, smoothing back her jetty hair, and displaying the exquisite contour of her white arms ; " but lovers are so faithless !- " ^' A real passion has no end but death. While one is a lover one will be true, for love retires where falsehood enters." Her free manner had infected me. " Really," replied Prudentia, with one of her droll expressions of eye, " for a young student and soldier, you are wonderful. I begin to be quite charmed with you." "Nay, I fear you but jest," said I, taking her right hand in mine, and passing the other over her rich dark hair; "'tis I who am charmed. Oh, Prudentia, you are indeed beau- tiful!" " Stuff, seilor 1 " She gave another of her merry ringing laughs. I sighed; but, while she continued to smile, my heart beat quicker, and my head became giddy with wine, and the thoughts that whirled through it. T sat with one arm clasping her waist. We were both silent, but a deep crimson began to steal over the peach-like cheek of Prudentia. " Que hora es V said she suddenly, as a clock struck. "Eleven!" said I. " Eleven ! oh senor Don Philip, you must go. What would be thought of me, if you were known to be in my room at eleven in the night?" '• The time has flown so quick," said I, rising with reluctance. '• But, senor, you must go — it is so late." " And we have been so hapjjy — but there is no remedy." I could have slept very well in my plaid on the little sofa, or even on the mat at her door (for I was bewitched), but I dared not hint that, and took up my sword and bonnet to retire. " And when may I renew my visit, dearest Prudentia?" *' To-morrow at noon — exactly at noon," she replied, tendering OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 93 her cheek, and in another moment I found the secret door closed upon me. I was on the dark landing-place of the stair, and groped my way to that dreary apartment, where Ian Dhii, M' Alpine Roy, and strong Phadrig Mhor, were sleeping on the floor, side by side in their plaids, with their basket-hilted clay- mores for pillows. Oi PHILIP KOLLO; CHAPTER XY. Mt GODDESS DECEIVES ME 1 QUAKBEL WITH THE HAUSMEISTER, AJfD RUN HIM THROUGH THE BODY. After breakfasting on toast and tankard, like tlie English, and being rallied by Ian on my abstraction and silence; after the morning exercise with pike and musket was past, when the lirst note of the clock indicated the hour of noon, I presented myself at Prudentia's, and was admitted^ but I knocked thrice on her chamber-door without hearing her musical voice saying, " Senor, enter." " She is asleep — it will be .a theatrical habit," said T, gently opening the door and venturing in. The chamber was silent ! The bed had not been slept on, and was stripped of its curtains; the furniture was in confusion; the mantelpiece and tables were deprived of their ornaments; every thing indicated a hurried departure; and a note ad- dressed to me lay on the little playing table, which still remained near the sofa, where T had left it twelve hours before. The note was addressed — " To the Ensign, Senor Don Philip, these, " Senor — I have been discovered, and forced to fly ! My safety demands it, and thus, before you read these lines, I shall be, Heaven knows how far, on the road to Vienna. I could stay no longer in Gliickstadt, for the truce is at an end, and your troops march in a day or two. When you imagine the grief I feel, in being thus separated from you, dearest seiior, you will pardon this sudden flight, and excuse me returning you those doubloons and dollars, in place of which I have left you a lock ♦ OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 95 of my beautiful hair — a lock which I will redeem ; for if ever you should have the ill-fortune to be taken prisoner, and see Vienna, fail not to seek the Seiiora Bandolo, at the theatre, near the Scottish convent, and so, with a deluge of tears, you are committed to the protection of God by your best friend, "Prudentia." So ended my first love affair, on which I had wasted ten doubloons and twenty-five dollars; and now waste four chapters. My first emoti(ms were those of grief and mortification; my second were rage and spite, as I thought of my loss, my debts, and the amethyst ring of the Jew. The latter was but the gleam of the moment; it was the falsehood and duplicity of Prudentia wliich cut me to the soul. The most noble of passions had been made subservient to the most base — love to lucre. I " Dupe that I have been ! " I exclaimed, tearing the letter to shreds ; " but if he is within the walls of Gliickstadt, that vil- lanous Hausmeister shall smart for it. He must have been in league with her!" I remembered having more than once reason to believe, that I had heard him laughing in her room after I had left it; and, no way grateful for the good lesson taught me by the senora, sallied forth intent on vengeance. There was a certain tavern just without the Crempen-gate, which bore on its signboard the three golden helmets of the duchy. This, I knew. Otto frequented, and there I resolved to seek and slay him, or be slain ; but having every wish to defer the latter part of the catastrophe as long as possible, I hurried to my room, put on my gorget, and stuck my pistols, loaded, in my belt. So much was I occupied by my own thoughts, that while charging these weapons I had never observed the sergeant, Phadrig Mhor, who was busy polishing lan's armour, and who followed me, like a brave and faithful fellow as he was. Half blinded by anger — for the idea of being so jewed and laughed at was intolerable — I hurried through the crowded Platz, bent on righting my quarrels a la mode d'Edimhourg (as 96 PHILIP ROLLO; the Scots Archers used to say in Paris), that is, with bare blade in the open street; and I had not gone fifty yards when I observed my man, walking slowly towards me in his great ruff and calf-skin boots ; his broad hat overshadowing his round face, which was fringed by a thick beard; his great espadone clatter- ing on the pavement, a Dutch pipe in his mouth, and his right hand thrust into the pocket of his bombasted trunk breeches. There was such an appearance of fat contentment about him, that I was somewhat confounded when he walked straight up to me, and, with the most perfect composure, said — ■ " So you have discovered the secret, Herr Ensign V " Despite your falsehoods — yes 1 " " I have to congratulate you," said he, with a manner undis- guisedly sarcastic, "on being the favoured cavalier of the beautiful dancer." " I thank you, Herr," said I, in the same tone ; " but will thank you more not to puff the smoke of that devilish pipe under my nose." " Ah ! she is an adorable creature. I always thought her refined taste " " Would have preferred you I" I exclaimed, giving vent to my passion, as I snatched the pipe from his mouth and broke it over his nose. His grey eyes turned white, and glistened with rage. "Were we elsewhere than in the street," said he hoarsely, "I would teach thee better than to insult me, thou pitiful dandiprat ! " " What recks it whether it be in the street or on mountain .that a man rights his wrongs'?" I replied, unsheathing my sword. " Guard, guard ! thou beer-bloated Teuton, or I am through you in a twinkling. I tell thee, fellow, thou art a scurvy varlet and shabby rascal ! " He swore a round oath in Spanish, and then another in Ger- man. His rage had a frightful effect on his visage; it was pale. as marble, but convulsed ; his eyes glistened like those of a cat, and every hair of his beard seemed to bristle with fury. " Ha ! ha ! how savage this Paris is for the loss of his Helen V] OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. Of Said he, as he thrust his steeple-crowned hat upon his head, drew his long espadone, and attacked me with equal fury and address. In the duels and quarrels between the students of the King's College and those of old Marischal, at Aberdeen, I had more than once drawn my sword in bitter earnest, but never against an adversary so formidable ; and yet after three passes, observing that he did not guard well, and barely covered himself on the side I was opposed to, I resolved to force his sword. Sj^ringing forward, I furiously struck the fort of my blade on his, which my basket hilt arrested j and thus without risk was enabled to deliver a thrust which penetrated his collar-bone, and almost deprived him of the use of his sword-arm. Just at that mo- ment we were separated by the people, who had gathered from all quarters, and many of whom, with that kindness and discrimination which distinguishes all mobs, seemed disposed to handle me pretty roughly, being a stranger and foreigner, but the brandished halbert of Phadrig Mhor overawed them ; and on Ian, M'Alpine, Major Fritz, and Baron Karl of the pistoliers ap- pearing, the Holsteiners retired, bearing away with them the stout paunchy Hausmeister, who kicked and resisted, storming and swearing in Spanish and German alternately. " Dioul ! are you mad, my cousin ? " exclaimed Ian ; " to be fighting in this way, and with our host — the master of our billet ? " " A man who is to accompany the army as a guide ! " added the Baron Karl ; " for he knows the country on both sides of the Weser as well as if it were his own property." "I am sure of that," I replied, wiping my sword in my scarf before sheathing it j " for I believe him to be a spy of the Imperialists." "Ah ! how 1 — what reason have you to think so ? He is said to be a respectable citizen — a Lubecker, who has been in Gliickstadt for nearly a year, I believe — at least ever since that luckless battle at Liitter." " I have my suspicions," I replied, unwilling, and indeed unable (without involving myself) to relate the evening adven- ture by the Elbe. VOL. I. H 98 PHILIP HOLLO ; " Then, what have you quarrelled about 1 " said Ian ; "not that painted dancer — your mysterious countess ? " " Painted ! — the girl was beautiful as a houri ! " " Perhaps so ; — but I never saw a houri, and so do not know ; but be frank, and tell us, Philip RoUo." " This way, then," said I, leading the four towards a retired part of the fortifications, where, without reserve, I related how foolishly I had entangled myself with Prudentia : bow she had borrowed my doubloons, accepted my ring, and won my dollars unblushingly, and with smiles : and how I had every reason to believe that she and the Hausmeister were very good friends. Ian heard me with astonishment ; for he was an unsophisticated Highland grntleman, and did not believe that such duplicity existed in the world. ^' By my faith ! " said he ; "I think the predictions of the old people at Craigrollo are likely to prove true, and that, after all, the spoon of Sir Ringan " A gesture of impatience from me arrested him. " Young gentleman," said the captain of the pistoliers, " you have been, I suspect, the dupe of two sharpers ; but may the lesson teach you to beware of those pitfalls which beset the path of a soldier ! This actress, the Senora Bandolo, is just what all Spanish actresses are, and never cared a rush about you; besides, without doubt, she must have been the spy who, from Gliickstadt, Hamburg, and Altona, communicated all our move- ments to the Imperialists." " And this varlet of a Hausmeister," said I — " Is doubtless her majo, her cavalier, or bully," replied the Baron; "for the fellow's whole aspect, his cold pomposity, and dogged eye, announce him one. Every Spanish dancer has a majo,''' he continued, as we adjourned to the Three Golden Helmets^ and ordered a flask or two of Orleans. "We should know something of them, Herr Baron," said Fritz ; " you remember when we served in the Spanish guards " " Many things better now forgotten, Fritz. They are such ruffians that not even the Holy Brotherhood dare to attack OK, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 99 tliem; and they intimidate even tlie actresses who employ them as protectors, and have to study all their caprices. When a lady is on the stage, her majo is in the pit, with his brown sombrero drawn over his brow, and on the least gesture of impatience, or sound of dissatisfaction among the people, he throws back his mantle, uncovering the hilts of his poniard and toledo. Now," continued Karl, sipping his wine, " on the last night Prudentia danced, I saw this man, Otto, in the pit, and thought he had all the aspect " " Of that Spanish majo we had such a desperate brawl with- in the Consistorio at Madrid," said Fritz. " The Imperial camp swarms with Spanish and Italian posture-girls and their attendants ; but is this suspicious fellow to be really our military guide?" " He has been weU accredited," replied the baron, smoothing his short thick mustache ; " so let us not, by vague suspicion, wrong any man in the public service." " I will always consider him a villain," said Ian, who had struggled to understand what we were saying. " Philip RoUo," he added in Gaelic, as he turned to me with a sombre aspect on his swarthy face, "you have dishonoured the sword of a High- land gentleman by notching it on the blade of such a wretch." " Ian, has he not leagued with this girl to rob and ridicule me? What would you have had me to do?" " Do!" reiterated the fierce M'Alpine, with his red eyes flashing; " by the grey stone of M'Gregor, I would have shot him through the head like a fox or a wolf, and as an enemy to mankind." The captain of pistoliers smiled at this, which he did not understand, being sputtered out in Ped Angus's fiercest Gaelic ; but he said — " When we advance into central Germany, you will find yourself among a race very different from the hrave and faithful Holsteiners; so I would pray you all to beware, gentlemen." " Some devil must have led me to her room at first," I muttered, thinking of my losses and debts. " Nay, she had seen you looking about for our room, and, 100 PHILIP ROLLO; leaving the door of her own open, had thrown herself down on the sofa in a graceful attitude, pretending to be asleep; that you might enter, see and admire her, for the cunning fairy knows her own power." " Ah — just so!" said Major Fritz; " and did she not propose to take care of your money after she had won it; give you a quotation from Euripides, and rail at matrimony in the most charming manner, saying she was only formed for love, for light, for music — to be a bird, a butterfly, and all that?" " Never mind, Rollo," said M'Alpine ; " thou seest that the same pretended innocence which bewitched thee hath beguiled others." " But this escapade ]^as left me penniless, and I am indebted the sum of twenty-five dollars to a Jew in the Platz ; and the knowledge that I cannot pay it — even by this gold chain — stings me to the soul." " It shall never be said that a brother soldier lacked money while Karl of Klosterfiord has a skilling to spare," replied the pistolier, placing his purse in my hand ; " here are four doubloons, more than the sum required. If ever you can pay me, it will be well; if not, 'tis no matter. Money among gentlemen and soldiers, should be as a common stock. If my comrade is an extravagant dog — like Fritz here — I assist him to day, and he assists me to-morrow. 'Tis the rule of the camp," he added laughing, as he filled up all our glasses. " Oh, Herr Baron!" I began L " No thanks," said he, nursing his short brown mustache; '' no thanks, or positively I shall be angry. Among merchants a man always loses a friend when money is lent; among soldiers, he always gains one. But I am astonished that you could have been so duped by a dancer — a damsel who exhibits herself in such a captivating undress to any rascal who pays a slet-dollar at the door; and more especially by this senora Prudentia, whose brother is known to be the greatest ruffian in continental Europe; and who is as famous for his villanies, as the senora is for her conquests. You all know who I mean — Bandolo, the Bravo." OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 101 "We all — except Fritz — said that we liacl not tlie pleasure of liis acquaintance. " 'Tis our dancer's brother — Bandolo, the most finished rascal of past or present times. He was the terror of Madrid and Naples, where he practised his villanies for a season ; and in these cities he is said to have despatched eighty persons to a better world, and Heaven knows how many more may fall by his hand before some man has the hardihood to cut him off! He handles the caliver, the rapier, and stiletto, but declines to use poison, alleging that there is something unmanly in it ; that it is the revenge of women ; and that it is as much beneath the regularly trained bravo to turn poisoner, as it is beneath the physician to turn quack "doctor." " And is this person known to gain his bread by a practice so horrible?" I asked. " Certainly ! " replied the pistolier. "When Fritz and I were in the Spanish guards, we have passed him in the streets of Madrid a thousand times ; and knew him by his long lock, his long sword, his dogged visage and ferocious eye, to be Bandolo the bravo, who resided in the Plaza Mayor, and who, for ten pistoles, would strike him or me, or any man dead, on the first secret opportumty." Having just come from our native land, where assassination was unknown, and where brave men settled all their disputes fairly by their swords, and always sheathed them on the first blood being drawn, we were as much astonished by this dark recital as two peaceful Holsteiners who were sipping skeidam and water in a corner of the tavern, and wlio set down their green crystal cups to listen. "And Prudentia is sister of this ruffian?" " The great Bandolo," said Fritz laughing. " I daresay the little dancer thinks it is quite an honour to be the sister of so famous a man ; for there are some who deem it better to be famed for bad deeds than not have fame at all." " ril tell you a story," said the baron. " Two gentlemen of Naples — a cavalier and a knight of Malta — quarrelled; and, according to the detestable practice of Italy, each sent privately, offering a hundred pistoles, to Bandolo, and requesting him to dis- 102 PHILIP ROLLOj pose of tlie otiier. The messenger of the cavalier came first ; the second was the knight of Malta, whom Bandolo poniarded just as he was paying down the hundredth pistole, and he fell dead over the table. "The bravo wiped his poniard, swept the money into his purse, and hurried away to the cavalier, his first employer, to relate that his enemy was dead. " ' I greatly commend your dexterity, my worthy friend, Ban- dolo,' said the cavalier, untying his purse from his girdle; ' you are quite master of your noble profession ! ' " ' Si, senor,' replied the Spaniard ; ' all who do me the favour to employ me, find me punctual; for I am an old Casti- lian, and a man of honour, whom my father — a prince of bravoes before me — trained up in the way I should go ; and to convince you, senor cavalier, that I will not forfeit that transmitted honour, I must mention that the knight of Malta, whom I have just sent to the company of the saints, gave me a hundred j)istoles to make an end of you.^ " ' But he is dead, and cannot call you to account for not ful- filling your pledge,' replied the cavalier, overcome with terror. " ' True, seilor,' said Bandolo, with a profound bow; ' but I am too honourable a bravo to break my promise. Excuse me, illustrissimo, but you must — die!^ and with these words he buried his poniard in the other's breast. " The cavalier lived only to relate this story, and in less than ten minutes expired; but by that time Bandolo was beyond the walls of Naples. " "He was hanged afterwards, of course?" "Hanged? Oh! not at all. He is now said to be with the Imperialists, attached to the suite of a Spanish general of Fer- dinand, and no doubt his sister has gone to join him ; for it would be a thousand pities that a pair so worthy should be separated." Much, or nearly all, that the baron said, was totally incom- prehensible to Ian; but I translated the anecdote as we walked back to the Platz, and I also imparted to him, in secresy, my OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 103 night adventure with Prudentia, showed him the chain of the Scofco-Imperialistj and hinted my suspicions that she, and per- haps the Hausmeister, were the spies referred to by the governor in his orders to the guards. " You know," I concluded, " that we have more than once heard this seeming German swear in very good Spanish." ''Stay — a thought strikes me. Dioul! if it should be the case?" " What 1" A fierce gleam shot over lan's dark eyes. " That this Otto may be the brother of Prudentia — the bravo to whom the baron referred." My heart leaped at the idea of having an enemy so subtle, so ferocious, so blood-stained, and terrible. "Impossible!" said I; "how — that fiend Bandolo residing in Gliickstadt, a sleek, fat, and well-fed burgher, with wide breeches and a pipe, a thorough Holsteiner to all appearance; a man trusted by the governor — a man who is to guide the troops of King Christian against some of the German castles and barrier towns? Oh ! it is impossible, Ian — besides, whoever saw a bravo with so prodigious a paunch?" " Perhaps so," said Ian, doubtfully; for a paunch is considered a curse inflicted for evil among the clansmen. " But, thank God ! we leave Gliickstadt to-morrow ; and then we shall have other work than idling here, marching and countermarching as a spectacle for fat burghers and market wenches, drinking skeidam and Dantzic beer, and breathing the thick air of these frowsy swamps; and when we do meet the Imperialists, Philip RoUo — those boasting Spaniards and victorious Austrians," continued my enthusiastic cousin, throwing up his bonnet, " let us not forget to shout — ' Hoigh ! Clanna nan Gael, an guillan a chiele!'"* * Clans of the Gael, shoulder to shoulder! 104 PHILIP ROLLOj %n\t tljB €liirL CHAPTER XYI. THE SCOTTISH STANDARD, The pale dawn was glimmering on tlie misty waters of the Elbe, and the storks were flapping their dewy wings on the steep gables and fantastic chimney-tops, when our pipers in the BUrger-platz blew loud and shrill the pibroch of Mackay. Hoarse and fierce, and wild and wailing, by turns it rang in the echoing streets " The white banner of Clan Aiodh,"" that martial air which so often has summoned the tribes of Strathnaver to battle and victory; and, from every street and alley, our men came forth in marching order to the place of arms. There the colours were unfurled, and Sir Donald, sheathed in his bright armour, sat on horseback with his sword drawn. The fifteen companies of Highlanders fell quickly into their ranks ; the musketeers in the centre with the colours, the pikes on the flanks, the drums, fifes, and pipes on the right of the line. Nothing military could surpass the splendid and imposing aspect of the regiment of Strathnaver, as it appeared under arms that morning in the Biirger-platz of GlUckstadt; for, to the martial bearing and peculiar garb of the Scottish clansmen, our soldiers now united that steadiness, and strict unity of movement, which disciplined troops alone possess. On that morning I carried the banner of the chief; my post was in the centre, and with pride I glanced towards the flanks of that long and stately line. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 105 The bright musket-barrels, the keen pike-heads furnished by the armourers of Glasgow, and the polished headpieces, were glittering in the morning sun, but motionless as the rough hairy sporrans, the bare knees, and gartered hose; the banners, plumes, and tartans, alone rustled in the morning wind — those dark green tartans which my brave comrades were soon to dye in the best blood of the Imperialists. On horseback, and muffled in a mantle. Otto Roskilde })assed down the line towards the gate of the town; he had pistols at the front of his saddle, and a portmanteau behind it, for travel- ling; as in his quality of guide, or general informer, he was to repair with us to King Christian's headquarters. Whatever my secret suspicions might be, I had as yet no reasons to divulge them, or to defame the accredited guide of the king; and indeed I could not do so, without the acknowledgment of having in person somewhat contravened the orders of the governor, Sir David Drummond. " Herr Otto, your servant," said I, politely, as he passed me ; "I trust you have suffered but little annoyance from your wound." " Until you spoke — none," said he, a deep smile on his tiger- like mouth. Offended by his brevity, I gazed sternly at him, for there was something striking, if not terrible, in the fierce smile with which he honoured me. It was as deceitful and Satanic as such grey eyes as his, could assume. " But have Spaniards ever grey eyes 1" thought I; " can this indeed be that frightful Bandolo, of whom the baron spoke? his sister's eyes were so beautiful " The order to march cut short my reflections. Ten shrill fifes and ten drums struck up merrily the famous "Scottish march;" pikes, banners, and muskets were sloped in the sun, and in broad sections we poured through the streets and fortifications of Gliickstadt, the houses, bridges, and casemated ramparts of which gave back the tread of our marching feet, the rat-tat-tat of the drums, and the sharp note of the fifes, with a thousand reverberations, as we marched towards the Stor. This was not in the direction of the Imperialists; but there King Christian 106 PHILIP ROLLOj had planted his royal standard, and appointed the rendezvous of his troops. It was but an easy day's march distant from Gluckstadt, over a flat country ; for the little duchy of Holstein, which unites the mainland of Denmark to the great continent of Germany, is almost level. The land seemed nowhere to possess what we Scots call a military aspect; there were few or no positions whereon the inhabitants might meet or repel invaders, yet the Holsteiners are brave men. The flatness of the country wearied us; we would have given the world for a glimpse of a mountain; and I frequently heard our hill-climbing clansmen marvelling how, when the country was made, the mountains were forgotten. Ths road lay straight before us, bounded either by heath, or cultivated fields, or by meadows, where enormously fat cattle were browsing; and from whence the pretty dairymaids, clad in short petticoats of broad-striped red and yellow stuff*, with braided hair and hats of plaited straw, shading their blooming faces, ran off* as we approached, being scared either by a rustic terror of soldiers, or the foreign aspect of our tartan garb. Thatched farms, shaded by pale green weeping willows, close- clipped hedgerows, or low stone dykes, succeeded each other in monotonous succession ; here and there rose grassy hillocks, with reedy tarns of green and turgid water between them, or occa- sional thickets of beech, where the summer birds were singinsf ; but though there was little wood generally, there were abundance of wild-roses, which flourished by the wayside, and scented the balmy air. There were no tremendous rocks like the Sutors of Cromartie, hurling the waves of ocean back upon themselves ; no deep or savage glens, like Sulbhein in Assynt; no sheets of foam rolling in thunder over a precipice, like the torrent of Foyers; no vast forests like those of the Grants ; no fierce streams like the Spey and the Fiddich; and no vast lakes like those inland seas that lie in the great Glen of Albyn ; but every thing was like the fat burghers of Hamburg and Liibeck, or the twenty-breeched boors of the Low Countries — flat and sleepy, quiet and insipid. About mid-day we crossed the Stor, and entered Itzhoe, a OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 107 small trading town, whicli lies at the foot of a gentle eminence, defended by a small castle, on whicli we saw the royal standard with the hearts and lions of Denmark flying, announcing that Kins: Christian resided there. We found the little town crowded by his troops, the streets encumbered by artillery, powder and baggage waggons; the churches and houses were filled with troops ; others were bivou- acked in the fields along the bank of the river, and on our ap- proach great numbers of our countrymen, who served under the Danish banner, came forth to meet us; for in the army, which mustered about twenty-five thousand, there were not less than twelve thousand Scots, including ofncers; Lord Nithsdale's three regiments consisted each of three thousand men; Sir James Leslie's and ours, made two thousand more; and there were more than one thousand Scottish cavaliers, all officers, who led or served in the regiments of German Keitres, Danish Pikes, and the Count de Montgomerie's French Musketeers, many of whom I shall have occasion to mention in tho course of my adventures. On the very day after our joining the main army, we were nearly involved in a quarrel with the king, whicli, by disgustftig his Scottish auxiliaries, might have ended all his projects of con- quest, and caused his forces to melt away. Christian IV., the hero of Denmark, the brother-in-law of our late King James VI., and uncle of King Charles I., was a gallant soldier, then esteemed no way inferior in personal quali- ties or reputation to his rival, the great star of the north, Gus- tavus Adolphus ; but far his superior in military pride and keen desire for fame. Under his active government, Denmark had risen in importance, and, after her separation from Sweden, had acquired a powerful navy, a brave and well-disciplined army, a well-ordered exchequer, and, such prosperity as she never could have possessed in the days of her union; for an ancient kingdom, which possesses national institutions, should never surrender them while the sword can maintain them, and never place itself at the mercy of another; and right glad was I to see that my own native Scotland remembered this, when, in 160G, King 108 PHILIP ROLLO; James insidiously projected his incorporating tinion, which was happily baffled by the true patriots of the time, as I hope aggres- sion will always be baffled and repelled by their posterity, lest we become a province of the southern kingdom. Enfeebled by its unnatural union, Denmark, when once free of Sweden, began to assume a high place in the scale of Euro- pean nations; and though the proud and haughty Christian could not surrender his claim to the Swedish crown, and while the Swedes gloried in their freedom, so recently acquired under Gustavus Vasa, both Christian and Gustavus Adolphus saw that the clouds of battle were gathering on the German frontier, that the day was at hand when they would be compelled to abandon their national quarrel and petty jealousies, and for common safety to unite their arms against the skill of Tilly, the courage of Wallenstein, and the vast power of the empire. A treaty of peace between Christian and Gustavus had been completed at Copenhagen on the 20th January, 1613, principally by the mediation of our king, James VI. ; but the approach of external danger had only smothered for a time the dispute of the northern kings. To return : On the day after our reaching the headquarters at Itzhoe, we were reviewed by the king, who ordered Sir Donald " to draw up the regiment in battaglia," on the plain before the gates of the town. The day was beautiful ; thin as gauze, a pale haze curled up from the banks of the Stor, and the sun shone brightly on the quaint old town and older castle of Itzhoe. Dunbar, our sergeant-major, a brave old cavalier who had served in the Scottish Horse Guards under Sir Andrew Kerr of Pherni- herst, drew up the regiment in line, with colours and pikes in the centre ; five hundred musketeers, with the drums, being on the left flank; and five hundred more, with the pipes, being on the right ; — the ranks were three deep. Accompanied by the Earl of Nithsdale, the Lord Spynie, the Laird of Murkle, the Baron of Klosterfiord, and various nobles and colonels, all bravely mounted and richly accoutred. King Christian approached, and we received him with the highest honours ; our pipes playing a salute, our drums beating the point OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEEES. 109 of war, tlie colours drooping, the officers in front ; while the whole line presented their pikes and muskets, according to the forms which have come down to us from the chivalry of the olden time. Leaving, at some distance behind, the brilliant cavalcade which accompanied him, the King — a brave monarch, who had been almost riddled by bullets, and had more sword-cuts in his body than slashes in his doublet — rode slowly forward, and saluted the whole regiment by uncovering his head. He wore a suit of the richest blue Utrecht velvet laced with gold, a crimson cloak of Danish silk, and long Swedish leather gloves. Every thing about him was magnificent. (In 1621, Christian was rich enough to be able to lend King James VI. a hundred thousand thalers.) Around his neck hung a gold chain, like the catella of the Komans, and he wore a magnificent gold scarf His counte- nance was open, manly, frank, and ruddy ; having a thick red mustache, and a clear blue eye. His horse was richly capari- soned in the Danish colours, having the leopard passant in the corners of the saddlecloth, and a chamfrain made of thick leather, boiled and prepared to encase the charger's head, under the bridle, which was thickly covered with gold-headed studsT Our good regiment of Strathnaver, afterwards known as " the Scottish Invincibles," being a Highland battalion, was viewed by his majesty with marked attention. He rode slowly down the front, and up the rear to the right flank, where he acquainted Sir Donald with his wish, that we should march past him in review order. The whole line then fell back by companies,* and marched past with pipes playing and drums beating, colours flying, pikes advanced and matches lighted. A burst of applause came from our Lowland countrymen, who, as well as the Danes, crowded from their cantonments to behold us. Nov/ came the quarrel already referred to. The review being over, our colonel. Sir Donald Mackay, his two majors, sergeant-major Dunbar, and all the officers, were summoned to the front, that they might kiss the hand of his > * He means, broke into open column. 110 PHILIP ROLLO; majesty, who expressed surprise at tlie fasliion of our colours, and required that we should place the Danish cross above that of St. Andrew ! " May it please your majesty to excuse our compliance with this order," replied Sir Donald, concealing his indignation under a calm exterior; "for we cannot impose the Danish cross on Scottish colours without failing in our duty and allegiance to his majesty Charles I. as king of Scotland ; and sure I am that all these cavaliers, my officers, will agree with me. What is your opinion, Dunbar?" " Swords and pikes!" grumbled the old fellow tinder his thick mustache; "we cannot carry the Danish cross without dishonour." " Dishonour!" reiterated the king, flushing with passion and raising his baton, but immediately lowering it on perceiving that the gauntleted hand of Dunbar sought the hilt of his claymore. " I mean, dishonour to ourselves as Scotsman," continued Dunbar, willing to palliate his bluntness ; " for a superiority of Denmark over our native country would thereby be implied." "But you serve Denmark, not Scotland; and Denmark has given both kings and laws to England," replied the king, who wished that the Scots, like all his other auxiliaries, French and Germans, should carry the Danish colours, that all their valour and achievments might accrue to the glory of Denmark ; but it was somewhat unfortunate for his project that he commenced with our regiment. The officers looked at each other darkly under the peaks of their helmets ; bit their gloves, and whispered together. " Gentlemen," resumed the king, with increasing anger; "excuse me if I do not perceive the justice of your objections." " I trust your majesty will understand," replied Sir Donald, with the utmost firmness and respect, " that it would ill become us, as subjects of the Scottish crown, to put foreign badges on these our native colours, which for ages our forefathers have borne without stain and without dishonour; since that day when the Scottish host, arrayed in battle against the Saxon OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 1 1 I kings of tlie Heptarchy, saw the cross of the blessed St. Andrew span the noonday sky above their lines. We cannot here acknowledge a superiority, which, since the beginning of record, no country ever possessed over ours ; for even so early as the siege of Jerusalem, Hegisippus introduceth Josephus as saying, when endeavouring to dissuade the Jews from a war with the Romans, ''Scotia quce terris nihil dehet,^ &c., which meaneth, that ^ even Scotland, which is independent of the whole earth,' was afraid of Kome." " But therein I hold Hegisippus to be a foul liar, and Josephus another," grumbled our stout sergeant-major; "for our auld mother Scotland was never afraid as long as she had claws to scratch wi', as I will maintain body for body, on foot or on horseback, against any man in all Denmark." A murmur of applause rose from our officers. ''Air Muirel it is well said, thou brave Dunbar," said Ian, clapping the old officer* on the shoulder, and shaking the lofty eagle's plume that adorned his own -helmet ; " Dioul ! it would be altogether an intolerable thing if we, the descendants of those brave Scots whom the Danes could never conquer, and by whom they were overthrown at Luncarty, and in twenty other battfes, should condescend to carry their red cross on our blue banners." Finding that he had such intractable spirits to deal with, the king concealed his anger, and relinquished his project for the present. We carried our blue national flag with its white cross against the Imperialists, without imposition or alteration; and, by my soul! they soon learned under which cross it was — the Scottish or Danish — that most heads were broken ; but the king did not readily forget the affront we had given him. * Sergeant-major in those days meant Adjutant. See note concerning the colours. 112 PHILP ROLLO. CHAPTER XVIT. THE SCONCE OF BOITZENBUBG, On the day immediately after the review, Sir Donald, with seven companies of the regiment, was ordered to cross the Elbe, leave two companies at Stade, and march towards the Weser, where he joined the troops of that valiant Welsh veteran, old General Morgan, who v/ith four strong battalions lay above Bre- men, watching the Imperialists. King Christian was determined we should suffer in detail, and suffer sorely, for our stubborn pride in the affair of the colours ; thus, while the main body of the Danish army occupied Stade, the second city in the duchy of Bremen, our company of M'Farquhars, with the wing of the regiment under the major, marched to Lauenburg, the capital of a duke who there levies a toll upon the Elbe. There the colonel joined us with one company from the Weser, leaving the other four to defend Boitzenburg, for which place Ian was ordered to march the M'Farquhars with all speed, as sergeant-major Dunbar was to be assailed by the Imperialists under the famous Count of Carlstein, who, with Tilly and the main army, was pressing for- ward, to drive back all the outposts of the Protestant king, to penetrate into Holstein and the Danish isles. On these marches our soldiers behaved with admirable order; there was no ma- rauding, for, though their pay was small, our poor Highlanders were moderate in their desires. Each carried a small havresack filled with Hamburg meal, and a little of that mixed in water, morning and evening, contented them. The ability with which they could endure long abstinence and hard marching, is remark- able ; for in the olden time the Celtic huntsman took but one meal in the day — his diot mhor. But there was a Lowland pike- OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 113 man, Dandy Dreghorn, who, being unable to practise such absti- nence, found himself impelled to swallow a whole bowl of cream, in a certain dorpe through which we passed; for this he was ordered to run the gauntlet, and that no taint of degradation from the stripes might remain, I was required (according to the custom of war) to wave thrice the ensign of St. Andrew above his head. It was about the sunset of an evening in the middle of July, 1627, when we approached Boitzenburg, which is a small town of Mecklenburg-shwerin, pleasantly situated at the junction of the Boitze with the Elbe, the passage of which we were to defend against the Imperialists, until the last man of us had kissed the sod, for so were our orders worded. A. vast force under Tilly was approaching Denmark from the centre of Germany, and one of those columns, destined to pass the Elbe and Weser, under the great Count of Carlstein, was marching directly upon the point we were to bar. As the count was determined at all risks to pass the stream, our some- what forlorn duty was destined to be hard and hazardous ; but the affair of the colours still rankled in the mind of K^ing Christian, and he had resolved, and even said to Lord Nithsdale, that " the regiment of Strathnaver should pay dearly for its Scottish pride!" As we approached the town, which was surrounded by a wall, the gates were shut, and although our comrades who occupied the place knew us right well by our tartans, and the sound of our pipe, which was playing Beallach na Broige, according to the custom of war, observed in all forts on the approach of armed parties, they closed their barriers, turned out their guards, and on our halting at a hundred paces distant, sent forward an officer. This cavalier, who proved to be John Learmonth of Balcomie, the senior captain of our pikes, asked, sword in hand — " What troops are these?" " M'Farquhar's company of the regiment of Strathnaver, in the service of his Danish majesty," said Ian. " You may enter, gentlemen," replied Learmonth. Then we shook hands; the gates were opened, the piper again VOL. I. I 114 PHILIP BOLLOj struck up, and we marched into Boitzenburg, where four hundred of our comrades received ns with a true Highland welcome. Old Dunbar, our sergeant-major, had every qualification for a commander. Well versed in all the theories, as well as the sterner practice of war, he had left nothing undone, that would enable him to defend his post like a man of honour ; a soldier by race and name (for he was one of the Dunbars of Dyke, in the lordship of Spynie), to his natural and acquired talents he added a sound judgment, a strong mind, and the bravery of a lion, with the form and the heroism of a Wallace; and withal his disposition was mild and gentle. He issued few orders, but these were always marked by brevity, and obeyed with alacrity ; and, as these orders were never unnecessary, they were fulfilled with the most perfect reliance upon his sagacity and courage. Passing through the town, we crossed the river by a bridge, and took up our quarters in a strong sconce, which Dunbar had erected on the Luneburg side, and which, with the assistance of Captain Learmonth (who acted as his trench-master or engineer), had been flanked out in such a manner that, with twenty pieces of cannon, it swept the river above and below the bridge, the centre of which he had carefully undermined to cover our retreat, in case we should have to retire. The bastions of this redoubt were of earth, faced up with smooth turf, the embrasures being well splayed out to afford a range for our culverins ; the front was high and based with stone, as a pretty deep grafF was dug round them, and filled by water from the Elbe. Within these defences were several substantial stone houses, which by good fortune stood there before the war, so that we were very comfortably quartered; and as all the country to the southward had been laid under contribution, we had a good, store of bi^ad, beer, bacon, cattle, with fodder for them, not forgetting several kegs of skeidam, and low country wine. The town of Boitzenburg had been long before abandoned by its inhabitants, who fled with their most valuable efiects at the approach of the Imperialists; thus while doors, win- dows, and floors were to be had for the mere trouble of car- OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. .115 . rying them away, we had no lack of fuel, and laid up a great store, for the double purpose of supplying ourselves and burning the place, if compelled to abandon it. The evening of the third day was just closing, and the broad, yellow, and lurid sun was shedding his farewell rays along the waveless bosom of the Elbe, on one side throwing into deep shadow the walls of the town, the arches of the bridge, and the ramparts of our redoubt, while the other side was all bathed, as in a deluge of warm light, when one of our sentinels (Gillian M'Bane) fired his musket, and announced the approach of the Imperialists. The report of that musket made every heart leap. The drum beat hoarse and rapidly ! From the desolate town our stragglers hurried into the redoubt; the sluice which fed the wet ditch was opened ; the klinket of the palisades was closed and barricaded ; the cannon were run back and double shotted; we stood to our arms, hoisted the Danish colours, but placed our own Scottish ensign on the highest parapet, and with the last gleam of sunset saw the enemy debouching heavily in column, among clouds of dust from the Reinsdorf road, and from the green woods and undulations of the fertile country. With his helmet open, and a grim expression on his bearded face, old Dunbar was observing them closely through his Galileo glass as they poured along — the musketeers, in buff coats and steel caps, marching with matches lighted and their rests slung to their sword-belts, the pikemen well armed in back, breast, and head-pieces, with tassettes to cover their thighs, and the horsemen in complete mail, with swords, calivers and demi- lances; six pieces of cannon, and a howitzer for throwing shells — a new invention of that great warrior, Ernest Count of Mans- feldt, that prince of soldiers of fortune, and champion of the Queen of Bohemia, for in many a bloody field he bore her glove u-pon his helmet. " Swords and pikes!" said Dunbar, closing his glass sharply; " there are ten thousand men under yonder blue banner, not a helmet less, and we have here but five hundred true Scottish hearts to make good the sconce against them !" Tliey halted, but beyond cannon-shot, their infantry remain- 116 PHILIP ROLLO; ing in dense column, with the horse on their flanks and the artillery in front; and in a few minutes after we saw an officer, with a white flag displayed from his demi-lance, ride forward, accompanied by a trumpeter, who sounded a parley. " Ensign Eollo," said Dunbar to me ; " you know something of scholar-craft, and speak other tongues than our auld mither Scots, take a stout fellow with you — go forth, and learn what yonder gay galliard requires of us." Pleased with this opportunity, and proud of the selection among so many men of good birth and acknowledged valour, I summoned Phadrig and Gillian, gave a last look to the clasps of my harness and the locks of my pistols, drew my sword, and leaving the sconce by a private klinket, deliberately approached the Imperialist, who remained on horseback motionless as an iron statue, observing me narrowly between the ears of his horse; for I have little doubt that one part of my garb — the kilt — must have impressed him as being somewhat remarkable. His own attire was singularly magnificent, even for the service to which he belonged ; for there were many of the general officers, such as Count Carlstein, who affected the grandeur of princes, and had frequently a troop of cuirassiers as their guard; while the colonels of the raggamuffin "Walloon infantry kept their gilded coaches in camp, and ate and drank out of vessels of silver, some of them having even a secretary, who (as few of them could write) was generally the most useful of their vast train of servants. His helmet, cuirass, and the tassettes which covered his thighs, were of the brightest steel ; the open sleeves of his doublet were cloth of gold, the inner were of crimson velvet ; his gloves were of steel, and reached to his elbows; his boots were of black leather, furnished with enormous jinglespurs, having metal balls in lieu of rowels; his long toledo hung in a scarf of crimson and gold interwoven, and from its hilt dangled a sword-knot of gold and hlack silk.* His figure is yet impressed upon my memory. * Still worn by the Austrians to commemorate the loss of Jerusalem. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 117 Tall, handsome, and about forty years of age, his features were stern, grave, and sometimes sad; though, when his eyes became animated, they filled with fire. A deep scar on his forehead shewed that before this he had met death face to face ; and there was a frank bluntness in his manner which showed a long fami- liarity with danger, and with every phase of life. "Your servant, my young friend," said he, in a strong Scot- tish accent, and smiling, as we saluted each other with our swords ; "if you have forgotten our meeting by the Elbe near Gliickstadt, and the pretty actress Prudentia, I have not." " Pardon me, sir, but I did not recognise you in your helmet. Yet see — in memory of that meeting, I have still worn your gold chain." "Ah ! you must prize it more when I tell you, that it is formed from the gold of that identical cup with which Knox and Calvin so often administered the sacrament to the English refugees at Frankfort. Old Splirrledter, one of my troopers, picked it up on the march through there, and so I had it made into a chain." " It were a thousand pities to deprive " " Tush ! I shall soon find another ; if you ofier it back, I shall fling it into the Elbe." " You wished to parley with us, sir?" '' The fact is, we are anxious te cross the river, and you have most annoyingly cast up a sconce right in our way; and, as this sconce is garrisoned by five companies of Highlanders, we count upon a desperate resistance." "You reckon rightly, sir," I replied proudly; "there is a high spirit among my comrades in yonder place. This will be the scene of our first encounter with your Austrians; and I will answer for it, that as Scottish soldiers, with the high memory of a great and glorious past urging us to win new honour for our fatherland, many a heart must pour forth its best blood before either the Counts of Tilly or Carlstein shall cross the Elbe." At that moment a roll was beaten on a drum within the .retloubt. "Thou art a fine fellow!" said the cavalier of fortune, "and 118 PHILIP ROLLO; I hope to spend an evening with you over a can of wine, after you are taken prisoner; but your comrades are waxing impa- tient — tell the sergeant-major, Dunbar " "Hah — you know that we are commanded by Dunbar!" " The bravest man under the Danish flag ! I know more ; for I am aware that he has but five hundred Highlandmen in the sconce, under the captains M'Farquhar, M'Coll of that Ilk, Learmonth of Balcomie, Munro of Culcraigie, and M'Kenzie of Kildon; for you cannot sneeze on the Danish side of the Elbe but straightway we Imperialists hear of it at Vienna." ," I believe there are spies among us," said I, thinking of the Hausmeister. " Tell Dunbar that the famous Count of Carlstein — (ah ! he is a devil of a fellow, that Count !) — with ten thousand old iron- faces, the flower of Tilly's Austrians and Spaniards, is about to force the passage of the Elbe; that he would gladly, for the sake of Elizabeth Stuart, the Bohemian queen, spare the lives of her countrymen ; and that, if they will leave the bridge of Boitzenburg free, they shall have leave to march wherever they please, with all the honours of war." "Cavalier," I replied, "you may tell the great Count of Carlstein that we could never accept of such terms with honour. Our orders are to defend the banks of the Elbe to the last gasp, and so will we defend it, or die by its shore !" " Well," said he, as he reined back his horse and sheathed his sword, "on your own heads be the blood that is shed, and you will have but Dunbar to blame for the extermination that awaits you — farewell ! " He galloped off, accompanied by his ti*umpeter, and I returned to the sconce to make my report to Dunbar. "Ye hae dune weel, my young birkie," said he; "ah, pikes and pistols ! Let them come, and we will show Count Carlstein that we care as little for Austrians as our forefathers did for Home, despite that lying loon, Plegisippus. Hallo, provant master ! serve the lads round wi a quaigh fu' o' brandy; and let us all drink ' Tir nan heann^ nan glean, a nan gnaisgeachr (the country of mountains, of valleys, and heroes,) for it may be the OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 119 last drop many among us will taste in this world, and my mind misQ^ives me tliat we'll no get muckle in the next. Let the pipers blow fire into our hearts, while Balcomie's company pile their pikes, and stand by the bastions to work the cannon I" 120 PHILIP EOLLO; CHAPTEE XYIII. HOW OUK OLD SCOTTISH BLADES POMMELED THE IMPEKIALISTS. As we liad secured, sunk, or destroyed, all tlie boats and other craft on the Elbe, the Imperialists had no other means of cross- ing but passing, at push of pike, the long stone bridge which spanned the river by its strong and stately arches ; and as the whole line of it, and the approaches thereto, were liable to be raked by the cannon and musketry of the sconce, they made immediate preparations to gain the latter by assault. There were not less than ten thousand men approaching to force this passage, which our five hundred Highlanders were left to defend. They were led by the great Count of Carlstein, whose name was only less familier to us than that of Count Tilly. He was said to be a distinguished soldier of fortune, on whom the ambitious but generous Emperor had freely bestowed (that which did not belong to him) a Bohemian coronet, together with a free gift of that magnificent Castle of Carlstein, built by Charles TV., eight miles from Prague, and where the regalia of the conquered palatinate were kept. At length, then, we saw them, and were invested and sur- rounded by those haughty, proud, and ferocious soldiers of the Empire, to whom battle was a pastime, and human blood as water ; the terror of the Protestants and scourge of Bohemia ; those sons of rapine and outrage, steeped to the lips in the darkest crimes, yet flushed by the memory of a hundred victories. Numerous though they were, our little band of kilted clansmen stood to their arms undauntedly, feeling an honest confidence in their own valour, with a hatred of their enemies ; for in the name of religion, with the cross of God on their standards and on OB, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 121 tlieir breasts, those Imperialists, wherever they had been vic- torious, at Fleura, at Bergen-op-Zoom, and after every field from Prague to that of Liitter, had committed such atrocities as would have made even the heart of a Nero recoil. Full orbed, and round as the shield of Fingal, the unclouded moon rose brightly above the Elbe; its glassy waters rolled in light, and the woods and thickets which fringed the southern bank, together with the old fantastic houses of Boitzenburg on the north, were all bathed in that silver sheen, which in bright- ness contrasted so strongly with the deej) black shadows. Under the central arch of the bridge three red lights were reflected in the current of the river. These were the lanterns of our miners, who, under the direction of the Laird of Balcomie, were sinking a chamber in one of the piers, and charging it with powder. So bright was the lustre of the July moon that we could discern every movement of the enemy as clearly as if it were noonday. A regiment of musketeers, clad in white bufi" coats and steel c»,ps, and having two large banners with the Austrian Eagle and Burgundian Cross, poured along the road, and, under a discharge of their cannon (which took possession of an eminence aboiit five hundred yards distant), advanced to storm and destroy the palisades which protected the outer side of our wet-graff; two other regiments endeavoured to outflank the redoubt, and force, by the river side, a passage to the tete-du-pont, but a heavy fire met them at every angle; their cannon-shot began to knock splinters of stone and clouds of earth about us, or crashed into our parapets, and now began in earnest the whole uproar of war, which now I heard for the first time. Our company of M'Farquhars had to defend that face of the sconce which swept the roadway ; and over our earthen parapets we poured a close and deadly fire, to which the Imperialists re- plied with equal rapidity, but not with equal efiect; for while our men levelled over a rampart, which protected them breast high, the assailants were wholly exposed, and levelled their long matchlock-muskets over iron forks ; but the front rank came on with arms slung, and using only hatchets attacked the palisades, 122 PHILIP ROLLO; hewing them down frantically in their efforts to force a passage to the ditch. " Shoulder to shoulder, my men ! lire close, and fire low !" cried Ian, whose eyes flashed brighter as the conflict increased ; and though it was his first, he was as cool as old Dunbar, who had served with the Scottish bands under Hepburn in Bohemia. His example strung my heart, and recalled my somewhat scatter- ed energies, which had become a little confused j for every instant a heavy cannon-shot boomed over our heads, to crash among the roofs of the town, or with a dull heavy sound, sank deep into the turf breastwork of the sconce; while the hiss of the musket-balls, which flew past us like a leaden storm, was ceaseless as the splash of rain upon the casement. The whole fort was enveloped in smoke, for as our mousquetade mingled with theirs, we could no longer see the enemy; but we heard the crash of the axes among the falling palisades, the cries of the wounded, and the yells of the fierce and eager ; their incessant war-cry of " Sancta Maria ! Sancta Maria ! " and the din of their drums beating the charge ; but into the dark and opaque cloud, from the bosom of which all these dire sounds proceeded, our brave clansmen shot fast and sure, at the practised level; and Balcomie's lieutenant, a brave old soldier, David Martin of that Ilk, inspired his pikemen to handle our brass culverins in such wise, that every bullet must have made a frightful lane through the d.ense column of attack. • A triumphant shout — the true wild scraigh of the Scottish Highlandmen — mingled with the shrill notes of the pibroch ring- ing from the four angles of our fort, announced that, baffled in their ejSbrts to reach the bridge, the Imperialists had fallen back, and we redoubled our efibrts. Many of our finest men lay dead or bleeding profusely around us. Ian and I took the muskets of two, turned over their bodies, and emptying their cases of bandoliers, fell into the front rank, and fired like private men ; but in silence, for our gallant High- landers required neither voice nor action to urge them to the performance of their duty as soldiers; for they were all stanch men and true, of that old race which, as our bards say, sprang OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 123 from the soil, and which in other years had tamed " the eagles of the kings of the world." The assailants were now so close to lis that the musket-balls pierced breastplates and bnff coats like silken vests; and as many of our poor fellows who were unable to crawl away, bled to death just where they fell, the planks of the platforms soon became plastered with a horrid and slippery mire of blood and earth, for every moment the cannon-balls of the Austrians tore the latter from the faces of the embrasures, and cast it in showers about us. There were some frightful wounds received by our comrades that night. Ronald Gorm, a sergeant of pikes (in other times a rich gen- tleman-drover from the braes of Lochaber), had his face shot away by a ball from a basilisk; another had his lower-jaw torn off by the ball of a falconet; and a piper, Eed Fergus of the Clan Yurich, was shot through the nose and eyes, but lived for three days in blindness, and such agony that it would have been a mercy under God to have pistoled him outright. This was my first bout with an enemy, and that these horrors impressed me I am not ashamed to own. More than on«e my heart shrank within me on seeing a strong and stately fellow doubled up like a tartan plaid, and hurled out of the ranks, with a cannon-ball fairly through his body. The cries of the wounded were piteous, but there was no time to heed them ; though every instant we had to drag away the fallen men, whose bodies en- cumbered the wheels of the cannon and parapets, through the embrasures of which we suffered severely from the fire of the assailants. At last, seeing probably the futility of attempting to storm a work so resolutely defended, until he had prepared means to effect the passage of the ditch which encircled it, and which was both deep and broad, the baffled Count of Carlstein, about mid- night, and just when the moon was waning, made his trumpets sound a retreat. The fire of the artillery ceased on the emi- nence; the infantry retired under cover of some rising grounds beyond it, where they bivouacked, lighted their fires, and set about cooking, acting true to the soldier's proverb — " The dead 124 PHILIP ROLLO; to their graves, and the quick to their suppers;" the smoke cleared away, and we saw the shattered stockades; the Reins- dorf road heaped with bodies piled over each other, swords, pikes, drums, helmets and muskets; and by the light of the sinking moon, we could see the miserable maimed, crawling on their hands and knees towards the Elbe, seeking water to quench that fiery thirst, which the exhaustion of the assault and the agony of their wounds made more poignant. I was gazing dreamily at this sudden change in the prospect from the redoubt, and still seeming to hear the united roar of the attack in my ears, when the loud clear voice of Dunbar aroused me. " Piper — blow the gathering ! M'Farquhar, Kildon, brave gen- tlemen, muster your companies, call the roll, and number the dead!" OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 125 CHAPTER XIX. THE CBOWN OF TIKE. For lis, a mere "handful," opposed to a column so powerful, there could be no rest j thus, while one half of our slender force remained under arms, the others worked hard at the rej)air and further strengthening of the works, by means of cannon-baskets filled with earth, sandbags, beds and mattresses, taken from the houses, and chandeliers made of roofs and flooring sawn into billets, trussed up in bundles, and banked over with turf. We made the utmost exertion, because, though unmolested, we augured, by the constant report of fire-arms in the Imperial bivouac, that the troops were busy discharging, cleaning,, and preparing their fire-arms for a second attack. In one deep grave, within the sconce, we buried our dead, placing more than forty of them side by side, and so covered them up. The last we put in was the sergeant, Ronald Gorm. " Poor Ronald ! " said Phadrig Mhor ; " 'tis thou must perform the faire-chloidh;^^ for it is a Highland superstition that the soul of the last person buried in any place, must keep watch there until another corpse is brought, whose spirit relieves the former. -^z "Ronald's ghost will not be long on guard," said Ian; "for I am much mistaken if more heads will not be broken before to-morrow." The piper played a sweet and sad lament at this unseemly funeral j in the old Highland fashion, we placed four large stones above that ghastly tomb, and, in the language of the bards, bade them speak to other years, and to the men of other times. The wounded we sent off to Gluckstadt in rough country carts, 123 PHILIP hollo; tlirougK the open joints of which their blood ran dripping on the dusty road. As a protection, a small guard of pikes accom- panied them; for our stragglers and sick were frequently murdered by the boors, whose cujjidity their silver buttons and ornaments served to excite. A ration of skeidam was served round to us all ; and about sunrise, after doubling the guards and seeing that the Imperial- ists, though within cannon-shot, were not intending to molest us, Dunbar ordered our men to ''pile arms," and take some repose. Poor fellows ! they lay down to sleep in their armour, and with their bare legs on the gory platforms or cold earth ; and there, amid the scattered shot, the exploded shells, the blood gouts, and the broken weapons, I enjoyed the sound sleep of a wearied soldier, and undisturbed by the reflection that it might be the last I should ever enjoy; and you, good reader, would have slept sound also, after the toil, the carnage, and ex- citement of such a night as that at Boitzenburg. Anxious to defend his post with honour, Dunbar — that brave old cavalier — never slept, but remained watching every move- ment of the enemy, whom we permitted, without molestation, to bear away their wounded from under the very muzzles of our cannon; but the moment this was over, the pipes sounded, the drums beat, and we were again roused to man the ramparts, for again they were coming on, and with renewed vigour, for three battalions of Spanish Imperialists had joined the Count in the night. " Pikes and pistols — here they are again ! " cried our veteran major, or sergeant-major, for according to the Danish etiquette we called him both ; " but fear not, my brave hearts, for God is with us, and His hand is over us. Believe me, gentlemen, our cannon are noway inferior to theirs for not having Latin mumbled, and holy water sprinkled, over them by the superior of the Jesuits. So to your guns, my wight cannoniers — to them again with handspike and linstock — with rammer and quoin!" About the closing in of the evening, a dense column of Spanish infantry, with pikes and musketeers intermingled, suddenly debouched upon the roadway from behind the little eminence OE, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 127 wliicli had sheltered them, and poured impetuously forward, to assail again the stockades of the grafFj while a brigade of Aus- trians rushed towards the sluice which admitted into it the water of the Elbe; and though thrice, by sheer dint of cannon and musketry, we drove them back, they forced a passage to the angle of the ditch, and climbing literally over piles of their own dead and dying, cut the chains by their axes, and, closing the sluice by sledge-hammers, retired with a loud hurrah ; for im- mediately the water in the ditch began to subside. On this the furious Spaniards redoubled their efforts to carry the palisades; but as these projected at the angle of forty-five degrees from a steep bank, and were swept by our fire, it was a task of the greatest danger and difficulty; yet these valiant hearts accom- plished it, and reached the inner edge of the ditch, but as fast as they mounted they were shot down, and when struck we could see the blood spouting from their buff coats and corslets as if ejected from a syringe. " Fire on the sluice ! " cried Dunbar to Captain Learmonth, whose pikemen still worked our cannon; "break through the planks — admit the Elbe, and fill the graff again." " It is impossible!" replied that cavalier; "for our guns can- not be depressed so low," "Then Heaven help us ! for they will soon gain this poor sconce by storm." "We can still retire by the bridge," said Learmonth. " Without orders?" exclaimed Dunbar, the umbriere of whose helmet was, at that moment, torn away by a shot; "nay, I will die first ! " Learmonth, who was levelling a cannon, was about to make some devil-may-care reply, when two musket-balls struck him ; one pierced his cuirass, and wounded him in the breast; the other tore away three fingers of his left hand, and he fell with- out a cry, but with a heavy groan, while his lieutenant, old Martin of that Ilk, assumed his place. " This, to avenge thee, Balcomie," said he, discharging the cannon, and unhorsing a cavalier, whose bright armour and waving plumage made him dangerously conspicuous above the 128 PHILIP ROLLO; dense mass of Spaniards wlio were swarming over the stockades, and lowering their ladders into the now almost empty fosse. "Well done, stout Martin!" said Dunbar, brandishing his sword j " to thy cannon again, and give me another good shot — another like that for the Queen of Bohemia ! Down with that tall fellow in the gilt armour ! Cocksnails, man ! — he may be Carlsteiu himself! Down with the black eagle, and down with the cross of Burgundy ! Load with cartridge shot my cannoniers, and sweep the stockade; sweep, my comrades, and be stanch as voLir swords of steel. Ah ! pikes and pistols — my poor Martin — and thou, too?" he added, as a ball from a falconet passed through the head of the old lieutenant, and killed him on the spot: he was the last of the Martins of that Ilk, a good old family ruined in the affair of the Spanish Blanks, since when he had fed himself with the blade of his sword among the Scot- tish bands in Bohemia, or elsewhere. It was frightful ! Poor Martin's brains flew over me, and, half blinded, I wiped them off my face with my scarf; while, enraged by the loss of two favourite officers (though Low- landers), our clansmen redoubled their energies, and thus the din increased as the smoke and flaughter deepened around us. Brightly the evening sun was shining on the blue water and green banks of the Elbe ; but enveloped in the white cloud of war, inspired with ferocity, and bent on carnage and destruction, we saw nothing but the enemy and our dying comrades, who every moment fell heavily down in their accoutrements, bleeding and in agony, or stone dead, as the fated shot might strike them ; but closing up, shoulder to shoulder, the little band of survivoi-s stood firm on the parapet ready to repel the assault; for still the Danish flag was flying on the colour-staff, and still the Scottish cross was streaming on the rampart. We — the officers — fought side by side with our musketeers, till our mustaches were all matted by the wet powder of bitten cartridges, and our shoulders ached with the exertion of incessant firing, while the barrels of our muskets became so hot that there was eminent danger in recharging them; yet still we toiled on. And now came the crisis; for though three successive storming parties ' OR; THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. ' 129 had been swept away, our ammunition began to fail, and, as the bandoliers emptied, our fire slackened, and then the Spaniards andAustrians — pikemen, halberdiers, and musketeers, all mingled pell-mell — led by officers having pistols in their belts, and swords, daggers, and demi-lances, poured into the ditch ; rushing down their ladders, and planting them against the wall, they swarmed up its face in hundreds. Sheathed in brilliant armour, magnificently inlaid with gold, having his visor closed, a sword in his right hand and a poniard in his left, which also grasped a light rondelle or buckler, the tall and stately Count of Carlstein, wearing above his gorget the Golden Fleece and the White Eagle, led the forlorn hope. "Victoria! Victoria !" we heard him crying. "Forward, for- ward ! swords and pikemen ! " " Sancta Maria ! " replied his soldiers, in a thousand varying tones uniting in one roar; "Sancta Maria ! Vivat — vivat !" and that wild cry of the Austrians was echoed by the wilder hurrah of a regiment of Croats, who had leaped from their white horses, and were levelling their long carbines at us, point-blank over their saddles, with deadly precision. As the foe approached I looked at Ian. With his eyes flashing under the peak of his helmet, and both hands clenched on the hilt of his claymore, he was surveying the scene below with stern calmness. Phadrig Mhor, with a Lochaber axe, stood by his side, and the M'Far- quars, with their empty muskets clubbed, stood grimly in their ranks. They were a dark, a savage, and picturesque group. " You see, my cousin," said Ian, in that grim jesting tone which he could assume at times ; " that King Christian has re- solved we shall pay dearly for declining the Danish cross. We shall all find our graves by the shore of the Elbe." " Ye say truth, M'Farquhar," said Dunbar, as he pressed to the front with a partisan in his hand, and a pair of pistols in his belt ; " but if ever we have a Hegisippus to relate our story, he shall never, like a lying loon, have it to say that we feared the face of man. But that king, whose life was saved by the Scot- tish Eittmaster Hume, on the day he fled from the battle of Liitter, should have remembered that trifling circumstance j and VOL. I. K 130 PHILIP EOLLO; also that his sister had the honour to be queen of fair Scotland. But bide ye — hark!" Above the uproar in the trench below us, the fire of the Croatian calivers, and the shouts of the stormers, we heard the clang of a horse's hoofs on a paved street, and saw a cavalier lightly armed, galloping in mad haste across the bridge of the Elbe, and in three seconds he dashed into the heart of the sconce amongst us. "The Baron Karl of Klosterfiord, aide-de-camp to the king!" exclaimed Ian and others. " Herr Dunbar," said he, breathlessly; "you are to abandon the sconce, spike the cannon if you cannot bring them off, blow up the bridge of the Elbe, and retire to Lauenburg or Gliick- stadt." "'Tis too late, baron — these orders have come too late to save us," replied Dunbar, as hand to hand we met the Impe- rialists, hewing them from their ladders with swords and hal- berts, thrusting them down at push of pike into the fosse, where many of them, by falling head foremost, perished miserably among the mud and sap below. Bight in the gorge of our embrasure stood the Count of Carlstein, fighting with sword and buckler against Ian, whose powerful form overtopped the foe, though he could not stand erect while swaying his two-handed sword. Their soldiers press- ed on behind them, and deadly was strife at that point; for against it the enemy were pouring all their strength and fury. Save an occasional pistol shot, the din was occasioned alone by the cries of the combatants, and the clash of their weapons, steel sparkling on steel; and nothing could surpass the bravery of Count Carlstein and his Spaniards, but that of Ian Dhu and his company. Hurled over each other in whole sections by our levelled pikes, we rolled them into the ditch; but other sections came up in their places, and their cries rent the air. " Viva Ferdinand ! A Dios ! a Cristo y al Espiritu Santo, gloria y gracias ! Victoria ! Victoria ! " For lack of powder our men hurled sand, earth, and stones, right into their faces, and on, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 131 Pliadrig Mhor hewed away with his pole-axe like a mowel* in &, ripe clover field. Amid this dense mass in the embrasure, while pikes were crashing) swords ringing, and colours flying, swaying to and fro — now on this side, and now on that— many frightful wounds were given and received. lan's right knee, being bare and unprotected, was drenched in blood from a stab, which raised his Highland blood to the boiling pitch, and, by one headlong stroke, he hurled, the count, as if he had been a mere puppet, into the heart of the ditch ; but his place was immediately supplied by another cava- lier wearing the Imperial scarf, and carrying in one hand a demi-pike, in the other a banner with the black eagle. With one foot on a culverin, and the other on the cope of the parapet, during this melee I was handling my half-pike so pro- minently that I was the mark of many a bullet, but escaped them all, though receiving innumerable bruises. While he fonght with others, the sword of my noble cousin shred off many a pike-head, and broke down many a sword, which menaced me; for, like wight Wallace of old, it was no uncommon event for Ian Dhu to encounter four men at once, and knock them all on the head in succession, aiding his friends the while by many a casual thrust and blow. In this desperate and destructive struggle their native strength and skill in the use of their weapons, together with their lofty position, gave our bare-kneed warriors an immense superiority over the Spanish or Austrian storm ers; but it was evident that, step by step, by main force of numbers, they would drive us into the heart of the place, where we would infallibly be all cut to pieces or taken. Major Wilson, Sir Patrick Mackay, Culcraigie, Kildon, M'Coll of that Ilk, and others, all fought* valiantly in their own ranks ; and it was a glorious sight to see so many brave Scottish cavaliers, all handling sword and pike as if they had come into the world with harness on their backs. But, meanwhile, where was old Dunbar 1 for he, who usually was in the thickest of every fray, was not now in the front with his two-handed cliobh. Our soldiers, who soon missed him, were beginning to lose heart, and cried repeatedly — 132 PHILIP ROLLO; " A Dunbar 1 a Dunbar ! " "I am here, my comrades! Ah, pikes and pistols — clear tbe way ! " replied the sturdy veteran, as he sprang into the embra- sure, and hurled among the assailants something which seemed to me like an immense hoop. It was enveloped in light smoke, and became covered with flames as it fell among the dense masses of armed men in the graft' below ; a sudden yell arose from thence, and an immediate panic followed. This wary old veteran, who had served with Camp-Marshal Hepburn and Sir Andrew Gray in Bohemia, and with Count Mansfeldt in Flanders, in expectation of an assault, had prepared a couronne foudroyante, which was composed of four iron hoops, bound together with wire, and studded by loaded pistol barrels, crackers, pointed pieces of iron, glass bottles filled with powder, and bunches of grenades (those notable inventions of 1574), the whole being covered with tarred and oiled flax, which wreathed the hoops with fire as they rolled, a blazing and exploding mass among the stormers. The barrels of the pistols, which were loaded to the muzzle, as they became redhot vomited their leaden contents every where ; the bottles of powder burst, and the grenades exploded, scattering death and mutilation as their showers of splintered iron, stones, and nails, were driven among the shrinking storming party, which fled in every direction up the ladders, over the stockades, and to the farthest ends of the ditch. For five minutes the panic was general ; but those five minutes saved the soldiers of Dunbar, who cut and destroyed the scaling-ladders. A hoarse shout for vengeance burst from the foe. Led on again -by the Count and the cavalier with the black eagle, the Impe- rialists poured in thousands into the ditch; but before fresh ladders were planted upon those corpse-strewn heaps which filled it, and before the infuriated pikemen had gained the summit of the parapet, we had drawn back our twenty brass culverins, traced the horses to them, and retired in double-quick time by the bridge. In close ranks, with pikes sloped," and muskets trailed, the OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 133 three hundred Highlanders who survived crossed the Elbe; and the horses galloping at full speed, drew the heavy culverins over the broad arches with the sound of thunder. Holding his startled charger by the bridle, Dunbar stood near the klinket of the sconce to spring the mine the moment the last of us were passed. The M'Farquhars were the last who retired. " The colours — the standard ! Ensign RoUo, you have left your colours behind ! " cried the old man in a furious tone ; " they are still flying on the parapet, within arm's length of the enemy." Thunderstruck by his words, I paused irresolutely. " God's death!" he cried passionately; "the Imperialists have never yet gained one from our Scottish bands, and shall the first be taken from the regiment of Strathnaver? Pikes and pistols! — at the risk of your life, youngster, bring off that standard, or die under it." He levelled a pistol at me ; but at that time I scarcely heard all he said, as I rushed back to the bastion, where in the hurry of bringing off the cannon we had left St. Andrew's cross flying. The Austrians were indeed within arm's-length ; a storm of bullets swept around me, as I tore it down and sprang after my comrades, followed by a swarm of Imperialists, who now poured over the undefended rampart like a living flood. Closely pursued by a volley of oaths and bullets, I ran towards the bridge of the Elbe, and had almost reached the tete-du-pont when, lo ! the arches rocked beneath my feet, there was a tremendous explosion, with a broad blaze of lurid light, and then a cloud of darkness, dust and stones arose before me, and I knew not whether I was in the clouds or on the earth, as the mine was sprung, and the great centre arch blown into the air. Like the shower of a volcano, the debris descended upon the crystal current of the Elbe. Before me, a deep chasm yawned between the ruined piers; behind me, were the fierce Imperialists! On the opposite ruin stood Dunbar, still grasping his restive horse by the bridle. " I could not help it, EoUo," he cried ; " better that one ehould be lost, than all!" 134 PHILIP ROLLO; I thought my heart would burst tinder its band of steel ; but tearing the silken colour from its staff, and placing a stone with- in it, I flung it across to Dunbar. He snatched it up, sprung into his saddle, and galloped after the retiring Highlanders, who had now disapj^eared in the silent streets of Boitzenburg. Though encumbered by my back, breast, and headpieces, my heavy tartan kilt and accoutrements, my first thought was to spring into the river and swim it, as I had often swam the Dee and Don ; but a bullet, almost spent, struck my head. The good steel cap prevented it from piercing my brain, but I sank on the spot, and felt the ruin crumbling under me, as, with one arm overhanging the water, I lay upon the fragment of the bridge. I i"emember no more* -^ OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 135 CHAPTER XX. EUPERT-WITH-THE-RED-PLUME. I LAY long insensible, concealed by a mound of rubbish winch the explosion of the bridge had thrown up between me an4 the sconce, where the fierce Croats and savage Spaniards hdd bar- barously slain all our poor wounded men, and thrown them into the river; for the first objects which appeared when sense re- turned, were several corpses in dark green tartan floating on the surface of the Elbe almost below me, and in the yellow flush with which the setting sun tinged the broad river. Many of these bodies were half-stripped by those infamous women who followed the Imperialists in such numbers, and who founj an unwonted prize in the silver brooches and jewelled biodags of the Highland soldiery. " Oh cursed bigotry, and accursed ambition ! " thought I, when reflecting on these horrors ; for ambition had produced the war of aggression, and religious bigotry had inflamed the minds of the enemy, and urged them to that atrocious pitch of cruelty, of which the sack of Magdeburg was an example so terrible ! I was about to stagger up to seek a draught of water — for the agony I endured from thirst cannot be written — when a heavy hand was laid upon me, and a somewhat familiar voice said — " If you would escape death, lie still as if you were dead." I looked up, and in the splendidly armed cavalier who ad- dressed me, recognised by his military orders the great Count of Carlstein, and by his voice that Imperialist who had bestowed on me the golden chain, and from whom I had received the flag of truce. " Lie still," he continued hurriedly, " till nightfall, at least. 136 PHILIP ROLLO; and then I will have you conveyed away. I had an order from Tilly to put all to the sword in forcing a passage here, and his orders must be obeyed by all who receive them. Feign death if you would escape." Unable to reply, I sank again, and how long T remained so, I have not the least idea ; but, when aroused fully, I found myself on horseback, and supported on the saddle on one side by a gentleman in bright armour ; on the other, by a man in the Celtic garb of my own regiment. The whole landscape swam around me, but I per- ceived that there was a brilliant moon shining ; that the Elbe with its ruined bridge lay on my right, and yellow fields, with rustling trees and green hedges, extended to the left. A mouthful of brandy and water revived me, and I said to the soldier — " Who are you?" " Dandy Dreghorn, sir, of puir Captain Learmonth's company," he replied, and then I recognised him as one of the Low Country pikemen, of whom we had a few in the regiment, from the coun- ties on the Highland border. " And how did you escape?" " By feigning mysel stane deid, sir, sae they just dookit me in the Elbe ; but I could swim like a cork, and hid myself among the green rashes till this gentleman saved me. Oh, sir, it was an awesome butchery! mair than forty gallant fellows, who were sairly wounded, shot deid, or hacked to pieces by knives and whingers, and flung into the river. If ever I spare an Imperialist after this night o' bluid, my name is no Dandy Drecfhorn ! " ♦ " And where are we going — why in this direction?" " To a house that I wot of, not far from this," replied the gentleman, who had a large red plume in his helmet; " there, orders have been given to convey you." The country became more woody as we proceeded, and the moonlit road wound past various lonely tarns, overgrown by broad-leaved plants and water lilies; the deep water on which they floated, being rendered yet darker by the shade of many an aged oak. After a pause, I said — " From whom have you orders concerning me?" OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 137 " The Count of Carlstein," replied the stranger. " That ferocious butcher ! Then I am hopelessly a prisoner." " That depends upon the count," he replied, laughing ; " but I am sorry you should have such a bad opinion of him." " Pardon me, sir" — said I, checking the bridle of the horse; " what have I permitted myself to say ? I now perceive that you are the count himself!" Dandy started on hearing this; but the count — for it was in- deed he — smiled, and said — " I thought you would soon recognise me." " Good Heaven! you are a Scotsman, and yet can butcher your own countrymen thus!;" " I do not butcher them," he replied in a broken voice ; " they defended that bridge after a fair warning of what they might expect if the fort was stormed, and bravely have they fought, leaving it without one cannon lost or colour taken. Besides, sir, please to remember that I am not the only Scotsman who serve the Emperor. We have more than one regiment of our countrymen, and many a Scottish commander, in the army of the Empire." " And why is this?" " Because, like myself, they are all true Catholics, and serve the Catholic League, whose princes are pledged to exterminate Protestantism. And yet, sir, I was not always a Catholic. I remember well when I toddled at my poor mother's apron to our village kirk at home ; I remember its time-worn arches, the pointed windows, and the gloomy pews ; I can remember the ven- erable minister, with his thin haffets and lyart pow, his benignant face, and smooth Geneva bands ; I remember the deep religious awe with which I lent my little voice to swell the choral psalm, and heard him expound who in his youth had heard Knox preach and Spottiswoode declaim ! I can remember the grave, attentive faces of the congregation, the laced lairds and plaided shepherds, the young girls who have now become grandmothers, and the old people who are now in their graves — rest them, God! — ay, graved in Scottish earth, where I may never lie. Yes — yes — I can remember the day when I was a stanch 138 PHILIP EOLLO; Presbyterian, and would have looked — like you — with horror on the cross and eagle of the Empire. But if you knew all that I owe to the Church of Rome, you might pardon me for having rushed into its arms. Early in life, my misfortunes — it matters not what they were, or how they came about — made me, with others — a slave in Barbary. There I remained for five loug years. Oh ! what years these were, of hardship and repining ; of toil and stripes ; of hunger and mortification ; of pain of body and agony of mind. Yet no efibrt was made by our countrymen in Scotland to relieve us, though we were numerous — gentlemen, seamen, and merchants — chained together like felons or wild beasts As Christian men — though Scots, heretics, and Presbyterians — ten of us were redeemed from slavery by the poor monks of the blessed Order of Redemption. Those true servants of God brought us to the Italian shore, and there upon the sands of Porto Pino, just where the Levanter landed us, on our knees we vowed to fight for that religion which had saved us from a life that was worse than a thousand deaths. We joined the army of the Emperor Ferdinand II. — ten of us — all privates in a troop of Lindesay's Scottish Beitres. We fought against the Elector Frederick, against Mansfeldt, old Sir Andrew Gray, and the Margravine of Anspach; hewing our way through Lusatia, Upper Austria, and the Palatinate of Bohemia. The storming of Frankenthal saw the ninth of my comrades slain, and me a captain ; the siege of Bergen-op-zoom saw me a colonel of pikes. I was sergeant-major di battaglia, under Don Gonzalez de Cordova in Hainault, and am now Camp Master-general and Count of Carlstein, Lord of Geizer and Koningratz, under the Black Eagle. I believe, young gentle- man, you will acknowledge that I owe these old monks of Redemption much; for I should have waited long enough, if I had tarried until some of our Scottish ministers came to Barbary to release me, to heal my scars and break my fetters. But enough of these prosy explanations," he added loftily, haughtily — almost fiercely ; " I have saved your lives, when I might have left you both to your fate. Taunt me not with the loss of those poor fellows at Boitzenburg — for they had a fair warning to OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. ]39 marcli off without firing a shot, or being fired on — to withstand an assault and risk extermination." " May I ask to what family you belong, and what is your Scottish name, Sir Count?" "I belong to a family that never rftgretted my loss, so I disown it," he replied bitterly. " The Imperialists call me Eupert-with-the- Red- Plume ; but what is your name, and who are your family?" " Like your own, count, my family were not much distressed by my departure ; so their name matters little — their memory less; but our Highlandmen call me Philip M'Combich, which means Philip, the son of my friend.^'' The Count laughed at this mode of retorting upon his reserve, saying — • " Well, well, let us each keep our little secrets ; but here we are arrived at last. This is my temporary chateau, and a very comfortable one you will find it." With their copper vanes glittering in the moonlight, the high- pointed and old-fashioned gables of a hall now appeared above some thick copsewood. Entering an avenue of old beech-trges, we were alternately in light and shadow as we passed their ivied stems; we came to a broad fosse full of long reeds and wild water-plants, chiefly floating lilies, and over this we passed by an old and moss- green bridge of stone, at the end of which was an archway surmounted by armorial bearings which proved after- wards to be those of my friend, the Baron Karl of Klosterfiord, one of whose mansions on the Luneburg side of the Elbe had been appropriated by the Imperialists as the quarters of the Count of Carlstein and a troop of Keitres, whose horses were stabled in all the lower apartments where the doors would admit them. The vast and irregular fagade of the old chateau, with its broad balconies, its steeple-like turrets and indented gables, was bathed in white moonlight, a number of noisy and half-armed soldiers thronged the courts, or played at dice and shovelboard, over cans of German beer in the stone chambers on the ground floor, where they burned large fires on the tesselated pavement, 140 PHILIP ROLLOj and recklessly were never in want of fuel, while doors, windows, and furniture lasted. As we entered the court, two yonng ladies in light-coloured dresses appeared at the upper balcony, and waved their handker- chiefs to the Count, whom I immediately concluded to be as gay as other generals of Ferdinand II. I was surprised, however, at not seeing more of the fair sex, for a vast number followed the soldiers of the Catholic League ; and there are several instances of their garrisons, which, on obtaining permission to march out with the honours of war, brought away more women than men — death-hunters and ammunition-wives. In morality the Imperialists formed a strong contrast to the armies of the Pro- testant champions. Christian of Denmark and Gustavus of Sweden, who would not permit camp-followers of any descrip- tion to hang npon the skirts of their forces. Under their black iron helmets, the tipsy Reitres of Garlstein savagely eyed poor Dandy Dreghorn, who kept close by my side as we crossed the quadrangle to the door of the vestibule, where the count kindly assisted me to dismount, and gave me his arm to lean upon when ascending the stair. Dandy was following us closely, when the count desired a greyhaired lance-spesade of the troop, whom he called Gustaf Spiirrledter, to " take him among the soldiers, and be answerable for his safety and com- fort, limb for limb — and body for body." We entered a brilliantly lighted room, where a magnificent supper was laid, with covers for three; it was waiting for the count, towards whom the young ladies sprang -svith a cry of joy, and embraced him — " My daughters," said he ; " Ensign Mac — ^upon my word, I forget your name ! " I bowed, and tottered to a seat, for the effect of my contusion, and the ride on horseback over a villanous road, were telling severely upon me now. I could only perceive that one lady was very dark, that the other was fair, and that both looked kindly and pityingly upon me. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 141 " Off with his helmet, girls!" said the count, "and bring him a cup of wine." I felt my steel cap removed, then a deluge of warm blood spread over my eyes, and blinded me. A cry burst from the young ladies. "Poor boy!" I heard the count saying; "poor boy! Ho, Gustaf SpUrrledter — away with him to bed — quick there below ! " 142 PHILIP ROLLO; CHAPTER XXI. THE FAIR HAIR AND THE DARK HAIR. The sun, as it slione upon my eyes next morning, awoke ma I started, gazed around, and sunk again, for I struggled with a dreamy sense of pain and oppression. I was not in a bivouac, lying on the hard earth with a sword for a pillow and a plaid for my covering, but on a bed of the softest down; and the glance I had given revealed to me a tapestried room, the hangings of which were old and dark, representing huntsmen in the antique German costume of the fourteenth century, antlered deer peeping from among the leaves, and large Danish hounds in the foreground. The warmth of the sunshine was playing on my cheek, and the fragrance of a thousand flowers, with the merry notes of the birds as they sang their summer songs, came through an open window, wafted on the breeze together— music and perfume. I heard the murmur of a distant cascade, and the foliage rustling on the old oaks, the yellow linden-trees, and copper beeches. The furniture of the apartment was rich and luxurious ; but, as all was confusion in my mind, for a time I forgot how it came to pass that I was there, and still imagined myself at the fort of Boitzenburg. I saw the stately forms of Ian Dhu and Phadrig Mhor, of Learmonth and Dunbar, as they hewed down the Imperial escalade. I still heard the din of the conflict, the war-cry of the Spaniards, the wild slogan of the Highlanders, and the wilder yells of the Croatian horsemen ; and then I gave a convulsive start to find myself in a comfortable bed, which suggested ideas of Craigrollo, and the college of James TV. Thus, when again I dosed, the old familiar features of my homo OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 143 passed before me — those scenes whose solemn grandeur makes, on the mind of the young mountaineer, that lively and peculiar impression which the denizen of a flat country cannot conceive; and thus, on that feverish couch, many a face and many a dream of other days floated before me. Near my father's house there flowed a linn — a deep, dark linn, where the wee hurnie poured over a ledge of rock ; it was crossed by a large stone, and I remember the time when that brigstane was quite a bridge to me. I seemed to hear the murmur of the linn and the rustle of my paternal woods, and saw the white blossoms of the sweet-scented hawthorn birks that grew beneath the old tower wall. I heard the bleat of the sheep that browsed upon my father's hills; the rich perfume of the purple heather, and of the bells of that beautiful broom, from which the sweetest honey is gathered by the mountain bee, were wafted towards me. I heard my mother's gentle voice, but it seemed to come from a vast distance on the drowsy hum of summer, and all my soul was stirred within me. I was a child again, and I wept in my sleep like the lonely boy I was. I wept, but I knew not why, unless it were that through these tender visions there came.an oppressive sense of their unreality. The past conflicted with the present, and I felt that I was far away from those dear hills of Cromartie, from the shores of their blue Firth, and the dusky peaks of the Black Isle — sick, weary, and wounded — a stranger in the land of the stranger and foe. Oh ! I may be pardoned in thinking, that no heart like the heart of the Scot and the Switzer feel that dire loneliness when so far from home; and none like they are haunted by the strange sad fear, of being buried far from the graves of their kindred. Yet how many of our brave Scottish hearts have mouldered into dust on the plains of Flanders and Germany ; by the shores of the Elbe and the Oder, the Rhine and the Danube, the Zoom and the Zuiderzee ! When again I unclosed my eyes and gazed between the parted hangings of the bed, I perceived two young ladies at the foot of the apartment. They were conversing in a low tone, and placing flowers in a large vase. They were the daughters of the count; but as ladies have the privilege of giving the first 144 OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. recognition among us in Scotland, and as their presence in my- apartment miglit be a mistake, I waited until they should address me. I observed that one was a fair girl, clad in that pale blue silk which so well becomes persons of her complexion ; but the elder and the taller of the two, a beautiful girl with jetty hair, was dressed in orange-coloured satin, a tint which so well consoi-ted with her dark hair and fine complexion. You would have loved the youngest had you seen her face, there was such a sweet ex- pression in its pretty mouth and dove-like eyes ; but the eldest — • her form was beautiful, her features irreproachable, her profile was noble, and the freshness and delicacy of her complexion were remarkable. Her fashion of dress, her air, her mode of holding up her head, had something more of gentle blood in them than her sister; and though it would have been difficult to find two more lovely girls, each after her own style — the eldest seemed to be the proudest pet of nature. " He seems to be still asleep, Gabrielle," said the dark beauty ; " but uneasily — for I have heard him moan." "Hush — you will wake him — how loud you do talk, Ernestine !" So, one is called Gabrielle, and the elder is Ernestine, thought I. Such pretty names these are — and they speak German, too ! I would have sworn Ernestine was a Spaniard, but her black hair has come with her Scottish blood. Having completed their arrangement of the vase, they ap- proached, placed it on a little tripod table near me, and softly drew back one of the rich curtains of the bed. I felt very much inclined to laugh. " Poor young man ! " said Ernestine ; " he is smiling in his sleep." I endeavoured to assume a look of the most charming candour. " His hair is dark and curly," said Gabrielle. " He reminds me somewhat of poor Lerma, who was slain at Lutter." I heard Gabrielle sigh. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEEES. 1 i5 "She lias lost a lover at that unlucky battle," thought 1, and was in some degree correct ; for these fair girls had many lovers, but they had never distinguished any, save one, the gallant young Conde de Lerma, son of the Spanish duke of that name, to whom Gabrielle had been betrothed at an age which was too tender to possess any other love than such as a brother might have for a sister; and like a brother the boy count had loved his little wife ; but a cannon-ball had decapitated him at Liitter in the moment of victory, and there was an end of it. Gabrielle had wept for the loss of her young friend — Lerma had been nothing more — and she still retained his betrothal ring on the fourth finger of her right hand. " Oh yes ! " said she ; " he is just like Lerma." " With the same amount of mustache," added Ernestine. " Lerma had less — but he was so young." My hand lay upon the coverlet, and, vidth her soft warm hand, Ernestine touched it gently by chance. " He is hot and feverish — we must be Yery kind to him, Gabrielle. Poor boy ! " The touch of Ernestine's hand made my heart vibrate; biffc I remembered Prudentia, and resolved to steal my heart against all soft impressions and nonsense for the future. She is very beautiful and charming, of course, thought I; but let me beware how I fall lightly into that troublesome trap again. Now, reflecting that it was unfair, by a seeming sleep, to impose upon them thus, I made preparations to awake, on which they let the hangings drop, and glided noiselessly to some distance. On my drawing back the curtain, they both approached me again, and Gabrielle, who possessed either less pride or more frankness than Ernestine, asked me, with the most winninsr kindness, " How I was," and bade me " good-morning." I replied that the pain of my bruise was gone, that a little giddiness remained ; but that I suffered greatly from thirst. On hearing this they hurried to a side table, and in a minute returned with a silver salver, bearing some warm refreshment, VOL. I. L i4G PHILIP EOLLO; of whicli I partook because it was offered by the wliite jewelled hand of Gabrielle, though I would have given the world for a cup of pure cold water. " I am too much honoured by such attendance — I beseech you to retire, and send to me the soldier, my fellow prisoner. I recognise in you tlie daughters of the count, who so kindly saved me, when our wounded — poor souls! — were so mercilessly slaughtered at Boitzenburg yesterday." " Our father has desired us alone to attend you, and, as his countryman, we quite love you already," said the frank Gabrielle, with one of her delightful smiles; "you can have no other attendants save us, or Corporal SpUrrledter, and perhaps the soldier who accompanies you." "Honest Dandy Dreghorn'?" " But both you and he," added the graver and statelier Ernestine, " must remain concealed closely ; for, as Count Tilly will be here in the course of to-morrow, to explain reasons for our request were a needless task." " Tilly!" I reiterated, giving a convulsive start, and glancing about for my claymore and biodag, on hearing the name of that terrible leader of the great crusade against the Protestants of Germany and the liberties of Northern Europe. " If Tilly is to pass this way, then Dandy and I have been too long here, for to the Protestant soldiers of Christian lY. he shews such mercy as a cat shews to mice. Ah ! he is a merciless old savage, and will shoot us as a mere matter of course." " John of Tsercla, the Count Tilly, is general of all the armies of the Empire!" said Ernestine proudly, and with an air of pique. " Ah ! sister, but he is very cruel," urged Gabrielle, gently. "Yet fear nothing, sir; my father's influence will protect, and our care conceal you. Simply, he thinks it better or safer, that Tilly should not know you are here." " But take the nice little breakfast we have prepared for you," said the childlike Gabrielle ; " to-morrow you will be stronger, and we shall all talk more together." Ernestine stood, for she seemed all unused to stoop; but Gabrielle knelt down by the side of the low bed, and, holding OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 147 'before me the silver salver, gave me a green crystal cup containing a certain alimentary infusion named coffee, wliicli was to be taken warm and sweetened with Canary sugar, which, like the beverage itself, was then a luxury unknown among us in Scotland. I have since been told, by those cavaliers of our army who were taken prisoners at Worcester, that this coffee has been introduced into England by a person named Pasqua, a Greek, who came to London in 1650, with a Turkish merchant named Edwardes, and who sold it at his shop in Lombard-street, as a medicated restorative for the sick. Never having tasted any thing of this kind before, I felt so wonderfully refreshed and invigorated by one cup, that I was easily prevailed on to take a second, with a little biscuit of honey and flour. I thanked these two beautiful girls politely and sincerely, and, after the hardships endured by us since leaving Itzhoe, could not help expressing my sense of the luxuries with which they had surrounded me. '" You owe us no thanks for that, sir," said the proud Ernestine ; " this house is as much yours as ours, being so by the right which the chance of war gives us over every thing that comes in our way. We accompany our father's column of the Imperial army, and, as he always selects a pretty house for us, I hope you approve of his taste. This mansion belongs to the Baron of Klosterfiord, an officer of Danish pistoliers." " He is my good friend, and a brave soldier!" " But a Protestant," said Gabrielle, quietly. " And consequently a foe of ours," said the other beautiful Imperialist, shaking back her dark curls. "Never mind, sister," added Gabrielle, laughing; "a month hence our dear father may select apartments for us in the castle of Copenhagen." " Your father never will, lady," said I, piqued at her words ; " for there are too many of our tough Scottish blades to keep the passes of the Elbe against both the pride and the power of the Empire." " Here our father comes, and he will best tell you the chances of that," replied Ernestine. 148 PHILIP ROLLO; At that moment I heard a horse ridden rapidly into the quadrangle; then the clank of spurs and the jarring of a long sword, as a cavalier dismounted, entered the vestibule, and ap- proached the room where I lay, and from whence the two young ladies hurried to meet him. Oa, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 149 %ul{ i^t /nurtl;. CHAPTER XXII. DANDY DREGHOBN. After a few mmntes' delay, the count entered alone. He was armed just as I had seen him yesterday, and appeared some- what jaded and fatigued. " Ah, my friend and countryman ! I have again the honour to salute you," said he, seating himself by my bedside. A thousand cannonades! how well you are looking this morning j you will be with your regiment in a week. Ah, that fine regiment ! — I^ing Christian's Invincibles, we call them now. But say, have these lasses, my daughters, been kind to you?" " Kind as sisters.*" ** Right ! for every soldier — more especially a Scottish soldier — • should be their brother, as he is mine, when off the battle-field. The girls are v/arm-heai-ted, for they have been reared, not in courts and cities, among the parasites of kings and slaves of fashion; but in camps and garrisons, among frank soldiers and generous hearts — ^the gallant Austrians and daring Croats ; and all they inherit of old Scotland comes from me. I have been twice married, my dear boy. The mother of Ernestine was a Spanish lady of Flanders ; the mother of Gabrielle, as you may see by her blooming cheek and fair hair, was of Hainault — *Hainault the Valiant!' hence the name of Gabrielle. Tliey are two pretty pets ; I love my dear girls, but think, at times, I would rather they had been boys, that they might have fought for the Catholic faith, and transmitted my hard -won title to pos- 150 PHILIP ROLLO; ,. > terity. At otlier times," continued the count, who seemed in high spirits and in a talking humour; "I am seized with sore longings to see old Scotland again — to see my father's tower, the blue waters, the purple mountains, and the pine-woods of my native place. But I was a younger son. I have made me a new name, a new fame, and patrimony of my own ; I have hewn them out by my sword, and fenced them round by gallant deeds. I will never again have to enact the sorner or the trencherman at the hall-table of a kinsman, or stoop to eat a vassal's bread, though given by an elder brother, when here I am lord of three manors, Carlstein, Geizar, and Kceniugratz, and camp- master of horse, under the Emperor. Yet my heart bled yes- terday at the slaughter of my poor countrymen ! "Would to God they came crowding to the banners of Ferdinand, as they now crowd in teus of thousands to those of Gustavus Adolphus and his rival. King Christian ; of the Duke of Saxe- Weimar, and that prince of cowards, Frederick Guelph, the Elector- Palatine. Then, indeed, the northern war would end without a blow." " Yet all your sympathy did not save our poor wounded men from massacre at Boitzenburg." " Tilly's orders were most stringent — to put all to the sword who resisted, that a terror might be stricken into others, and the Elbe abandoned. You do not know Tilly ; his orders never bear but one construction. We knew quite well that Dunbar had but five hundred Highlanders in yonder sconce. We will never_ lack for information while that sharp fellow Bandolo lives." " Bandolo 1 " I repeated, thinking of Prudentia, the dancer, and endeavouring to recollect something else ; "I have surely heard that name before." " Thus I was ordered at all risks to force the bridge of Boit- zenburg, because it was your weakest point, and strengthened only by your sconce, mounted by twenty guns, which Bandolo undertook to have spiked the night before." " That sconce was an efibrt of poor Learmonth's skill ; but has there been any fighting elsewhere ? " " I have not heard ; but this I know, that Christian IV. struggles in vain to keep us on this side of the Elbe ; for we OR; THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 1.51 will soon build boats, or by storming the bridges force a passage, and everv wliere enter Holstein." " Sinee you are so well informed, count, perhaps you can acquaint me where my comrades have marched to 1 " " I cannot ; — to-morrow our prince of spies will return from tlie Danish side of the river, and Tilly will meet him here ; we shall then know more about them. But I implore you to keep out of the way of the generalissimo, for otherwise I could neither be answerable for your liberty or safety." " Ah ! then you do not mean to keep me a prisoner 1 " said I, with sudden joy. "A prisoner 1 — how could you think so ? No, no ; only till you are well, when we must find some means of transmitting you to the Danish army, which by that time will be in full retreat," " Then^ count, I mean to be quite well to-morrow ; and surely King Christian will not retreat by that time 1 " " You shall not leave us so soon. When I was taken prisoner at the battle of Duneberg, Colonel Sir John Hepburn, of Atliel- staneford, kept me for three weeks in his own tent before lie would let me return. But now, you must excuse me ; to see you I have just stolen a few minutes, and am compelled to re- turn to where my headquarter force is cantoned, for the whole army is closing up towards the Elbe. Meantime, I leave you to the care of old S^^iirrledter and my daughters." " Will they not be alarmed by your departure ? " " Nay, nay ; they have been used to see me go and come in my armour for many a year. They have more than once seen me brought home shoulder-high upon a door, with a bullet through my body ; and more than twice have seen my horse Bello- chio come home, with no trace of his rider but the blood on his saddle -laps. Poor girls, — they are so affectionate ! Gabrielle is quite a child, but Ernestine is more of a woman, and has con- sidered herself one ever since she was three years old; yet, with all her pride and reserve, she can at times be as gentle, as frank, and as playful as Gabrielle. Tilly will be here to-morrow, or next day at the farthest, and then we shall have warm work ; so, my young friend, until I see you again — farewell ! " 152 PHILIP ROLLO; The count retired, with his lofty red plume dancing above his embossed helmet, and his sword Eisenhauer (or Ironhewer), as it could cut both helmets and blades of steel, under his arm ; then I was left, for a time, to my reflections. About an hour after- wards, I heard stealthy footsteps approaching ; the door of my chamber opened, and the broad, good-humoured Lowland face of Dandy Dreghorn — the same soldier whom we had gauntleted for his gluttony on the march — appeared, looking cautiously round the room. He had a large Dutch leather flask in one hand, a brown- ware pot in the other, and a loaf of bread under his arm. My helmet and cuirass, kilt, plaid, and other trappings, were lying upon a sofa; and the moment he espied these items, which were indicative of my presence, he advanced more boldly, and overwhelmed me with questions about my wound, and noisy exclamations of joy at having discovered me. '"' 'Od, sir, I'm glad I've fund ye oot, for I had a sair job seek- ing ye through this muckle ark, from roof to grund stane, like a pair coo in an unco loan. Eh ! sir, that was an awfu' business at the Brig o' Boitzenburg; what a sicht puir Fergus M'Yurich was, wi' the shot through his nose ! He was a grand piper that, and could blaw wi' his mooth fu' o' meal ! " "And how fares it with thee, honest Dandy?" said I, giving him my right hand. " 111 eneuch, sir, Gude kens ! " sighed Dandy, squatting himself upon the floor, placing the jar, the loaf, and the bottle, between his legs, and unclasping an immense jockteleg knife; " 111 eneuch ! for between that dour deevil. Corporal Spiirrledter, and an auld besom o' a housekeeper, that maks a' alike unwelcome, I am weel nigh starved; for they gied me naething for supper last nicht, and for breakfast this morning, but chappit cabbages.'* "Cabbages?" ''Ay, sir, as I'm a leevin' man — chappit wi' pepper and vinegar, sic as at hame we wadna gie to a gi-umphie soo. 'What the deil's this?' said I to auld Spiirrledter; ' /S'oor Craute,' said he. * Soor what?' said I. ' Soor Craute,' he roared out, with an oath like twa sneezes and a snort. ' The Lord hae a care o' me! is this the kind o' drafi" and dreg you Germau OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 153 bodies eat?* ^Yaw,^ said he, as lie ladled a bowlfu' into his stamach like a kail-eating Grant o' Strathspey ; ' and ver goot, too.' ' Does your billy o' an emperor eat kail-blades that way?' He nodded his grey pow, for he was owre fu' to speak. ' Pre- serve us a' — what a beast he maun be !' said I. The auld beggar lookit very like as if he wad hae stickit me, but I gloomed as if I didna care a brass bo die for him.' " So, then, you have neither had supper last night, nor break- fast this morning?" said I, seeing that Dandy was cutting his third slice from the loaf, and was eating and speaking with equal rapidity. " This will never do, I thocht ; ' keep your ain fish-guts for your ain seamaws, corporal,' said I ; 'for before I will live on green kail-blades, or ciistocks either, I'll see you and your emperor baith .' I didna say damned, but I thocht it. I then gaed awa on the forage, and in a slee corner fand this braw pat o' honey, that bottle o' skeidam, and a loaf; then I came in search o' you, sir, for I feared ye might be faring on kail-blades too; and I ken they gang sair against the stamach, unless weel boiled with beef, and mustard conform thereto." "Many thanks, good Dandy," said I, amused by this* brave fellow's garrulity ; " I have already breakfasted, and have done so well." " Then, sir, you'll let me mak mine beside ye, for the soond o* a Scots tongue is just like music to me, and gies me an a^^petite mairowre; for it gars me think o' the halesome breezes that blaw owre the green braes, the sweet smelling heather, and the yellow corn-rigs at hame. My hail heart and my een fill when I think on hame!" and, flourishing his flask, Dandy began to sing,-— *' Comin' thro' the Craigs o' Kyle, Amang the bonnie bloomin' heather, u- There I met a blue-eyed lassie, Keepin' a' her flock thegither. Owre the muir amang the heather! Owre the muir amang the heather ! There I met—" 154 PHILIP ROLLO; " For Heaven's sake, Dreghorn, make less noise." "Fule that I was!" continued Dandy, continuing his repast and his reflections together; "fule that I was ever to leave my plew^ to follow the deil and the drum in the Danish wars — ay, a damned fule," he added emphatically, with moistened eyes, as he sliced away at the loaf, and with his jockteleg spread on the honey an inch thick, and took alternately a, large circular mouth- ful, and a draught from the leathern flask. He then drew an oak quaigh from his sporran, and, mixing the honey with the skeidam, said, " "Will ye no tak a sup, sir"? this is just like Athole brose. Here's to ye, sir, and may we baith be safe wi' Sir Donald in a day or tvva; 'od, there's a gude Stirling pint left yet in the flask, and I'll just pouch it." " Have you seen the count's daughters. Dandy ? " " Ay, have I, Maister lioUo — twa saucy limmers, that laugh at me to my very face ! " " They are very handsome." " Handsome — sune ripe, sune rotten ! They couldna hand a . candle to muirland Ma^jo-ie at the Burnfit o' Drumlie." "Animated by no love of glory, or desire for military fame, I cannot conceive, Dandy, what tempted you to leave your plough, and become a soldier." " It's a lang story, sir,'' replied Dreghorn, with his mouth full; " but I can mak it short enough, if you'll promise never to tell ony o' our chields at the regiment ; for then I wad hae to quit that, as I quat the parochin o' Drumlie." " I pledge you my word. Dandy." "Weel, ye maun ken, sir," continued the hungry Andrew, sighing as he spread the last of the honey on the last of the loaf; "I was a puir plew-lad, and bided wi' an unmarried aunty, an auld whaislin, wallydraigel deevil, that, because she had never gotten a gudeman, took it into her wise heid to turn witch. Noo, sir, whether she was a witch, or wasna a witch, I canna say; but she was auld enough, and ugly enough, for ane; for her hook neb and hairy chin met when she girned, and her twa een were sunk a finger length into her heid ; but, my certie ! they could look oot wickedly eneuch when I suppit owre niuckle OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 155 brose, stole her cream, or let her peas bannocks scouther on the girdle. I say again, sir, that, whether she had any dealings wi' the Auld Gentleman or no, I ken nocht, and noo I care nocht ; but this I ken, that, as she never gaed to kirk or mercat, she sune got the wyte o' a' that gaed wrang in the country side." " Well, Dandy, such as " *.." Enchanting mill wheels, that stood stock-still one hour, and whirled the next as if the deil drave them ; o' making toom y ill -barrels dance in the browster's yard ; o' croaking on lumheids like a corbie, and yowling on the sclaits like a cat ; o' gieing the Dominie the palsy, and the Precentor the pest, and causing ilka other ill that haj)pened in the parish ; o' putting the hail pains o' child-birth upon Jock Tamson the ruling elder, whose gude- wife was safely delivered o' three bairns, while he, gudeman, was dancing and raving about his kailyard, thinking himself be- witched, as he was. She was accused o' raising up whirlwinds; o' dancing wi the diel at the Nine-stane-rig, where he cam dressed like a Hielandman (as I am), with kilt and hose, and the Lord kens a' what mair, for she was like the colley wi' the ill name; until at last our minister, Maister Kittletext, when riding hame to the Manse on a munelicht nicht, frae a meeting o' the kirk-session, saw twa brigs at the burn o' Drumlie, and was weel nigh dooked to death by riding owre the wrang ane. Next morning, he swore before the sheriff, that frae the moment he passed our cottage he saw every thing double, whilk was naething wonderfu' in him, when pricking his auld mear hame in the gloamin' ; sae the session hauled my aunty before them, screwed her with the caspie claws, pricked her wi' pins, declared she was a witch, and burned her in the loan at the end o' the toun; and, aye cankered as she was to me, I grat like a wean when I saw the bleeze, as I sat about a mile off on the hill o' Drumlie, for in that bleeze the last o' a' my kith and kin was passing away. After this, the hail parochin misca'ed me as a witch's kinsman, nane wad employ me; sae a mouthfu' o' meat, a sup o' kail, or a bite frae a bannock, wasna to be had. The men gloomed — the women gied me the gae-bye — the bairns pu'ed my plaid-neuk and cast stanes after me, till my life was 156 PHILIP BOLLO; weary. I grat wi' spite, and said, 'Deil tak the parish o* Drumlie, and a' that are in't ! I'll turn sodjier, and march to Low Germanie' — and sae, sir, I am here." Finding that he was wearying me, and that I was somewhat inclined to sleep, Pandy left me for the purpose of foraging for more vivres against the time of dinner, as he had a mortal aver- sion to having recourse to Corporal SpUrrledter's basins of grDwte, OH, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 157 CHAPTER XXIIL ERNESTINE AND aABBlELLIli Two days' nursing at the hands of these charming girls made me almost well, and fit for service. The contusion on my head no longer gave me any pain ; the scar closed, and grew hourly less tinder the soothing application of some essence or lotion which they applied to it j and they were both so kind as to bring their work^—^for they were very industrious — =into my room, where they sat, one on each side of my bed, and sewed, embroider- ed, read, or chatted with me. There was something sufficiently pleasing, and perplexing too, in being thus placed between two such beautiful young women— one with dark hair and large orient eyes; the other, with mild blue orbs and soft bright curls; both animated, laughing, brilliant, and full of wit and vivacity. To say the least of it, my position was very enviable. Ernestine was dark, and tall and stately. Gabrielle was less so, but fair and blooming; ever smiling save when some recollection floated through her mind. Then she cast down her timid blue eyes and sighed. Ernestine wore her long black hair, parted smoothly over her open brow, in broad and heavy braids. Gabrielle permitted hers to float in loose ringlets, which dis- played to the utmost advantage their bright golden colour. Ernestine's deep dark eyes had usually a quiet and thoughtful expression; her sister's, though less attractive, possessed more vivacity. Ernestine had more pride, Gabrielle more frankness ; and I know of no picture more beautiful than was presented by these two motherless sisters, whose home was the camp, when Gabrielle rested her fair head, with its shower of golden curls, upon 158 PHILIP ROLLO; the budding bosom and snowy shoulder of her more thoughtful, more contemplative, and more matron-like sister ; their attitudes were so full of grace and affection. Ernestine had the fire, the step, the glance, the dark eyes, and the dignity of Spain. Gabrielle had the rich bloom and bright hair of her mother, the Hainaulter; but Ernestine, though she addressed me least, interested me most. In form she was finer than the most beauti- ful statue ; her hands and arms were of the most pure and per- fect form that a sculptor of the highest class could conceive ; and yet, if I could make any distinction in their Samaritan attention to me, little Gabrielle was the kindest of the two. When com- paring the calm, even, reserved, and well-bred style of their con- versation, with the bold and forward manners of Prudentia, I felt nothing but anger and disgust at myself for having yielded so completely to her spells and her snares ; and yet the beauty of that Spanish dancer was worthy of a higher sphere and better fate. During these two days we became quite intimate, for under such circumstances friendship ripens rapidly ; and hearing them addressing each other by their Christian names, I soon learned to do so likewise; but the regimental sobriquet (M'Combich), by which I had introduced myself to the count, puzzled them sorely, and they styled me Herr Komheeh. The youngest requested that I should simply call her Gabrielle ; but when I addressed the eldest so unceremoniously, she gave me at times one of her proud but quiet smiles. Her reserve piqued me a little, too. " Lady Ernestine," said I, " why is Gabrielle so much more kind to me than you ? " " I am sorry you should think there is any difference," she replied, bending her dark eyes mildly, but inquiringly, upon me ; " yet, perhaps, it may be so — she has a reason for being kind to a soldier, but I have none." "And why does she never wear ornaments or gay colours — and is one moment so merry and the next so sad?" " For the same reason." OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 159 ' " Wliat may this reason be ? " " You are very inquisitive, Herr Kombeek," said Gabrielle, bending lier blushing face over her embroidering frame. " Twice I have observed her countenance fall when I spoke of the defeat at Liitter." "Her betrothed fell in that victory,'''' replied Ernestine; "she is quite a little widow. Hence the gravity that occasionally clouds her merry heart, and hence, perhaps, her kindness to you — a wounded soldier — for the sake of our lost friend ; for the poor Conde de Lerma was scarcely ever on the footing of a lover. He considered his marriage as a thing that must take place, quite as a matter of course." " And you, Ernestine, have you no lover in yonder camp to make you anxious for the chance of war ?" " Ah, yes ! Herr Kombeek," said Gabrielle, clapping her hands ; " question her a little now." Ernestine replied only by one of her ptoud smiles, and ad- justed her ruff. She was offended. " You must, you must have many," said I, sighing upon my lace pillow j " for men will love you, whether you permit«them or not." There was something in the manner and bearing of Ernestine that impressed me with respect, and interested me extremely ; and yet I conversed less with her than with Gabrielle, perhaps for the simple reason that the latter conversed more with me. I could jest and laugh at trifles with such a chatty little fairy as Gabrielle ; but not so with her sister. I could make doggerel rhymes, say gallant speeches, and all those pretty nothings which come so readily to one's tongue when conversing with a pretty girl ; but I dared not attempt the same strain with Ernestine. They seemed altogether unsuited to her queen-like air, and high bred i-eserve of manner, which were sometimes a little provoking. On the morning of the third day I arose from bed. Dandy Dreghorn assisted me to dress ; and, save a little swimming of the head, I found myself almost well. My cuirass shone like silver j I placed my claymore and biodag in_ my belt, tied my 160 PHILIP ROLLOj scarf over my right shoulder, gave a finishing touch to my long locks, and that short mustache, the sprouting of which I culti- vated with the utmost assiduity, and descended to breakfast, with the young ladies, in a lofty apartment, the windows of which opened upon the terrace of a garden, clothed in all the freshness, the brilliant flowers, and the beauty of midsummer. The doors, windows, and cornices, were beautifully proportioned ; the ceilings and panels were covered by paintings, of the school of E,eubens. Hand in hand with satyrs, a long string of im- modest looking nymphs ran round the walls below the frieze, and in some places, a bearded ancestor of the Baron Karl looked! grimly out of his oak frame, and under his square helmet of the fourteenth century. In this room there was the hum of the summer flies, as they floated on the warm and perfumed atmo- sphere. We were just sitting down to a breakfast composed of every delicacy which the fertile provinces of Bremen and Luneberg could afford, when the count, with his nodding red plume, suddenly appeared before the window, dismounting from Bellocliio on the terrace, and we saw his tall figure between the embroidered curtains of Indian muslin and German hangings like some vivid portrait of an ancient knight — for the fashion of his arms was somewhat old. His daughters sprang from the table to embrace and lead him in. " In three hours," said he, " Count Tilly will be here, and our friend must be concealed forthwith." " Within the house % " asked Ernestine, her eyes filling with an expression of alarm. " Of course, girl ; nowhere would he be safe out of it. The whole country is full of our troops, and the Croats and Hunga- rian heyducs are swarming like locusts in every village. Tilly's advanced guard (Tzertzski's regiment of musketeers, under Colonel Gordon) passed Reinsdorf this morning about daybreak — so my scouts inform me." Through the great chateau this intelligence spread like wild- fire. Corporal Splirrledter, who, with other old troopers, clad in their calfskin boots and yellow doublets, with red sashes and red worsted fringes, had been dosing in the warm sunshine, OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 161 almost asleep over tric-trac, with pipe in mouth, and pots of Dantzic beer beside them, started when the trumpets blew hoot and saddle, and hurried to accoutre themselves and their horses. The old German housekeeper (who, protected by her age and ugliness, had remained when others fled) was now in greater tribulation than ever ; and Dandy Dreghorn, who was busy in the kitchen manufacturing some Hamburg meal, which he had dis- covered, into excellent Scottish porridge, made the greatest imaginable hasfce to get the whole (though scalding hot) under his belt, before Tilly came up with his troopers. " Now, my young friend," said the count to me during break- fast ; " I believe, that I need not inform you of the necessity of your avoiding old Tilly." '• Believe me, count, I have not the slightest wish to throw myself unnecessarily in his way, but assuredly I will not con- descend to avoid him." " You must do so ! your safety imperatively demands it. Why, the old Tartar would think no more of having you hang- ed or sliot, than I do of slicing the top of this egg;'^ and if chance should make him acquainted with your vicinity, and if I should say you are come to join the Emperor, as many of our Catholic Scots, the Gordons of the Garioch, the Lindsays and the Leslies, have done, you will not gainsay me." " Count, I will never stoop to this subterfuge. Pardon me," I added, on perceiving that his haughty brow clouded; "at the worst I am but a prisoner of war, and as such, have a right to expect that honourable treatment which our brave defence at yonder bridge deserves." " The devil ! you are like a redhot cannon-ball ; one does not know on what side to take hold of you. By this time you should know, that in the cause of the Empire and of Catholicism, Tilly unites the enthusiasm of Peter the Hermit to the ferocity of a tiger and the cunning of a fox. Such is the general of the armies of the League. I implore you to beware of him, for the mercy he may grant, not to one, but to a thousand prisoners of war, depends but upon the miserable caprice of a moment. This is a religious war ; faith fights against faith, and men's hearts are VOL. I. M 1 02 PHILIP ROLLO ; hardened and inflamed by the ferocity their preachei'S inculcate. We are just about to assail another party of Christian's Scottish troops, who keep that important post, the castle of Lauenburg." "Ah!" said 1, pushing away my cup of coffee; "and I, who would give the world to be there, am here!" "The whole world!" said Ernestine; " you are a large pro- prietor!" I thought there waiS a tone of pique in her quiet remark — pique at my ungrateful wish to be gone. I gazed upon her, and her beauty seemed as perfect as female loveliness could be — as perfect as any that ever smiled on Raffaello da Urbino in the midst of his happiest reveries. " Ernestine," said the count, raising his eyebrows, "you know who is coming with Tilly?" " No," replied the daughter, over whose fair face there flitted a perceptible shadow, which belied Jaer negative. ^ *' His aide-de-camp, the Count Albejrfc Kceningheim — Halbert Cunninghame, a cadet of the house of Glencairn," he added to me, " who has been a successful soldier in the wars of the Empire." "Ah — indeed!" I murmured, walking to the window. " Receive him well, Ernestine." I heard the count saying in a low voice, as he smoothed the beautiful braids of her hair; " receive him as one who deserves yom- ntmost esteem, and has my best regard." " Oh, father " " My countryman — rich, young, handsome, powerful, high in favour with the Emperor, with Tilly and the army; covered with orders and honours, you will soon learn to love him, Ernestine — will you not?" " I will try." I thought I heard a sigh. " Thou art a good girl — I love thee dearly," said the frank noble, as he kissed his daughter's brow; "and I will send for that magnificent set of diamonds you fancied at Vienna. I gave my word to Kceningheim, when he saved my life at LUtter, that I would make him my kinsman if I could. Ah ! for my sake he Tan a deadly peril there, and gave me his own horse when mine was torn almost asunder beneath me, by a cannon-shot." Not a word of this had escaped me, and I felt something rising in my heart. on, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 163 "Pshaw!" said 1; " what is Ernestine to me? I shall never see her again. Yet she has been so kind, that I hope this Scoto- German count will make a good hnsband to her." I think there is a sentiment — shall we call it piqne or jealousy • — in the minds of most young men, when they behold a beautiful young woman placed, or about to be placed, beyond their reach. "Yes — yes!" thought I; "it is- just this jeahmsy that animates me at present." " You are admiring my mansion," said the count, approaching me. *' It is magnificent," said I, turning from the beautiful garden • to the equally beautiful apartment, through the painted windows of which a deluge of warm morning light was shed upon the floor of polished oak, and the gilded carving of the wainscoting. "^ "I shall build a pretty summer-house at the end of that walk. I have received the whole place as a free gift from the Emperor. " My poor friend, the baron Karl, has not been consulted on this transfer," said I ; " but by what right does Ferdinand II. gift away these lands in Luneburg 1 " " The right of conquest," replied the count, laughing. , "Ah! you will never gain a fair heritage by fighting under the godly Christian IV. This will make a nice little chateau for my daughters, while we follow Christian through the Danish isles. I'll make old Spiirrledter governor of it. Dost think you are well enough to ride 1 for, without being inhospitable, my dear friend, I would gladly have you altogether clear of this neigh- bourhood before Tilly arrives — and now, by heaven and earth ! yonder he comes !" added the count, as the sharp note of a cavalry trumpet, followed by the rapid clank of horses hoofs, was heard in the court of the mansion. "Away with our guest, Ernestine," said the count, starting from the table; "to your care I entrust him !" " Come with me— quick, Herr Kombeek !" said she, holding out her hand. " Kombeek — what a devil of a name ! " thought I, as she hurried me away towards a wing of the mansion which was appro- priated to themselves. 164 PHILIP KOLLO; "If the soldier who is with me falls into Tilly's hands, I shall never forgive myself for not saving him ; and see, madame," I added as we passed a window, " yonder he stands — oh, the incorrigible ass ! — eating apples on the terrace, and gazing open- mouthed at the approaching cavalcade." I summoned him angrily from the window. He lingered for a moment to conceal his fruit in the neuk of his plaid, and then hurried to join me. We were both consigned to a retired apartment, where we were to remain, as Ernestine said, until Tilly quitted the house to join the headquarters of his army. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 165 CHAPTER XXIY. PROBABILITY OF ESCAPING AND LEAVING MY HEART BEHIND ME. Though this retreat was necessary for our safety, and plenty of provisions were sent to us, to the great contentment of Dandy Dreghorn, and though we had the full liberty of traversing certain apartments which overlooked the spacious garden of the mansion, (to me) there was something rather irritating in the conviction of being cojnpelled to lurk like a thief, even from the terrible Tilly; the more so, as at a distance we heard the twang of trumpets and horns, and the din of cymbals and kettle- drums, as his columns of horse and foot poured on towards the fated Elbe. The apartments and their furniture were alike elegaflt and luxurious ; the high-backed chairs were of ebonlike oak, covered by crimson velvet and stuffed with down ; the floors, of hard red Memel wood, were polished and varnished till they shone like glass ; the tapestries of crimson and gold were set in broad carved frames of oak and gilded wood ; the lozenged windows were tinted by innumerable coats-of-arms; some of the compart- ments stood open, admitting into these old chambers, which were coeval with the days of Magnus Torquatus, Duke of Lune- burg, the warmth of the July sun, together with the rich perfume of the ripe strawberry-beds, the fragrant honeysuckle, the jasmine and the rose, which mingled with the bright red and blue convolvuli, that clambered up the carved muUions of the antique casements. Within the mansion, but at a distance, I heard the sound of voices and of laughter — the loud hearty laughter of heedless soldiers; for the count was entei-taining Tilly and some of the officers and cavaliers of his staff. 166 PHILIP ROLLO; During the somewliat monotonous day I spent in these stately apartments, Ernestine and Gabrielle came separately to converse with me for a few minutes — to bring me books and refreshments — evincing so much kindness and sisterly solicitude in these little visits, that my heart swelled with gratitude and pleasure; and I looked forward with regret to the time that must separate me from hostesses so ladylike and so winning. About sunset, when I had given up the expectation of seeing them any more, I heard the rustle of a silk dress in the long corridor, and saw Ernestine standing irresolutely at the farthest end of it, with the embarrassed air of one who thought she was coming too often ! She stood and smiled, her timid expression contrasting strongly with the noble beauty of her face and figure. I sprang forward — I was so happy to see her ; for there are so many ways in which one can be interested in a beautiful woman — but Ernestine was yet quite a girl. All I had seen of her, during those three days which we had spent constantly together under such peculiar circumstances, with her father's remarks about Tilly's aide-de-camp, increased rather than diminished this interest, for she evidently did not care a jot about her destined husband. " I come for the last time to see you again," said she, with one of her sweet and quiet smiles; " at midnight Corporal Spiirrledter will meet you at the end of this corridor, and con- duct you to a secret place on the bank of the Elbe — a place that is un watched, and to which (on burning a blue light) a boat will come off from the Saxe-Lauenburg side, and convey you away." " I will never forget this kindness, Ernestine," I replied timidly, touching her hand with my lip; "never! You and Gabrielle have been to me as sisters. I so — and vou will remember me no more ; but believe me the memory of these last three days will never be effaced from my mind." She smiled. " And you tell me all this as if I did not know soldiera, who say the same thing to every pretty fraiilein who binds up a scar, or is compelled to act hostess by a burgomaster's order. While Tilly and my father march on their troops to the OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 167 conquest of Denmark, Gabrielle and I will reside here ; and the count has desired me to say, that if ever you should find your- self a prisoner or a fugitive, friendless and in want of military employment, to communicate with him through the officer commanding any Austrian garrison, and he will not fail to succour and protect you. Here, at our new appanage, Gabrielle and I will remain until the war with Christian is over, and we return to Carlstein, or our new hotel near the Scots Gate at Vienna. At all events," she added, as she gave me her hand with that charminij frankness which she inherited from her Scottish rather than her Spanish blood, " whatever the fortune of war may be, and though we may never meet again, you will ever be our friend." " Your friend, Ernestine ! oh, I shall ever be more than tliat ! " " Of course, are you not my enemy, and fighting against the great Catholic Empire? You must content you with being, if you can, my simple friend." " Ernestine," I began, taking her hand again " Nay, nay," she replied quickly, in a way that . somewhat reminded me of my friend the actress ; " do not look lacrj|^mose and attempt to act the lover, for lovers quarrel many times, but friends seldom more than once. Besides, rumour says that Gabrielle and I have quite too many admirers already." There was more of Gabrielle's playfulness in this, than the queenlike manner usual to Ernestine. We gazed at each other timidly, and then smiled. " My old confessor. Father d'Eydel, of the order of Jesus, wrote a charming little book on love and friendship," said Ernestine; "and, moreover, he dedicated it to Gabrielle and me ^' " I should like to know the Jesuit's ideas of love." " He said that one friend was worth an army of lovers ; that love is like wine — bright, beautiful, and intoxicating ; but friend- ship is like the inexhaustible water of a pure fountain — clear, cool, and refreshing; he said that love was all hot and heedless impulse, whereas friendship embraced the finest emotions of the heart and head." 1G8 PHILIP ROLLO; " You are quite a philosoplier ; and yet — ah ! Ernestine — there is a merry twinkle in your beautiful eyes belying all you say." " Moreover, Father d'Eydel told me, at the Scots convent, I should have nothing to do with lovers " " Father d'Eydel — • — " I began impatiently. Ernestine held up her pretty v/hite hand. " He told me, love was like a two-edged sword " " Did he not tell you it was like wine, but with water too?" " That it ennerved the hearts of the young, and failed to inspire the hearts of the old. To women, he recommended religion and the cloister " " This devil of a d'Eydel would soon bring the world to an end! And to men " "A jovial cup of wine; for it never failed alike to fire the hearts of the old and the young, the brave and the timid. But now, sir, I must leave you. Tilly is to sup with my father, who at nightfall is to make a movement up the Elbe with his own regiments, the Reitres of Giezar and Koeningratz, so that I cannot absent myself longer. Adieu ! — believe me, you have all our best and kindest wishes " "Ernestine!" I urged, endeavouring to detain her. " Our Lady bless you ! do not forget that, at midnight, Spiirr- ledter will be awaiting you at the end of that passage." She retired by the door, which she had been gradually ap- proaching, and, as it closed, my heart felt a pang at the idea that we should never meet again. But a soldier's life is full of merry meetings and sad partings. In time, I fear me, we get used to them. Honest Dandy's loquacity, when I announced the enterprise on which we were to set forth at midnight, considerably disturbed the current of my reflections. I would rather have been alone. I longed for one more glimpse of Ernestine, and to have one word more with her. Fifty things I had left unsaid now oc- curred to me, and many that seemed as if they had been better left unsaid. Then came the usual fears, that I might have offended her by saying too much — " but, what matter all these thoughts?" I said ; " to-morrow the Elbe will be between us, and OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 1G9 next day we shall forget all about it." But I still seemed to see that soft feminine face, and those beautiful dark eyes, and the voice of Ernestine lingered in my ear, till, as I reclined on one of the cushioned window-seats, and gazed upon the dying twilight, night stole on ; and Dandy (who had been examining with grim accuracy the edges of our swords and dirks, and had charged my pistols), finding that I was averse to conversation, wiled away the time by making a last investigation of the panelled chambers, in the hope of finding a stray edible or drinkable in some for- gotten nook. Then he drew to my side as the darkness deepened ; for the grotesque features, and old German architecture of the place, began to have, as he said, *' an imco mirk and eerie look aboot them." 170 PHILIP ROLLOj CliAPTEE, XXY. A SERIOUS MISTAKE, AND A LEABNED DISCUSSION ON WOMEJT. The hours stole slowly on, and as they wore away, and the hour of escape drew nigh, my anxiety increased, more perhaps than the whole occasion merited; but the wound on my head rendered me feverish and fretful, as poor Dandy Dreghorn soon found j for, growing weary of his incessant chatter, I abruptly told him to hold his tongue, and we sat moping like two owls in the dark, listening to the hours and half-hours, as they were struck slowly and sonorously by the clock over the ancient gate- way of the house. The voices in distant apartments died away ; the oak chamber became so black that we could not see each other's faces. Midnight was at hand. " Ernestine will now be in bed," thought I ; "but will she be asleep, or watching for my escape?" Imagination conjured up a picture of this girl, with all her dark hair gathered in a silken caul, lying sleepless on her laced pillows, with the pretty Gabrielle nestling beside her, listening for every sound, and watching for the titne which would assure them that we were free of the mansion, and safe from the dangerous vicinity of the terrible John of Tsercla. "See, sir," said Dandy, "a Hcht begins to glint at the end o' yon ambulatory !" " 'Tis the corporal — and there is the first stroke of twelve ! The old trooper is punctual." From the window seat, where for hours I had been ruminating and gazing on the darkened landscape, I arose with a beating heart; loosened my claymore in its sheath, to be prepared for any emergency, and saying to Dreghorn — OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEEKS. 171 '• Follow, but follow me softly, and for Heaven's sake silently /" apj)roaclied the light which glimmered at the end of the long corridor, and seemed to be flashing upward from the bottom of a staircase. On gaining the landing which overlooked it, we saw — not the old corporal whom we expected — but an older and de- crepit cavalier, who leant with his right hand on a gold-headed cane, and with his left on the arm of a tall officer, who was brilliantly attired in a doublet of cloth of gold with hanging sleeves, with a mantle of scarlet velvet, a long rapier and plume. They were preceded by two servants bearing candles, but slowly, as the old man paused frequently to draw breath or make an observation. Dubious whether to advance or retreat, I stood for a moment irresolute; but fearing that to be seen by any one save the family of the count might betray him and them, and compromise our own safety, I resolved on immediate concealment ; but Dreghorn, in his eagerness and confusion, mistook the way back to our former lurking-place, and by advancing too far along the pas- sage, led me into a larger and more magnificent room. This I could perceive by the moonlight, which fell in large broad %kes through the mullioned windows. "Harkee, Dreghorn," said I, "this way — not that. Dost hear 1 — devil take thee, fellow, and send thee back to thy plough-stilts !" My loud whispers were unheeded or unheard ; thus I was obliged to follow, lest by some clownish blunder he might compromise us all. "Quick — conceal yourself!" said I; "for, whoever these are, they come this way; and, if they discover us, we are both as dead men." Perceiving that the room was hung with arras, I raised it at the foot and let it drop over my person, while standing flat against the wall, in a position which, to say the least of it, was very constrained, unpleasant, and dusty. " Lord preserve us, and keep us ! I'll be catched noo, like a rat in a girnel!" cried Dandy in great tribulation, as he ran three or four times round the room in search of a similar nook, 172 PHILIP ROLLO; overturning a cliair or two in tlie dark; and, becoming more })ewildered as he heard the approaching footsteps, he made a sudden dive below a large and stately bed which stood close to the wall, on one side of the chamber ; and there he was barely ensconced, when all the gildings of its canopy, and of the corniced ceiling and furniture, glittered, as the two servants entered with their lights, and, placing them on the table, with- drew, retiring backwards before the little old man with a reverence which, together with his whole peculiar bearing (for I could overlook and overhear all through a hole in the decayed hangings), told me he was Tilly — the great, the ferocious, the terrible Tilly — the soldier- Jesuit — the demon-general of the Emperor Ferdinand ! " You may go," said he, to the servants, and they retired. Leaning on the arm of the tall cavalier, and on his gold-headed cane, he crossed the waxed floor with a step rendered somewhat unsteady by age, and reached a large stuffed chair, then, seating himself, he drew several long breaths, during which the officer remained respectfully silent, with liis plumed beaver in his right hand, and his left resting in the polished bowl-hilt of his long toledo. Figure to yourself a little, lean old man, past his seventieth year, and made more aged in aspect by the asceticism of a youth passed in a Jesuit college, and by the wounds and toils of war; a thin face and high narrow forehead, alternately clouded by thought, and knit by irritability; fierce, deep eyes, like those of a rattlesnake, the hooked nose of his Spanish mother, the tiger-like mouth of his Walloon father, with a lanky cat-like mustache to show that he was a soldier, and the small remains of a tonsure to declare that he was yet a priest. A lean, bent body, encased in a leather doublet rasted over by the constant use of ill-conditioned armour; meagre thighs and crooked knees, cased in wide calfskin boots, having enormous jinglesjDurs; a long sword, a little mantle, a high ruff, a broad-brimmed hat of brown felt with a steeple crown, garnished by a red feather stuck into the gold image of Madonna, which, with his magnifi- cent diamond ring, he afterwards bequeathed to our Lady of OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 173 Oetingen. Sucli was John de Tserclii, the Count de Tilly, generalissimo of Ferdinand II. and of the troops of the Catholic League, so celebrated for his valour and cunning, his generosity to Catholics, his ferocity to Protestants — his aversion to women, to wine, and to all human weaknesses — save the fear of ghosts ! Early in life he became a follower of St. Ignatius Loyola. In the seclusion of his cloister this fierce enthusiast had a vision. The mother of God appeared before him, surrounded by the rays of glory; thirteen stars sparkled about her brow, and the lilies of purity sprang from under her feet ; clouds rolled around her, and little angels bore up her long flowing garments. She urged him to take arms for the Church of Home — for the extermination of Protestanism, and the total subjugation of Northern Europe. He became a soldier, and fought bravely ; and in an incredibly short space of time attained, solely by incontestable merit, a marshal's baton and the sole command of the Imperial troops; but the camp fed rather than cured his wild and visionary schemes of a universal faith, and the conquest of the Protestant nations. Hence that mad ferocity, of which we had so many terrible examples, during the long struggle for the freedom of religion and the liberty of Germany. He was a believer in dreams, and was supposed by the Danes and Swedes to possess a charmed life, which our musketeers often put sorely to the test; hence Tilly's abhorrence of the Scottish brigades in Germany. An astrologer, he was intensely superstitious, and relied devoutly on omens; hence we find them preceding all his greatest under- takings. When he held the famous council of war at Hamelin, a hurricane blew up the powder-magazine, and, reaching devoted Madgeburg, extinguished the lamps of the wise virgins in the great cathedral. The night before the great battle of Leipzig, he quartered himself in a house which proved to be an under- takers; hence, though brave as a lion, he fought the action next day with a wavering heart, and with the certainty of meeting disaster and death. " Count Kceningheim," said he, drawing a long breath, and pausing. I applied my eye to a hole in the tapestry, and sur- veyed with curiosity the personage addressed. This was his 174 PHILIP ROLLO; aide-de-camp, tlie intended husband of Ernestine, and in all things the reverse of his leader. Tall, handsome, and sun- burned, with a bushy mustache and devil-may-care eye, which announced him a jovial Reitre — a stanch comrade, a thorough hon-vivant — one of those merry fellows who wink at landladies, kiss pretty waitresses, and make themselves at home every wliere. I saw at a glance that he would never suit Ernestine. " Count Albert, is Carlstein fairly away to join his column?" - " Yes, generalissimo. I heard him ride out of the quad- rano-le, with his aides and two Reitres, about ten minutes ago." " Good ! " muttered Tilly, laying his broad beaver on the table; " he is a tiresome fellow — too proper a man for me, and would make war after a gentle fashion of his own. He is your country- man — but you must excuse me. His column marches on the Lauenburg road — and the horse regiments of Goetz, Wallace the Scot, and Wingarti, are moving on the same point. Ah ! our pontoons will soon make us a passage across the Elbe !" " Wingarti's dragoons are all puppies, and think more of their mustaches than their muskets." " And this Count of Carlstein has two women in his train — ha! ha!" said Tilly, with a sardonic laugh, as he unbuckled his waist-belt and laid his long rapier on the table ; " two women, Kceningheim — the man is mad!" " He introduced them as his daughters," replied the other, colouring a little with vexation. " A mere trick — daughters, cousins, and sisters have been introduced to me thus before ! You cunning fellows begin to think me stupid." " On my honour, Count Tilly, I swear to you they are his daughters." • " What faith you have in their mother ! Daughters 1 well, well, so much the worse — a wise man truly to lead a column of infantry — one who has daughters ! I do not love to have women following our army, Kceningheim. I have known many a brave fellow lost to Austria and God's service by the fascinations of that subtle sex, whose sole object is to create passions and OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 175 rivalry among gallant men, without feeling in their own hearts one spark of this so-called love, of which idlers rave and poets n sum. " Your excellency is speaking like the Jesuit you were, and not like the brave soldier you are," replied Count Albert, with a cold smile. " " I am speaking like a man of common sense, Koeningheim," retorted Tilly, grasping the knobs of his arm-chair, and turning his snakelike eyes upon the broad honest face of the colonel of Keitres. " Beware ^ou of their snares, count ; and recollect that the first object of an Imperialist cavalier is the cause of God and of the Emperor — the Cross and the Eagle ; that all private sym- pathies must yield to the public good. By the wiles of a woman, Adam lost his innocence, Samson his strength, and Mark An- tony the fruit of all his victories. Ah ! beware of them, Koeningheim, beware of them ! " added Tilly, drawing his lean legs out of his enormous boots. "No man," saith Saint Jerome, " can serve God with a whole heart, if he hath any transactions with a woman." " Corpo di Baccho ! but one may very well lead a regiment of horse, serve the emperor, and love a pretty woman occasionally," said the aide-de-camp, twirling his mustaches; "the fact is, count, that what suited Saint Jerome well enough, will not suit me, or Merode, or Wingarti, or any of us but yourself, who are quite a model of a man ! Women are called the pious sex, and I have no doubt Saint Jerome had a high opinion of them in his time." " So had Cornelius Agrippa," sneered Tilly ; " he wrote a notable treatise on female excellence, and yet withal divorced his third wife. Ha ! ha ! What make up the sum of this love thou pratest about ? Bich gauds, billets-doux, sighs, and treachery ! I have seen many a gallant man, who had hewn a passage through a forest of pikes, become a woman's plaything — then flung aside and forgotten, as a toy is forgotten by a child." " By my soul. Count Tilly, you are a million times too severe," laughed Koeningheim; " I know of no satisfaction equalling that 17G PHILIP KOLLO; with which a stout fellow, who had done his service in battle duly, basks in the smiles of some kind beauty." " 'Tis the mere fanfaronade of Don Quixote, this — but, hark ! do you not hear something 1" "I do; what the devil can it be?" said Count Koeningheim, as a very palpable sound of mastication came from below the vast tester-bed where Dandy Dreghorn had ensconced him- self, and where, I had no doubt, he was satisfying his never- ending appetite with some of the provision saved over our dinner. " Devil take thee after, glutton ! " thought I ; " for if taken noio, the cord will be thy doom." " This old house mu.st be full of rats," said Tilly. " Count, I will thank you to turn that portrait to the wall. I hate to sleep among portraits of the dead, they have such a ghostly look in their staring eyes, and that old dame in her coif is like a corpse in a winding-sheet — ah, thank you ! " So this old Tartar, who fought afterwards at Leipzig, who stormed Feldberg, exterminated the Scottish garrison at Brandenburg, ravaged the margraviate of Anspach and the banks of the Danube — trembled at the sight of an old picture ! "Ay, ay!" he resumed with a yawn, as the portrait was turned ; " women are strange and capricious animals. I have known one love to death a man, whom every other woman — yea, and every other man, too — detested. Now, how do you account for that, Count Albert 1 Obstinacy — I tell you, rank obstinacy !" "Nay, general," yawned the aide, behind his hat, with the air of a man who was excessively tired; "there is always a cause for love," " A cause, but not a reason. Women and wine make fools of our finest men." " Surely it is better to be fooled by a pretty woman than a paltry wine-pot." " But I will have my soldiers fooled by neither," said Tilly, striking his withered hand upon the table. " I am a priest, and, OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 177 though a soldier, know of such matters only by name. But hence with this rubbish. What is the strength of your regi- ment, count?" " Eight hundred under baton, your excellency." " A ny married men 1 " " Not one." " Good ! when Reitres marry they should be struck off the muster roll. Yet I could have sworn I saw some of your fellows on the march yesterday, with women en croupe behind them." " Only ammunition- wives, your excellency." " Ah ! I have heard that there are some thorongh-bred rascals in the regiment." " The fact is, general, that Stalhofen's troop is composed, like the honourable regiment of Merode, entirely of thieves from Vienna." " Diavolo ! dost thou say so ? Then the sacking of the Danish towns will suit their humour to a hair, without fear of the gallows. Ah! wait till we reach Kiobenhafen ! " The count uttered a shout of laughter; Tilly added one of his frightful grins, and rubbing his lean brown hands, said — " I blush that such rascals as the regiment of Merode march beneath our consecrated colours ; yet the end will sanctify the means. If there was one rogue among the twelve apostles, there may easily be one regiment of rogues among the thousands of the Imperial host. War is the pastime of kings, but it manu- factures many a thief and beggar." '' Hah !" said Koeningheim, as a horseman rode into the court ; " that will be our scout returned from Saxe-Lauenburg." " Send him up then, Koeningheim, and thereafter you may retire to bed, for we must all be in our saddles at cock-crow; but I have two hours' work before me yet, having all my office to say over, for I have never forgotten in the camp the duties I took uj)on me in the cloister." The handsome aide-de-camp gladly hurried away. Tilly drew from his breast a small and well-used volume, containing pro- bably the "office," or prayers he referred to — placed a mark VOL. I, N 178 PHILIP ROLLO; between the leaves, and devoutly crossed himself. Then he paused ; a heavy step approached, the door was opened, and a personage wearing a broad felt hat and large Spanish cloak towered between me and the light, as he advanced towards Tilly, who, shading his sharp eyes, gazed with a keen rat-like expression at this stranger, who, immediately upon entering, had carefully closed the door, as if he had that to communicate, which none must overhear. % OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 179 CHAPTER XXVI. THE scout; and the effect of a sneeze. " Welcome, thou prince of spies, and my scoutmaster-general ! " said Tilly in Spanish; " be seated, senor." The scout removed his broad hat, let the folds of his cloak fall, and seated himself opposite the count with an air of fatigue. " Have you collected much intelligence of the enemy's move- ments 1 " asked Tilly, drawing a large and well-filled purse from his girdle — a motion which made the eyes of the scout flash. " I have, senor generalissimo," replied the stranger, in a voice which I recognised, and which made me start, for it was either that of the Hausmeister or the devil (a personage of equal nj^rit). Then I heard the purse clink, as it was thrown by the count like a bone to a dog — and caught by the adroit hand of the spy. " Then you can tell me of those Scots auxiliaries who were at Boitzenburg — quick, senor Bandolo ! " " Bandolo/'* A new light broke upon me, and, applying my eye to the tapestry, I recognised the broad ruffian face, the cold fierce eyes and square mouth of my old acquaintance. Otto E-oskilde — the Hausmeister of Gliickstadt — whom I now dis- covered to be one and the same with that terrible Bandolo, of whom the Baron Karl had given us an account — the brother of Prudential His dress was somewhat difierent; but his false paunch and rotundity (assumed for disguise) were gone, and he stood revealed — a strong, wiry, and athletic ruffian — a bravo, with his long sable locks, and long daggers in his belt. " The troops who were at Boitzenburg have retired down the Elbe. I tracked them to Lauenburg, in the castle of which their commander " 180 PHILIP ROLLO; "The commanclante, cVUmhar?'''' " Si, seiior conde — left two companies, and marched with the remainder to Gliickstadt, from whence he moved immediately to take possession of Eantzau's castle of Bredenburg." "Who commands the two companies in the castle of LanenT' " A certain Major Wilson." " Wilson — Wilson ! " muttered Tilly, turning over the leaves of a memorandum book ; " oh — here he is ! a brave and determined cavalier — commanded five hundred of the Scottish auxiliary musketeers at the battle of Liitter, and captured a standard of Merode's regiment. He will give us trouble, but we shall pay him a visit to-morrow. God's curse on these heretic Scots ! for they meet us every where now, by the Rhine, the Elbe and the Oder. They lead all the troops in Northern Europe. What more hast thou heard?" " That Major-general SlammersdorfF is concentrating near Kapin a large force, which King Christian means to march into Silesia." " Dost thou say so?" " For vida del demonio — I do ! " " I should like to see this force in Silesia," said Tilly, with a quiet smile. " Rittmaster Hume de Carrolside, with a troop of Scottish pistoliers, has arrived to reinforce Otto Louis, the rhine- grave." " Scots again !" said Tilly, with a terrible smile, as he scratched his leg, which a Scottish musketeer had pierced by a bullet in the Hartz forest ; " Maladetta ! it is too much ! — Ere-long we shall not have room to move between the Black Sea and the Baltic for this Protestant scum." A mysterious sound was heard below the bed again; it sounded like the grunt of a pig, and Tilly raised his head to listen. " Heaven keep Dreghorn awake ! " thought I ; " for if he sleeps and snores we are lost!" " This old house is wonderfully full of rats," said Tilly; " well, have you heard any thing more?" OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 181 "Nothing, senor generalissimo, save that King Christian, by the erection of redoubts and turf sconces, is leaving nothing undone to secure every where the banks and the passage of the Elbe." " The fool ! when too late he will learn the power of the Empire." " Your excellency is the greatest general under heaven ; vaya usted a los infernos T'' he added in a low voice, as he counted t]:ie gold pieces under the shade of the table. " Away to the infernal regions, for a beggarly old skinflint ! " " Go, my priceless Bandolo," said Tilly ; " recross this muddy Elbe ; become once more a Dane, a Dutchman, or a Holsteiner, for I know thou art a very Proteus, and spread every where the rumour that I am about to retire towards the Weser. I know that thou art faithful to the empire, Bandolo; though I have heard it said, that he who betrayeth one cause will betray an- other. The Count of Carlstein hath said to me more than once, that he considered the principle of secret intelligence as dis- honourable. A chivalric fool ! If a battle is gained, or a city v/on, what matters it whether or not the victors owe their suc- cess to force or fraud? No man is qualified to lead an army^ un- less he is inclined to obtain tidings of the foe by every possible means that do not include open assassination or public dis- honour." Bandolo smiled. " I have found thee invaluable, my good Bandolo, and would gladly yield thee some nobler recompense than that base gold, for which thou perillest life and soul every hour thou art beyond the Austrian lines." " Seiior generalissino, I will freely give back all the gold you have given me for three years past " "A goodly sum, Senor Bandolo!" " Yea — I will do more ; I will undertake to secure to you the passage of the Elbe if " " If what " said Tilly, whose eyes glared with impatience. " You will procure for me a wife, and this wife must be Ernestine, the Lady of Giezar, daughter of Count Bupert-with- the-red-plume." 182 PHILIP ROLLO; This was said with the utmost confidence and deliberation ; but the daring speech made the pulses of my heart to flutter. " Devil take thee, blockhead," said Tilly, " for elating my heart so high, and then sinking it so low ! For aught that old John de Tsercla cares, you may have all the women in the empire; but, friend, be assured you might as well look at the moon (what the deuce is shaking that tapestry so?) as this count's dark-eyed daughter. I have seen the dainty dame. Why, Bandolo, she would shrink from thy touch as from a toad. But I am neither her guardian nor her father, (thank Heaven !) and believe me, my poor presumptuous ragamuffin, you might as well raise your eyes to a princess of the House of Hapsburg, as a daughter of this proud soldier of Fortune. Maladetto ! but you rate your services high." " Because I rate them myself." " The vilest rogue will always bring a goodly sum if sold at his own valuation," muttered Tilly, with one of his hideous smiles. I believe sincerely, that nothing would have afforded his cynical heart greater delight than to see the high-bred and accomplished Ernestine mated to the ruffian (if such a catastrophe were possible), from the very incongruity of such a union, and to humble the high military pride and boasted spotlessness of character possessed by the count, her father. " Bandolo," said he, gravely, "no more of this wild fantasy, which may hang thee, my prince of spies. Lady Ernestine is, I believe, to be the wife of my aide-de-camp, Count Kosningheim, poor man ! " "Hah!" muttered Bandolo, as his hand was covertly and almost involuntarily raised to the hilt of his murderous poniard. " But there is no saying what we may achieve if your scheme for the passage of the Elbe is a good one," said Tilly, with a smile in his ferret eyes, as he rubbed his lean legs, which were cased in fustian breeches. " I have learned {liow, matters not, senor conde) that Rupert- with-the-red-plume has in his hands two Danish prisoners — Scots " " Mai hayas tu ! Scots again ! — hah — he told me not of thatT OS, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 183 *' They were saved from the sconce at Boitzenburg." " Yet I said that all there should die ; and, had this order been obeyed, we should not now have to storm either the castle of Lauenburg orthatofBredenburg. Ah, those Presbyterians ! " added Tilly, grinding his fangless jaws; "if I had but a few of them enveloped in pitch and sulphur, they would light our bivouac, even as the early Christians were made into candles to light the Roman circus. But quick — your scheme!" continued Tilly, while the supposed scraping of rats was again heard beneath the bed. *' Obtain these two Scots, and march them with the troops against Lauenberg. Approach in the night, and make one be- tray his comrades." " How betray? thou laughest at me again, Bandolo, knowing well that these Scottish heretics are stubborn as their native rocks." " Lead them within earshot of their sentinels, and then place a loaded pistol to the head of each." "Good — m see to it!" grinned Tilly, with one of his horrible smiles, which might have frightened even the dead ; " but where, in tlie name of good and evil, are the two Scots you speak of?" At that moment, as the devil would have it, a tremendous sneeze was heard under the bed- " Madre de Dios! there is some one concealed here!" ex- claimed little Tilly, starting up with lire glaring in his eyes, as he unsheathed his long rapier. " Look under that bed, Bandolo, while I prick the tapestry." Drawing his poniard, Bandolo raised the little curtain which surrounded the rails of the bed, on looking below which he was instantly grasped and dragged down by the strong hands of Dandy Dreghorn, who (rendered desperate by finding discovery inevitable, and knowing that we had but two assailants) encircled the bull-neck of the powerful Spanish ruffian with a tiger-like clutch, and rolled him on the floor, shouting — " Strike in, Maister Rollo — strike in, for gudesake ! Gie that auld wallydraigel in the breeks a jagg wi your dirk, while I pu' this ane through the heckle-pins ! " 184 PHILIP ROLLO; Taken completely by surprise, Bandolo was almost smothered by the dust under the bed, where he was so suddenly and igno- miniously rolled. He struck furiously and at random with his poniard till the blade broke against the oak planks of the floor, down upon which Dandy pressed his throat until he was nearly strangled, vociferating all the time^- " I'll cheat thewuddy o' ye, that I will ! Hech, ye damned tyke, think ye I'll ever lippen to a bodach that wore breeks ! " Then he came forth panting and breathless. Seeing that without one desperate venture all was over with us, I had rushed from my hiding-place, thrown down the table, extinguished the lights, closed with the frail, old Tilly, and escaping a pistol-shot, which he fired within a yard of my nose, wrested and tore away from his hand the long rapier with which he menaced me. Had I chosen, I could there have run it through his heart, and saved Denmark, yea, and Germany, from the Thirty Years' War ; but he was an aged man, and I was not an assassin. " Awa, sir — awa! E-ide or rin, flee or soom — let us awa, or we'll tyne our lives ! " cried Dreghom, and we rushed from the dark apartment, to find the corridor and staircase crowded by Reitres and pikemen, with drawn swords, lighted torches, and stable lanterns; for the uproar and the pistol-shot had alarmed Tilly's guard of honour, and brought all the soldiers, like a swarm of hornets, to his rescue. " Breghorn — farewell to life," said I ; "it is all over with us I'* " We've owre mony maisters noo," he groaned ; " as the pud- dock said, whan ilka tuith o' the harrow gied him a tid." Before this flood of armed men we retired backward into the darkened room, where Tilly was reclining breathlessly against a post of the bed, from beneath which Bandolo, with a savage and lacrymose visage, blackened and distorted by rage and strangulation, was already crawling forth, '^ We were about to be cut down without farther parley, when Tilly, remembering that I had spared his life, and Count Koening- heim, w^ho hurried forward in his breeches and boots, minus vest and doublet, threw themselves between us and death, and saved us for a time. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 185 " "Withhold your hand, Bandolo — count, secure these villains ! " said Tilly ; " away with them to the quarter-guard, I will deal with them in the morning. Search this, and all the other apartments; double all the sentinels, for I fear me much there has been treachery." We were immediately hurried away to a lower apartment, and handcuffed together. On the way we passed old Splirrledter, who had been alarmed by the uproar, and appeared in his shirt, blowing the match of his carbine. On beholding iis, he gaped with well-feigned astonishment, which we understood quite well, and thus neither compromised the count nor the old corporal, who, with horses for our flight, had been waiting in an adjacent thicket for three hours, as he afterwards told me; and further, that the moment Tilly was fairly in his own apartment, that he — the corporal — had come in search of us, and, being totally unable to account for our mysterious disappearance at a time so critical, had retired to bed in the stables, supposing that we had escaped without him. # 18G PHILIP ROLLO; %uk tjiB /iftlj. CHAPTER XXVII. THE MARCH TOWARDS LAUENBURG. It may be easily supposed tliat neither Dandy Dreghorn nor I slept much for the short remainder of that eventful morning. Poor Dandy's lamentations for the plight into which his sneeze had brought me, were incessant. The honest fellow never uttered a complaint for himself; but, having lost his apj)etite, resisted all the gruff invitations of our guard, who offered to share us their miserable ration of black bread and Danish beer. It required all my efforts to pacify my comrade, and convince him that he had no more power over an irrepressible desire to sneeze, than over the wind. With the grey dawn Tilly came forth, accompanied by several officers muffled in their mantles, with their helmets closed or their plumed hats slouched well over their faces, for the morning air was chilly. The sharp notes of the trumpet summoned a troop of Kceningheim's Reitres to horse, and with these Tilly trotted away, leaving four dismounted men, with their carbines loaded, and orders to conduct Dreghorn and myself to a certain place which he named. As we were marched dff, I gave a parting glance at the gothic lattices of the old mansion, and two female figures caught my eye. They were those of Ernestine and the kind-hearted Gabrielle. I perceived that the latter was wee2:>ing, but the former only waved her hand in adieu. I gave HoR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS,:' /) -^ 187 ' X. ^ _ "^^ ' a profound bow, for which the surly corporal c^f our escort gave me a punch with his carbine, and we were compelled to move on. While I was reflecting that Ernestine might have displayed some more emotion, for the worst of perils encompassed us, Spiirr- ledter came running after the soldiers to give them a glass of brandy; and, while their minds were intent upon the flask, he approached me, and slyly, with his hand behind him, thrust into mine a purse, with a brief whisper : — " My young lady senlds you this, Herr Kombeek — it is a long march to Vienna." u i- The purse was of blue velvet, embroidered with silver thread, and the generous girl seemed to have filled it well. To have declined the gift in my desperate circumstances, would have been uncourteous to her, folly to myself, and false modesty ; I con- cealed it at once in my sporran, and a glow of gratitude kindled in my heart. *' I shall end by loving Ernestine, but I shall see her no more," thought I ; " the interest we take in eacK other is pure and sincere, I could not have loved Prudentia at all. Oh, no ! I grow sick when I reflect on my folly. Twas the dream of a day, and she is the sister of Bandolo!" I saw little of the country during the march, for my whole attention was excited by the vast bodies of Imperialists then pour- ing along the left bank of the Elbe — horse, foot, and artillery — in tens of thousands, towards the ducal capital of Saxe-Lauenburg ; and on that day's march I observed and learned more of their internal economy, than a hundred battles with them could have taught me. Though rusty armour and patched doublets, plumeless helmets and battered morions, were very common in the Imperial ranks, nothing military could surpass the magnificence of many of the officers. Their mantles and trunk hose were of the richest velvets Florence and Genoa could produce; their armour of the most gorgeous gilded plate from Venice and Milan, covered with sacred mottoeSj^ figures, and charms, either religious or necroman- tic, to render them invulnerable — for they all believed implicitlyin fated bullets and enchanted mail; their pistols and daggers were 183 PHILIP ROLLOj from Parma; tlieir swords from Bilboa and Toledo. On their breasts sparkled the stars of St. George of Austria, of the Golden Fleece, and other knightly orders peculiar to the Empire. Here I saw Tilly's weatherbeaten Walloon infantry, and that savage Croatian force which had slaughtered our wounded Highlanders in cold blood at Boitzenburg; among these were one regiment of horse, the Krabats of Castanovitz, lightly armed with steel helmets and fur pelisses; another of infantry or Uskokes, famous for their agility in all rapid movements. But Tilly's best troops were the fine old Imperial Reitres in their black armour; the pikemen of Pappenheim, the cavalier of a hundred wounds; the musketeers of Wrangel, of Gordon, and Camargo; the Italian bands of Savelli, and the glittering Spanish infantry, so easily distinguished by their fine lofty bearing, their brilliant arms, and short quick step on the march. His regiments usually consisted of men armed in five diflFerent ways; thus, in each company of a hundred soldiers, fifty were musketeers, thirty were pikemen, ten were halberdiers, and ten arquebussiers, armed also with swords and daggers; but these numbers varied so much, that I have seen companies of three hundred files, and regiments of three thousand. Every company carried a standard, and tlieir order of battle was eight ranks deep. Hard drinking, gaming, and licentiousness prevailed to the utmost extent, and thus (unlike the orderly armies of Christian and Gustavus) the Imperial camp swarmed with jugglers, dancers, posture-makers, and women of every description, from the luxurious ladies of the rich and powerful nobles, down to the cruel and dastardly death-hunter, who acted the lascivious wanton in the soldier's tent, and who murdered him when wounded, that . she might plunder him with impunity when dead. Discipline was relaxed ; yet desertion, punishment, grum- bling, the saying of prayers and masses were incessant. The corps were destitute of surgeons and chaplains ; but (attracted by the presence of Tilly, a brother of their order) a swarm of long- robed and severe-visaged Jesuits hovered on the skirts of the army. Tilly's cavalry gave all their horses romantic names OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 189 after great warriors renowned in song or antiquity. Thus, Count Merode rode Ajnadis of Gaul; Count Koeningheim had the Cid Rodrigo; a third rode Pahnerin of England; a fourth, Tirante the White, and so on. Prisoners were never exchanged, all being shot who could neither pay ransom or stoop to serve under the eagle. A colonel's ransom was .£1000 ; a subaltern's, as much as he could scrape together. The Scottish and Irish soldiers of fortune frequently passed from one service to the other ; for, being passionate rogues, it sometimes happened that in quarrels they shot their senior officers, or ran them through the body; for, though we took their pay and fought their battles for glory and pleasure, we despised all these foreigners in our hearts, and made it a rule never to submit to the slightest encroachment or annoyance even from the best of them. Hence our quarrel with the king. There were several regiments of Scottish and Irish musketeers in the Imperial service, and the best and bravest officers of the empire were Scots and Irishmen. Among the former, I may mention Field-marshal Count Leslie, who became governor of Sclavonia ; the Gordons, one of whom became Colonel-gen%ral of infantry, and High-chamberlain of the empire, and who slew the great Duke of Friedland ; the M-Dougals, one of whom became a general of horse, and the Lindesays of Crauford, and others. Of tlie gallant Irish nation, were Colonels Macarthy, Grace, O'Neill, and Walter Butler, all brave men as ever looked face to face on Death; but save the old Welshman, Colonel Morgan, there was no Englishman of note in these wars — but Morgan was in himself a host. About mid-day our surly corporal halted at a little farm- house. The proprietor, proving to be a good Catholic, escaped shooting, and his house escaped the iElames. Being an honest fellow, he made^us — though prisoners — quite as welcome as the military ragamuffins who guarded us, and we all dined jovially together on fried bacon and Danish beer. Dandy Dreghorn ate voraciously to make up for the loss of his breakfast ; and his applications to the " gudeman for anither slice o' the gnimphie," and to the corporal for " anither cogue o' the yill," were incessant. ]90 PHILIP ROLLOj A fair-liaired and blue-eyed little girl (the daughter of our host) gazed at me with terror, from time to time, from behind her father's chair. " Come hither, Wilhelmina," said he, with a broad laugh ; " thou seest these Scottish soldiers have but one head, like our- selves — not two, as Father d'Eydel told thee." I soon made a friend of this little lady, and hastened to assure her that I never had more than one head ; I placed her on my knee, where she laughed and pulled my mustaches ; while her little brother was peeping fearfully towards the end of my kilt, to see that forked tail which he understood all Protestants possessed. Contrasted with the horrors of war, I envied the contentment that pervaded this good man's hearth ; but the sentiments of repugnance to rajDine and strife, became fainter the more often we are impressed ; till at last they are worn out, like the rough thistles on our Scottish pennies, which obliterate as they are used. I can remember all the horror, the breathless shrinking, I felt on first seeing a poor fellow near me torn in two by a cannon-shot at Boitzenburg; but a time came when I could gaze without emotion at the sack of a city and the slaughter of a multitude. Curiosity and horror were then alike effaced ; they had passed away, and callousness alone remained behind, till peace again restored the feelings to their proper tone. However, I sighed as I left the house of the German farmer, and resumed that weary march, the end of which I could not foresee. On the road I was frequently accosted by Scots Imperialists, who spoke to me kindly, and expressed indignation to see me marched thus on foot, and fettered to a private soldier. In short, a general excitement on the subject soon prevailed among them; and, after Gordon's musketeers had passed me, Tilly's aide-de- camp, Count Kceningheim, came up with an order to relieve me from the ignominy I endured, and the fetter was transferred to poor Dandy's other hand. He stared meanwhile in blank astonishment at the count, who had addressed me in our pure native dialect. " So you are a Scot, sir?" said I. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 101 " Had I not been that," said lie, " I had left you to wear your bracelet; but dinna think o' escape; for Tilly's a dour auld carle, and never tholes muckle." " You have become so foreign in aspect and manner, that I never could have recognised in you a kindly Scot." " But I am a kindly Scot!" he retorted with a sparkling eye. " At hame, in auld Glencairn and on the banks of the Urr, I am kent as Hab Cunningham o' the Boortree-haugh ; but here I am Albert Count Koeningheim, your friend and countryman. You must sup wi' me to-night; I'll hae three or four mair — a' Scottish gentlemen, to join us in a glass, for puir auld Scotland's sake. But excuse me, sir — for I see Count Tilly requires me. He hates the Scots like death or the deil, but he canna do with- out me;" and, with his long plume streaming behind, this gay soldier galloped towards the head of the column of infantry. 192 PHILIP EOLLO ; CHAPTER XXVIII. COUNT Tilly's opinion of the presbtterians. Passing through Bleckede, a small town which is overlooked by a baronial castle, and through Padegast, both of which were plundered by the advanced guard of Croatian uskokes, we fol- lowed the course of the Elbe towards Lauenburg. As we passed an ancient tower in the dusk, I remember hearing the notes of the watchman's horn, when (in the old German fashion) he pro- claimed the first hour of the night. By three long halts, Tilly delayed his march in such a manner, that though the distance was short, night had descended on the Elbe and its shores be- fore we saw the lights twinkling in the old castle, which was occupied by two companies of my own regiment, under Major Wilson. The little town was deserted, for the inhabitants had all fled into Holstein by the bridge, which the castle defended by its cannon. The town is situated at the confluence of a stream named the Stecknitz with the Elbe; its castle, which is said to have been built by Heinrich the Lion, Duke of Saxony, was strong, and crowned an eminence which Bernard, Prince of Anhalt, the successor of Heinrich, had left nothing undone to strengthen; but their old towers of the twelfth century, though black, and strong, and grim, were never meant to withstand the dint of cannon-shot. At the foot of the steep eminence, and about a pistol-shot from the walls, was an ancient gate, surmounted by the demi- eagle of Anhalt carved on stone ; and there Major Wilson had posted a picquet or outguard of my brave comrades, as Bandolo, who had crept forward to reconnoitre and espy, informed Tilly, OK, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 193 who, acting upon his suggestion, and in revenge for the trick Dreghorn and I had played him during the preceding night, now resolved to turn our presence and services to account. The advanced guard halted at the distance of two musket- shots from the bridge of Saxe-Lauenburg, in front of which stood a solitary sentinel of Wilson's picquet, in the very centre of the roadway. The bridge was ancient and narrow, with high parapets; but as the cannon and musketry of the castle could rake it with deadly effect, it was of the utmost advantage to Tilly that the bridge should be crossed, and the gateway passed without an alarm; thus he had cruelly resolved on destroying the sentinel, a project which the circumstance of our being his prisoners, and the dense darkness of the night, greatly fur- thered. The whole country around us was deserted; the Croatians had captured or shot all the wayfarers and straggling peasantry : thus, neither my comrades under Major Wilson in the castle, nor their guard at the bridge, had the most remote idea that Tilly's troops, more than thirty thousand strong, were in their imme- diate vicinity. The major had been desired to rely on IJerr Otto Roskilde for information as to the enemy's movements, and that worthy, whom we now know under another name, had completely deceived him by tidings that the Imperialists had fallen back towards the Weser. Still, dark and unbroken by a ripple, the broad and starless current of the Elbe poured through the arches of the bridge; the opposite bank was veiled in obscurity, all save the upper ramparts of the castle, which we saw standing forth in dark out- line against the gloomy sky, and towering high above the level landscape. Not a sound was heard; the most deathlike stillness prevailed, and the whole current of life seemed as still and turgid as the waters of the Elbe. Tilly's leading column had halted for more than an hour, and we knew not till afterwards that this great general delayed the attack until he had consulted an augur as to his hopes of suc- cess, and his confessor as to his prospects elsewhere, in case of being shot; thus he poured into the ear of Eather Ignatius VOL. I. 194- PHILIP ROLLO; cVEydel that confession which he always made, if possible, before engaging. Apart from his host, at the foot of a blasted oak by the wayside, the terrible John de Tserclii was ou his knees, bareheaded and in the dust, before a brother of his order. Escorted by the same soldiers, who now guarded some Wal- loons in addition. Dandy Dreghorn and I were seated near the wall of a ruined cottage ; around us were our guards, leaning in silence on their arms. Dandy was occupied at supper on some meal, which (during our march) he had contrived to secure and prepare. He offered me a portion, but I declined ; so he/supped alone, talking all the while, that no time might be lost, for he made every meal with the air of a man who expected never to make another. "Thou incorrigible glutton !" said T, "can you eat thus, when these overwhelming forces are about to assail our poor comrades in yonder small castle T' " 'Od, sir, I dinna see that it will mak raeikle odds to them, whether I tyne my supper or no ! " " Upon my honour. Dandy, eating is quite a science with you, I perceive, and abstinence would be mere want of taste." " I aye eat whan I can, for I kenna whan or whar the neist cogue may come frae. I took some groats frae an auld trooper's saddlebags at the last halt, and made thae braw sawans o' them before he kent they were tint ; and sae I squatted mysel' doon here to sup withouten fear o' a hecklin. I daursay there's some braw soorocks in the burn yonder, if we could only find them. * Stolen waters are sweet, and breid eaten in secret is pleasant,' saith Solomon, and he was a wise auld buckie, for a' that he had as mony wives as an Imperialist; but this water," he added, producing a leather bottle from his plaid-neuk, " is baith sponger and sweeter than Solomon's. It's the real stuff! hae a drap yoursel, sir." I took a few mouthfuls, and then returned the leather bottle to Dandy, who, after pouring the remainder down his throat, with much mock politeness handed the flask to the corporal of escort. That sulky commander finding it empty, kicked it away with great contempt; and was drawing the ramrod of his carbine OR, THE SCOTTISn MUSKETEERS. 195 to chastise my companion, though fettered, when an armed cavalier appeared beside ns on horseback. It was Albert Count Kceningheim. " You must follow me," said he, " the generalissimo requires your presence." " In this dusty dress?" said I, jestingly, "Tush !" he replied, " a soldier is a companion for a king in any dress. I fear, sir, when you see Tilly, you will not jest. Corporal, bring these prisoners this way." These iwisoners ; it was a very unpleasant sound, besides this lover (or intended lover) of Ernestine's spoke so gravely, that I had immediately some unpleasant anticipations. Nor was I de- ceived. Stumbling forward in the dark, over prostrate hedges and ruined garden walls, among neglected furrows and unsown fields, we reached the right flank of the advanced guard, where, sheltered from the view of those in the castle by a thick group of trees, Tilly stood in the centre of a number of steel-clad cavaliers and officers, whose bronzed visages and long mustaches were revealed by their open helmets, and the dim light of a stable lantern, which hung upon a demi-lance stuck in»the earth. With his meagre figure cased in half-armour and buff with tassettes descending almost to his withered knees, half prop- ping himself against his long sword with one hand, and grasping with the other a baton and the bridle of his horse, Count Tilly stood a little in front of his picturesque staflf. There was a diabolical smile playing upon the lines of his thin wan mouth, though none was twinkling in his deep and fiery eyes, which searched the hearts of all. "Welcome, thou jackfeather gallant!" said he in German, making me an ironical bow, to which I replied by another, haughtily enough; while Dandy, who kept close to me, saluted him as well as the fetter which chained his hands together would permit. At that moment a tall red plume towered above the crowd of helmets; the group near Tilly parted on each side like the waves of the sea, and the stately Count of Carlstein approached with a fiery gleam in his full clear eyes — a cold and freezing expres- 195 PHILIP ROLLO; sion of anger on liis Grecian brow and finely formed upjDer lip. " All — my camp-master general," said Tilly, with another ironical bow ; "in searching for rats at your new castle in Lune- burg, we found other vermin, as you may see." The count bit his nether lip, but did not reply; and it was perhaps fortunate for him, that I (remembering Tilly's observa- tions about treachery) had contrived, during the march, to explain to the aide-de-camp how we happened to be concealed in that apartment last night. " Senor Bandolo," said Tilly. That meritorious individual immediately appeared among us, in his large cloak and brown Dutch hat, with a cockade which was Danish on one side and Austrian on the other. Undisguised scorn was expressed by every face present, save that of the unscrupulous Count of Merode, of whom more anon. " Bandolo," said the general, " describe what you have seen." " An officer, who wears an eagle's wing in his helmet, with a sergeant and fourteen musketeers, guard the gate which closes the other end of the bridge, and is, in fact, the outer barrier of the castle." (I listened with eagerness ; this officer was evidently Ian.) " A single sentinel is posted at this end of the bridge." " It is narrow, you perceive, gentlemen," said Tilly. "And troops will be long in defiling across it," added the Count of Carlstein; "and will moreover be exposed to great danger, as ten heavy culverins and a bombarde from the castle can sweep its whole length." "Senor — you have seen the advanced sentinel?" " I could have pistoled him, but feared to alarm the guard," growled Bandolo, " There is no sconce at tJiis end of the bridge, as at Boitzenburg," said Tilly; " it is fortunate ! But it is of the utmost importance, in case the arches should be undermined, that we capture the guard without alarming the garrison in the castle. This can onh'' be done by deceiving the sentinel; and if one of these prisoners will lead an armed party to the gorge of the bridge, and OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 197 reply to the challenge, in his own barbarous language ; on one hand I offer him a thousand pistoles, with free leave to enter any regiment in the Imperial service ; and on the other, instant death, and such a burial as the wolf and raven give. Sir — officer! translate this to your fellow-prisoner," he added to me, with a terrible frown. " Dreghorn," said I, after translating the request, " what an- swer shall we give him?" " Tell the auld tyke, that we'll baith see him hanged first — yea, high as Haman, and that then we wadna do it ! " "Count Tillv!" I exclaimed: "is this the honour — this the faith of an Imperial soldier?" " Faith ! " he retorted, " and dost thou speak to me of faith ? Did not a council of our church, more than two hundred years ago, declare that no faith should he kept with heretics V A cloud came over the faces of the Counts of Carlstein and Koeningheim. "Generalissimo," said the former, "what is this you would do? Assassinate a poor soldier because he will not betray his com- rades? What! is the cause of the Empire and of Catholipism fallen so low, that we must become bravoes and murderers?" "Darest thou to dictate?" cried the little man grasping his baton tighter, while a dark gleam shot from his fiery eyes ; " dost think that I who have never shown mercy to the Flemish and German followers of Luther and Calvin, will mince matters with this Presbyterian spawn of their worthy colleague, Knox? No — nor will I now, so help me God; and, by my part of paradise! may the boom of our cannon sound every where as the funeral knell of those accursed Protestants — this unsh riven spawn of Scotland, of Denmark, and the devil. They are your country men^ count — true, but remember that on the brows and on the banner of your nation are written the curse of heresy, and the crime of sacred blood — the blood of a cardinal-priest, and that blood is yet unrevenged ! " " Lord hae a care o' us ! what a deevil o' a body — what a bull o' Bashan ! " muttered Dandy, as Tilly spurted out his fury in crackjaw German, though he usually swore in Spanish. 198 PHILIP ROLLO; " Will tliis fellow obey my orders, if you will not?" lie asked, with increasing wrath. " He treats your offer with the scorn that it merits," said I. " Maldicion de Dios ! then stab him to the heart, Bandolo ! " cried the merciless Tilly. The unfortunate Dreghorn seemed to comprehend this terrible order; for, as the unscrupulous rascal raised his poniard. Dandy wrung my hand, and then in the old Scottish fashion mantled his head in his plaid, even as Csesar veiled his in his toga, to hide the death-stroke and its agony. At that moment poor Dandy Dreghorn, the humble plough- man — the private soldier — was sublime! He was the grandest figure amid that stately group; but I caught the descending arm of Bandolo with one hand, and dashed him to the earth with the other. " Do yer warst, ye dour auld walydraigel ! " cried Dandy, shaking his fettered hands in Tilly's startled face ; " I maun een dree my weird, syne ye gar me thole't ! " " Lead them both forward to the bridge," said Tilly, who was literally choking with passion. " To thee, Bandolo, I entrust them; six Croats will follow you; blow out their brains, if they refuse to reply th^t friends are approaching. The report of your pistols will be the signal for crossing and making a general assault. The regiments of Camargo and Merode will lead the van ; for, as Wallenstein says, God always helps the strongest brigade — forward ! " We were dragged away by Bandolo and the six dismounted Croats, all of whom were men of that amiable docility to orders, that they would have shot their own fathers without the slightest scruple, had such been the pleasure of Count Tilly or their prince, the Ban. OB, THE SCOTTISH JIUSKETEEKS. 199 CHAPTER XXIX. CAIRN NA CUIMHNE I I SECRETLY resolvecl that, whether I was shot or whether I escaped, a pretty loud alarm should be given ; Dandy Dreghorn was of the same opinion, for, notwithstanding his strong pre- deUctions for porridge and good feeding, he was a brave fellow, and vowed to stand by me to the last. Being aware that Bandolo knew neither our Scottish language nor the Gaelic, we were resolving how we could bring both him and Tilly into a trap of their own constructing as we approached the end of the bridge, almost groping among the dark and smoke-like vapour, which was now beginning to spread along the river, and oveMhe deserted town and the castle which commanded it. At the gorge of the bridge I could perceive a Highland soldier standing perfectly motionless, resting on his musket, and ap- parently gazing straight before him, into the obscurity which veiled the army of Tilly. His powerful form had the aspect of a dusky statue. I could perceive his plaid waving at times j he was whistling a monotonous pibroch as we crept softly towards him; then he chanted a song; and doubtless the thoughts of home it raised within him, turned his eyes and heart back — as it were, back upon himself — and prevented him from observing the group of Croats, who approached him so stealthily, with their carbines cocked, under the shadow of the Dutch willows that fringed the narrow pathway. I have said the whole place was still as death ; thus the clear, manly voice of the clansman as he sung " Failirin, ilirin, iulirin 0," was distinctly heard. That old Highland air is so sad and slow, that it moved my heart within me, even amid the fierce impulses of that most critical hour. 200 PHILIP KOLLO; " Not the swan on the lake, or the foam on its shore. Can compare with the charms of the maid I adore ; Not so white is the snow on the mountain or dale. Or the wild-rose that blooms on the bough in the vale. As the clouds' golden wreath, on Ben Lomond's high brow. The locks of my loved one luxuriantly flow; And her cheek has the tint our wild-roses display, "When they blush in the bloom of a morning in May." " Dreghorn," I whispered, " that is Gillian M'Bane, one of my own company — a Strath dee man! My God ! what shall I do?" "■ Let us baith set up a yowl, sir." We still crept forward, and after a pause Gillian sang another verse of that tender old love- song; while my heart beat quicker, and my breath became more and more contracted. " Like thy star oh, TJl-lochlin ! that beams o'er the grove. Are the slow-rolling eyes of the maid that I love ; High bosom'd, her girdle diffuses the light Of the moon, when she beams on the ocean at night. The lark and the linnet, they welcome the morn, In a chorus of joy from yon time-gnarled thorn; But the linnet and lark pour their chorus in vain, "When the maid that I love sings her sweet Highland strain." * Suddenly he perceived something, and, pausing again in his song, blew the match of his musket, and cried in his native Gaelic — " Stand! — who comes here?" Bandolo raised his pistols and blew the matches ; then a sound followed, as the Croats, who crept like snakes along the ground, imitated his example. " Speak !" said he in a fierce whisper to Dreghorn and to me. He spoke in broken German, with a word or two of Spanish, and placed a pistol to each of our heads. I felt the cold muzzle against my left temple. My heart stopped — then there was a terrible conflict within it; but I knew the narrow path that honour required me to pursue. Again the sentinel challenged, and cocked his piece. " Maldetto! will you speak — or you?" growled Bandolo. " No — never! " said Dreghorn ; " not to be made king o' a' braid Scotland — Heevin bless every inch o't!" * Translation from the original Gaelic, by Dominie Daidle. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 201 *' Maldicion ! " howled the bravo, gnashing his teeth. " Treachery, M'Bane ! " I shouted in Gaelic ; " treachery, treachery! The Imperialists are upon you! Cairn nacumiJme! Claymore and biodag!" There was a red flash as he fired his musket, and a Croat fell be- side me, kicking up his heels in the dark ; two pistol-shots fol- lowed, and, shot through the brain, poor Dandy Dreghorn sank dead at my feet. I thought myself also slain — for an instant all was chaos ! I fell across his body, yet fortunately my cheek was only scorched by powder, while the ball had grazed my helmet, but with suflS.cient force to knock me down. My escape was mira- culous, and Bandolo deemed me shot when I fell on the roadway, and, luckily for myself, close to a small recess in an abutment of the bridge, where I lay unobserved ; for to advance would be to fall a sacrifice to the fire of my comrades, who with Ian guarded the gate of the bridge; to retire, would be to perish among the ferocious Imperialists. Firing a volley through the loopholes of the arclnvay, the Highland guard closed the klinket of the well-barricaded gate, and retired double quick into the castle; and now began one (jf the grandest scenes of war I ever had the fortune to witness ! From the high ramparts of the gothic fortress, there burst upon the midnight gloom and on the narrow bridge a flood of light, with a storm of cannon-shot and musketry. " To the assault ! to the assault ! and death be the doom of the first who turns his back!" cried Tilly, rushing on foot across the bridge at the head of his pikemen, with a standard in his left hand, and a horse-pistol in the right; for the old Jesuit, though he trembled last night before an antique picture, and had implicit faith in quacks and astrologers, was brave as a lion. " Forward, my hardy rogues ! there are a hundred hogs- heads of good wine in yonder castle — all the spoil of the heretical Bishop of Hildesheim. On, on brave cavaliers and valiant pikemen ! Bemember that every blow of your swords, and thrust of your pikes, is beheld with joy by the mother of God! Strike for the good cause! thrust for the blessed cause! Strike and thrust for the Cross and the Empire ! " ; Ipt L^. 202 T" PHILIP ROLLO; The hoarse hurrah of the German infantry, the yells of the Croats, and the chivalric war-cry of the Spaniards, replied to his urgent address. " Santiago ! Santiago ! and close, Spain ! Yiva el Conde Tilly I Viva Juan de Tserclii ! Yiva el Espiritu Santo ! " A flood of armed men — the regiments of Merode and Camargo — poured along the bridge against that gate, which formed the only barrier between them and the fertile and un- ravaged provinces of Saxe-Lauenburg, Holstein, and Denmark, and they rushed impetuously against it, their pioneers being in front, with axes and sledge-hammers, petards and levers. Other corps followed, column after column, with all their bright points and uplifted pikes gleaming in the blaze of a light-ball^ which (by Major Wilson's orders) was now burned on the summit of the castle, and which poured a torrent of dazzling radiance on every object. This engine (so useful for revealing the position and number of a foe at night) is usually a large bomb, filled and covered with powder, saltpetre, turpentine and rosin, well rammed with birchwood charcoal, and covered by innumerable coats of paper steeped in melted pitch. On the grey battlements of Lauenburg this blazed like a comet, and enabled the Highlanders to direct their fire of mus- ketiy from the parapets above, and the Barbette batteries below — so named because, in their passage, the shots from them shave the cope of the rampart. The shower of missiles that swept the bridge was terrible ! Two great basilisks, or 48-pounders, loaded with musket-balls, did frightful execution, while the enormous bombarde vomited stang-balls, or shot with double heads, having fourteen inch bars to connect them; these shred away whole ranks of men, who, as they crowded upon the bridge in their eagerness, impeded the operations of those who assailed the gate. " Cairn na cuimhne ! " rang at times above the uproar from the castle wall. I thought I could detect the voice of Ian ; for it was the war-cry of the M'Farquhars — their Cairn of Remem- brance on the hills of Strathdee. The yells, cries, and tumult upon the narrow bridge were appalling, and almost equalled the din of the fire-arras and OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 203 artillery in Lauenburg. What a contrast now was tliere ! ten minutes before the stillness had been like that of a desert, un- broken save when the solitary sentinel sang, or when the wind shook the rushes of the Elbe, and swept along its darkened waters with a moaning sound. A thick mist arose from its bosom, and on that mist fell the ghastly and sulphurous glare, amid which — yet half in obscurity — • were seen the columns moving to the attack, like troops of spirits, with their armour and weapons gleaming as if tipped with blue fire, among that cold white vapour. Down from the lofty rampart, lighting up its grim architecture of the twelfth century, poured that torrent of flame, revealing every object, even to the checks in the tartan plaids of the Highlanders ; larger it grew, broader and brighter, until every ornament and stud upon the coats-of-mail were visible. The whole fortress was illuminated; the spire of Saxe-Lauenburg, the houses and their windows, the rolling mist, the broad river, and its clumps of pale green weeping willows and dusky copper beeches ; the advancing columns with their umbered arms and rustling banners; the stormers on the bridge, swarming and swearing, jostling and crushiug forward over the dead and dying, and uttering yells of rage and defiance, whenever a cannon-shot made a lane of carnage through their living mass, were fully and fearfully visible. Surmounted by the demi-eagle of Anhalt rising from its ducal crown, before them lay the old archway with its deep dark mouth, having a false portcullis jagged with iron teeth, flanked by the Barbette batteries, and swept from innumerable loopholes of the casemates, from the recesses of which red streaks of fire and wreaths of pale blue smoke — blue even amid that pallid glare — burst forth incessantly, as the radiance of the blazing fireball enabled the Scottish musketeers to direct their deadly aim with precision and security. At last this light from the castle began to subside and die away; but just then the Austrian petardiers blew up the An- halt gate, and half their number with it ; the din of hammers and axes followed; then another wild shout of triumph, and the 204 PHILIP ROLLO; musketeers of Merocle, tlae pikemen of Camargo, and the Croats of Castanovitz, with the whole of Tilly's column, began to pour along the bridge, through the shattered archway, and entered the duchy of Saxe-Lauenbur^:. The Scottish major had undermined the bridge; but the powder found a vent somewhere, and the chamber was fired without effect; then a triumphant shout of fear, derision, and defiance arose from the soldiers of the Empire ! The Rubicon was passed ; the passage of the Elbe achieved, but with great loss ; and the castle was immediately outflanked and environed on every side. Column after column — horse foot and artillery — defiled along the bridge, until the whole main body of the Imperialists had pass- ed, but not without severe loss ; for my brave comrades fired inces- santly until their bandoliers were empty, and their cannon had become so hot, that to cool them they were compelled to cease for a time; and then, on day breaking, the gallant Lowland cavalier who led them, finding the castle invested on every ])oint, craved a parley by beat of drum, and, through the intervention of Tilly's aide-de-camp, and of his confessor. Father Ignatius d'Eydel, an influential Jesuit, obtained permission to march out with all the honours of war, and to retire without molestation down the right bank of the Elbe, to the fortress of Gliickstadt. While these arrangements were being made, I again became a prisoner, having been discovered by some Croatian women, who, in the twilight of the morning, had been stripping the killed and wounded on the bridge, and using their knives freely on the latter, if they resisted. Some of those wretches were on the point of assassinating me for the lace and jewels of my Highland garb, when a corporal of Heitres knocked two of them down with the but-end of his carbine, and committed me to the care of Tilly's quarter guard. Escape was now impossible, and I feared to offer bribes, least these unscrupulous soldiers might deprive me of Ernestine's purse, as well as its contents. Exactly at sunrise Major Wilson came forth with his little garrison, and two regiments of horse, with standards displayed and kettle-drums beating, were drawn up to salute the passing OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 205 Highlanders. With one pipe playing, two drums beating the Scots march, and the major's own standard bearing the Lion Rampant displayed, they marched down from the castle, not quite two hundred strong, but a gvim and determined little band as ever waved their tartans in the face of an enemy. Their faces were blackened by dust and powder, and most of them had band- ages about their heads, their arms, or sturdy bare legs; but they all marched past, like brave fellows as they were, looking at the iron line of Tilly's Reitres as if they cared not a pinch of snuff for them. With a heart that swelled within me, I stood among my escort by the wayside, and recognised many a face as my comrades passed.. The first company was Captain Mackenzie of Kildon's ; the next was lan's — the stately men of Strathdee ; and I saw him, with his arm in a sling, marching at their head, and those colossal sergeants, Phadrig Mhor, and Diarmed M'Gillvray, each with his enormous Lochaber axe, keeping close by his side — and Red Angus M'AljDine too, with the crape on his arm in memory of his secret sorrow. Had uncounted gold been mine, I would have given it for the power to rush into their ranks and claim their friendship and protection ; but I was an unran- somed prisoner of war, and they dared not receive me. I caught the eye of Ian as he passed. He grew pale with astonishment ; then he reddened with joy and indignation; the M'Farquhars uttered a shout, but were compelled to march on ; yet Ian sprang from their ranks and wrung my hand. " God bless you, cousin Philip ! " said he, " we thought you were gone with poor Learmonth and Martin to render Heaven an account of our good service in Germany." " Rollo," added M'Alpine, hurriedly, " we cannot tarry a mo- ment! We march by the way of Hamburg; a wood lies some twenty miles distant, near Bergedorf ; escaj^e, if you can, and some of us may meet you thereabout on this side of Gliick- stadt — farewell!" They sprang back to their places, and marched on ; but many a face was turned backward, and many a hand was waved to me in kindly recognition, till I lost sight of them, as the Reitres wheeled into broad squadrons to follow and cover their retreat. 206 PHILIP ROLLOj CHAPTER XXX. THE JESUIT. Retaining ten thonsand men under his own command. Count Tilly iminediatelj despatched the Counts of Carlstein and Me- rode, with the remainder of his force, along the banks of the Elbe, with orders to turn the flank of all King Christian's out- posts ; after which they were all to reunite, and advance again to the conquest of the Danish isles. Devereaux's Irish regiment occupied Lauenburg, where the German pioneers buried the dead in great trenches, and many were quite warm, with the blood still oozing from their wounds when flung in. The vast de^Dth to which they dug these pits excited my surprise, and I was informed by Count Kceningheim that it was " to prevent any vampires who might be among the slain ascending to upper earth;" for I found that, from the frightful atrocities of the Imperial troops, they had the most im- plicit belief in these imaginary monsters, and supposed that many were in their ranks. Several prisoners, who had incurred Tilly's displeasure for various reasons, were now selected by the sergeant of the quarter- guard, and put aside for hanging at sunset. To my horror, I found myself -plsiced among these doomed men ! I remonstrated with the sergeant with all the earnestness of one whose life de- pended upon his own exertions, assuring him that I had done nothing worthy of a death so detestable. "Yery well," said he coolly; "make some interest with an officer, and we may shoot you instead — forward, escort ! " and we were marched to a small open shed, which stood under some large trees that grew near the river. Against one of these trees OK, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 207 stood a ladder, and Bandolo, who on this occasion had constituted liimself assistant to the provost-marshal, superintended the arrangement of certain cords, having ugly loops thereon, from the branches of the trees. My fellow prisoners were six Croats and two Germans. They were all tied with cords; the Croats sat on the ground in sullen silence, glaring at their guards from under their fur caps and savage elf-locks; the two Germans had smoked themselves into a state of dreamy indif- ference, and sat with their lack-lustre eyes fixed on the flowing river. Around us, the soldiers of the escort were quietly cleaning their arms, rubbing down their horses, and cooking their rations on a large fire (composed of tables, chairs, &c., taken from a neiglibouring house), previous to marching. Though I could face death in any form when encountering him in the ranks, with the colours above and my comrades beside me, to die thus was a very difierent thing. To be left hanging like a dog or a thief from the branch of a tree (though the sergeant assured me "it was a most respectable gibbet") — I, a gentleman and soldier, in the manly garb of my native country — to die thus — and to die without a crime ! The reflection was intolerable ! But there was not one to whom I could apply for mercy or for succour. Count Carlstein had marched, and Koeningheim, had gone, no one knew whither. Devereux's Irishmen cared nothing for me. I was not their countryman; besides, I had not the means of communicating with them. As the day wore on, with an agony which cannot now be written, I watched the summer sun verging to the westward, and shedding along the whole bosom of the Elbe its bright evening beams, throwing far across the river and its bordering meadows the lengthening shadows of every spire, and house, and tree; for as still, as glassy, and waveless as ever, the stream flowed on towards the German Sea — the same sea that washed the Scottish shore. The sun sank lower and lower; the days were then long, and the landscape was flat; yet it was within an hour of setting. 208 PHILIP hollo; Only an hour ! I sprang up, and walked to and fro with an air of perturba- tion which I could not conceal; but which my phlegmatic German guard, viewed with the most perfect indifference, A torrent of bitter thoughts poured through my heart; I had quitted a home where none regretted me, with the hope that all I left behind should one day be proud of my actions, and might boast of my glorious death if I fell in battle or siege — but now the noose was waving over my head ! I felt that it was im- possible for me to meet such a death, and so unmerited, with resolution or with resignation, and without a struggle — a des- perate struggle — if not for liberty at least for revenge. It was better, a thousand times better, to die sword in hand, and be hewed to pieces, than to be hung like a pitiful marauder. A weapon ! I saw none save in the hands of the strong guard which surrounded us, laughing and jesting through their bushy mustaxhes just as if nothing unusual was to happen, and nine poor devils werfe not to be hanged at all. While full of these bitter thoughts, I perceived a man whom I knew by his attire to be a priest of the order of Jesus — one of the many who followedthearmy of Tilly — walking slowly towards the trees whereon the fatal nooses were dangling, a.nd at the foot of which the Croats and Germans were seated in sullen and listless apathy. He stooped down and addressed them all in succession; but they cursed, and bade him begone "to the devil." Then he paused, with the air of one who conferred with himself whether it were worth while to continue so ungrateful a task ; and, after some hesitation, he approached and gazed at me from head to foot. His thin, tall figure is yet before me. Worn evidently by as- ceticism and conventual severity, he stooped a little forward ; his forehead was broad and impending ; his features were harsh, while a prominence of mouth and chin indicated more firmness of purpose than mildness and benignity — yet, in many respects, his face belied the good man's disposition. His eyes — keen, pene- trating and hard in expression — inspired awe, and commanded OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 209 respect from all on wliom he bent them; but their decided expression belied the humility with which he crossed his bony hands upon his bosom, and humbly bowed his head even unto the most humble. Educated a Presbyterian, and being the soldier of a Protestant king, I gazed with some distrust at this brother of that order whose name excites so many jealous feelings, and which has been so obnoxious to the princes of Europe generally ; for in my own time I have seen the Jesuits, as the result of their intrisfues, ex- pelled forcibly from Venice and Prague, from Naples and Flanders. He halted before me, crossed his hands upon his breast, and slightly bent his lofty figure. ''Your servant, reverend sir," said I, in my own language. " God be with you, my son," he answered in the same. I had used it inadvertently, but now my attention was excited, and I gazed at him inquiringly. " I am sorry," he continued, " to see a Scottish gentleman in this sad predicament." " I fear me, good sir, your regrets will not mend the matter much," I replied sourly, for the most intense hatred of the ^Im- perialists was swelling in my breast j " you cannot do any thing for me, I presume." " Perhaps not — I am only poor father Ignatius." " The confessor of Count Tilly ! " I exclaimed, thunderstruck \ " pardon me, sir — I have often heard of you." " For little that is good — if in the Danish camp." " Nay, sir — even there I have heard you spoken of with re- spect, as the possessor of a thousand virtues." " Though a Jesuit — 'tis wonderful ! Though I am known as Ignatius in the Order of Jesus, at home, in poor old Scotland, I was kent but as David Daidle, the neer-do-weel o' the parish schule, and son o' auld Davie o' the Daidleysheugh, at the Polio's Craig. Ye see, gude sir, I've no forgotten our auld Scottish whilk my puir mither taucht me." "How!" I exclaimed, clasping both his hands in mine ; "are you the brother of my old Dominie Daidle, at home in dear Cromartie?" VOL. I. P 210 PHILIP ROLLO; " The same — the same ! " lie sighed, with a flushing cheek and a kindling eye; "my brother did become a dominie; but I, with James of Jerusalem, and Father Leslie, now suj^erior of the Scottish college at Douay, became followers of Ignatius Loyola. But my puir brother — when saw ye him last?" "But a few months ago; the poor dominie plays the fiddle as well as ever, and still leads the choir of our parish kirk. I promised to bring him from Germany the object of his greatest ambition — a metal horologue, which he is not likely to receive, however," I added, glancing at the setting sun, and the noose which dangled over my head. " Young gentleman, it seems to me as if your face was familiar to me, and your voice, too; yet I must have left old Scotland, years before you were born. You are a son of our father's laird and patron, Rollo of CraigroUo "? " " Compelled to become a soldier of fortune, because of a certain unlucky heirloom " " The Bollo spoon," replied the Jesuit, a broad smile spreading over his usually grave features ; " I remember well that quaint heirloom of old Sir Bingan ; I remember too, with gratitude, the many favours your family have for ages bestowed on mine, the hereditary vassals of your house. Oh ! I would gladly repay but one of these, if in my power " " You can more than repay them all, sir, for indeed you owe us nothing. If we did service to the dominie's family, they did good service to ours. Whose sword hewed a farther passage into Huntly's pikemen at Glenlivat, than old Davie Daidle's? I am to be hanged in ten minutes — hanged like a dog, because I have done my devoir as a soldier against these rascally Imperialists, and would not betray to them my kinsmen, the M'Farquhars. If you can save me " " Save you ! — I can and will " " There is but little time, then ; for, by my soul, yonder come Bandolo the bravo, and the provost-marshal with his guard and assistants, carrying the fatal ladder, by which they mean to accommodate us in mounting the branches of these high trees." OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 211 " Follow me, Mr. Rollo, and let me see who will dare to inter- rupt you." The soldiers fell back and presented arms to tliis well-known and formidable priest, who was as familiar to the armies of Tilly as the terrible Father du Tremblay was then known in those of France, but in a very different way — for every good, and not for every evil. Like his master's, the will and command of Ignatius d'Eydel (for so had they rendered his homely name) were as much law to the soldiers as if the cruel tliin lips of Tilly had expressed them. As we passed the provost, he respectfully saluted the priest who stood by my side, in his long flowing garments. Bandolo scowled at me with rage and disappointment, but was compelled to pass on, leaving me untouched. I remembered the cruel murder of poor Dandy Dreghorn, and could scarcely keep my hands from his throat; but hoj)ed that an hour of retribution was coming. After walking in silence along the road for some hundred yards, on looking back I saw the convulsed bodies of my eight recent companions dangling from the trees, while the provqgt and his guard retired leisurely towards their quarters in the town of Lauenburg. 212 PHILIP ROLLOj CHAPTER XXXI. OF THE GOOD DEEDS OUR MUSKETEEBS WERE UNDOING. My heart sickened at the thought of all I had so providentially escaped, by the casual intervention of a passing priest. " Corae, master RoUo," thought I, as gayer ideas suggested themselves ; " you must not deem these Jesuits such bad fellows after all ! Indeed this one seems remarkably amiable. Reve- rend sir," said I, as we passed the extreme outposts of Tilly's troops, and proceeded along the margin of the Elbe, " I hope you will not incur the count's displeasure by setting me free." " Displeasure — oh no ! My brother, John of Tsercla — for I presume you are aware that he is a priest of our order — cannot quarrel with me for a trifling act of mercy like this." " This trifiing act has saved my life, but you value existence lightly on the Imperial side of the Elbe. I am full of joy and gratitude for the service you have rendered me; but why, good sir, do you seem so much dejected?" " I am indeed dejected, and sorrowful — exceedingly sorrowful !" he replied, folding his hands heavily upon his breast, and bend- ing his eyes upon the ground. ''For what, good sir?" *' To see my own countrymen arrayed in tens of thousands against the good cause. Ye are come to uproot and destroy that tree of knowledge whose leaves were faith, and whose fruit was life everlasting ; that stately tree which, in other times, our pious countrymen, from the holy Isle of lona, in the far west, transplanted among the barbarous Goths of Germany. For OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 213 hither in those dark ages of the world, from our old Caledonian shore, came Boniface, who, after converting all the savages of Thuringia and Saxony, became first Archbishop of Mentz, as we may find in the writings of Trithemius. While his Scottish disciples founded the noble abbey of Fulda, Patto (also a Scot) converted Westphalia, and was made Bishop of Verden. In the 8th century, St. Robert, the son of a Scottish king, converted Theodo lord of Bavaria, with all his people, and is now the apostle of their descendants; while Galium Bane and Gallus of Argyle rescued Swabia from the darkness of paganrie; and the latter ceased not from his blessed labours until he perished among the Switzers, who yet preserve his reliques in the convent of St. Gall ; and all these things ye are come to undo ! Nor need I tell you how John the Scot became Bishop of Mecklenburg, and died a martyr, being slain by the Wendish apostles, who, in 1066, cut off his hands and feet, leaving this man of godliness to perish miserably by the wayside; or how, in the year 1000, Callumanus, the son of a Scottish prince, converted all Austria, where he was martyred, and where his reliques are yet preserved in the convent of our countrymen, near the Scottish Gate at Vienna. Argobastus," continued my companion, warming with enthusiasm and reckoning on his fingers — " Argobastus, the converter of Strasburg, and William who founded a Scottish monastery at Cologne, another at Nuremburg, another at Aix-la- chajDelle, two at Batisbon, and another at WUrtsburg, were also Scots, as we may read in the writings of Baronius and Trithe- mius ; and all these blessed works ye are come from the same land, with your muskets and bandoliers, to undo ! Virgilius the Scot, was made perpetual legate of Germany by His Holiness Gre- gory VII.; nor need I expatiate on the piety, the virtues, and the suffering of Kilian, the Cuklee of lona, who converted all Franconia ; and that ye are come to subvert and undo ! Oh ! why seek to convert these lands to heresy and heathendom by the sword? with drums beating and banners displayed? Why not try it, like the Scots of other times, with no other weapons than the staff and the sandals — prayer and exhortation?" "By my faith, reverend sir, a salvo of good cannon-shot is the 214 PHILIP ROLLO: best exhortation for sucli a congregation as Tilly and his Croats," said I, half stunned by the vehemence of the Je.snit, and the facility with which he enumerated so many barbarous names. "My good father and countryman," I added; "we came hither neither to convert like the Scots of old, nor to persecute like Count Tilly. But we are come to fight the battles of those who cannot fight for themselves; to win honour and fame like true cavaliers, to clip the wings of the Austrian eagle, and to defend the civil and religious liberties of Northern Europe — a high and a glorious mission ! " " To overturn the faith of God ! — the church which is founded on the rock of ages, and is cemented by the blood of many a martyr. Oh ! were you to see, as I have seen at Melck, the body of our countryman St. Colman, undecayed, uncorrupted, pure and fair, as on that day in the year 1012, when, after returning there barefooted from Jerusalem, the barbarians hanged him on a tree, where he swung untainted by the weather, and untouched by the ravens, until the good Bishop of Aichstadt conveyed his re- liques to Alba Regulis, upon a mountain in Hungary, where they have converted many by the miracles they work daily ; but all these good and wondrous things ye are come with your pikemen and musketeers to subvert and undo!" "By Jove ! Father Daidle, I do not think the corbies would have respected me as they did this good man ; but sure I am, that so far as toil and fasting go, our poor Scottish soldiers endure now as much as ever your Scottish saints did in the olden time, though not so patiently perhaps; as we can relieve our minds, now and then, by a good round oath." The Jesuit paused, and said gravely, as if displeased, "Here we part, sir. I free you as a countryman, though as a heretic, and the soldier of a heretic king, I should have left you to the mercy of the provost-marshal." "Do not be chafed by my heedless way, good sir," said I, glad to perceive that the close of this long harangue had brought me to' the verge of a small wood. "I owe you more than I can ever repay — more than I can ever express — my life — my honour!" "I would gladly give you a horse (though your kilt is scarcely OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 215 suited for tlie saddle), but I possess only a poor ass for the march." "Why not mount yourself better? I saw nags enough and to spare, among the Imperialists." "It would ill become us to ride chargers, when our Master, who is in heaven, contented himself with the humbler animal, and in memory thereof marked it with his cross. If you escape all the dangers of this disastrous war, and return to our com- mon home by the shore of Cromartie, bear my blessing to my poor brother, the dominie— for, alas ! it is all the poorer Jesuit has to send him. Keep the path that is before you ; by it your comrades marched this morning — it leads straight to Hamburg, and to Gliiekstadt — farewell." We separated — He to return to Tilly's disorderly cantonment, and I to pursue my solitary way. 21 G PHILIP ROLLO; fouk tliB liitjr. CHAPTER XXXII. THE MERODEURS. Feom the place where I parted with Father Ignatius, Lauen- biirg, was about three miles distant, and the Elbe about one. The dusky evening was giving place to duskier night. At a little distance from the road lay a German village, with two or three large, old, and crumbling houses overhanging the narrow thoroughfare^ and a number of picturesque little cottages, built of dark and intricate wood-work, carved and plastered. The coppice or wood near me was composed of lofty beeches, which fringed a small and quiet lake ; a large misshapen block carved with ancient Runes stood among the long grass, and between the stems of the distant trees, I saw the moon rising afar off, and shedding a soft pale light upon the hazy landscape. One or two small stags flitted past me, and a solitary stork flapped its large wings on the branch of a hawthorn-tree. Every thing was silent, and the place was so lonely that I sat down on the Runic-carved stone of other times, to reflect on my position. I was seventy miles at least from Gliickstadt ; my comrades were a full day's march — ^thirty miles — in front of me; and though they, by force of numbers, could make their way in safety, I knew the case was different with an individual; for the officers and soldiers of our regiment, who straggled far from OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 217 camp or quarters, were frequently maltreated, and even mur- dered by the savage boors, for the sake of their military finery. Though permitted to retain my back, breast, and head-pieces, I had been deprived of my sword and dirk, yet fortunately my skene-dhu, which was of course stuck in the garter of my right leg, had escaped unseen, and my sporran or purse had a curi- ously constructed mouthpiece or clasp, containing four small pistol barrels, which were cocked by the pressure of one spring, and discharged by the pressure of another. This remarkable piece of Highland mechanism had been a gift from Ian, and was the work of Thomas Caddel, whose manufactory of pistols at the Doune of Menteith, was soon after to become so celebrated. To this clasp and its deadly secret, I more than once owed my life. I kissed the velvet purse of poor Ernestine, and sighed to think I should never behold her again; I examined my skene- dhu, and was about to commence my journey, when several soldiers suddenly appeared at a short distance off. Sinking softly down among the long grass, and enveloping myself in my green plaid, I lay still and scarcely breathed, as they passed close by me, hewing at the bushes with their bran- dished swords, drunk, swearing, and intent on outrage. By the colour of their doublets I could perceive they were musketeers of the Count de Merode's regiment — a band so infamous for cruelty, that in its members first originated the now familiar term marauders — from Merodeiirs. Their colonel, a brutal and licentious noble, was afterwards slain by John de Wart, a colonel of irregular horse; but from his outrages, and those of his soldiers, in the capture of provinces and sack of towns, the name of Merode will ever be remembered with abhorrence by the maids and mothers of Germany. Expecting nothing but instant death for the value of my accoutrements if discovered, I was happy to find that the ruf- fians passed me without observation, and bent their steps towards the adjacent village, between two green hedge-rows which con- cealed me from them; I then sprang up, threw my plaid across me, grasped my black -knife, and commenced my long and solitary journey towards GlUckstadt. 218 PHILIP ROLLO; As I walked quickly away, the noise of pistol-shots and screams announced that the Merodeurs were committing some outrage upon the quiet and unoifending villagers; and by a blaze of light, that shot up between the trees, it was evident that several of the cottages had been set on fire. I was now in the territory of Saxe-Lauenburg ; and, being aware that its duke, Bodolph Maximilian, served under Tilly as colonel of horse, and was one of the six brothers of that gallant House, all of whom fought in this war of aggression, I felt somewhat dubious as to my chances of escaping all the boors and peasants, his vassals, whom I was certain to meet before reaching the territory of Hamburg, over which I knew that King Christian claimed sovereignty as Count of Hol- stein. I suffered excessively from hunger and thirst ; the excitement so recently undergone conduced greatly to increase the latter, and being aware that, if refreshment was not soon procured at all risks, the whole night would assuredly be passed without it, I resolved to put a bold face upon the matter, and, entering the fi.rst village I came to, knocked boldly at the door of a house, on the front of which swung a sign, bearing an eagle of a colour so undecided that it could not fail to please all the troops who, by chance or misfortune, might happen to march that way. The host was somewhat surprised to behold me; but, bustling ouj my plaid, I swaggered in with an air of unconcern, and ordered sup< per to be laid for myself before my comrades came in. As this in de- finite term might have referred to the whole Danish army, the host bowed to the very rosettes at his knees, and summoned Karo- line, the jungfer or waitress, to attend me. Such was the whole- some terror imparted by the announcement of approaching troops, that in their anxiety to please I had host and hostess, jungfer and ostler, all attending me at once. Candles were brought; a joint of cold meat, with a piece of clean white paper twisted about the end, by which it was to be grasped for carving; eggs, cheese, snow-white bread, strong waters, and Danish beer, were all brought with edifying celerity, and I supped . sumptuously. Dismissing all my attendants, I retained only the waitress, a OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 219 pretty girl of Hoi stein, tlie bright expression of whose merry blue eyes announced a decided disposition for coquetry. " Come, jungfer," said I, my spirits rising as I began to feel comfortable ; " you will take a little glass of wine ? " " I would rather be excused — the Herr looks so wickedly," said she, hesitating. " My pretty Karoline — that is your name, I believe — what you call wickedness is mere admiration. It is a way we soldiers have — that is all." I kissed the pretty waitress in a, soldierlike way, and she seemed no way displeased; I was giving myself all the airs which I had seen the Baron Karl, Major Fritz, and others, play off with such ease in similar places, when the host put in his round stupid face to say, that he " heard the drums of my com- rades approaching!" I had no small trouble in concealing my discomposure at this strange intelligence, the source of which was in the good man's brain alone; for his fear of soldiers had conjured up the distant sound of drums, though drums are seldom beaten at night, and never by marching troops. But I immediately rose to depart. " 'Tis my friends," said I, putting on my headpiece. A dollar for supper, four more for an old rapier which I bought from the host, were paid, and I walked anxiously to the door. The night was calm, and no sound broke the stillness of its starry sky or of the landscape, which slept in the pale splendour of the August moon. " I am going to meet my comrades," said I. " What may their force be, Mein Herr?" "About two thousand." "Two thousand!" reiterated the host; "Mein Gott! they will eat us up." " Eat you up, rogue ! I think not, if they pay you as I have done, with rix instead of slet dollars." " Yon have paid like a prince," said he bowing. " Two com- panies wearing the same garb as Mein Herr passed through the village about noon — but they behaved like honest gentlemen, and paid for every thing." 220 PHILIP ROLLO; " That is the way to Korslack, is it not 1 " " That is the way you have just come, Meiii Herr," said the host with surprise. " Ah ! true — how stupid of me to forget ! " "As the Herr has been so kind," said he again ; " perhaps he will escort Karoline past these troops, so far as the pathway which leads to the little chapel of St. Patto ; she has to adorn the altar with flowers for service to-morrow; and, perhaps, she will be safer there, too " " Than in a village among soldiers — you think right. But you put great trust in me. May I not run off with her 1" " I know that the soldiers of King Christian are not like our ImiDerialists. Ah ! Mein Herr, do you imagine I would make such a request of one of them 1 It would be setting the wolf to guard the lamb. Besides, the Herr has an expression of so much candour." I bowed ; for the confidence this stranger placed in me was the highest compliment I ever received. In a little hood and cloak, with a large basket of beautiful flowers on her arm, the jungfer accompanied me through the village, pausing every two or three paces to hearken for the rat-tat of the drums, which, she said, "had ceased." I walked on by her side, well satisfied with myself; for being well supped, having a good sword in my belt, and a purse in my pocket, I felt that I could have faced the devil; and strutted on, chatting as gaily to my pretty com- panion as if I had been lord of all Lauenburg. At the door of his inn, the host stood watching us until we reached the end of the street, where a little wicket gave admit- tance to the narrow lane that led to the chapel of St. Patto. There I bade my little devotee adieu, with proper gallantry ; and, glad that my brief halt had terminated so pleasantly, walked on quickly by the highway that led to Korslack, a town which lav somethinsf less than eisrliteen of our Scottish miles distant. I resolved to pass beyond it, and not halt again until I reached Bergedorf, in the territory of the quiet and industrious Ham- burgers, where I expected to find comparative safety. After the keen and varied excitement of the last day or two, there was something soothing and pleasing in this solitary night OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 221 march through a strange and foreign country; and, like a kaleidoscope, my mind was full of ever-changing thoughts and figures, as I journeyed on. Midnight came. I had passed through several little villages of grotesque old houses, but they were buried in silence, as their quiet inmates were asleep. Not a sound was heard in them but the occasional bay of a watch-dog, the boom of a stork's wing overhead, or the solemn chime from the ivy-clad spire of an old gothic church; and I reflected with a sigh, on how soon — to-morrow, perhaps — fierce Tilly's lawless Croats and Merode's musketeers would carry rapine, murder, and a thousand crimes through these rural and sequestered districts. A white gauzy mist overspread the sailing moon ; a light shower fell — just sufficient to lay the dust; and then a rich fragrance arose from the teeming earth, from the dewy flowers, and from the tossing leaves. Again the moon came forth un- clouded, and the shadows of the fleecy vapour were seen chasing each other across the fields of ripening corn. I had walked about ten miles, when far behind I heaj;d the hoofs of horses ringing on the hard beaten road ; and the fear of being pursued, or overtaken by some patrol, made me look for a place of concealment ; for by the light of the moon I could discern two horsemen, diminished to mere black specks on the far stretching roadway. Close by me was a large beech-tree covered with dense foliage ; no better place of concealment oflered ; and, clambering in, I hid myself among the branches. In less than two minutes the riders came near, and, slackening their pace as they approached, reined up tbeir blown and foam- covered horses immediately below my lurking-place. They were bareheaded — one had a sword in his hand ; the other grasped a pistol. " It is useless, Gustaf," said the last, in whom I recognised my late host of the Eagle ; " quite useless, my poor boy ! The vagabond Scot cannot have had time to accomplish this dreadful deed, and thereafter proceed this length on foot. We must long ere this have overtaken him." 222 PHILIP ROLLO; *' Karoline — my poor little Karoline ! " sobbed tbe young man ; " to perish thus ! — Heaven — Heaven — cruel Heaven ! There were two wounds in her bosom — here — here — just here! poniard wounds " " Had the villain but murdered her alone, Gustaf " " My Karoline ! " said Gustaf, letting his reins fall as his hands sank by his side, and the tears ran over his cheeks; '"so pure — so happy — so merry!" " The Scot carried a poniard." '' The assassin ! " " All these Scots of King Christian carry poniards," continued the host. "Oh, Gustaf! I was indeed mad to trust him; but he had such an honest look. There must have . been a fearful struggle, Gustaf; for in her hands there were fragments of a man's lace collar, and I think the Scot wore one." This was true. I had one over my gorget, or rather part of it ; the rest having been, rent away in some of my recent scuffles. " There was a figure before us, on the road. Now, where has it vanished tof " Ah ! if it should be the Scot," said Gustaf, " and concealed not far from us!" " In that tree, perhaps." " Fire your pistol into it." " Come down, murderer!" cried the host of the Eagle. " Come down, thou vile Merodeur ! " added the young man, as they each cocked a pistol. My heart beat like lightning. It was evident that they spoke at random ; but both levelled their pistols, and fired right among the foliage. The balls whitened the branches as they crashed through the leaves, without touch- ing me ; I sat still as death, waiting for the next act of this desperate drama, and feeling a violent inclination to let four bullets fly at them in return, from the pistol-barrels concealed in the lock of my sporran. There was a pause as they reloaded, during which the young man Gustaf wept bitterly. Some frightful crime was undoubtedly imputed to me ! The poor girl whom I had left a few hours before, had been most OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 223 barbarously murdered, and these men, her lover and her master, had come in pursuit of me ; but I felt assured, that to come forth and attempt any explanation with men so excited, and so preju- diced against me, would be recklessly throwing away my life. Her hands held the fragments of a man's ruff, and inine was torn — but by the hands of Tilly's soldiers. Honour then required that, at all risks, I should no longer lurk within earshot of those who imputed to me a crime so terrible, and I was just about to descend when the lover exclaimed furiously — " I can never return the way we have come ! On — yet on — for my heart is on fire!" and, spurring their horses, they galloped away at headlong speed, and were quickly out of sight. The next moment I dropped from the tree, and paused with irresolution. My first impulse was to return to the village, though ten miles distant, and confront my accusers ; my second reflection urged me to continue my flight, as the chances of mercy from the exasperated peasantry on one hand, and the Imperialists on the other, were very slender. Striking across the fields, I made a detour to the right for the purpose of avoid- ing the high-road ; about that time the waning moon became enveloped in clouds, and I found myself on the borders of a wood. 224 PHILIP ROLLOj CHAPTER XXXIIL THE HUNTEB's cot. I HAD lost the path, and knew not wliicli way to turn ; yet the necessity for action made me walk hastily forward in the line which seemed parallel with the road I wished to pursue ; but on becoming confused among the trees and thickets of large bushes^ I lost the way irretrievably, and stumbled on through the wood, deprived of the waning moonlight, and even that of the stars, while having, moreover, to fear the wild animals, and other deni- zens of a more dangerous character, who usually haunt the Ger- man forests. After pursuing a narrow path for nearly half an hour, I came to an open space where the trees had been cleared away, and in the centre of which stood a hut of the most rustic description. Four trees, yet rooted, formed its four corners ; the walls were of spars with the bark on; the roof was composed of planks- covered by bark and moss, with large stones placed at intervals to keep down the eaves, and make the whole erection steady; while above the little doorway, which was almost buried under a mountain of sweet honeysuckle and wild-roses, a deer's skull and antlers were elevated on a large pole, and served to inform me that it was the dwelling of a huntsman. After some hesitation I knocked, and though the hour was unusually late, or rather early, the door was opened almost at the first summons, for a huntsman is as easily roused as a soldier. Before me stood a man half dressed, blowing the match of his carbine, and viewing me narrowly from head to foot. " Your business, Mein Herr"?" he asked, with surprise. " I have lost my way, and will reward " OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEEES. 225 "Handsomely?" " A J, handsomely, any one who will be so kind as be my guide," I added, surprised at Lis parenthetical remark ; " will you do so ? " " That depends upon which way yours may be," replied the fellow gruffly, lowering his carbine. " My way is the road to Bergedorf." *•' Are you sure it is not Bredenburg? there wei'e some of your countrymen in garrison there yesterday." " Nay, Bergedorf, I tell you ! " said I, becoming impatient at the fellow's incivility. " You are nearly four miles from the direct road, and could never find it alone ; but if you would choose to pass the night, or rather I should say the remainder of the morning, with me, I will gladly set you on the right road for a draught of beer at the first tavern." " That would not be a very handsome reward," said I, entering ; " so, you are not an Imperialist, then ? " " I am nothing but the humble servant of Mein Herr, and, being under the authority of Duke Bodolph Maximillian, care not a jot either for the King of Denmark or the Emperor Ferdinand." " But your lord serves under the banner of Austria." " I have no lord," replied the hunter gruffly, as he shut the door with a bang that shook the cottage ; " I am an enemv to all lords — I am a free forester, and own no master. Der teufel ! what between the taxes of the Duke, the knights of Ertemberg, who would hang us for shooting the deer, and the bishops of Anhalt and Bremen, who would burn us because we will not go to mass, life is not worth having save in the woods, where one is free." The interior of the hut was as rude as its exterior had pro- mised. In a small chimney built of rough stones a fire was smouldering ; on the plain wooden table, something like a cold supper of meat and bread, with beer, in one of those large glazed bowls which come from Muscovy, was standiiig, as if awaiting a belated visitor ; and by the smoky oil lamp that hung from a VOL. I. Q 226 PHILIP ROLLO ; rafter of tlie roof, and shed a light over the rudely constructed and humble edifice, I could perceive that, under his bushy eye- brows, my host scanned me frequently in a scrutinizing manner, which, to say the least of it, was very unpleasant. His bearing and expression were by turns full of oily civility and sullenness ; his figure was strong and athletic — short, and somewhat bow-legged ; his head and face were large, and the latter had a very unprepossessing cast of features ; the nose of a hawk, wide cracked lips of a livid colour, teeth like fangs, but coated with tartar ; a low brow overshadowed by a forest of hair, and ears partly shorn ofi* — in their mutilation announcing most satisfactorily the reason of his aversion to the bishops, knights, and lords of the district. In short, he was hideous. " I fear I have disturbed you, my friend," said I. " Not in the least — make no apologies, I pray you. All night I have been waiting for a friend who is journeying from Breden- burg to the castle of Lauenburg. Here is his supper, of which you mav partake if you choose, and then pass the remainder of the morning on these deer- skins, or in that poor bed in the little room within." " Many thanks, woodman," said I ; " though not much used to luxuries of late, I shall be but too happy to accept of yoiu' little bed." " The Herr may please himself," he muttered gruffly. " At what hour of the morning do you usually set forth ? " " In these woods all hours are alike, Mein Herr — say, six." " But, I have not a horologue, and how shall we know % " " When the sun shines between the forked branches of a tree opposite, I know at this season the hour of six," " I have five hours to sleep, then — fail not to waken me, and when we pass the boundary of the Hamburg tenitory, I will give you all I can afibrd at present — ten rixdollars !" " 'Tis a bargain — I will not fail," he replied, as a deep gleam shot over his sullen eyes, and he ushered me into a little room, wliere, settino: down the lioht, he left me. The bed was little better than a palliase, filled with dry rushes or straw, spread upon a sparred frame ; but to me, who had slept so often on the OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 227 bare ground in my belted plaid, and wlien hunting had slum- bered on the winter moors till my locks were frozen to the whitened heather, even that palliase was a luxury; and after laying against the door a few large billets of wood, to j)revent ingress without my knowledge, I was about to extinguish the light, when several stains of blood upon the floor — blood recently spilt, arrested me ; but the quarters of a deer which hung in a corner seemed sufficiently to account for them. I blew out the lamj), and threw myself upon the truckle-bed to sleep. Familiarity with danger certainly deadens at times the keener sense of it; and now, when reflecting upon the adventures of that morning, I can perceive that my position was full of perils, which sufliciently indicated themselves. Far from my comrades, close to the Imperialists, solitary and alone, I had entrusted myself to a foreign outlaw, a man of whom I knew nothing, save that his ears had been shorn ofl" by a common execu- tioner — the half savage denizen of a German forest, who in my sleep might slay me for the value of my jewelled brooch or gilded corslet. The small aperture, which in the daytime lighted the inner room of this little log-hut, overlooked the dense obscurity of the forest, and was securely fastened by a crossbar of oak. Ketreat that way was impossible, even had I thought of looking for it ; but that idea never occurred to me, for suspicions scarcely sug- gested themselves. Thus, I lay placidly down to sleep, and the monotonous rustle of the forest leaves, and creaking of the laden branches, soon nursed me into the land of dreams. I had slept about two hours, when one of those convulsive starts, which come so unaccountably in one's sleep, awoke me to all my energies. I heard a noise in the outer apartment, and through the roughly boarded partition saw a light shining into the darkness around me. The sound of hoofs v/ere heard, and several men dismounted at the door of the hut. I sprang up, and, placing my eye to the partition, beheld through the aperture Bandolo, the spj^, enter, accompanied by three soldiers of the regiment of Merode, who immediately at- 228 PHILIP POLLo; tacked the platter of victuals, and drained by alternate draughts the wooden bowl of beer. I gave myself up for lost ! "Well, Bernhard, my jovial schwindler, here we are at last!" said Bandolo, adding with a mighty oatli, " and a rough ride I have had of it from Bredenburg. (Give me a glass of strong water.) I have just left Dunbar, the Scottish major, there. He will not surrender, he swears, while he has breath to draw j and begs King Christian to relieve or reinforce him, as the post must fall (some beef, Bernhard), and as the respectable Hausmeister, Otto Eoskilde, I bear his urgent letter to " "To the Danish king?" '•' No, to Count Tilly ! " said Bandolo, with a loud oath and a hoarse laugh ; " the old Scot may wait long enough for succour. If I could respect any quality but wealth, I should certainly respect his valour. He gave me six doubloons to carry this letter to King Christian !" ^ " Six doubloons ! " muttered the Merodeurs, whose eyes sparkled at the idea of such a sum being in the pockets of a man who was within arm's length of them. " When I give it to Tilly," said Bandolo, speaking with his mouth full, " he will pay me six doubloons more — happy dog ! Maldicion de Dios ! I shall retire from business some of these days, and buy me a count's patent in the Electorate of Hanover. The avenues will all be blocked up to-morrow night, and the poor old fool of a Scot, who trusts to me as the king's messenger, will be deceived by me, as Count Tilly's friend." " Friend ! " reiterated the Merodeurs with a roar of laughter. " Then the Scot will be taken," said Bernhard. " Nay," said a soldier of Merode ; " he may be taken dead, but never alive. I am one of Tilly's old grumblers, and have met with this ironheaded Scot before. He will never surrender — ^but I remember me, Bandolo, he was too free in giving thee wine at Bredenburg." " Ah ! when I said that Tilly was retreating towards the ■\;^eser — Hollo, Bernhard, another cup of the strong water!" Bandolo swore in German and Spanish alternately, though he OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 229 was disguised again in a brown hat, a black cloak, and false pauncli, like the well-fed Holsteiner, our old Hausmeister at Gluckstadt. '' Drink, Bernhard, drink ! — to the amiable and generous Count Tilly, who hath the face of a rat, with the heart of a tiger ! Drink to the eternal perdition of all Protestants, my merry Merodeurs, and to the continuance of this glorious war, which pours the doubloons into the pockets of Bandolo, who will erelong give you all a right welcome to his county in Hanover ! Drink, drink — or, maldetto ! I will dash my glass in the face of the first who refuses ! " " Hush ! " said the forester, with a prolonged whisper, laying a hand upon his mouth, and pointing towards the little chamber I occupied. " Hush — why? is there any one there W'ho knows mef " No." " I am glad of it — for I am becoming such a well-known rascal; but have you women, there? if so, you must lend me another ruff, for mine was torn to rags overnight." (My heart beat quicker! I remembered the story of the village girl's death, and that her clenched hand retained the fragj;Qent of a man's ruff or collar — and now I saw that Bandolo's broad lace one, of point d'Espagne, was nearly all torn away. This ruffian — this bravo — the assassin of poor Dreghorn — this inan of a hundred murders — had just added another item to his fright- ful list of atrocities !) I was pondering whether or not his false paunch was pistol proof, while my host whispered something rapidly in his ear. The wretch set down his glass, and grew red and white by turns. " 'Tis he — 'tis my man !" said he in a low thick voice, as he arose and flung aside his cloak. " Who — who?" asked the Merodeurs. " A prisoner who has escaped from Tilly's quarter-guard — a scurvy Scottish musketeer. He knows me, Bernhard, and has recognised me frequently. Thus, if once he reaches the Danish lines or garrisons, I can never act the spy and befriend the Count Tilly again ; for I tell you all he has discovered me — ^and must 230 PHILIP ROLLO ; die! For Yula del Dcmonio! I have killed many a better man before tliis, and shall I," lie added, with a satanic smile on his fierce Spanish mouth, " shall I leave in my path this adder, whom I can crush with so little danger — here in Bernhard's hut — far from help or succour? Has he pistols'?" « 1^0 — nor dagger ; for of course I looked well," replied the forester in the same low voice. " We have pistols and daggers," said Bandolo, as he and the three Merodeurs unsheathed their long poniards, and examined the edges and points of the keen broad blades, which gleamed in the lurid light of the smoky lamp. Its rays fell on the dogged visage of the forester, on the bloated and ferocious features of the Merodeurs, browned by exposure, fringed by black beards, and seamed with the scars of battle and brawl; and on the face of Bandolo, whose eyes gleamed with cruelty, and whose lips were compressed with determination. It is impossible for me to describe my emotions during this conversation, every word of which I had heard with a painful distinctness, which has impressed it upon my memory. I was single-handed against five ! Besistance, though it might revenge, could never save me. The window was a fixture ; the door I had not the means of barricading ; and the roof of bark and planks, against which I thrust with all my strength, was too solid for a single hand to move. My goatskin Highland pui'se, the gift of Ian, vfith its four concealed pistol-barrels (though each of them was not bigger than a man's middle finger), could alone save me — and the rufiians thought I was without pistols. I seized the clasp of this priceless sporran. I pulled the spring, cocked the secret locks, and placed my skene-dhu between my teeth. Then, while these five men, intent on wanton murder, were in the very act of examining their weapons, I softly opened the door, and, by a single turn of my hand, fired the contents of four barrels right amongst them, and then with sword and skene in hand, dashed through in the smoke, and gained the outer door. It was all the work of a moment ! Two Merodeurs had fallen wounded, and so completely were the third, Bandolo and the forester, taken by surinise, that I OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 231 iiad time to give the sj)y a back-hancled blow, which broke his right arm, and thereafter reach their horses, which the Merodeiirs had stolen, and which were fortunately standing close by, with their bridles thrown over the broken branch of a tree. Though kilted, and in no way prepared for riding, I sprang across the saddle of the first nag that came to my hand, and, dasliing at random along the forest road, was soon far from the hunter's cot — that almost fatal trap in which I had so witlessly enclosed myself. Thus, between the sunset and sunrise, I had thrice narrowly escaped death. Avoiding by something like a miracle the vast forces of Tilly, who were then moving on to capture Bredenburg, I reached Ham- burg in safety. Long before this I had let loose the Merodeur's horse ; for, being aware that it was stolen, I feared suspicion or discovery if found with it in my possession. Thus, I could not overtake Major Wilson's party, as they were a full day's march before me on the GlUckstadt road. Though anxious to reinforce the gallant Dunbar of Dyke at Bredenburg, their honour was pledged to refrain from hostilities until they had reached the place mentioned in their capitulation, and thus the poor sergeant-major was left with only four hundred of our Highlanders to contend with a column of the Imj)erialists, ten thousand strong. This column was led by Tilly in person, and it invested on all sides the town and castle of Bredenburg, the principal stronghold of the Counts of Bantzau, a noble and warlike family of Holstein. I heard the cannonading on my right hand, while proceeding on my solitary way ; but I only learned the frightful slaughter when I rejoined the regiment. Whether owing to Bandolo's treachery, or that King Christian remembered our quarrel about the Scottish and Danish crosses, and omitted wilfully to send succour, I knew not; but succour never came, and Dunbar refused all terms, vowing that " the Scots, who never feared the Bomans — nathless what that liar Hegisippus said — would never surrender to Germans or Span- 232 PHILIP ROLLO; iards, while they had breath to draw ! " and this answer will be found in the Amsterdam Courant The place was stormed on all sides; and old Dunbar, who maintained the breach for nearly an hour with his two-handed sword, was killed by a musket-shot, and every one of his brave Scots was put to the sword, save Ensign William Lumsdaine, who escaped by swimming the wet graff. Before Captains Carmichael and Duncan Forbes, with the last of the four hundred, were slain, nearly a thousand of the Imperial dead were piled up within the slimy fosse. Our Highlanders all died like good soldiers and true; for, of the four companies who perished there, three were composed of the very flower of the great Clan Chattan.'"' * The Imperialists on this occasion shamefully mutilated the body of Dan- bar. " They ripped up his breast," according to Colonel Munro; "tooke out his heart, sundered his gummes, and stuck his heart in his mouth ; they also killed our preacher, who, being on his knees begging life, was denied mercy " OK, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 233 CHAPTEK XXXIY. I OBTAIN A COMPANY OF MUSKETEERS. The Imperialists were rapidly penetrating into Holstein, and every where the troops of King Christian were falling back before them; the Lords Nithsdale and Spynie with their Scottish battalions, the Count de Montgomerie with his regiments of French Protestants, were all retiring, and the advance of Wallenstein, who was marching out of Hungary with his power- ful army to reinforce Tilly, promised to lay prostrate for ever the pride and po^er of Denmark. Yet the heart of the gallant Christian lY. never failed him; and in that ferocious and desul- tory war, his little army of thirty thousand Danes, Scots, and Germans, disputed hand to hand every inch of the ground over which they were compelled to retreat. When beaten from one castle or town, they garrisoned the next; and thus the Imperialists, whose natural brutality was inflamed by fanaticism and exasperated by resistance, committed the most atrocious cruelties upon the poor inhabitants — carrying fire and sword, death and devastation, wherever their drums beat, or their banners waved. At Hamburg I met with Major Fritz, of the Sleswig musketeers, with whom I travelled to Gliickstadt in his coach, a comfort- able vehicle, covered with carving and gilding, and made by Heinrich Andersen of Stralsund, in Pomerania, the same person who obtained a royal patent from James YI. to run a stage coach between Edinbursjh and Leith. Andersen was then the most famous coach -manufacturer in Europe. Gliickstadt was almost the last fortress in the German states possessed by Christian lY. There my comrades received me 234 PHILIP itOLLO ; with a true Higlil;ind welcome, and the warm-hearted Ian embraced me like a brother — as one recovered from among the dead. Some changes had taken place since we were last in that city. The large house of the spy in the Platz, was now converted into a barrack for the Laird of Craigie's pikemen, and old dame Kriimpel had been turned adrift, to resume her former occupation of fish "fag. The theatre had been turned into a cavalry stable for the Baron KarFs pistoliers, to the great satisfaction of old Biibbelstiern, the burgomaster, who was a strict Oalvinist, and professedly hostile to all such amusements. All the troops were marched to church, to join in solemn prayer for the success of their arms against the foe, who was now almost at Hamburg. " We pray earnestly to Heaven for success," said the Baron Karl to me in a low voice, as he leant with a lounging air against one of the shafted pillars of the great churcli ; " Tilly, and his Jesuits, are probably saying solemn mass for the success of their arms also." " How is Heaven to judge between us?" asked Major Fritz, whose mother was one of the principal ladies at the Imperial court. " Come now, Fritz," said the baron; " do not be staring at that lady in a way so peculiar." " Excuse me, gentlemen," said Fritz, slipping from among us; " 'tis a little beauty I met at Hamburg." On seeing the major approach, the lady, wl^o was elegantly dressed, but, according to a dangerous custom then fashionable, wore a black velvet mask, retired from the <3hurch, and Fritz, who in such affairs was undaunted, followed her. After having been in camp for some time, he had a great desire to make some important conquest among the fair sex. His inamorata, who looked round at him slyly from time to time with two bright eyes, seemed to be the little wife of a citizen, and, to a half worn- out rake like the major, there was something excessively attractive in the pretty white stocking, drawn smoothly over the handsome leg and ankle, which she shewed from time to OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 235 time, when holding np her silk dress. The major followed, stroking his short mustache, and saying a hundred fine things, to which she responded briefly, and by bursts of laughter — for so he afterwards told us; but she led him a devil of a dance through all Gliickstadt, and to the barrier of the Hamburg road. " I did not think Gliickstadt contained a neck and ankles half so pretty," lisped the major; " but upon my soul, little one, I don't think I am very wise in following you so far." " It is better to be happy than wise," replied the lady, in her soft low voice. ^ The musketeer was enchanted. " Ah — if I could only see its pretty face!" said he. " Come with me to Pinneberg, and you may." " That is only twelve miles — I will go with you to the end of the earth." " A long way. Major Fritz," laughed the lady. " The deuce, my pretty one, you know my name ! — we are ac- quainted, it seems." Again the little mask laughed immoderately, and the major thought her the merriest conquest he had ever made. He handed her into one of Heinrich Andersen's hackney coaches, and, just as the gates were closing, they drove off for Pinneberg. The major was confounded by all the charming mask told him of his most secret affairs; the amount of his income — his expectations from his uncle the Baron of Uberg, and his cousin the Count of Flensborg; his love adventures, too, were all known to her — it was very perplexing! Pinneberg was reached — the major, proposed they should alight at the door of a celebrated restaurant, but the lady declined peremptorily, and he was com- pelled to let her please herself They stopped at the door of a charming little house; the servants were richly liveried, the vestibule lighted and carpeted. She led him up-stairs into a magnificent apartment, where a cold collation — wine, fruit, crystal and plate — lay on a spotless table-cloth, under the perfumed light of wax candles placed in beautiful girandoles. "I am dying with curiosity," said the major; "do tell me 236 PHILIP ROLLO; your name, or at least sliew me tlie cliarmiug face I have come so far to see !" The lady took off her mask, and he beheld his own mother — the Baroness Fritz of Vibiirg, who he thought was at Vienna. The old lady laughed heartily at the trick she had played, -and repeated all her son's soft speeches over again. At first he was ready to sink with mortification — then he uttered a shout of laughter; but the most serious part was to follow. The old lady — for, notwithstanding her youthful figure and grace, she was very old — told him, that she had come all the way from Yienna to Gliickstadt, for the purpose of entrapping him, and bringing him over from the allegiance to the paltry Count of Holstein (Christian IV.), that he might enter the Imperial service, where higher honours and greater rewards awaited him than could ever be obtained by adherence to falling Denmark. " I am extremely sorry, madam, that it is quite out of my power to gratify you," replied the major, as he walked towards the door. "Ah — treacherous old devil !" he muttered, on finding him- self confronted by six or eight of Camargo's stoutest pikemen. By this trick, and his own folly, he was made a prisoner, and carried away to Vienna; after which, for a long time we heard no more of him. After a four days' halt, the companies of Major Wilson were commanded to march with all speed to the TJj)per Elbe, with orders to cross into Silesia, and join Major-general Slammers- dorf, who, on that side of the river, was maintaining a desperate- and desultory struggle with the Imperialists. >s^ " Dioul ! " said Ian, as, with our pipes playing, we marched from Gliickstadt on a dark foggy morning about the end of August ; " Heaven be praised we are again out of this dull solemn town, with its high bastions and deep ditches, where the slime floats and the frogs squatter in the mud — its dull canals and duller streets — its fat burghers and close- clipped trees. I would give a bonnet full of silver for one glimpse of a dark pine forest or a steep heather mountain; for there is nothing about us but what is flat and stale as Rostock beer." OB, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 237 " M'Farquliar, are the pretty market maidens — those blooming Holsteiners, with their red petticoats and handsome legs, their bright eyes and rosy cheeks — all as nothing?" asked M' Alpine. " Yea, as less than nothing to me," replied Ian, as he fastened his graceful plaid with the brooch of Moina, and began to hum his favourite song, " The bonnie brown -eyed maid," and shook the great eagle's wing which adorned the cone of his helmet ; " I should be sorry if they made me the more pleased with GlUck- stadt. Believe me, cousin Angus, I shall never — if I can avoid it — do aught that will cause me regret ! " " Or remorse — you are right," muttered M'Alpine, as a cloud passed over his face, and he adjusted that broad scarf of crape, which he had made a vow to wear to the last of his days. We had no idea of how we were to reach Silesia, as Tilly's troops lay partly between us and that country (of which the Emperor is duke, as King of Bohemia) ; and Wallenstein, against whom we were advancing, had just succeeded in driving into Hungary Count Mansfeldt, that great leader and champion of the Bohemian queen, who was compelled to sell his baggage and artillery, and disband his soldiers, after which he retired to Zara, where he died of a broken heart. Christian, Duke of Bruns- wick, died about the same time, and the unfortunate King of Denmark was left single-handed to cope with the two greatest generals of the German empire. On came Wallenstein, and he poured his army, one hundred thousand strong, like an irresistible torrent into Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, and Silesia ; General Slammersdorf was there irre- trievably beaten and outflanked. The Danes and their auxilia- ries, Scots and Germans, now retired from all their outposts along the Havel, the Elbe, and the Weser; and Wallen- stein prepared at once to carry the war into the heart of Denmark. We received these startling tidings from the Baron of Klos- terfiord, who overtook us at Horst, with a despatch from the king, ordering Major Wilson to change his route, and with all speed join the remnant of Slammersdorf's defeated army, which was intrenching itself at the Isle of Poel, being almost cut off 238 PHILIP ROLLO; from tlie king, who was then retiring out of Holstein into Den- mark with his main body, abandoned by his former allies, the LandaTave of Hesse-Cassel, and the electoral Duke of Branden- burg. The remainder of our valiant regiment were v/ith Sir Donald Mackay, under Slammersdorf, and our hearts yearned to be with them, that together we might stand or fall in the good cause of Denmark; for, remembering the glorious struggles of our own native country for that freedom which we transmit to our pos- terity, unfettered as we received it from our Celtic fathers, we had a sincere interest in seeking by our valour to defend the Danes from the mighty masses of the aggressive empire. If these Danes proved stanch to their fatherland, we had no fears for Denmark or its king. Our own history has shown us how, against greater powers than those of the Imperialists, Scotland has preserved her name, her nationality, and her liberty, amid the wars of long successive ages, since that remote time when her frontier formed the boundaries of the Roman empire on the west, and all who dwelt beyond were free. One sword drawn for freedom on the slope of the Grampians, has ever been worth a thousand in the ranks of the invader ; for God will ever aid a people fighting for their liberties, and the land he has given them. We w^ere sixty miles distant from the Baltic, and Tilly had actually pushed forward his advanced posts between us and its shore; yet we pressed on, and passed the whole distance in an incredibly short time; for we could usually march thirty miles a day, though our soldiers carried snapsacks or clothes-bags, like the Swedes. We saw nothing of the Imperialists but the smoke of burning villages, which rose ao the verge of the flat horizon, and served frequently to indicate where their ravagers were at work; but they were so far ofi", that our men never once unstrapped the hammerstalls from their locks and matches. Two unpleasant aSiiirs happened to me on this march. During a halt at Segeberg, where, for a few hours, we occupied the old castle which the Emperor Lothaire built to keep the OE, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEEKS. 239 Sclavonians in clieck, I remember having a serious quarrel with Mr. Amias Paulet, an English cavalier who had come to seek his fortune in these wars. While taking a glass of Wiirzburger together in a tavern, his name unfortunately led me to ask if he " was any relation to that Sir Amias Paulet, the infamous abettor of Elizabeth in her treachery to Mary, queen of Scots?" He bluntly told me that he was the younger son of the said Sir Amias, though a man well up in years ; and thereafter spoke of our queen's memory in a manner which I, as a Scottish gen- tleman, considered insulting to myself. I threw my glove in liis face, drew my sword, and required him '' to retract ; " but Gaffer Englishman, being a stout and brave fellow, declared that he " v/ould see me in a warmer climate than Holstein before he would do so!" Upon this, I invited him to the parade before the castle e:ate, where the Danish ffuard came forth to see the sport, and enforce fair play. There, at the second pass, I ran him fairly through the lungs, and, with my sword at his throat, compelled him to retract, as a lesson in future to speak mercifully of the dead, and of injured women. I left him in charge of the castellan, without having time to see to his wound, for our ^iper blew the gathering for the march in ten minutes after the rencontre ; but he recovered, to die long afterwards, a prisoner — poor fellow ! — in the hands of the Imperialists, at the castle of Dillingen, on the Danube. My next little affair was nothing less than burning the house of a contumacious boor about his ears. Marching by a road, each side of which was richly bordered by laden fruit-trees, or fields skirted by wild hops wound over hedges, where the mint and the red barberry grew in the ditches, we passed a farm-house, a picturesque little place, two stories high, painted brown, surrounded by a gallery to which a flight of steps gave access, and having a broad-eaved roof, covered with turf of emerald green. I commanded the rearguard, which consisted of twenty mus- keteers, all M'Phersons. Hot and dusty with our march, I halted, and civilly requested a draught of water for each man. This modest request — the host, a sulky boor, who appeared at the 2i0 PHILIP ROLLO; door with four servants armed with crossbows and carbines, and dressed in white coats and peaked hats — acceded to most unwill- ingly; for, like a true German, he looked coldly on the soldiers of Christian, because the tide of war was setting in hard against them. Perceiving this, I demanded, instead of water, a glass of Ros- tock beer for every man, and, accompanied by Sergeant Phadrig Mhor, entered the kitchen of the house, where the first objects I observed were two of those many pasquils or caricatures of his majesty James YL, which were then circulated through all Germany, in ridicule of the poor and tardy assistance he sent to his son-in-law, the timid Elector of Bohemia. One represented the king in a Scots bonnet and plaid, with a number of men striving in vain to draw his sword from its scabbard ; the other depicted three armies marching into Bohemia — King James YI. of Scotland at the head of a hundred thousand ambassadors. Chris- tian lY. at the head of a hundred thousand herring-barrels, and the States-general leading the same number of butter-firkins. I endeavoured to deface or tear down these pasquils, upon which the farmer dealt me a blow with the boll of his carbine, that would assuredly have ended all my campaigns but for the interposition of Phadrig's axe ; after which, to punish the fellow, we cleared the house, threw the grate with its burning coals into the middle of the floor, heaped the furniture thereon, and leaving the whole place in flames, hurried after our main body. It made little difierence to the farmer, as the Croats would undoubtedly have burned his premises next night. Without snapping a musket we reached the western shore of the Baltic, and, seizing such vessels as we could find (being on the king's service), sailed through the Gulf of Liibeck, and reached the Isle of Poel, where Slammersdorf lay with the wreck of his Silesian army, only ten thousand strong, including horse and artillery, but all resolute and well-appointed men. Our arrival there caused the utmost astonishment, for the major- general considered himself as completely cut off from all com- munication with Holstein; and, indeed, one day after, even we could not have reached the Baltic by the same route. At Poel our Highlanders were mustered under baton by Sir OR, TTHE SCOTTrSH MUSKETEERS. 241 Donald, and were found to be about eight hundred, for so had the defence of Bredeaburg, Lauenburg, and the Boitze reduced them; no less than seven hundred men had fallen in these paltry affairs since our first landing at Gliickstadt. By this sad slaughter I found myself a captain, and Ian suc- ceeded to poor Dunbai*'s commission ; our old patents or com- missions being assigned to other cavaliers, who were on their way from Scotland with six hundred new recruits from the Highlands. On the day after our landing at Poel I carried my half pike as captain, and went thix)ugh the pleasant ceremony of presentation to the regiment — a custom which we Scots have cojjied into our army from our ancient allies, the French. The whole battalion being drawn up in line, and in review order, the colours, pikes, and drums in the cenfre, musketeers and pipers on the flanks, the officers in front with their half pikes advanced, the colonel. Sir Donald, bearing my new com- mission in one hand, led me forward with the other, fully accoutred with back, breast, and head pieces, sword, pistol, steel gloves and dagger, and said in Gaelic — " Gentlemen and soldiers, by the will of the king, you-nvill receive and acknowledge Philip Koilo of the Craig, to be captain of the company lately commanded by M'Farquhar of that Ilk ; and you will obey in that capacity for the good of the Danish service." Immediately upon this, the regiment presented arms, the drums beat the Point of War, the pipes struck up " Mackay's Salute" — the officers crowded round and drew off their glomes to congratulate me; after which we all spent a merry night in my quarters over a few dozen of right Wiirzburger, while mv company regaled themselves on Rostock beer. M'Alpine also became a captain, and Ensign Lumsdaine, the only survivor of Bredenburg, a gallant cadet of the family of Invergellie in Angus, became my lieutenant. The most pleasant feature in this promotion was, that my in- creased exchequer enabled me to repay to the Baron Karl the money he had so generously advanced to me in the days of my first folly at Gliickstadt ; for I had been sorely afraid I might be shot in action, and leave that debt unpaid. VOL. I. R 242 PHILIP liOLLo; CHAPTEB XXXy, MAJOR-GfENEHAL Slammeesdokj* liad once been one of the liappiest old fellows in the Danish service; but having had the misfortiine to distinguish himself at Carelia, in the Swedish war, and never having that good service reqtiited as he thonght it deserved, he forthwith became a grumbler ; and " the affair at Carelia'* was the pet grievance of his life. Eveiy old soldier has one. This martial fragment of the Danish wars had lost a leg at the siege of Elfsburg, an arm at Marstrandt, and had left his best eye with the Imperialists at Liitter, having altogether received eight wounds, three of wdiieh he was in the habit of averring were mortal. While he employed our most skilful trenchmasters and sturdy soldiers in fortifying the Isle of Poel with ravelins and redoubts, stockades and graffs, we heard that King Christian attributed his successive defeats, and lastly, the desertion of his allies — the Landgrave of Hesse-Oassel, and the Duke of Brandenburg-^ — to the secret intelligence derived by the Emperor from behind the Danish lines, and to the endless intrigues of Tilly, maintained by the medium of his able scoutmaster, Bandoio, whom I had so frequently encountered; and for whom, in consequence of my information and description, a strict watch was maintained throusthout the whole Danish frontiers ; and orders had been issued to kill him, without mercy, wherever he should be found. " To discover this fellow will be no easy task," said our friend, the Baron Karl, as he sat with me on a gun-carriage, overlook- in,^ our soldiers who were at work in the trenches ; " for he is master of several languages, and possesses a great power of visage, with a mind which, to the cunning of the fox, unites the ferocity OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 213 of tlie tiger; lie is a very Proteus, and may, for aught we know, be among us at this very moment, and in this little Isle of Poel" " I could almost rejoice at that idea," said I ; " for believe me, Herr Baron, I have a heavy account to settle with him." *'You are, indeed, particularly his enemy, and have most cause to dread him, having been the means of rendering his character first known to us, and making the king aware that Otto Koskilde, the stout and respectable burgher ot Gliickstadt, who resided there in time of truce, was the bravo Bandolo, the tool, the paid spy of Count Tilly. We know the man now, and that he is a source of terror even to that terrible Tilly, to Wal- lenstein, to Carlstein, and Meix)de — to the very men he sei-ves, and who pay him like a prince ; for, though suspected of a hundred assassinations at Naples and Vienna, this subtle Spaniard has continued to elude every inquiry." " If the Count of Carlstein was aware, as I am, of the man's presumption," said I, remembering bitterly the daring proposal he had made to Tilly concerning Ernestine, " he Avould assuredly have him hanged." » "Hanged! what — the right hand of the venerable Jesuit!" reiterated the bantering baron ; " why, this amiable individual is as necessary to the leader of the Imperialists as his sooth- sayers and stargrtzers ; for we know that old John of Tsercla never fights a battle without having an omen of victory, or a long consultation with the stars. But, come — let us have a flagon of wine; and harkee, my Fourrier, broach this beer cask for our thirsty pioneers." The Danish baron was the beau-ideal of a soldier ; his figure was tall and strong ; his hair was just becoming grizzled; but his healthy brown cheek and white teeth declared his happy temper ; while his broad brow and bold bright eye betrayed an open heart and fearless soul. He was a man whose fine intellects neither war nor time could destroy. " If Bandolo," said I, " were but once covered by my pistol, he should have such mercy as he gave my poor companion at Bredenburg." 244 PHILIP ROLLO; " Cousin Philip," said Ian, " a wretch so vile deserves not to die by the hand of a gentleman. And yet, good sooth ! it is not meet that the blood of the humblest of our companions, should dye this foreign earth unavenged." " There spoke the true Celt ! " said the baron, laughing ; " but I fear me. Major M'Farquhar, you shall have many to avenge before we see King Christian's camp again ; for cut off, as we are here in Poel, by the thousands of the enemy, if the king's ships do not afford us timely relief in flight, we shall have but two alternatives — to die by our cannon, or die of starvation." To prevent all possibility of the latter catastrophe we laid the whole country under contribution, as far as Grevismiihlen in Mecklenburg; still, as the Imperial troops were pouring into Holstein, and a strong body of them under the Scottish colonel, Graham, had seized the free town of "Wismar in our immediate vicinity, the chances of our ever rejoining the main army under the king, or reaching him through the duchies of Sleswig and Holstein became extremely slender. After remaining at Poel more than a month, working con- stantly to strengthen the isle, and only laying asid« the shovel and pickaxe to take up the sword and musket, disproving the assertion of Gustavus-Adolphus, " that, with all their bravery in the field, the Scots were too proud to work as pioneers," eight ships of Leith, * in the Danish service, came from Copenhagen to transport us to a point of Holstein where we were to land, and, at all risks, cut a passage to the king, whose circumstances were now more desperate than ever. These orders were a source of sincere satisfaction to my com- rades, but I must own to feeling a singular indifference on the matter; for it seemed that, by this removal towards Denmark, I was conveyed further from that pretty chateau in Luneburg, and from Ernestine, to whom I owed so much ; and whose me- mory came ever and anon to me, with mingled sensations of gratitude, pleasure and jealousy, for I knew not how high the Count of Kceningheim might stand in her favour; at all events, * Gustavus had at this time seventeen Scottish ships of war in his service. — ^ee Hepbm-n's Memoirs. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 245 he was her father's choice, and handsome enough to be a dan- gerous rival to ma Returning from the daily turmoil of the trenches to indulge in reverie, I frequently asked myself, "What am I to Ernestine, or what is Ernestine to me, that I should think so much about her? nothing — of course." But her image was ever before me, and I pondered frequently on the distance that lay between us from Poel to the shore, and from thence to Luneburg — a bird's flight of seventy miles — and the chances of our ever — or rather never meeting more, were all considered again and again, I knew that I could never see her more but at the price of my liberty, and perhaps my life. This probably enhanced her value, for we are strange and perverse mortals; ever prizing that which is beyond our reach. It seemed odd to me, that I should think so much of this dark-haired girl — that the interests of my heart should wander so far beyond the Imperial outposts; and that there should now be a being who excited imaginary fears and pleasures in my breast — a being of whose existence I was perfectly ignorant three months ago. Let me fling these &ncies from me, thought I ; they are absurd ! Leaving Major-general Slammersdorf to defend the Isle of Poel with two thousand men, Bernard, Duke of Saxe- Weimar, embarked with eight thousand horse and foot, including our regiment of Strathnaver, and sailed for Heilinghafen, a town in the province of Wagria (an appendage of Holstein), which forms a peninsula in the Baltic; and there without loss or accident, on a beautiful day of September, that gallant prince landed his whole force, with their horses, arms, and cannon. Notwithstanding the vast number of Tilly's forces, we had few doubts of our ability to fprce a passage through them, when led by the immortal Duke of Saxe- Weimar, the bravest of eleven brave brothers, all of whom had bled for German liberty. His valour at the great siege of Brissac, before the gates of which be was victorious in four pitched battles, where he captured four generals, and where he hacl no less than six horses killed under him, together with his long and desj)erate combat with Colonel John de Wert, have embalmed his memory in the annals of German chivalry; even as his generosity, which bequeathed his 245 PHILIP ROLLO; wliole fortune to the wounded oiFcers and soldiers wlio followed liis banner, was long the theme of the veterans of Christian and Gustavus. Duke Bernard was all that a soldier should be — handsome, gallant, frank, and lavish of his means; for no soldier of any nation ever lacked money while the conqueror of Savelli, and the preceptor of Turenne, had a guilder to spare or a jewel to sell. We cavaliers of fortune adored him, and it was with the utmost exultation that, on a beautiful evening of September, as I have said^ when the last rays of the sun were shining on the broad blue Baltic, on the flat green isle of Fehmarn and the narrow Sound, that we put off in boats, pulled by the blue- bonneted mariners of our eight native shipi, and with three hearty cheers drew up under our colours in the streets of Heil- inghafen. War and rapine have changed the town since those days; but I remember that its houses were old and irregular — that their uj)per stories projected far over the lower, and had steep gables, with galleried fronts that rested on gaudily painted wooden columns. Inscriptions in Latin or German were carved upon the door-lintels to keep away evil spirits, as in our Scottish towns at home ; and the drowsy storks, with drooping wings, nestled under the lee of the chimneys. We saw these birds every where perched upon trees, steeples, and house-tops; for they ai^3 con- sidered sacred and useful, as they kill the little snakes and adders that are bred among the slime and corruption of the marshes. The setting sun gilded the rent edges of the ruddy clouds; dotted with white sails, the sound of Fehmarn and the blue Baltic stretched far away to the dim horizon; but few persons were abroad in the streets of Heilinghafen, though several gazed with fear and apprehension from the upper windows, as the troops passed through the town, accompanied by all the sounds of a marching army, the tramp of feet, the shrill fifes and brattling drums, the trumpets of the cavalry, and the sharp clang of hoofs, with the hoarse lumbering roll of the artillery over the hard and stony streets. Sheathed in bright steel, with the colours of Weimar on his housings, and his mother's crest, the demi-eagle of Anhalt, on his OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 247 lielmet, Duke Bernard, accompanied by Sir Donald Mackay, rode at our head, mounted on Raven, that famous black horse which he had so often ridden in battle, which the Imperialists believed to be enchanted, and which, at his death, he solemnly bequeathed to the Count of Nassau. His first dispositions were to order the Baron of Klosterfiord, with his troop of pistoliers, to ride at full speed towards Olden- burg, for the purpose of reconnoitring; while I, with my company of Highland musketeers, followed double quick to support him, with instructions to lie en perdue in a wood, which I would find some miles in front of the town. " Now, gentlemen," said Sir Donald jestingly as we filed forth, " I hope you have put your worst doublets under your armour, for there will be many a helmet on the grass to- morrow,'' " By my faith, colonel," replied Ian ; " I have but one — my best and worst ; so, if ever it comes to the drum-head, remember, gentlemen, that Tilly's Croats abstracted my wardrobe on the Elbe." " Yes, but will it not be rather extravagant, M'Farquhar, to be killed with diamond buckles on your brogues ? " asked Pliadrig Mhor, his henchman and fosterer. " What," retorted my cousin ; " would you have Ian Dhu to lie on the field without other badge than his eagle's feather to shew that he deserves a deeper grave or a higher cairn than a gillie or trencherman ? " " Farewell, Sir Donald, and farewell Ian," said I ; " forward, gentlemen and soldiers ! " and with our muskets trailed, at a double quick march, we took the road towards the pass of Oldenburg — the last road which many among us were ever to tread again. ^Y the time we were clear of the town, we could see the pisto- liers far in advance of us, with their forked pennon of red silk fluttering on the wind, and their bright helmets flashing a.s they galloped to the front along the level roadway, from which the polished hoofs of their horses rolled up the smoke-like dust. 248 PHILIP BOLLO; Our hearts beat high with excitement, for we exi:rected every moment to see them rein up and halt, as a signal that the enemy's outposts were in sight; but they continued galloping on, and at last disappeared beyond that wood which had been indicated to me by the duke, and we scanned the horizon in vain for those columns of smoke^ which, from burning villages and ravaged farms, invariably announced the scene of Tilly's operations, and the movements of his troops. The ripe corn waved in the unshorn fields on each side of us ; but with the moon a thick mist rose as usual from the meadows and pasture-lands, which gleamed like silver lakes through a. veil of gauze. We passed a few wayside cottages, roofed with red tiles or bright yellow thatch; their owners had iled, and no places were occupied but the wooden dovecot — a perforated box, or old beer-barrel, elevated on the summit of a painted post, or on some scathed and leafless tree. Shortly after the rising of the moon, a man rode past us. He was dressed like a peasant of Holstein, in wide breeches having rows of metal buttons at the sides ; a low broad hat and canvass doublet, belted with a rough baldric; coarse grey stockings, red garters, and wooden-soled shoes. He rode a strong and active horse. " Softly, sir," said I, " a word with you." He still rode on without attending to me. " Harkee, fellow — dost hear?" I added, as Grillian M'Bane blew the match of his musket. Upon this the peasant turned back his horse, and touched his hat. "Are you deaf, fellow 1 " "A little, sir," said he, pointing to a bandage which encircled his head ; " a Croatian sabre has laid bare my head from ear to eye. " Are you a Dane ? " " I am of Schonburg." " Have you travelled far to day ? " "About three pipes," said he, taking his pipe from his mouth. " Where did you come from last 1 " I asked, impatiently. " Oldenburg, Mein Herr." " Have you seen any thing of the Imperialists ? " OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 249 " Heaven be blessed, no ! Tliey would have made but a mouthful of me. I am a poor, inoffensive man — a dealer in cattle, Mein Herr — I am going to Heilinghafen." " You will find customers enough and to spare, my Schon- burger ; for Duke Bernard is there in quarters with eight thousand hungry men." The trader ajopeared somewhat startled by this intelligence, but politely begged me to be assured that the Imperialists had not yet passed the Stoer ; and then asked if I required his ser- vices in any way — on which I thanked him, and we parted. He galloped off. His last observations had been less brief than others ; they caused something of a familiar voice and manner to flash upon my memory. I paused and looked back; he had turned aside from the Heilinghafen road, and was riding headlong through the ripe corn-field in an opposite direction, but far beyond our reach. " Oh no ! — it cannot be — and yet, his voice ! Fool that I am — was I blind ? " I exclaimed. " What — what is it ] " asked Lieutenant Lumsdaine and Phadrig Mhor together. • " But for his white eyebrows and beardless face, I coul(f have sworn that was Bandolo." " Oh — impossible ! " said Lumsdaine ; " Bandolo wandering here, in that way ; besides, like a true German or Dutchman, he measured the distance by the smoking of his pipe. Cunning as he is, I do not think a Spaniard would ever have thought of that. It was so natural." " True — but this man is a spy by profession, and practises all these little things." " Dioul ! " muttered Phadrig Mhor, shaking his halbert ; " why did you not think of that before, captain 1 " '•' There was a glamour before his eyes," said Gillian M'Bane in a whisper. " No," replied Phadrig, gravely, as he shouldered his enor- mous axe ; "but the spy's time is not yet come ; it may come with our next meeting, if the captain looks better, for the oldest man that ever lived had to die at last." 250 PHILIP ROLLO; I was both asliamed and exasperated at being so outwitted by a rascal like this Spaniard. "May my tongue be blistered!" thought I; "for, if that was really Bandolo, between his cunning and my folly Duke Bernard will never reach the main army." I remembered the accurate numerical information I had afforded, and had no doubt he was riding as fast as his horse's heels could cany him to communi- cate with Tilly, who as yet was ignorant of our landing. We halted at the wood — the remnant of a venerable fir forest, covering about a square mile. I placed a sentinel in front of it, and towards the road ; then we penetrated to the centime, and there in an open space piled arms, lighted a fire, and after care- fully fencing it round with stones to prevent it reaching the roots of the trees, prepared to cook the provisions our havresacks contained. OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 251 CHAPTER XXXYI. A FOREST ON FIBe! The poultry gleaned up by our foragers from tlie liouses we had passed {deserted houses, remember), and the beef provided by our Fourrier de Campement before leaving the good ship, Scottish Croivn of Leith, were boiled together in camp-kettles ; and while I, with Lieutenant Lumsdaine and my ensign, Hugh Rose (of the Kilravock family), and Phadrig, with Gillian M'Bane, and three other gentlemen-musketeers of my company, formed one little mess, the rest of our comrades formed another, and were squatted on the grass, rending the tough beef with their teeth, and cutting the fowls with their dirks and skenes, and each was as merry as a man may be whose life is so uncertain as a soldier's, and who tries to make the most of it while it lasts. Phadrig and Gillian were both duinewassals, and when at home in Strathdee both wore the wing of the lolar in their bonnets. Honest Phadrig had lately declined a commission in another Scottish regiment, preferring his sergeant's halbert to the certainty of rank and being separated from Ian Dhu, whom his mother had nursed, and to whom he was hereditary henchman, loving him with that strong and reverential love which none but a Scottish Celt or an Irish peasant can understand. Supper over, we rolled our plaids about us, and, after posting fresh sentinels at the verge of the wood, lay down to sleep on the soft dry moss and grass which grew under the thick trees of this old primeval wood — the last fragment of an ancient forest that once had spread from sea to sea. At the same hour last night we had been breasting the waves of the Baltic. 252 PHILIP ROLLO; Wafccliinsc the cliaiiGjinff features of the wood as the last embers shed their fitful light upon the tossing branches, I endeavoured to court sleep — but in vaiu, for the anxiety necessarily felt by every officer — especially a young one — when in charge of that most important of all duties, an outpost, kept me restlessly wakeful. I knew that the Baron of Klosterfiord was far in advance of me with his pistoliers ; but then T expected momently to hear the sharp report of pistols and clang of hoofs upon the distant roadway, announcing that his reconnoitring troop was driven in by Tilly's Keitres. As the few brands that crackled on our watch-fire brightened and reddened up to die away again, I lay watching the varying and fantastic shadows of the midnight wood, the gnarled trunks of whose red pines shone ruddily in the casual glow, then wavered indistinctly, and became black even as their wiry foliage, or the deeper black beyond, where the thick vista stretched away into obscurity. Above, not a star was visible; for the thick, broad branches were densely interwoven, and formed a roof, beyond which the tall black spires of the firs I'ose against the sky; and as the passing wind, when penetrating to the place where we lay, fanned the dying brands into a scarlet glow again, the passing gleam revealed the old knotty stems and branches twisted into a thousand fantastic shapes, red and black, or silver grey, like the freakish demons and stinted gnomes of Danish story, or the rude carvings in some grotesque cathedral aisle. In the middle and dark ages, that peninsula had been covered by dark forests, in whose depths the pagan Wends, when spread- ing along the shores of the Baltic, worshipped their four-headed god of light; even in his own time (the 11th century), Adam of Bremen tells us, that only the shores of Denmark were inhabit- ed, the interior being all a dark and impenetrable forest. I remembered the wild Holstein legend of the Pale Horse, which yearly bore the assassin of St. Erik the king, sweeping over hill and hollow, accompanied by shadowy hounds and the distant echoes of infernal horns, from that morass near the Eyder, where, embari'assed by the weight of his armoiir, he sunk and died ; to the river where, in the preceding year, he had thrown OB, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 253 the body of liis murdered prince, and from thence to the royal vault at Ringsted, where the canonized victim lay. Once in each returning year, since that fatal night in 1252, the Hol- steiners see the shadowy assassin making his terrible pilgrimage to the scenes of his sorrow, his crime, and his grave, where horse and man go down with a shriek that startles the Eyder in its oozy bed. I thought of this and many anqther tale, while to my drowsy eyes all was becoming indistinct : my bare-kneed comrades slept beside me soundly and in close ranks; officers and men lay side by side, for, like friendship and misfortune, campaigning levels many petty distinctions. The lingering light of the fire fell upon their piled muskets with one last gleam, and then expired. The almost palpable darkness of the forest banished my drowsiness, and I began to reflect on the strange tide of circum- stances which had brought me so far from my secluded home, that old tower among the woods and rocks of Cromartie, and from my quiet and gloomy little chamber at the King's College, in the granite city, to the land of these wild scenes and bloody conflicts ; and all because — but you will laugh when I say it — an antique silver spoon would not suit my poor little mouth when a child. I smiled at my father's ridiculous prejudices, and, blessing the poor old man, uttered a fervent wish that in this protracted war I might yet win me a name, which would make him hail with pride the return of the son he had banished. Already I was a captain of musketeers, and I made a mental resolution that the fame of many a great feat should precede my return to my home, or that, like too many perhaps of my gallant com- rades, I would lay my bones on the foreign battle-field for ever. And Ernestine ! I thought then of Ernestine — of her good- ness and her beauty; of her father's wishes concerning that rough Reitre, Count Koeningheim ; I writhed in my plaid at the thought of them, and grasped my dirk on recalling the con- versation between Tilly and his ruffian follower. By separation from Ernestine, the tender impression she had made upon me was increased — for such is the strength of ima- 25 i PHILIP ROLLO ; gination. This fancy or attachment I might doubtless have vanquished by an effort ; but I had no reason to exert this effort, and so the fancy lingered in my breast, and strengthened there. Something startled me. Raising myself on an elbow, I looked round. Kear me a hun- dred men were sleeping in the darkness; but beyond, at the skirts of the wood, a strange glow appeared between the trees. Some distant town was perhaps in flames; but no, it grew redder, deeper, broader, and then came a crackling sound, with a strong smell of smoke and burning wood. On turning round, the same appearance met my eye on two opposite points; and the lights brightened so fast, that I could see the helmets of the sleepers close beside me shining in the yet distant gleam. Our sentinels fired their muskets. A pang of horror and dismay shot through my heart. "Up, up! gentlemen and comrades!" I exclaimed, starting to my feet ; " to your arms — to your arms ! In three places the ivood is on fire! ^^ At this appalling cry, the whole company sprang to their feet and unpiled their arms. " The Imperialists are upon us ! " cried Lumsdaine. " The four corners of the wood are on fire," added Hugh Rose, drawing his claymore. " losa — -losa !" shouted the soldiers; "here come the flames !" " What matters it, Captain Kollo," said Phadrig Mhor, brand- ishing his Lochaber axe, and belting his plaid about his giant figure; "the cowards would smoke brave men like rats, but we will break through, and do as Conan did with the devil. If bad they give, they will get no better. Into your ranks, my brave lads— close in, close in ! " " Put your plaids above your bandoleers, or they will explode ! " I exclaimed; "hammer-stall your locks and matches — follow me — forwai'd !" "Quick, Donald M'Vurich!" cried Phadrig, administering a cuff with his gauntlet to a Highlander who lingered to poke his dirk into an abandoned camp-kettle, in the faint hope of fishing out something that might be left; "into your ranks! Is /aide OR, THE SCOTTISH MUSKETEERS. 255 t'fhacail na> t-fheosag I By the Holy Iron ! your teeth are longer than your beard I '' How shall I describe the scene of horror that immediately ensued ! Around us the whole wood was in flames ! Many of the pines were aged, dry, and decayed, and they stood in a bed of parched moss, thickly strewn with the old leaves and the withered branches of past summers. Running like wildfire along this inflammable stra,tum, the spreading flame caught the pines by their hollow trunks, and, narrowing on all sides to the centre, its frightful circle rapidly enclosed us. The glare, as the flame shot from pine to pine, from root to ro