第74章 END OF THE FLIGHT:WE PASS THE FORTH(4)

"Look here,my lass,"said Alan,"there are boats in the Kingdom of Fife,for I saw two (no less)upon the beach,as I came in by your town's end.Now if we could have the use of a boat to pass under cloud of night into Lothian,and some secret,decent kind of a man to bring that boat back again and keep his counsel,there would be two souls saved --mine to all likelihood --his to a dead surety.If we lack that boat,we have but three shillings left in this wide world;and where to go,and how to do,and what other place there is for us except the chains of a gibbet --I give you my naked word,I kenna!Shall we go wanting,lassie?Are ye to lie in your warm bed and think upon us,when the wind gowls in the chimney and the rain tirls on the roof?Are ye to eat your meat by the cheeks of a red fire,and think upon this poor sick lad of mine,biting his finger ends on a blae muir for cauld and hunger?Sick or sound,he must aye be moving;with the death grapple at his throat he must aye be trailing in the rain on the lang roads;and when he gants his last on a rickle of cauld stanes,there will be nae friends near him but only me and God."At this appeal,I could see the lass was in great trouble of mind,being tempted to help us,and yet in some fear she might be helping malefactors;and so now I determined to step in myself and to allay her scruples with a portion of the truth.

"Did ever you,hear"said I,"of Mr.Rankeillor of the Ferry?""Rankeillor the writer?"said she."I daur say that!""Well,"said I,"it's to his door that I am bound,so you may judge by that if I am an ill-doer;and I will tell you more,that though I am indeed,by a dreadful error,in some peril of my life,King George has no truer friend in all Scotland than myself."Her face cleared up mightily at this,although Alan's darkened.

"That's more than I would ask,"said she."Mr.Rankeillor is a kennt man."And she bade us finish our meat,get clear of the clachan as soon as might be,and lie close in the bit wood on the sea-beach."And ye can trust me,"says she,"I'll find some means to put you over."At this we waited for no more,but shook hands with her upon the bargain,made short work of the puddings,and set forth again from Limekilns as far as to the wood.It was a small piece of perhaps a score of elders and hawthorns and a few young ashes,not thick enough to veil us from passersby upon the road or beach.Here we must lie,however,making the best of the brave warm weather and the good hopes we now had of a deliverance,and planing more particularly what remained for us to do.

We had but one trouble all day;when a strolling piper came and sat in the same wood with us;a red-nosed,bleareyed,drunken dog,with a great bottle of whisky in his pocket,and a long story of wrongs that had been done him by all sorts of persons,from the Lord President of the Court of Session,who had denied him justice,down to the Bailies of Inverkeithing who had given him more of it than he desired.It was impossible but he should conceive some suspicion of two men lying all day concealed in a thicket and having no business to allege.As long as he stayed there he kept us in hot water with prying questions;and after he was gone,as he was a man not very likely to hold his tongue,we were in the greater impatience to be gone ourselves.

The day came to an end with the same brightness;the night fell quiet and clear;lights came out in houses and hamlets and then,one after another,began to be put out;but it was past eleven,and we were long since strangely tortured with anxieties,before we heard the grinding of oars upon the rowing-pins.At that,we looked out and saw the lass herself coming rowing to us in a boat.She had trusted no one with our affairs,not even her sweetheart,if she had one;but as soon as her father was asleep,had left the house by a window,stolen a neighbour's boat,and come to our assistance single-handed.

I was abashed how to find expression for my thanks;but she was no less abashed at the thought of hearing them;begged us to lose no time and to hold our peace,saying (very properly)that the heart of our matter was in haste and silence;and so,what with one thing and another,she had set us on the Lothian shore not far from Carriden,had shaken hands with us,and was out again at sea and rowing for Limekilns,before there was one word said either of her service or our gratitude.

Even after she was gone,we had nothing to say,as indeed nothing was enough for such a kindness.Only Alan stood a great while upon the shore shaking his head.

"It is a very fine lass,"he said at last."David,it is a very fine lass."And a matter of an hour later,as we were lying in a den on the sea-shore and I had been already dozing,he broke out again in commendations of her character.For my part,I could say nothing,she was so simple a creature that my heart smote me both with remorse and fear:remorse because we had traded upon her ignorance;and fear lest we should have anyway involved her in the dangers of our situation.

[32]Hollow.