The Pirate
of the feeble lamp by which the sibyl was probably pursuing her mystical
and nocturnal studies, shooting upon the twilight, in which it was soon
lost and confounded, a single line of tiny light; bearing the same
proportion to that of the atmosphere, as the aged woman and her serf,
the sole inhabitants of that desert, did to the solitude with which they
were surrounded.
For several minutes, the party, thus suddenly and unexpectedly expelled
from the shelter where they had reckoned upon spending the night, stood
in silence, each wrapt in their own separate reflections. Minna, her
thoughts fixed on the mystical consolation which she had received, in
vain endeavoured to extract from the words of Norna a more distinct and
intelligible meaning; and the Udaller had not yet recovered his surprise
at the extrusion to which he had been thus whimsically subjected, under
circumstances that prohibited him from resenting as an insult,
treatment, which, in all other respects, was so shocking to the genial
hospitality of his nature, that he still felt like one disposed to be
angry, if he but knew how to set about it. Brenda was the first who
brought matters to a point, by asking whither they were to go, and how
they were to spend the night? The question, which was asked in a tone,
that, amidst its simplicity, had something dolorous in it, entirely
changed the train of her father's ideas; and the unexpected perplexity
of their situation now striking him in a comic point of view, he laughed
till his very eyes ran over, while every rock around him rang, and the
sleeping sea-fowl were startled from their repose, by the loud, hearty
explosions of his obstreperous hilarity.
The Udaller's daughters, eagerly representing to their father the risk
of displeasing Norna by this unlimited indulgence of his mirth, united
their efforts to drag him to a farther distance from her dwelling.
Magnus, yielding to their strength, which, feeble as it was, his own fit
of laughter rendered him incapable of resisting, suffered himself to be
pulled to a considerable distance from the Burgh, and then escaping from
their hands, and sitting down, or rather suffering himself to drop, upon
a large stone which lay conveniently by the wayside, he again laughed so
long and lustily, that his vexed and anxious daughters became afraid
that there was something more than natural in these repeated
convulsions.
At length his mirth exhausted both itself and the Udaller's strength. He
groaned heavily, wiped his eyes, and said, not without feeling some
desire to renew his obstreperous cachinnation, "Now, by the bones of
Saint Magnus, my ancestor and namesake, one would imagine that being
turned out of doors, at this time of night, was nothing short of an
absolutely exquisite jest; for I have shaken my sides at it till they
ache. There we sat, made snug for the night, and I made as sure of a
good supper and a can as ever I had been of either,--and here we are all
taken aback! and then poor Brenda's doleful voice, and melancholy
question, of 'What is to be done, and where are we to sleep?' In good
faith, unless one of those knaves, who must needs torment the poor woman
by their trencher-work before it was wanted, can make amends by telling
us of some snug port under our lee, we have no other course for it but
to steer through the twilight on the bearing of Burgh-Westra, and rough
it out as well as we can by the way. I am sorry but for you, girls; for
many a cruize have I been upon when we were on shorter allowance than we
are like to have now.--I would I had but secured a morsel for you, and a
drop for myself; and then there had been but little to complain of."
Both sisters hastened to assure the Udaller that they felt not the least
occasion for food.
"Why, that is well," said Magnus: "and so being the case, I will not
complain of my own appetite, though it is sharper than convenient. And
the rascal, Nicholas Strumpfer,--what a leer the villain gave me as he
started the good Nantz into the salt-water! He grinned, the knave, like
a seal on a skerry.--Had it not been for vexing my poor kinswoman Norna,
I would have sent his misbegotten body, and misshapen jolterhead, after
my bonny flask, as sure as Saint Magnus lies at Kirkwall!"
By this time the servants returned with the ponies, which they had very
soon caught--these sensible animals finding nothing so captivating in
the pastures where they had been suffered to stray, as inclined them to
resist the invitation again to subject themselves to saddle and bridle.
The prospects of the party were also considerably improved by learning
that the contents of their sumpter-pony's burden had not been entirely
exhausted,--a small basket having fortunately escaped the rage of Norna
and Pacolet, by the rapidity with which one of the servants had caught
up and removed it. The same domestic, an alert and ready-witted fellow,
had observed upon the beach, not above three miles distant from the
Burgh, and about a quarter of a mile off their straight path, a deserted
_Skio_, or fisherman's hut, and suggested that they should occupy it for
the rest of the night, in order that the ponies might be refreshed, and
the young ladies spend the night under cover from the raw evening air.
When we are delivered from great and serious dangers, our mood is, or
ought to be, grave, in proportion to the peril we have escaped, and the
gratitude due to protecting Providence. But few things raise the spirits
more naturally, or more harmlessly, than when means of extrication from
any of the lesser embarrassments of life are suddenly presented to us;
and such was the case in the present instance. The Udaller, relieved
from the apprehensions for his daughters suffering from fatigue, and
himself from too much appetite and too little food, carolled Norse
ditties, as he spurred Bergen through the twilight, with as much glee
and gallantry as if the night-ride had been entirely a matter of his own
free choice. Brenda lent her voice to some of his choruses, which were
echoed in ruder notes by the servants, who, in that simple state of
society, were not considered as guilty of any breach of respect by
mingling their voices with the song. Minna, indeed, was as yet unequal
to such an effort; but she compelled herself to assume some share in the
general hilarity of the meeting; and, contrary to her conduct since the
fatal morning which concluded the Festival of Saint John, she seemed to
take her usual interest in what was going on around her, and answered
with kindness and readiness the repeated enquiries concerning her
health, with which the Udaller every now and then interrupted his carol.
And thus they proceeded by night, a happier party by far than they had
been when they traced the same route on the preceding morning, making
light of the difficulties of the way, and promising themselves shelter
and a comfortable night's rest in the deserted hut which they were now
about to approach, and which they expected to find in a state of
darkness and solitude.
But it was the lot of the Udaller that day to be deceived more than once
in his calculations.
"And which way lies this cabin of yours, Laurie?" said the Udaller,
addressing the intelligent domestic of whom we just spoke.
"Yonder it should be," said Laurence Scholey, "at the head of the
voe--but, by my faith, if it be the place, there are folk there before
us--God and Saint Ronan send that they be canny company!"
In truth there was a light in the deserted hut, strong enough to glimmer
through every chink of the shingles and wreck-wood of which it was
constructed, and to give the whole cabin the appearance of a smithy seen
by night. The universal superstition of the Zetlanders seized upon
Magnus and his escort.
"They are trows," said one voice.
"They are witches," murmured another.
"They are mermaids," muttered a third; "only hear their wild singing!"
All stopped; and, in effect, some notes of music were audible, which
Brenda, with a voice that quivered a little, but yet had a turn of arch
ridicule in its tone, pronounced to be the sound of a fiddle.
"Fiddle or fiend," said the Udaller, who, if he believed in such nightly
apparitions as had struck terror into his retinue, certainly feared them
not--"fiddle or fiend, may the devil fetch me if a witch cheats me out
of supper to-night, for the second time!"
So saying, he dismounted, clenched his trusty truncheon in his hand, and
advanced towards the hut, followed by Laurence alone; the rest of his
retinue continuing stationary on the beach beside his daughters and the
ponies.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] So at least says an Orkney proverb.
CHAPTER X.
What ho, my jovial mates! come on! we'll frolic it
Like fairies frisking in the merry moonshine,
Seen by the curtal friar, who, from some christening
Or some blithe bridal, hies belated cell-ward--
He starts, and changes his bold bottle swagger
To churchman's pace professional, and, ransacking
His treacherous memory for some holy hymn,
Finds but the roundel of the midnight catch.
_Old Play._
The stride of the Udaller relaxed nothing of its length or of its
firmness as he approached the glimmering cabin, from which he now heard
distinctly the sound of the fiddle. But, if still long and firm, his
steps succeeded each other rather more slowly than usual; for, like a
cautious, though a brave general, Magnus was willing to reconnoitre his
enemy before assailing him. The trusty Laurence Scholey, who kept close
behind his master, now whispered into his ear, "So help me, sir, as I
believe that the ghaist, if ghaist it be, that plays so bravely on the
fiddle, must be the ghaist of Maister Claud Halcro, or his wraith at
least; for never was bow drawn across thairm which brought out the gude
auld spring of 'Fair and Lucky,' so like his ain."
Magnus was himself much of the same opinion; for he knew the blithe
minstrelsy of the spirited little old man, and hailed the hut with a
hearty hilloah, which was immediately replied to by the cheery note of
his ancient messmate, and Halcro himself presently made his appearance
on the beach.
The Udaller now signed to his retinue to come up, while he asked his
friend, after a kind greeting and much shaking of hands, "How the devil
he came to sit there, playing old tunes in so desolate a place, like an
owl whooping to the moon?"
"And tell me rather, Fowd," said Claud Halcro, "how you came to be
within hearing of me? ay, by my word, and with your bonny daughters,
too?--Jarto Minna and Jarto Brenda, I bid you welcome to these yellow
sands--and there shake hands, as glorious John, or some other body,
says, upon the same occasion. And how came you here like two fair swans,
making day out of twilight, and turning all you step upon to silver?"
"You shall know all about them presently," answered Magnus; "but what
messmates have you got in the hut with you? I think I hear some one
speaking."
"None," replied Claud Halcro, "but that poor creature, the Factor, and
my imp of a boy Giles. I--but come in--come in--here you will find us
starving in comfort--not so much as a mouthful of sour sillocks to be
had for love or money."
"That may be in a small part helped," said the Udaller; "for though the
best of our supper is gone over the Fitful Crags to the sealchies and
the dog-fish, yet we have got something in the kit still.--Here, Laurie,
bring up the _vifda_."
"_Jokul, jokul!_"[23] was Laurence's joyful answer; and he hastened for
the basket.
"By the bicker of Saint Magnus,"[24] said Halcro, "and the burliest
bishop that ever quaffed it for luck's sake, there is no finding your
locker empty, Magnus! I believe sincerely that ere a friend wanted, you