The Pirate
abode with a wealthy widow of Kirkwall, a relation, who already expected
them.
Halcro made another attempt to move the Provost, but found him
inexorable.--"The Collector of the Customs had already threatened," he
said, "to inform against him for entering into treaty, or, as he called
it, packing and peeling with those strangers, even when it seemed the
only means of preventing a bloody affray in the town; and, should he now
forego the advantage afforded by the imprisonment of Cleveland and the
escape of the Factor, he might incur something worse than censure." The
burden of the whole was, "that he was sorry for the Udaller, he was
sorry even for the lad Cleveland, who had some sparks of honour about
him; but his duty was imperious, and must be obeyed." The Provost then
precluded farther argument, by observing, that another affair from
Zetland called for his immediate attention. A gentleman named Mertoun,
residing at Jarlshof, had made complaint against Snailsfoot the Jagger,
for having assisted a domestic of his in embezzling some valuable
articles which had been deposited in his custody, and he was about to
take examinations on the subject, and cause them to be restored to Mr.
Mertoun, who was accountable for them to the right owner.
In all this information, there was nothing which seemed interesting to
the sisters excepting the word Mertoun, which went like a dagger to the
heart of Minna, when she recollected the circumstances under which
Mordaunt Mertoun had disappeared, and which, with an emotion less
painful, though still of a melancholy nature, called a faint blush into
Brenda's cheek, and a slight degree of moisture into her eye. But it was
soon evident that the Magistrate spoke not of Mordaunt, but of his
father; and the daughters of Magnus, little interested in his detail,
took leave of the Provost to go to their own lodgings.
When they arrived at their relation's, Minna made it her business to
learn, by such enquiries as she could make without exciting suspicion,
what was the situation of the unfortunate Cleveland, which she soon
discovered to be exceedingly precarious. The Provost had not, indeed,
committed him to close custody, as Claud Halcro had anticipated,
recollecting, perhaps, the favourable circumstances under which he had
surrendered himself, and loath, till the moment of the last necessity,
altogether to break faith with him. But although left apparently at
large, he was strictly watched by persons well armed and appointed for
the purpose, who had directions to detain him by force, if he attempted
to pass certain narrow precincts which were allotted to him. He was
quartered in a strong room within what is called the King's Castle, and
at night his chamber door was locked on the outside, and a sufficient
guard mounted to prevent his escape. He therefore enjoyed only the
degree of liberty which the cat, in her cruel sport, is sometimes
pleased to permit to the mouse which she has clutched; and yet, such was
the terror of the resources, the courage, and ferocity of the pirate
Captain, that the Provost was blamed by the Collector, and many other
sage citizens of Kirkwall, for permitting him to be at large upon any
conditions.
It may be well believed, that, under such circumstances, Cleveland had
no desire to seek any place of public resort, conscious that he was the
object of a mixed feeling of curiosity and terror. His favourite place
of exercise, therefore, was the external aisles of the Cathedral of
Saint Magnus, of which the eastern end alone is fitted up for public
worship. This solemn old edifice, having escaped the ravage which
attended the first convulsions of the Reformation, still retains some
appearance of episcopal dignity. This place of worship is separated by a
screen from the nave and western limb of the cross, and the whole is
preserved in a state of cleanliness and decency, which might be well
proposed as an example to the proud piles of Westminster and St. Paul's.
It was in this exterior part of the Cathedral that Cleveland was
permitted to walk, the rather that his guards, by watching the single
open entrance, had the means, with very little inconvenience to
themselves, of preventing any possible attempt at escape. The place
itself was well suited to his melancholy circumstances. The lofty and
vaulted roof rises upon ranges of Saxon pillars, of massive size, four
of which, still larger than the rest, once supported the lofty spire,
which, long since destroyed by accident, has been rebuilt upon a
disproportioned and truncated plan. The light is admitted at the eastern
end through a lofty, well-proportioned, and richly-ornamented Gothic
window; and the pavement is covered with inscriptions, in different
languages, distinguishing the graves of noble Orcadians, who have at
different times been deposited within the sacred precincts.
Here walked Cleveland, musing over the events of a misspent life, which,
it seemed probable, might be brought to a violent and shameful close,
while he was yet in the prime of youth.--"With these dead," he said,
looking on the pavement, "shall I soon be numbered--but no holy man will
speak a blessing; no friendly hand register an inscription; no proud
descendant sculpture armorial bearings over the grave of the pirate
Cleveland. My whitening bones will swing in the gibbet-irons, on some
wild beach or lonely cape, that will be esteemed fatal and accursed for
my sake. The old mariner, as he passes the Sound, will shake his head,
and tell of my name and actions, as a warning to his younger
comrades.--But, Minna! Minna!--what will be thy thoughts when the news
reaches thee?--Would to God the tidings were drowned in the deepest
whirlpool betwixt Kirkwall and Burgh-Westra, ere they came to her
ear!--and O! would to Heaven that we had never met, since we never can
meet again!"
He lifted up his eyes as he spoke, and Minna Troil stood before him. Her
face was pale, and her hair dishevelled; but her look was composed and
firm, with its usual expression of high-minded melancholy. She was still
shrouded in the large mantle which she had assumed on leaving the
vessel. Cleveland's first emotion was astonishment; his next was joy,
not unmixed with awe. He would have exclaimed--he would have thrown
himself at her feet--but she imposed at once silence and composure on
him, by raising her finger, and saying, in a low but commanding
accent,--"Be cautious--we are observed--there are men without--they let
me enter with difficulty. I dare not remain long--they would think--they
might believe--O, Cleveland! I have hazarded every thing to save you!"
"To save me?--Alas! poor Minna!" answered Cleveland, "to save me is
impossible.--Enough that I have seen you once more, were it but to say,
for ever farewell!"
"We must indeed say farewell," said Minna; "for fate, and your guilt,
have divided us for ever.--Cleveland, I have seen your associates--need
I tell you more--need I say, that I know now what a pirate is?"
"You have been in the ruffians' power!" said Cleveland, with a start of
agony--"Did they presume"----
"Cleveland," replied Minna, "they presumed nothing--your name was a
spell over them. By the power of that spell over these ferocious
banditti, and by that alone, I was reminded of the qualities I once
thought my Cleveland's!"
"Yes," said Cleveland, proudly, "my name has and shall have power over
them, when they are at the wildest; and, had they harmed you by one rude
word, they should have found--Yet what do I rave about--I am a
prisoner!"
"You shall be so no longer," said Minna--"Your safety--the safety of my
dear father--all demand your instant freedom. I have formed a scheme for
your liberty, which, boldly executed, cannot fail. The light is fading
without--muffle yourself in my cloak, and you will easily pass the
guards--I have given them the means of carousing, and they are deeply
engaged. Haste to the Loch of Stennis, and hide yourself till day dawns;
then make a smoke on the point, where the land, stretching into the
lake on each side, divides it nearly in two at the Bridge of Broisgar.
Your vessel, which lies not far distant, will send a boat ashore.--Do
not hesitate an instant!"
"But you, Minna!--Should this wild scheme succeed," said Cleveland,
"what is to become of you?"
"For my share in your escape," answered the maiden, "the honesty of my
own intention will vindicate me in the sight of Heaven; and the safety
of my father, whose fate depends on yours, will be my excuse to man."
In a few words, she gave him the history of their capture, and its
consequences. Cleveland cast up his eyes and raised his hands to Heaven,
in thankfulness for the escape of the sisters from his evil companions,
and then hastily added,--"But you are right, Minna; I must fly at all
rates--for your father's sake I must fly.--Here, then, we part--yet not,
I trust, for ever."
"For ever!" answered a voice, that sounded as from a sepulchral vault.
They started, looked around them, and then gazed on each other. It
seemed as if the echoes of the building had returned Cleveland's last
words, but the pronunciation was too emphatically accented.
"Yes, for ever!" said Norna of the Fitful-head, stepping forward from
behind one of the massive Saxon pillars which support the roof of the
Cathedral. "Here meet the crimson foot and the crimson hand. Well for
both that the wound is healed whence that crimson was derived--well for
both, but best, for him who shed it.--Here, then, you meet--and meet for
the last time!"
"Not so," said Cleveland, as if about to take Minna's hand; "to
separate me from Minna, while I have life, must be the work of herself
alone."
"Away!" said Norna, stepping betwixt them,--"away with such idle
folly!--Nourish no vain dreams of future meetings--you part here, and
you part for ever. The hawk pairs not with the dove; guilt matches not
with innocence.--Minna Troil, you look for the last time on this bold
and criminal man--Cleveland, you behold Minna for the last time!"
"And dream you," said Cleveland, indignantly, "that your mummery imposes
on me, and that I am among the fools who see more than trick in your
pretended art?"
"Forbear, Cleveland, forbear!" said Minna, her hereditary awe of Norna
augmented by the circumstance of her sudden appearance. "O,
forbear!--she is powerful--she is but too powerful.--And do you, O
Norna, remember my father's safety is linked with Cleveland's."
"And it is well for Cleveland that I do remember it," replied the
Pythoness--"and that, for the sake of one, I am here to aid both. You,
with your childish purpose, of passing one of his bulk and stature under
the disguise of a few paltry folds of wadmaal--what would your device
have procured him but instant restraint with bolt and shackle?--I will
save him--I will place him in security on board his bark. But let him
renounce these shores for ever, and carry elsewhere the terrors of his
sable flag, and his yet blacker name; for if the sun rises twice, and
finds him still at anchor, his blood be on his own head.--Ay, look to
each other--look the last look that I permit to frail affection,--and
say, if ye _can_ say it, Farewell for ever!"
"Obey her," stammered Minna; "remonstrate not, but obey her."
Cleveland, grasping her hand, and kissing it ardently, said, but so low
that she only could hear it, "Farewell, Minna, but _not_ for ever."
"And now, maiden, begone," said Norna, "and leave the rest to the
Reimkennar."
"One word more," said Minna, "and I obey you. Tell me but if I have
caught aright your meaning--Is Mordaunt Mertoun safe and recovered?"
"Recovered, and safe," said Norna; "else woe to the hand that shed his
blood!"
Minna slowly sought the door of the Cathedral, and turned back from time