第54章 THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER:THE ROCKS(3)

It was in this way that I first heard the right English speech;one fellow as he went by actually clapping his hand upon the sunny face of the rock on which we lay,and plucking it off again with an oath."I tell you it's 'ot,"says he;and I was amazed at the clipping tones and the odd sing-song in which he spoke,and no less at that strange trick of dropping out the letter "h."To be sure,I had heard Ransome;but he had taken his ways from all sorts of people,and spoke so imperfectly at the best,that I set down the most of it to childishness.My surprise was all the greater to hear that manner of speaking in the mouth of a grown man;and indeed I have never grown used to it;nor yet altogether with the English grammar,as perhaps a very critical eye might here and there spy out even in these memoirs.

The tediousness and pain of these hours upon the rock grew only the greater as the day went on;the rock getting still the hotter and the sun fiercer.There were giddiness,and sickness,and sharp pangs like rheumatism,to be supported.I minded then,and have often minded since,on the lines in our Scotch psalm:--"The moon by night thee shall not smite,Nor yet the sun by day;"and indeed it was only by God's blessing that we were neither of us sun-smitten.

At last,about two,it was beyond men's bearing,and there was now temptation to resist,as well as pain to thole.For the sun being now got a little into the west,there came a patch of shade on the east side of our rock,which was the side sheltered from the soldiers.

"As well one death as another,"said Alan,and slipped over the edge and dropped on the ground on the shadowy side.

I followed him at once,and instantly fell all my length,so weak was I and so giddy with that long exposure.Here,then,we lay for an hour or two,aching from head to foot,as weak as water,and lying quite naked to the eye of any soldier who should have strolled that way.None came,however,all passing by on the other side;so that our rock continued to be our shield even in this new position.

Presently we began again to get a little strength;and as the soldiers were now lying closer along the river-side,Alan proposed that we should try a start.I was by this time afraid of but one thing in the world;and that was to be set back upon the rock;anything else was welcome to me;so we got ourselves at once in marching order,and began to slip from rock to rock one after the other,now crawling flat on our bellies in the shade,now making a run for it,heart in mouth.

The soldiers,having searched this side of the valley after a fashion,and being perhaps somewhat sleepy with the sultriness of the afternoon,had now laid by much of their vigilance,and stood dozing at their posts or only kept a look-out along the banks of the river;so that in this way,keeping down the valley and at the same time towards the mountains,we drew steadily away from their neighbourhood.But the business was the most wearing I had ever taken part in.A man had need of a hundred eyes in every part of him,to keep concealed in that uneven country and within cry of so many and scattered sentries.When we must pass an open place,quickness was not all,but a swift judgment not only of the lie of the whole country,but of the solidity of every stone on which we must set foot;for the afternoon was now fallen so breathless that the rolling of a pebble sounded abroad like a pistol shot,and would start the echo calling among the hills and cliffs.

By sundown we had made some distance,even by our slow rate of progress,though to be sure the sentry on the rock was still plainly in our view.But now we came on something that put all fears out of season;and that was a deep rushing burn,that tore down,in that part,to join the glen river.At the sight of this we cast ourselves on the ground and plunged head and shoulders in the water;and I cannot tell which was the more pleasant,the great shock as the cool stream went over us,or the greed with which we drank of it.

We lay there (for the banks hid us),drank again and again,bathed our chests,let our wrists trail in the running water till they ached with the chill;and at last,being wonderfullv renewed,we got out the meal-bag and made drammach in the iron pan.This,though it is but cold water mingled with oatmeal,yet makes a good enough dish for a hungry man;and where there are no means of making fire,or (as in our case)good reason for not making one,it is the chief stand-by of those who have taken to the heather.

As soon as the shadow of the night had fallen,we set forth again,at first with the same caution,but presently with more boldness,standing our full height and stepping out at a good pace of walking.The way was very intricate,lying up the steep sides of mountains and along the brows of cliffs;clouds had come in with the sunset,and the night was dark and cool;so that Iwalked without much fatigue,but in continual fear of falling and rolling down the mountains,and with no guess at our direction.

The moon rose at last and found us still on the road;it was in its last quarter,and was long beset with clouds;but after awhile shone out and showed me many dark heads of mountains,and was reflected far underneath us on the narrow arm of a sea-loch.

At this sight we both paused:I struck with wonder to find myself so high and walking (as it seemed to me)upon clouds;Alan to make sure of his direction.

Seemingly he was well pleased,and he must certainly have judged us out of ear-shot of all our enemies;for throughout the rest of our night-march he beguiled the way with whistling of many tunes,warlike,merry,plaintive;reel tunes that made the foot go faster;tunes of my own south country that made me fain to be home from my adventures;and all these,on the great,dark,desert mountains,making company upon the way.

[25]Brisk.