She was standing upon one of those high precipitous banks, which, as we before noticed, overhung the road; so that she was placed considerably higher than Ellangowan, even though he was on horseback; and her tall figure, relieved against the clear blue sky, seemed almost of supernatural stature. We have noticed, that there was in her general attire, or rather in her mode of adjusting it, somewhat of a foreign costume, artfully, adopted perhaps for the purpose of adding to the effect of her spells and predictions, or perhaps from some traditional notions respecting the dress of her ancestors. On this occasion, she had a large piece of red cotton cloth rolled about her head in the form of a turban, from beneath which her dark eyes flashed with uncommon lustre. Her long and tangled black hair fell in elf-locks from the folds of this singular head-gear. Her attitude was that of a sibyl in frenzy, and she stretched out, in her right hand, a sapling bough which seemed just pulled.
"I'll be d-d," said the groom, "if she has not been cutting the young ashes in the Dukit park!"--The Laird made no answer, but continued to look at the figure which was thus perched above his path.
"Ride your ways," said the gipsy, "ride your ways, Laird of Ellangowan--ride your ways, Godfrey Bertram!--This day have ye quenched seven smoking hearths--see if the fire in your ain parlour burn the blyther for that. Ye have riven the back off seven cottar houses--look if your ain roof-tree stand the faster. Ye may stable your stirks in the shealings at Derncleugh--see that the hare does not couch on the hearth-stone at Ellangowan.--Ride your ways, Godfrey Bertram--what do ye glower after our folk for?--There's thirty hearts there, that wad hae wanted bread ere ye had wanted sunkets, [*Delicacies] and spent their lifeblood ere ye had scratched your finger. Yes--there's thirty yonder, from the auld wife of a hundred to the babe that was born last week, that ye have turned out o' their bits o' bields, to sleep with the tod and the black-cock in the muirs!--Ride your ways, Ellangowan.--Our bairns are hinging at our weary backs--look that your braw cradle at hame be the fairer spread up--not that I am wishing ill to little Harry, or to the babe that's yet to be born--God forbid--and make them kind to the poor, and better folk than their father! And now, ride e'en your ways; for these are the last words ye'll ever hear Meg Merrilies speak, and this is the last reise that I'll ever cut in the bonnie woods of Ellangowan."So saying, she broke the sapling she held in her hand, and flung it into the road Margaret of Anjou, bestowing on her triumphant foes her keen-edged malediction, could not have turned from them with a gesture more proudly contemptuous. The Laird was clearing his voice to speak, and thrusting his hand in his pocket to find a half-crown; the gipsy waited neither for his reply nor his donation, but strode down the hill to overtake the caravan.
Ellangowan rode pensively home; and it was remarkable that he did not mention this interview to any of his family. The groom was not so reserved. He told the story at great length to a full audience in the kitchen, and concluded by swearing, that if ever the devil spoke by the mouth of a woman, he had spoken by that of Meg Merrilies that blessed day.
CHAPTER IX.
Paint Scotland greeting ower her thrissle, Her mutchkin stoup as toom's a whistle, And d-n'd excisemen in a bustle, Seizing a stell;Triumphant crushin't like a mussell, Or lampit shell.
Burns.
During the period of Mr. Bertram's active magistracy, he did not forget the affairs of the revenue. Smuggling, for which the Isle of Man then afforded peculiar facilities, was general, or rather universal, all along the south-western coast of Scotland. Almost all the common people were engaged in these practices; the gentry connived at them, and the officers of the revenue were frequently discountenanced in the exercise of their duty, by those who should have protected them.
There was, at this period, employed as a riding-officer, or supervisor, in that part of the country, a certain Francis Kennedy, already named in our narrative; a stout, resolute, and active man, who had made seizures to a great amount, and was proportionally hated by those who had an interest in the fair Trade, as they called the pursuit of these contraband adventurers. This person was natural son to a gentleman of good family, owing to which circumstance, and to his being of a jolly convivial disposition, and singing a good song, he was admitted to the occasional society of the gentlemen of the country, and was a member of several of their clubs for practising athletic games, at which he was particularly expert.
At Ellangowan, Kennedy was a frequent and always an acceptable guest. His vivacity relieved Mr. Bertram of the trouble of thought, and the labour which it cost him to support a detailed communication of ideas; while the daring and dangerous exploits which he had undertaken in the discharge of his office, formed excellent conversation. To all these revenue adventures did the Laird of Ellangowan seriously incline, and the amusement which he derived from Kennedy's society, formed an excellent reason for countenancing and assisting the narrator in the execution of his invidious and hazardous duty.
