August 6, 2025 • 19 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twelve, I hear of the Red Fox. Before we
had done cleaning out the round house, a breeze sprang
up from a little to the east of north. This
blew off the rain and brought out the sun. And
here I must explain, and the reader would do well
to look at a map. On the day when the
(00:22):
fog fell and we ran down Allan's boat, we had
been running through the little minch at dawn after the battle,
we lay be calm to the east of the Isle
of Kenna, or between that and Isle Eriska, in the
chain of the Long Island. Now to get from there
to the Linney Lock, the straight course was to the
narrows of the Sound of Mull, but the captain had
(00:45):
no chart. He was afraid to trust his brig so
deep among the islands, and the wind serving well, he
preferred to go by west of Tyree and come up
under the southern coast of the great Isle of Mull.
All day the breeze held in the same point, and
rather freshened than died down, And towards afternoon a swell
(01:07):
began to set in from round the outer hebrides our
course to go round about the inner Aisles was to
the west of south, so that at first we had
the swell upon our beam and were much rolled about.
But after nightfall, when we had turned the end of
Tyree and began to head more to the east, the
(01:28):
sea came right astern. Meanwhile, the early part of the
day before the swell came up was very pleasant sailing,
as we were in a bright sunshine and with many
mountainous islands upon different sides. Allan and I sat in
the round house with the doors open on each side,
the wind being straight astern, and smoked a pipe or
(01:50):
two of the captain's fine tobacco. It was at this
time we heard each other's stories, which was the more
important to me, as I gained some knowledge of that
wild highland country on which I was so soon to land.
In those days, so close on the back of the
great rebellion, it was needful a man should know what
(02:11):
he was doing when he went upon the heather. It
was I that showed the example, telling him all my misfortune,
which he heard with great good nature. Only when I
came to mention that good friend of mine, mister Campbell,
the minister Alan fired up and cried out that he
hated all that were of that name? Why, said I?
(02:33):
He is a man you should be proud to give
your hand to. I know nothing. I would help a Campbell, too,
says he, unless it was a leaden bullet. I would
hunt all of that name like black Cock's. If I
lay dying, I would crawl upon my knees to my
chamber window for a shot at one. Why allan, I cried,
(02:54):
what ails ye at the Campbells? Well, says he, Ye
ken very well that I am an app and Stuart
and the Campbells have long harried and wasted those of
my name, aye, and got lands of us by treachery,
But never with the sword, he cried loudly, and with
the word brought down his fist upon the table. But
(03:15):
I've paid the less attention to this, for I knew
it was usually said by those who have the underhand.
There's more than that, he continued, In all in the
same story, lying words, lying papers, tricks fit for a peddler,
and the show of what's legal overall to make a
man the more angry. You are so wasteful of your buttons,
(03:39):
said I, I can hardly think you would be a
good judge of business. Ah, says he falling again the smiling.
I got my wastefulness from the same man I got
the buttons from, And that was my poor father, Duncan Stuart.
Grace be to him. He was the prettiest man of
his kindred and the best swordsman in the Highlands, David.
(04:00):
And that is the same as to say, in all
the world I should ken, for it was him that
taught me. He was in the Black Watch when first
it was mustered, and like other gentlemen privates, had a
gilliatus back to carry his firelock for him on the
march well. The King, it appears, was wishful to see
Highland's swordsmanship, and my father and three more were chosen
(04:24):
out and sent to London town to let him see
it at the best. So they were had into the
palace and showed the whole art of the sword for
two hours at a stretch before King George, and Queen Carline,
and the Butcher Cumberland, and many more of whom I
have no mind. And when they were through, the King,
(04:44):
for all he was a rank usurper, spoke them fair
and gave each man three guineas in his hand. Now
as they were going out of the palace, they had
a porter's lodge to go by, and it came in
on my father, as he was perhaps the first private
highland joe gentlemen that had ever gone by that door.
It was right he should give the poor porter a
(05:05):
proper notion of their quality. So he gives the king's
three guineas into the man's hand, as if it was
his common custom. The three others that came behind him
did the same, and there they were on the street,
never a penny the better for their pains. Some say
it was one that was the first to feed the
king's porter, and some say it was another. What the
(05:28):
truth of it is that it was Duncan Stuart, as
I am willing to prove with either sword or a pistol,
and that was the father I had God rest him.
I think he was not the man to leave you rich,
said I, And that's true, said Allan. He left me
my breeks to cover me and little besides. And that
(05:50):
was how I came to Enlist, which was a black
spot upon my character at the best of times, and
would still be a sword job for me if I
fell among the red coats. What cried I were you
in the English army, that was, I, said Allan. But
I deserted to the right side it pressed in pants,
(06:11):
and that's some comfort. I could scarcely share this view,
holding desertion under arms for an unpardonable fault in honor.
But for all I was so young, I was wiser
than say my thought. Dear, dear, says I. The punishment
is death, aye, said he. If they got the hands
(06:33):
on me, it would be a short shrift and a
long tow for Allan. But I have the King of
France's commission in my pocket, which would I be some protection?
I misdoubt it much, said I. I have doubts myself,
said Allan dryly. And good heaven, man, cried I. You
(06:55):
that are a condemned rebel and a deserter and a
man of the French King's what temptship back into this country?
It's a braving of providence, not, says Alan. I have
been back every year since forty six. And what brings you? Man?
Cried I? Well, you see, I weary for my friends
(07:16):
and country, said he. Friends is a broad place, no doubt,
But I weary for the heather and the deer. And
then I have bit things that I attend to whilst
I pick up a few lads to serve the King
of France recruits. Ye see, and that's I a little money.
But the heart of the matter is the business of
(07:37):
my chief, Ardshield. I thought they called your chief Appen,
said I aye. But Ardshield is a captain of the clan,
said he which scarcely cleared my mind. Yes, say David,
He that was all his life so great a man,
and come of the blood in bearing the name of kings,
(07:57):
is now brought down to live in a French town
like a poor and private person. He that had four
hundred swords at his whistle. I have seen with these
eyes of mine buying butter in the market place and
taking it home in a keil leaf. This is not
only a pain, but a disgrace to us of his
family and clan. There are the barns foreby the children
(08:21):
and the hope of Appen, that must be learned their
letters and how to hold a sword. In that far country.
Now the tenants of Appin have to pay a rent
to King George. But their hearts are staunch, they are
true to their chief, and what with love and a
bit of pressure. It may be a thread or two.
The poor folks scrape up a second rent for Ardshield. Well, David,
(08:45):
I'm the hand that carries it. And he struck the
belt about his body so that the guineas rang. Do
they pay? Both cried I aye, David, Both says he
what two rents? I repeated I David said he. I
told a different tale, the ung captain man. But this
(09:07):
is the truth of it, and it's wonderful to me
how little pressure is needed. But that's the handiwork of
my good kinsman and my father's friend, James of the Glens,
James Stewart, that is Ardshield's half brother. He it is
that gets the money in and does the management. This
was the first time I heard the name of that
(09:28):
James Stuart, who was afterwards so famous at the time
of his hanging. But I took little heed at the moment,
for all my mind was occupied with the generosity of
these poor highlanders. I call it noble, I cried. I'm
a whig or little better, but I call it noble.
Ay said he you're a whig, but you're a gentleman.
(09:52):
And that's what does it now? If you are one
of the cursed race of Campbell. You had nash your
teeth to hear tell of it if ye were the
red Fox. And at that name his teeth shut together,
and he ceased speaking. I've seen many a grim face,
but never a grimmer than Allan's when he had named
(10:12):
the red Fox. And who is the red Fox? I asked,
daunted but still curious, who is? He cried Allan? Well,
And I tell you that when the men of the
clans were broken at Cladden, and the good cause went down,
and the horses rode over the fetlocks, and the best
blood of the north Guardshield had to flee like a
(10:34):
poor deer upon the mountains. He and his lady and
his bairns. A sad job we had of it before
we got him shipped. And while he still lay in
the heather, the English rogues that couldn't come at his
life were striking at his rights. They stripped him of
his powers, they stripped him of his lands. They plucked
the weapons from the hands of his klansmen that had
(10:57):
borne arms for thirty centuries ay, and the very clothes
off their backs, so that it's now a sin to
wear a tartan plaid and a man may be cast
into a jail if he has but a kilt about
his legs. One thing that couldn't kill that was the
love the clans membore their chief. These guineas are the
(11:17):
proof of it. And now in their steps a man,
a campbell, red headed colon of Glenure. Is that him
you called the red fox? Said I, oh, you bring
me his brush, cried Allan fiercely. Aye. That's the man.
In he steps and gets papers from King George to
(11:38):
be so called King's factor on the lands of Appen.
And at first he sings small and his hail fellow,
well met with Seamus. That's James of the Glens, my
chieftain's agent. But by the bye that came to his
ears that I have just told you how the poor
commons of Appin, the farmers and the crofters and the
bowmen were ringing the very plaids to get a second
(12:01):
rent and send it overseas for Ardshield and his poor barons.
What was it you called it? When I told you?
I called it noble, Allan said, I I knew little
better than a common wig, cries Allan. And when it
came to Colin Roy the black campbell blood in him
ran wild. He sat gnashing his teeth at the wine table.
(12:25):
What should a steward get a bite of bread and
him not be able to prevent it? A red fox?
If ever I hold you at the guns in the
Lord have pity upon ye. Alan stopped to swallow down
his anger. Well, David, what does he do? He declares
(12:46):
all the farms to let, and thinks he, in his
black heart, I'll soon get other tenants that are overbid,
these Stuarts and that Calls and the crubs, while these
are all names in my clan, David, And then thinks
he Ardshield will have to hold his bonnet on a
French road side. Well, said I What followed? Allan laid
(13:09):
down his pipe, which he had long since suffered to
go out, and set his two hands upon his knees.
Aye said he. You never guess that for these same
Stuarts and Maccalls and mac crumbs, that had two grants
to pay, one to King George by stark force and
one to Ardshield by natural kindness, offered him a better
(13:31):
price than any Campbell in all broad Scotland. And far
he sent seeking them as far as to the sides
of Clyde and the cross of Edinburgh, seeking and fleeching
and begging them to come where there was a stewart
to be starved and a red headed hound mc Campbell
to be pleasured. Well, Allan said, I that is a
(13:53):
strange story, and a fine one too, And whig as
I may be, I am glad the man was beaten,
him beaten, echoed Allan. It's little ye ken of Camble's
and less of the red fox him beaten, no, nor
will be till his blood's on the hillside. But if
(14:13):
the day comes, David, man that I can find time
and leisure for a bit of hunting that grows not
enough heather in all Scotland to hide him from my vengeance.
Man Allan said, I you are neither very wise nor
very Christian to blow off so many words of anger.
They will do the man you call the fox no harm,
(14:34):
and yourself no good. Tell me your tale plainly out
what did he next? And that's a good observed David,
said Allan. Troth and indeed they will do him no harm.
The more's the pity. And barring that about Christianity on
which my opinion is quite otherwise, or I would be
(14:56):
no Christian. I am much of your mind, opinion here
or or opinion there, said I. It's a kent thing
that Christianity forbids revenge, Aye, said he. It's well seen.
It was a Campbell toccia. It would be a convenient
world for them and their sort if there were no
(15:16):
such thing as a lad and a gun behind a
heather bush. But that's nothing to the point. This is
what he did, Ay said, I come to that well,
David said he. Since he couldn't be read of the
loyal commons by fair means, he's swoar, he will be
rid of them by fowl hardshield was the star. That
(15:39):
was the thing he aimed at. And since them that
fed him in his exile wouldn't be brought out right
or wrong, he would drive them out. Therefore he sent
for lawyers, papers and redcoats to stand at his back.
And the kindly folk of that country must all pack
and trap every father's son out of his father's house
(16:00):
and out of the place where he was bred and
fed and played when he was a callant, and who
ought to succeed them bear legged beggars. King George's to
whistle for his rents. He mount do with less. He
can spread his butter thinner. What cares Red Collin? If
he can hurt hard shield, he has his wish. If
(16:22):
he can pluck the meat from my chieftain's table and
the bit toys out of his children's hands, he will
gang home singing to Gleneur. Let me have a word,
said I be sure if they take less rents, be
sure government has a finger in the pie. It's not
this Campbell's fault, man, it's his orders. And if he
(16:43):
killed this colin to morrow, what better would ye be?
There would be another factor in his shoes. As fast
as spur can drive. Here a good lad at a fight,
said Allan. But man, yo have wig blood in ye.
He spoke kindly enough, but there was so much anger
under his contempt that I thought it was wise to
(17:04):
change the conversation. I expressed my wonder how with the
highlands covered with troops and guarded like a city in
a siege, a man in his situation could come and
go without a rest. It's easier than you would think,
said Allan. A bare hills side, you see, is like
all one road. If there's a sentry at one place,
(17:26):
you'd just go by another. And then the heather's a
great hill, And everywhere there are friends, houses and friends,
buyers and haystacks. And besides, when folk talk of a
country covered with troops, it's but a kind of a byword.
At the best. A soldier covers no more of it
than his boots soles. I have fished a water with
(17:46):
a sentry on the other side of the bray and
killed a fine trout. And I have sat in a
heather bush within six feet of another and learned a
real bunny tune from his whistling. This was it, said he,
and whistled me. And then besides, he continued, is no
so bad now as it was in forty six? The
(18:07):
highlands are what they call pacified, small wonder, with never
a gun or a sword left from Cantire to Cape Wrath.
But what tentyfolk have hidden in the thatch. But what
I would like to ken, David, is just how long
not long, you would think, with men like hard Shiel
in exile and men like the Red Fox sitting burling
(18:29):
the wine and oppressing the poor at home. But it's
a kittle thing to decide what folks will bear and
what they will not, And why would Red Colin be
ride in his horse all over my poor country of Appen,
and never a pretty lad to put a bullet in in?
And with this Alan fell into a muse, and for
a long time sat very sad and silent. I will
(18:52):
add the rest of what I have to say about
my friend, that he was skilled in all kinds of music,
but principally pipe music. Was a well considered poet in
his own tongue, had read several books, both in French
and English, was a dead shot, a good angler, and
an excellent fencer with the small sword as well as
with his own particular weapon. For his faults, they were
(19:15):
on his face, and I now knew them all, but
the worst of them, his childish propensity to take offense
and to pick quarrels, he greatly laid aside, in my case,
out of regard for the Battle of the round House.
But whether it was because I had done well myself
or because I had been a witness of his own
much greater prowess, is more than I can tell. For
(19:37):
though he had a great taste for courage and other men,
yet he admired it most in Alan breck end of
chapter
Chapter twelve, I hear of the Red Fox. Before we
had done cleaning out the round house, a breeze sprang
up from a little to the east of north. This
blew off the rain and brought out the sun. And
here I must explain, and the reader would do well
to look at a map. On the day when the
(00:22):
fog fell and we ran down Allan's boat, we had
been running through the little minch at dawn after the battle,
we lay be calm to the east of the Isle
of Kenna, or between that and Isle Eriska, in the
chain of the Long Island. Now to get from there
to the Linney Lock, the straight course was to the
narrows of the Sound of Mull, but the captain had
(00:45):
no chart. He was afraid to trust his brig so
deep among the islands, and the wind serving well, he
preferred to go by west of Tyree and come up
under the southern coast of the great Isle of Mull.
All day the breeze held in the same point, and
rather freshened than died down, And towards afternoon a swell
(01:07):
began to set in from round the outer hebrides our
course to go round about the inner Aisles was to
the west of south, so that at first we had
the swell upon our beam and were much rolled about.
But after nightfall, when we had turned the end of
Tyree and began to head more to the east, the
(01:28):
sea came right astern. Meanwhile, the early part of the
day before the swell came up was very pleasant sailing,
as we were in a bright sunshine and with many
mountainous islands upon different sides. Allan and I sat in
the round house with the doors open on each side,
the wind being straight astern, and smoked a pipe or
(01:50):
two of the captain's fine tobacco. It was at this
time we heard each other's stories, which was the more
important to me, as I gained some knowledge of that
wild highland country on which I was so soon to land.
In those days, so close on the back of the
great rebellion, it was needful a man should know what
(02:11):
he was doing when he went upon the heather. It
was I that showed the example, telling him all my misfortune,
which he heard with great good nature. Only when I
came to mention that good friend of mine, mister Campbell,
the minister Alan fired up and cried out that he
hated all that were of that name? Why, said I?
(02:33):
He is a man you should be proud to give
your hand to. I know nothing. I would help a Campbell, too,
says he, unless it was a leaden bullet. I would
hunt all of that name like black Cock's. If I
lay dying, I would crawl upon my knees to my
chamber window for a shot at one. Why allan, I cried,
(02:54):
what ails ye at the Campbells? Well, says he, Ye
ken very well that I am an app and Stuart
and the Campbells have long harried and wasted those of
my name, aye, and got lands of us by treachery,
But never with the sword, he cried loudly, and with
the word brought down his fist upon the table. But
(03:15):
I've paid the less attention to this, for I knew
it was usually said by those who have the underhand.
There's more than that, he continued, In all in the
same story, lying words, lying papers, tricks fit for a peddler,
and the show of what's legal overall to make a
man the more angry. You are so wasteful of your buttons,
(03:39):
said I, I can hardly think you would be a
good judge of business. Ah, says he falling again the smiling.
I got my wastefulness from the same man I got
the buttons from, And that was my poor father, Duncan Stuart.
Grace be to him. He was the prettiest man of
his kindred and the best swordsman in the Highlands, David.
(04:00):
And that is the same as to say, in all
the world I should ken, for it was him that
taught me. He was in the Black Watch when first
it was mustered, and like other gentlemen privates, had a
gilliatus back to carry his firelock for him on the
march well. The King, it appears, was wishful to see
Highland's swordsmanship, and my father and three more were chosen
(04:24):
out and sent to London town to let him see
it at the best. So they were had into the
palace and showed the whole art of the sword for
two hours at a stretch before King George, and Queen Carline,
and the Butcher Cumberland, and many more of whom I
have no mind. And when they were through, the King,
(04:44):
for all he was a rank usurper, spoke them fair
and gave each man three guineas in his hand. Now
as they were going out of the palace, they had
a porter's lodge to go by, and it came in
on my father, as he was perhaps the first private
highland joe gentlemen that had ever gone by that door.
It was right he should give the poor porter a
(05:05):
proper notion of their quality. So he gives the king's
three guineas into the man's hand, as if it was
his common custom. The three others that came behind him
did the same, and there they were on the street,
never a penny the better for their pains. Some say
it was one that was the first to feed the
king's porter, and some say it was another. What the
(05:28):
truth of it is that it was Duncan Stuart, as
I am willing to prove with either sword or a pistol,
and that was the father I had God rest him.
I think he was not the man to leave you rich,
said I, And that's true, said Allan. He left me
my breeks to cover me and little besides. And that
(05:50):
was how I came to Enlist, which was a black
spot upon my character at the best of times, and
would still be a sword job for me if I
fell among the red coats. What cried I were you
in the English army, that was, I, said Allan. But
I deserted to the right side it pressed in pants,
(06:11):
and that's some comfort. I could scarcely share this view,
holding desertion under arms for an unpardonable fault in honor.
But for all I was so young, I was wiser
than say my thought. Dear, dear, says I. The punishment
is death, aye, said he. If they got the hands
(06:33):
on me, it would be a short shrift and a
long tow for Allan. But I have the King of
France's commission in my pocket, which would I be some protection?
I misdoubt it much, said I. I have doubts myself,
said Allan dryly. And good heaven, man, cried I. You
(06:55):
that are a condemned rebel and a deserter and a
man of the French King's what temptship back into this country?
It's a braving of providence, not, says Alan. I have
been back every year since forty six. And what brings you? Man?
Cried I? Well, you see, I weary for my friends
(07:16):
and country, said he. Friends is a broad place, no doubt,
But I weary for the heather and the deer. And
then I have bit things that I attend to whilst
I pick up a few lads to serve the King
of France recruits. Ye see, and that's I a little money.
But the heart of the matter is the business of
(07:37):
my chief, Ardshield. I thought they called your chief Appen,
said I aye. But Ardshield is a captain of the clan,
said he which scarcely cleared my mind. Yes, say David,
He that was all his life so great a man,
and come of the blood in bearing the name of kings,
(07:57):
is now brought down to live in a French town
like a poor and private person. He that had four
hundred swords at his whistle. I have seen with these
eyes of mine buying butter in the market place and
taking it home in a keil leaf. This is not
only a pain, but a disgrace to us of his
family and clan. There are the barns foreby the children
(08:21):
and the hope of Appen, that must be learned their
letters and how to hold a sword. In that far country.
Now the tenants of Appin have to pay a rent
to King George. But their hearts are staunch, they are
true to their chief, and what with love and a
bit of pressure. It may be a thread or two.
The poor folks scrape up a second rent for Ardshield. Well, David,
(08:45):
I'm the hand that carries it. And he struck the
belt about his body so that the guineas rang. Do
they pay? Both cried I aye, David, Both says he
what two rents? I repeated I David said he. I
told a different tale, the ung captain man. But this
(09:07):
is the truth of it, and it's wonderful to me
how little pressure is needed. But that's the handiwork of
my good kinsman and my father's friend, James of the Glens,
James Stewart, that is Ardshield's half brother. He it is
that gets the money in and does the management. This
was the first time I heard the name of that
(09:28):
James Stuart, who was afterwards so famous at the time
of his hanging. But I took little heed at the moment,
for all my mind was occupied with the generosity of
these poor highlanders. I call it noble, I cried. I'm
a whig or little better, but I call it noble.
Ay said he you're a whig, but you're a gentleman.
(09:52):
And that's what does it now? If you are one
of the cursed race of Campbell. You had nash your
teeth to hear tell of it if ye were the
red Fox. And at that name his teeth shut together,
and he ceased speaking. I've seen many a grim face,
but never a grimmer than Allan's when he had named
(10:12):
the red Fox. And who is the red Fox? I asked,
daunted but still curious, who is? He cried Allan? Well,
And I tell you that when the men of the
clans were broken at Cladden, and the good cause went down,
and the horses rode over the fetlocks, and the best
blood of the north Guardshield had to flee like a
(10:34):
poor deer upon the mountains. He and his lady and
his bairns. A sad job we had of it before
we got him shipped. And while he still lay in
the heather, the English rogues that couldn't come at his
life were striking at his rights. They stripped him of
his powers, they stripped him of his lands. They plucked
the weapons from the hands of his klansmen that had
(10:57):
borne arms for thirty centuries ay, and the very clothes
off their backs, so that it's now a sin to
wear a tartan plaid and a man may be cast
into a jail if he has but a kilt about
his legs. One thing that couldn't kill that was the
love the clans membore their chief. These guineas are the
(11:17):
proof of it. And now in their steps a man,
a campbell, red headed colon of Glenure. Is that him
you called the red fox? Said I, oh, you bring
me his brush, cried Allan fiercely. Aye. That's the man.
In he steps and gets papers from King George to
(11:38):
be so called King's factor on the lands of Appen.
And at first he sings small and his hail fellow,
well met with Seamus. That's James of the Glens, my
chieftain's agent. But by the bye that came to his
ears that I have just told you how the poor
commons of Appin, the farmers and the crofters and the
bowmen were ringing the very plaids to get a second
(12:01):
rent and send it overseas for Ardshield and his poor barons.
What was it you called it? When I told you?
I called it noble, Allan said, I I knew little
better than a common wig, cries Allan. And when it
came to Colin Roy the black campbell blood in him
ran wild. He sat gnashing his teeth at the wine table.
(12:25):
What should a steward get a bite of bread and
him not be able to prevent it? A red fox?
If ever I hold you at the guns in the
Lord have pity upon ye. Alan stopped to swallow down
his anger. Well, David, what does he do? He declares
(12:46):
all the farms to let, and thinks he, in his
black heart, I'll soon get other tenants that are overbid,
these Stuarts and that Calls and the crubs, while these
are all names in my clan, David, And then thinks
he Ardshield will have to hold his bonnet on a
French road side. Well, said I What followed? Allan laid
(13:09):
down his pipe, which he had long since suffered to
go out, and set his two hands upon his knees.
Aye said he. You never guess that for these same
Stuarts and Maccalls and mac crumbs, that had two grants
to pay, one to King George by stark force and
one to Ardshield by natural kindness, offered him a better
(13:31):
price than any Campbell in all broad Scotland. And far
he sent seeking them as far as to the sides
of Clyde and the cross of Edinburgh, seeking and fleeching
and begging them to come where there was a stewart
to be starved and a red headed hound mc Campbell
to be pleasured. Well, Allan said, I that is a
(13:53):
strange story, and a fine one too, And whig as
I may be, I am glad the man was beaten,
him beaten, echoed Allan. It's little ye ken of Camble's
and less of the red fox him beaten, no, nor
will be till his blood's on the hillside. But if
(14:13):
the day comes, David, man that I can find time
and leisure for a bit of hunting that grows not
enough heather in all Scotland to hide him from my vengeance.
Man Allan said, I you are neither very wise nor
very Christian to blow off so many words of anger.
They will do the man you call the fox no harm,
(14:34):
and yourself no good. Tell me your tale plainly out
what did he next? And that's a good observed David,
said Allan. Troth and indeed they will do him no harm.
The more's the pity. And barring that about Christianity on
which my opinion is quite otherwise, or I would be
(14:56):
no Christian. I am much of your mind, opinion here
or or opinion there, said I. It's a kent thing
that Christianity forbids revenge, Aye, said he. It's well seen.
It was a Campbell toccia. It would be a convenient
world for them and their sort if there were no
(15:16):
such thing as a lad and a gun behind a
heather bush. But that's nothing to the point. This is
what he did, Ay said, I come to that well,
David said he. Since he couldn't be read of the
loyal commons by fair means, he's swoar, he will be
rid of them by fowl hardshield was the star. That
(15:39):
was the thing he aimed at. And since them that
fed him in his exile wouldn't be brought out right
or wrong, he would drive them out. Therefore he sent
for lawyers, papers and redcoats to stand at his back.
And the kindly folk of that country must all pack
and trap every father's son out of his father's house
(16:00):
and out of the place where he was bred and
fed and played when he was a callant, and who
ought to succeed them bear legged beggars. King George's to
whistle for his rents. He mount do with less. He
can spread his butter thinner. What cares Red Collin? If
he can hurt hard shield, he has his wish. If
(16:22):
he can pluck the meat from my chieftain's table and
the bit toys out of his children's hands, he will
gang home singing to Gleneur. Let me have a word,
said I be sure if they take less rents, be
sure government has a finger in the pie. It's not
this Campbell's fault, man, it's his orders. And if he
(16:43):
killed this colin to morrow, what better would ye be?
There would be another factor in his shoes. As fast
as spur can drive. Here a good lad at a fight,
said Allan. But man, yo have wig blood in ye.
He spoke kindly enough, but there was so much anger
under his contempt that I thought it was wise to
(17:04):
change the conversation. I expressed my wonder how with the
highlands covered with troops and guarded like a city in
a siege, a man in his situation could come and
go without a rest. It's easier than you would think,
said Allan. A bare hills side, you see, is like
all one road. If there's a sentry at one place,
(17:26):
you'd just go by another. And then the heather's a
great hill, And everywhere there are friends, houses and friends,
buyers and haystacks. And besides, when folk talk of a
country covered with troops, it's but a kind of a byword.
At the best. A soldier covers no more of it
than his boots soles. I have fished a water with
(17:46):
a sentry on the other side of the bray and
killed a fine trout. And I have sat in a
heather bush within six feet of another and learned a
real bunny tune from his whistling. This was it, said he,
and whistled me. And then besides, he continued, is no
so bad now as it was in forty six? The
(18:07):
highlands are what they call pacified, small wonder, with never
a gun or a sword left from Cantire to Cape Wrath.
But what tentyfolk have hidden in the thatch. But what
I would like to ken, David, is just how long
not long, you would think, with men like hard Shiel
in exile and men like the Red Fox sitting burling
(18:29):
the wine and oppressing the poor at home. But it's
a kittle thing to decide what folks will bear and
what they will not, And why would Red Colin be
ride in his horse all over my poor country of Appen,
and never a pretty lad to put a bullet in in?
And with this Alan fell into a muse, and for
a long time sat very sad and silent. I will
(18:52):
add the rest of what I have to say about
my friend, that he was skilled in all kinds of music,
but principally pipe music. Was a well considered poet in
his own tongue, had read several books, both in French
and English, was a dead shot, a good angler, and
an excellent fencer with the small sword as well as
with his own particular weapon. For his faults, they were
(19:15):
on his face, and I now knew them all, but
the worst of them, his childish propensity to take offense
and to pick quarrels, he greatly laid aside, in my case,
out of regard for the Battle of the round House.
But whether it was because I had done well myself
or because I had been a witness of his own
much greater prowess, is more than I can tell. For
(19:37):
though he had a great taste for courage and other men,
yet he admired it most in Alan breck end of
chapter
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