LI B FIAFLY OF THE UN IVLR5ITY or ILLINOIS 8^3 <5|893\r v.l /<• ' '// fcVf^, # THE ROUA PASS; OB, ENGLISHMEN IN THE HIGHLANDS BY EEICK MACKENZIE. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: SMITH, ELDEE, AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 1857. \_The right of Translation is reserved.'] LONDON : Printed by Smith. Eldeb, & Co., 15, Old Bailey. i 8£3 v.l THE EOUA PASS; OB. ENGLISHMEN IN THE HIGHLANDS. CHAPTEE I. ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. It's no in titles nor in rank, It's no in wealth like Lon'on Bank, To purchase peace and rest. Nae treasures nor pleasures Could make us happy lang ; The heart ay's the part ay That makes us right or wrang. Bubns. The English lessee of the shooting of Dreumah had arrived in the Highlands thi'ee days ere the 12th of August, accompanied by his two friends. It was a shooting which in extent and wild- VOL. I. 1 » THE ROTJA PASS. ness ranked as one of the best in the Highlands, being inhabited by every prized species, from the high-ranging Ptarmigan to the far-ranging Red Deer, and brought a rent commensurate with the sport it afforded, and with that wealth which only epicurean Englishmen are willing to lavish on this exciting enjoyment. The lodge, a small grey stone building, stood on a platform of heather closely surrounded by high mountains ; which, in their desolate gran- deur, shut it in from all more outward view; show- ing, in summer, but the play of light and shadow on the many coloured rock — the glaring sun send- ing down its rays with fiery fervour ; and, in winter, only dreary heights sheeted with snow, seeming as if threatening to crush in upon the lonely gaze of the prisoned keeper of the place. There appeared to be neither egress from nor approach to it; though a track did lead to it, branching from the parliamentary road about a mile to the west, and winding in a zig-zag pass through the mountain chain until it abruptly ceased at this heather-clad opening. ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. 3 The wild country beyond was wholly unmarked by human foot tread. The sportsmen and the shepherds tracked their way by nobler signs. Ther€, on the blue horizon, stood the blasted trunks of a pine forest, looking on moonlight nights like a battle field of gigantic skeletons, or a fearful group of clans, — Ossian^s mighty men — arrested by one death stroke in their attitudes of strife. The father mountain of Dreumah — that is to say, the mountain which based the lodge flat, was so peculiarly peaked that it might have served as a landmark to the Lowlands. The crowning rocks were fantastically heaped like an upraised cross ; and probably Saint Columba himself, struck with the similitude, had given it its name, when wandering in this part of the Highlands more than twelve hundred years ago ; for since then it has been called Craigchrisht. Behind the lodge ran a brawling river, rushing ceaselessly, with many a fall from the glens be- yond, towards the large loch of Nightach. On the brink of the river stood a detached shedding 4 THE KOUA PASS. of tarred wood, the habitation of forty dogs and twenty gillies. They were kenneled here, out of hearing of the lodge tenants; English dogs and Highland dependants living together in happy unanimity, enjoying a mingled life of work and ease, and ready to start at the bidding of their masters. The English sportsmen were still seated at the breakfast table in the general sitting-room of the small lodge of Dreumah. Small, in- deed, was that little tenement in comparison with the vast territory to which its tenancy gave the sporting right; and marvellous in the eyes of olden folk were the changes of time and fashion which had caused that right, so little valued in their young days, now to bring an income doubled to the laird. The puir silly grouse and the red deer of the hills were now become the props of the rental; their lives being valuable, their comfort was heeded : no eject- ments for them ! Times were changed. In the days of the olden lairds the wild birds and the beasts be- ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. longed to the faithful clansmen and the tenants : he who ran might shoot. The venison was for the snowy days of winter, when goodly haunches might hang on every bothie's* rafters. Who was asked to pay for the peats that smoked it, then, or for the heather grass that fattened it? Aye, not a grandfather amongst them but might remember those days, and turn to curse the change ; seeing in it but a barter of themselves with the beasts : war created, and which to win ? The people and the beasts had reigned an equal length of days — from time immemorial ; but the beasts were subservient : the people stood next to the laird in those days : they fought and bled for him. In the very, very old days, it was they who kept his lands for him in spite of the Sassenachs ; — but now, the Sassenachs, who never could have won the land by their blood, could win it by their gold ; and the lairds took their gold, and sold or exterminated their people. The times were changed ! * Eude turf hut. D THE ROUA PASS. The sitting-room of the lodge was about to be vacated; the three gentlemen had risen from breakfast and were in discussion over their plans for the day. It was a small square room fur- nished with rigorous simplicity, and lighted by two curtainless windows at one end ; a black hair sofa was drawn along the wall, opposite to the hearth, where a huge turf fire blazed ; a heavy table was in the middle, on which lay a pile of newspapers, books, and cigars ; wooden arm chairs of comfortable shapes stood about; and on the side where the door of egress opened were several shelves laden with desks, game cards, quaighs,* flasks, etc. On the opposite side were three small doors, half shut; a legible B. No. 1, B. No. 2, B. No. 3, showed their occupation as bedrooms. Into one of these Basil Harold, the youngest man of the Dreumah party, now entered, whistling : he was impatient to get out and be oif. It was a room of cell-like proportions, sufficing to contain a * Small drinking cups. ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. 7 chair or two and a large bath. The bed, long and narrow, was fixed in a recess of the wall, and curtained. Shelves, reaching from above the pillow to the ceiling, held all the necessaries of a shooting-lodge toilette. The washing stand was built into the wall ; pipes of icy water from a hni spring being introduced, to save space and chambermaid labour. The looking glass, dressing-case, etc., stood on a broad slab of slate, which also formed the sill of the window. All three bedrooms were planned and furnished exactly alike. Basil Harold dived his hand into the pocket of a grey shooting jacket, which hung by a superb dressing-gown of wadded satin on two brass nails behind the door, and taking out a cigar case and a book, transferred them to the pocket of the coat he wore; then slinging on his shooting apparatus, he rejoined his friends. He was the tallest man of the party — rather reserved in manner, and grave for his years, which numbered only six- and-twenty ; but with a certain dreaminess of eye and a quiet humourous smile, which struck the 8 THE ROTJA PASS. fancy. He had soft blue eyes and thick brown hair, and there was an air about him that inter- ested more than many a classically perfect form and figure. His feet and hands were rather large, but well shaped, and his mouth also carried birth in the chiselled upper lip : certainly pride and self-control were clearly traceable there. One could not be long in Basil Harold's society without feeling that honesty of purpose and purity of mind were innate qualities ; — they shone in him. The womanly care which had guarded and guided him until his tenth year, had cultivated good principles never to be ex- terminated. He had been, as a boy, gentle, loving, and beloved; he had never been cruel, or a liar, or a thief (and boys in the higher classes may exemplify these vices quite as much as in the lower) : mind and body were strong and healthy. He went to Eton, where he developed a manly spirit, and having self-reliance, was inferior to none : he was happy there, and when he left cried "Floreat Etona" with all his heart. On leaving Oxford, he went abroad for a couple of ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. 9 years witli his friend Sir Francis Thornton ; who quite foresaw the beginning of a very bright future for Basil. Harold's hall lay ready for his return — that fine old place^ where all the social duties and pleasures of life for him were centred ; and with the fresh vigour of unwasted youth, he had already, asking God's blessing, began the happy performance of them. The other men were seated on opposite sides of the blazing^ fire when he re-entered. Edward Herbert Auber, who was lighting his cigar at a bit of glowing turf, was a slight-made man of five or six and thirty, with a pale complexion, soft dark eyes, and hair of silky ebon black. His manners were bland and earnest, with a smile of variable expression and perfect beauty. "V\Tiere was there a more fascinating com- panion than Auber ? He had travelled, was ac- complished, and so complete a master of his own language, that through its tones, skilfully modulated, he could reach the hearts and minds of others. His temper was perfect : no contrary tastes or opinions could embitter his own ; for he 10 THE ROUA PASS. smiled admiringly at the rhapsodies of one friend, and pleasantly when another was helped twice to soup. His patience was never tired; — not even when Marchmoram forced him to ascend Stronichie at a goat's pace. He enjoyed life at all times and all seasons : he knew London, and had seen its life in all its phases ; and he knew the world. On the moor, Marchmoram's active step was always slightly ahead of Auber ; his quick and energetic voice keeping pace, either in animated conversation, or in commands to the keepers, who were always more ready to hear and obey his orders than those of either the polished Auber or good-humoured Harold. There is no doubt that a man who combines a powerful frame with a force intellectual has an influence over all inferiors, from menials even to the brute crea- tion. But of Marchmoram's mind we shall know more anon. His face and figure were, like it, strong and peculiar ; with traits of good and evil. His hair was rich chesnut colour, and of exquisitely fine ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. 11 texture ; all women admired it. His eyes were literally the light of his countenance ; for, when cast down in one of those absent moods he was subject to, darkness came over their expression. They were eyes of hawkish brown — a colour that deepened almost to blackness with rage, and softened with love. "VATien excited — and he was fearfully excitable — they lighted into strange fire : you felt it was his brain that sent those burn- ing flashes through his eyes, and their wild light would enkindle in your own soul congenial sym- pathy. The fire of life burnt strongly in him, whether openly or subdued. When in one of his silent moods, there was as much difference in that brooding quietude of his from the laissez aller of Auber's self-indulgent ease, as between the outward quiet of a deep-buried mine and the sleeping darkness of a sea-shore cavern. Marchmoram's face might have been hand- some, but for that critical feature, the mouth : the index of character. It was an ugly, an un- loveable mouth. The lips were thin, red, and firm, and sometimes drawn ascetically : smiles 12 THE ROUA PASS. sardonic, sarcastic, satanic, and serapMc wreathed them by turns. You gazed on the brow — ^it was high, wide, and massive : intellect sat firm upon it : no personal fatigue could dull the keen mental energies. His figure was more strongly than finely pro- portioned ; being rather too muscular, but well adapted for the manly exercises of walking, running, rowing, and riding, in all of which he excelled. He had many friends, but had made some enemies. He wanted the studied self-con- trol, the polished forbearance of Auber. Where he despised he showed it: and this was some- what often. He had just briefly announced to Auber his intention of not shooting that day, as Harold entered. '^ The flat of Bohr'dell does not suit me ! I shall walk to the post by and bye, and bring back a report of the game on Lochandu." Auber shrugged his shoulders in reply, and walked to the window. " Well, the grouse have crowed too long for me this morning," exclaimed Harold, seizing his ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. 13 cap, and striding towards the door. " I am off ! and, Auber, if you want ttie scent to keep as it does now, you should be on Stronichie in half an hour. Shall I call Ralph ?" '' The wind may blow where it listeth for me, my good fellow," replied Auber, putting his head out of the window. " I must have another fort- night in this bracing climate before my energies will match yours. If I don't find the stag to- day, I shan't sleep less soundly to-night. But be so kind as to send Thorold here, if you see him." " Not going out ! " exclaimed Marchmoram, as Harold left the room. ^' I would have taken the pass myself, had I known this, Herbert." " But I am going," Auber replied, with an amused smile, " slow and sure as any Scotchman. Oh, Thorold!" he continued, as a pompous-look- ing English valet slowly and widely opened the door, " I fancy a sandwich of that spiced beef to-day for lunch. Pray have it put up ; and tell Ealph, the red-headed gillie (I always forget their infernal names) " 14 THE ROUA PASS. " Oon Maikeen-zee, my lord — sir — I beg your pardon," stuttered the valet. "Ewen Mackenzie/' said Marchmoram, angrily. '' Auber, no message can be given distinctly where, as you have seen before, affected blunders are permitted." The valet gave a huffed bow. '' Ewen Mackenzie, Thorold," Auber repeated, blandly. " Pray tell Ralph to desire Mr. Ewen Mackenzie to meet me at the Bogle Spring, with a hill pony for returning." "Yes, sir — my lord." And with a stately bow Thorold disappeared. " I hate that fellow ; he is as unsuited to this place as Jacques, the French cook," Marchmoram exclaimed. Auber laughed. " Unsuited to the place con- stitutionally ; not individually : to myself they make part of its perfections; but Thorold, cer- tainly, is only pleasant in his thorough English comfort : he suits London admirably. Were I to go abroad to-morrow, I would not take him : it would require all the strength of my conscience ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. 15 to prevent my bribing Harold's Gupini away from him." " Yes ; he would be worth his weight in gold," replied Marchmoram. " That fellow would go neck and neck with his master through any country. Seldom in his life before (or I am much mistaken) has Gupini lived in the ease of his present servitude; and there is too much quicksilver in the rascal to make him long content with it. He is a clever fellow ; but give me my own honest bull dog. Greaves — faithful in quietness, and tenacious in obedience : I require nothing else in a servant." '' No I those are your standing qualities," Auber replied, and humming an opera air, he proceeded to join the gamekeeper, who waited impatiently outside : — the passes on Stronichie had been on guard from early that morning. It was fully half an hour afterwards that Marchmoram rose from his chair. " Pshaw ! " he muttered. ^'No more dreams !" and glancing at a leathern bag hanging on a nail above one of the bedroom doors, he took it down, slung 16 THE ROUA PASS. it over his shoulder, put a quaigh a and small opera glass into his pocket, and sauntered out. When he felt the keen air strike his face, he turned and took a large plaid of Mackenzie clan tartan from a table where heaps of such like warm wraps lay, wound it scientifically around him, and started at a brisk pace across the heather behind the lodge; gradually descending until he reached at last one of those capital parliamentary roads which now intersect the wildest, highest grounds of the Highlands. As he proceeded, the grey mists, which had lain cowering along the mountains all morning, gradually rose, and the sun as gradually retired behind one huge white cloud, which was the only variance to the coldly bright azure sky. The scenery now took a strange unearthly light, such as is sometimes seen in a Highland autumn day ; every rock, every tree, even the very water of the river, looked mirrored, and reflected as it were in itself. There were no shadows and there was no brightness : a clear distinctness pencilled every object, doing away with all conceptions of distance. ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. IT The shooting box of Dreumah lay about eight miles from the place to which Marchmoram was bound, but in less than two hours he entered the wild strath of Erickava, where the ^^Post-office" stood superior midst a " toun " of peat-built hovels, the abodes of the thinned population of all the neighbouring glens. It was a low thatched cottage of two rooms, and occupied by Mrs. Jean Fraser, a Lowland woman, the widow of a Highland drover ; and as she only received three pounds a year for her official duties, she eked out her means by selling small groceries and delf ware. This combination is almost invariable in the Highland districts : the shop and the post always dwell together. Mrs. Jean Fraser, the post-mistress, started back from her spinning-wheel, as Marchmoram pushed open the door and asked for the Dreumah letters — hitherto one of the gillies had daily appeared for them : she courtesied deeply, and proceeded to separate them from a very small heap of others, addressed to the minister and one or two neigh- bouring lairds' families. Meanwhile the English- 18 THE ROUA PASS. man sat down on a turf seat at the door ; and soon a small group of wild-eyed, bare-legged children gathered round, gazing on him with looks of strong curiosity and admiration. They were suddenly dispersed by a stout merry-faced girl in a blue linsey-wolsey petticoat and cotton jacket, who approached with a white bowl of rich milk and an oat cake on a platter : nodding and smiling she oiFered them to Marchmoram; but as he placed a silver token of thanks on the untasted bannock, she blushed scarlet, exclaiming, " Och, aneil! aneil ! "* He then, throwing the silver to a kilted laddie, took the bag from the post mistress and arose to return. Instead of retracing his steps, he proceeded by a precipitous path along a barrier of high grey rocks, which bounded the huts and seemed to extend for miles beyond; but a sudden turn brought him to a wide and rugged rent, through which he scrambled. He started back at the glorious grandeur of the scene beneath the height * "Oh, no I no!" ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. 19 on whicli he stood. MTierever the eye wandered it met the wildest, the most romantic beauties of Highland scenery. Around on every side rose the empurpled hills, towering sublime in their ancient pride of isolation. A sombre forest swept its massy length to the base of the nearest moun- tain ; and the light now brightening, a golden glow lit up the varied green foliage of weeping birch, lordly pines, and graceful larch. The sun- beams fell on the still waters of a small loch, which lay sparkling at the foot of a rugged black rock, like " beauty in the lap of terror." Marchmoram's eyes seemed to take a brighter colour when first they gazed over the splendid landscape ; a flush passed over his brow, and he half whispered — " On my soul, how beautiful ! " The next moment, in a clear excited tone, he exclaimed, '^By Jove, that must be the Pike Loch ! " and bounded downwards over rock, heather holes, and huge trunks of decayed trees, until he stood breathless by its margin. While gazing on the solitude, he started, with another exclamation of surprise, as a young girl ^0 THE ROUA PASS. slowly rose from behind a mossy stone, and stood within three feet of him. She was quaintly dressed in a short grey petticoat, with a white muslin jacket edged with blue braiding, the sleeves tucked up to the elbow. She had a long forked stick in her hand ; a dark coloured plaid, strong brogues and coarse stockings, lay at her naked feet, with an osier basket full of exquisite water lilies. A round straw hat hung on one arm, and she slanted it across her eyes to obtain a better view of the stranger ; then, with a deep blush, she slid down again, drawing her plaid over her feet, and tossing back her long silken hair from off her face. Marchmoram looked at the maiden for a mo- ment. Her hair seemed transmuted by the sun- beams to molten gold. Her eyes were blue — "darkly, brightly, beautifully blue;" the blush had faded, and her colour was fair and pale : he did not^ then take time to analyse the expression in her face, but with a cold English bow he spoke — " May I ask you the name of this lake ? " She smiled, and replied slowly and sweetly. ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. 21 with a slight Scotch accent ; which in the High- lands of Scotland differs totally from that of the Lowlands : in the former, it is merely accent, and of a low tone, sometimes slightly faltering; in the latter, the phraseology is different, and the accent is shrill and high-pitched. '^ I call it Loch Florachin ; — I forget the local name, but I call it Loch Florachin Bahn,* be • cause these passion flowers grow on it : I come for them here almost daily, and wade in the water and pull them in with a stick."" "You mistake," said Marchmoram, smiling, " these are water lilies — not passion flowers, which grow very differently. Is not this a good pike lake ? " " I know there is a different passion flower, but I have never seen it: these are my passion flowers ; I am so fond of them. This is a famous pike loch, but there is one not far off which is full of ruby red trout and char ; only it is difficult to haul." "Ah! why?" * Loch of the white flowers. %% THE ROUA PASS. '^ Because there are ancient Pictish trees lying beneath, and they tear the nets." ^^ That's the deuce of all the Highland lochs," muttered Marchmoram. The girl smiled. " Why do you smile ? " ^^At a thought of my own, and because you pronounced loch very well just now : it is affectation to speak of lakes." *' I never thought loch a prettily pronounceable word until a moment ago/' said Marchmoram. '^ Any man of University education can, or ought to, pronounce the word ; for Hebrew and Gaelic often assimilate. Do you speak Gaelic ? You look as if these hills had been your teachers ! " " Yes ; I am a Highlander : my foster mother lives in that shealing. I have left my pony there while I came to gather these flowers ; and now I must go for it and ride home ere the gloamin' approaches. There are two rivers to ford ere I get home — there," she added, pointing to a mountain range about five miles off. " Allow me to fetch your pony." ENGLISH SPORTSMEN. 23 " Thank you. It may be in the sheep fank behind that peat stack ; if you follow that track you will soon reach it." Scarcely had Marchmoram turned, when she slipped on her shoes and stockings, wrapped her plaid round her waist and shoulders, pulled down her sleeves, pushed on her hat, and swinging her basket to her side, pursued and overtook hiin with the step of a Dian. *^ Do not go for my pony ; — I shall get it for myself. I thank you very much." And with an abrupt courtesy she passed him. 24 THE ROIJA PASS. CHAPTEE 11. THE HIGHLAJS^D FOSTER-MOTHER. " I dreamed T lay where flowers were springing Gaily in the sunny beam." " bring a Scotsman frae his hill. Clap in his cheek a Highland gill, An' there's the foe ; He has na thought but how to kill Twa at a blow." " But tell me whisky's name in Greek, I'll tell the reason." BrENS. The young Highland girl stepped quickly up a heather track, until she stopped before a low black cottage, thatched with brown sods. A bleak stone dyke surrounded it, and in some hurdle enclosures a few piteous-looking black-faced sheep THE HIGHTAND FOSTER-MOTHER. 25 were cropping the dry herbage. These enclo- sures comprised the fank ; where^ in summer, the wool-clipping was done, and where the cattle sought huddled warmth during the night storms of winter. A few dark pines crowned the huge grey rocks that rose behind the cottage. It was a desolate and eerie-looking spot. A little scrubby- brushed fox ran out, as the young girl stopped at the door, and, jumping at her plaid, clung play- fully to the fringe with his teeth ; but she shook it off and entered. The earthen floor of the low-built room was strewn with withered brackens and heather; a small black cow and a handsome little thorough- bred pony stood together tethered to a fir post, eating from one coggan full of potatoes ; a flock of cocks and hens were roosted on the rafters, and many rude implements of farming, several corn flails amongst them, lay scattered about. The atmosphere was dense with peat smoke. Having tightened the saddle girths and loosened the bridle of her pony, the maiden passed into an inner room. 26 THE ROUA PASS. This was the family room. The flooring here also was earthen ; there were two small windows, the broken panes of one being replaced by sheets of mica from the neighbouring rocky hills. The hearth was built in th^ centre of the room, and one-half of the smoke escaped by a rent in the roof, the other half swept out into the entrance room. A table stood opposite the window, and the bed was built into the wall next it, and hung with woollen-spun curtains. Two wooden shelves, above the patchwork counterpane, contained some strangely brown books, tea and snuflf canisters, and an oaken box curiously carved and clasped. A quaint-looking clock hung in one corner, and a low rocking-chair, simply constructed with twined birch twigs, stood by a spinning-wheel opposite the fire. A small dresser, on which some pots and pans and crockery-ware were arranged, had a clothes screen drawn before it. Green branches of birch were loosely laid be- tween the black rafters and ceiling, and a huge pile of fresh fire-wood filled the space from the bed to the opposite wall. THE HIGHLAND FOSTER-MOTHER. 27 A tall handsome woman of middle age advanced to meet the visitor. She wore a matron mutch, high and white ; a tartan scarf, bound across her full wide chest, was fastened with an antique silver brooch thin with age, and scored with many initial traditions of the past. Her petticoat was of dark blue wool, and her stockings of brown moss dye. In appearance she was the very heau ideal of a Highland wife. Her face was rather dark-complexioned, and the narrow band of hair visible was a deep- coloured red ; her eyes were a clear, cool, hazel ; her nose and mouth were finely formed; but the lips were almost too red, they made one think of blood. Her hands were small and white, and she had a peculiar way of wring- ing them as she spoke, drawling her words in that singing tone the Highlanders use in speaking the English tongue. " Esme, ma guil,* you'll take a drink ; " and she poured milk from a tin flagon into a glass ; then, taking down a canister, she poured some * My love. 28 THE ROTJA PASS. whisky from a flask, and added a spoonful of crushed sugar : " Drink to Normal and me. ' '' To you, darling Florh." " Weel ah weel ! let that be ; it '11 na hinder fate." '' You are not to be always making mine, riorh ; I won't have it," cried Esme, throwing back her head with quick scorn, and her eyes darkening dangerously. "I love eagles better than hawks;" and then, she asked quietly, " Will you read me a dream ?" " Aye, tell it. Was it dreamed last night ? — Last night has a date to it." " Yes, my dearest mother," Esme replied with a sigh. ^^ Florh, listen : — I was awakened from a deep sleep by the wildest hooting of the owls ; they seemed all in flight towards the Eoua Pass. I sat up in my bed ; the blessed moon was resting in splendour on a dark cloud high above the hill, and shedding quivering silver on my pillow. As I gazed on her, I spoke your word, dear Florh — Roi-Orduchadh,* — and, ere I list, the cloud burst * Destiny and fate. THE HIGHLAND FOSTER-MOTHER. X\) into fragments, and I counted seven fantastic shadows as tliey floated across the ' Mother of Visions.' I lay down again, and the rushing of the river soon soothed me to sleep. Florh, I dreamt that my sister Norah and I were lying in our own little hoat, which was moored to the trunk of the old cherry-tree at the garden bank. She was sleeping. A dreamy feeling pervaded the very air ; the sun was scarcely shining, but it cast a tremulous light on the silver river, lightening and deepening the shades of the melancholy birches. There was a hush like sleep ; — a strange mysterious feeling stole over me : — not peace, but excitable unrest ; not indolence, but abandonment. The silence gradually broke : faint, faint sounds of melody arose ; the waters trembled as if the harmony breathed on them. I rose u]3. Then suddenly I saw shadows — those visionary moon shadows — come hurrying past ! The soft light vanished, and the old mountains looked resplendent in gold and purple glory. Oh, Florh ! darkness came on, as the hand of so THE ROUA PASS. an invisible arm darted through the air and struck the cherry-tree to the earth. The river waves rose in fury ; the boat rocked and sunk. My sister and I struggled desperately in the cold and stormy water. She grasped a long honey- suckle tendril that was drooping above us ; I saw she was saved, and shrieked ^farewell' to her, as the current swept me on past her — past home — past life and hope — into the gloomy waters of a mist-covered ocean. Then Florh, I awoke ! " When Esme ceased, her foster-mother stooped, and, raking the hearth-ashes with her finger, picked out a charred bit of pine wood. She crossed her bosom thrice with it, and put it into Esme's left hand, ^' Mathal voch ! * picture the shapes of the seven clouds to me." " I cannot do that ; but I remember the fourth was a long twisted flake, like that — " And Esme drew a mark on the hearth-stone with the charcoal. * !SIy poor darling. THE HIGHLAXD FOSTER-MOTHER. 31 "Yes, bairn, it was this;" and, with an ex- ultant laugh, her foster-mother turned the hiero- glyphic into the Saxon letter /. " Now tell me more shapes." " "Well, the first clouds went whii'ling past in round shapes — so ; and I remember the cloud that followed that f was serpentine — like this ; and the last shadow of all was tailed, like a comet." ''Ave, aye: so and so;" and the letters g and r and y were scrawled. " Was the cloud be- tween the two last like this ?" and she added an e ; — Esme nodded. " Then " — striking the stick against the crook over the fire, it broke in two ; Florh snatched at the pieces, and, muttering, "Two syllables, and the first of Heaven," drew in legible Saxon characters the name " Godfrey." When Esme had entered the cottage, March- moram seated himself on a heather clump within sight, and gave himself up to the luxury of day- dreams, carelessly pulling up the heather, and nipping off its deep purple bells with his teeth. He was roused by the neigh of a pony, and. S2 THE ROUA PASS. looking up, saw his Highland naiad mounted, at the cottage door. The basket of water lilies was poised on her head (as the steadiest way of carrying them), and secured by a strap beneath the chin. This coronal gave a wild grace to her slight figure ; the pale flowers, with their cool green and transparent tendrils, softly shadowing her long golden tresses. Her hat was slung to the crupper, and her foster-mother was wrapping the plaid from her shoulder to her knee. Esme threw her arms around Florh's neck, and, stooping, kissed both her sun-burnt cheeks ; then, touching the bridle, she cantered rapidly down the track, past Marchmoram. She saw him not; her eyes were fixed on the glare of the setting sun, above the hill of her dream — the famed Roua Pass. It was about nine o'clock, and the three English sportsmen were seated round the mahogany table in the lodge of Dreumah, with a luxurious dessert spread before them — green and purple grapes from English hothouses, golden yellow pine apples, Chantilly biscuits and spiced compotes. THE HIGHLAND FOSTER-MOTHER. 33 The dessert service was of rich red Bohemian glass, varied by bottles and glasses of divers shapes and colours^ — bright champagne frothing through crystal amber; cool claret in glass of emerald green — an inviting display. The room was lit by a German chandelier of white and brown hart's-horns, pendant from the low ceiling ; candlesticks of similar material were ranged on the shelf for bedroom use. A curtain of thick red frieze, drawn along the end of the room at this hour, concealed the windows and excluded the keen air of a Highland autumnal night. " Well, Auber, tell us of your stalk ! " " Marchmoram, do not speak to me ! The equanimity of a life-time lost its balance to-day," and Auber laughed. *^ That confounded gillie, Sandy Mac Tavish ! he sacrificed a royal head ! I cannot go over my stalk to you : I could not bear the reminiscence. You thought I started sluggishly, but my blood warmed, man ; and such a stalk ! There is a gash on my knee which must cripple me for a week — it is well, with the VOL,, I. 3 34 THE ROUA PASS. sequel I have to tell, that with me — ce nest pas la victoire mats le combat qui fait mon honheur ! " At four o'clock, Ian Mac Gillivray lay hanging on the jut of the shoulder of Corricandhu, Sandy Mac Tavish in the pass of Stronichie, and myself enduring cramp amongst the high ferns at the Bogle's Spring. Ralph, who was crouched by my side, suddenly made my fingers tingle by the whisper — ' They are coming — they are coming. I saw the advancing antlers above Stronichie a minute ago ! I hope Sandy will have the sense to hide himself and your rifle ere they reach the pass ! ' By Jove, ere the words were well out of his mouth I heard my own rifle crack, and there was Sandy tearing down towards us, brandishing the piece above his head, his kilt and hair flying back on the scent. He was shouting as he ran — ^ Och hone ! och hone ! * but I did na kill her ! ' I really felt blind for a moment. Had I possessed your presence of mind and decision of character, Marchmoram, of course * Alas ! alas ! THE HIGHLAND FOSTER-MOTHER. 35 I would have let fly tny rifle at the rascal's head. As it was, I simply allowed Ralph to seize him, and nearly shake his ragged jacket off" him, exclaiming, ' Kill what, you devil ? ' " ' Hoch, och ! the staig — the bonny staig ! '