第46章 I TALK WITH ALAN IN THE WOOD OF LETTERMORE(1)

Alan was the first to come round.He rose,went to the border of the wood,peered out a little,and then returned and sat down.

"Well,"said he,"yon was a hot burst,David."I said nothing,nor so much as lifted my face.I had seen murder done,and a great,ruddy,jovial gentleman struck out of life in a moment;the pity of that sight was still sore within me,and yet that was but a part of my concern.Here was murder done upon the man Alan hated;here was Alan skulking in the trees and running from the troops;and whether his was the hand that fired or only the head that ordered,signified but little.By my way of it,my only friend in that wild country was blood-guilty in the first degree;I held him in horror;I could not look upon his face;I would have rather lain alone in the rain on my cold isle,than in that warm wood beside a murderer.

"Are ye still wearied?"he asked again.

"No,"said I,still with my face in the bracken;"no,I am not wearied now,and I can speak.You and me must twine,"[19]I said.

"I liked you very well,Alan,but your ways are not mine,and they're not God's:and the short and the long of it is just that we must twine."

"I will hardly twine from ye,David,without some kind of reason for the same,"said Alan,mighty gravely."If ye ken anything against my reputation,it's the least thing that ye should do,for old acquaintance'sake,to let me hear the name of it;and if ye have only taken a distaste to my society,it will be proper for me to judge if I'm insulted.""Alan,"said I,"what is the sense of this?Ye ken very well yon Campbell-man lies in his blood upon the road."He was silent for a little;then says he,"Did ever ye hear tell of the story of the Man and the Good People?"--by which he meant the fairies.

"No,"said I,"nor do I want to hear it."

"With your permission,Mr.Balfour,I will tell it you,whatever,"says Alan."The man,ye should ken,was cast upon a rock in the sea,where it appears the Good People were in use to come and rest as they went through to Ireland.The name of this rock is called the Skerryvore,and it's not far from where we suffered ship-wreck.Well,it seems the man cried so sore,if he could just see his little bairn before he died!that at last the king of the Good People took peety upon him,and sent one flying that brought back the bairn in a poke[20]and laid it down beside the man where he lay sleeping.So when the man woke,there was a poke beside him and something into the inside of it that moved.

Well,it seems he was one of these gentry that think aye the worst of things;and for greater security,he stuck his dirk throughout that poke before he opened it,and there was his bairn dead.I am thinking to myself,Mr.Balfour,that you and the man are very much alike."

"Do you mean you had no hand in it?"cried I,sitting up.

"I will tell you first of all,Mr.Balfour of Shaws,as one friend to another,"said Alan,"that if I were going to kill a gentleman,it would not be in my own country,to bring trouble on my clan;and I would not go wanting sword and gun,and with a long fishing-rod upon my back.""Well,"said I,"that's true!"

"And now,"continued Alan,taking out his dirk and laying his hand upon it in a certain manner,"I swear upon the Holy Iron Ihad neither art nor part,act nor thought in it.""I thank God for that!"cried I,and offered him my hand.

He did not appear to see it.

"And here is a great deal of work about a Campbell!"said he.

"They are not so scarce,that I ken!"

"At least,"said I,"you cannot justly blame me,for you know very well what you told me in the brig.But the temptation and the act are different,I thank God again for that.We may all be tempted;but to take a life in cold blood,Alan!"And I could say no more for the moment."And do you know who did it?"Iadded."Do you know that man in the black coat?""I have nae clear mind about his coat,"said Alan cunningly,"but it sticks in my head that it was blue.""Blue or black,did ye know him?"said I.

"I couldnae just conscientiously swear to him,"says Alan."He gaed very close by me,to be sure,but it's a strange thing that I should just have been tying my brogues.""Can you swear that you don't know him,Alan?"I cried,half angered,half in a mind to laugh at his evasions.

"Not yet,"says he;"but I've a grand memory for forgetting,David.""And yet there was one thing I saw clearly,"said I;"and that was,that you exposed yourself and me to draw the soldiers.""It's very likely,"said Alan;"and so would any gentleman.You and me were innocent of that transaction.""The better reason,since we were falsely suspected,that we should get clear,"I cried."The innocent should surely come before the guilty.""Why,David,"said he,"the innocent have aye a chance to get assoiled in court;but for the lad that shot the bullet,I think the best place for him will be the heather.Them that havenae dipped their hands in any little difficulty,should be very mindful of the case of them that have.And that is the good Christianity.For if it was the other way round about,and the lad whom I couldnae just clearly see had been in our shoes,and we in his (as might very well have been),I think we would be a good deal obliged to him oursel's if he would draw the soldiers."When it came to this,I gave Alan up.But he looked so innocent all the time,and was in such clear good faith in what he said,and so ready to sacrifice himself for what he deemed his duty,that my mouth was closed.Mr.Henderland's words came back to me:that we ourselves might take a lesson by these wild Highlanders.Well,here I had taken mine.Alan's morals were all tail-first;but he was ready to give his life for them,such as they were.