"It was after his death--it was after his death,sir,"said Dalgetty,"when I was in no shape bound to continue mine adherence.There are things,my lord,in that service,that cannot but go against the stomach of any cavalier of honour.In especial,albeit the pay be none of the most superabundant,being only about sixty dollars a-month to a ritt-master,yet the invincible Gustavus never paid above one-third of that sum,whilk was distributed monthly by way of loan;although,when justly considered,it was,in fact,a borrowing by that great monarch of the additional two-thirds which were due to the soldier.And I have seen some whole regiments of Dutch and Holsteiners mutiny on the field of battle,like base scullions,crying out Gelt,gelt,signifying their desire of pay,instead of falling to blows like our noble Scottish blades,who ever disdained,my lord,postponing of honour to filthy lucre."
"But were not these arrears,"said Lord Menteith,"paid to the soldiery at some stated period?"
"My lord,"said Dalgetty,"I take it on my conscience,that at no period,and by no possible process,could one creutzer of them ever be recovered.I myself never saw twenty dollars of my own all the time I served the invincible Gustavus,unless it was from the chance of a storm or victory,or the fetching in some town or doorp,when a cavalier of fortune,who knows the usage of wars,seldom faileth to make some small profit."
"I begin rather to wonder,sir,"said Lord Menteith,"that you should have continued so long in the Swedish service,than that you should have ultimately withdrawn from it."
"Neither I should,"answered the Ritt-master;"but that great leader,captain,and king,the Lion of the North,and the bulwark of the Protestant faith,had a way of winning battles,taking towns,over-running countries,and levying contributions,whilk made his service irresistibly delectable to all true-bred cavaliers who follow the noble profession of arms.Simple as I ride here,my lord,I have myself commanded the whole stift of Dunklespiel on the Lower Rhine,occupying the Palsgrave's palace,consuming his choice wines with my comrades,calling in contributions,requisitions,and caduacs,and not failing to lick my fingers,as became a good cook.But truly all this glory hastened to decay,after our great master had been shot with three bullets on the field of Lutzen;wherefore,finding that Fortune had changed sides,that the borrowings and lendings went on as before out of our pay,while the caduacs and casualties were all cut off,I e'en gave up my commission,and took service with Wallenstein,in Walter Butler's Irish regiment."
"And may I beg to know of you,"said Lord Menteith,apparently interested in the adventures of this soldier of fortune,"how you liked this change of masters?"
"Indifferent well,"said the Captain--"very indifferent well.I cannot say that the Emperor paid much better than the great Gustavus.For hard knocks,we had plenty of them.I was often obliged to run my head against my old acquaintances,the Swedish feathers,whilk your honour must conceive to be double-pointed stakes,shod with iron at each end,and planted before the squad of pikes to prevent an onfall of the cavalry.The whilk Swedish feathers,although they look gay to the eye,resembling the shrubs or lesser trees of ane forest,as the puissant pikes,arranged in battalia behind them,correspond to the tall pines thereof,yet,nevertheless,are not altogether so soft to encounter as the plumage of a goose.Howbeit,in despite of heavy blows and light pay,a cavalier of fortune may thrive indifferently well in the Imperial service,in respect his private casualties are nothing so closely looked to as by the Swede;and so that an officer did his duty on the field,neither Wallenstein nor Pappenheim,nor old Tilly before them,would likely listen to the objurgations of boors or burghers against any commander or soldado,by whom they chanced to be somewhat closely shorn.So that an experienced cavalier,knowing how to lay,as our Scottish phrase runs,'the head of the sow to the tail of the grice,'might get out of the country the pay whilk he could not obtain from the Emperor."
"With a full hand,sir,doubtless,and with interest,"said Lord Menteith.
"Indubitably,my lord,"answered Dalgetty,composedly;"for it would be doubly disgraceful for any soldado of rank to have his name called in question for any petty delinquency."
"And pray,Sir,"continued Lord Menteith,"what made you leave so gainful a service?"
"Why,truly,sir,"answered the soldier,"an Irish cavalier,called O'Quilligan,being major of our regiment,and I having had words with him the night before,respecting the worth and precedence of our several nations,it pleased him the next day to deliver his orders to me with the point of his batoon advanced and held aloof,instead of declining and trailing the same,as is the fashion from a courteous commanding officer towards his equal in rank,though,it may be,his inferior in military grade.Upon this quarrel,sir,we fought in private rencontre;and as,in the perquisitions which followed,it pleased Walter Butler,our oberst,or colonel,to give the lighter punishment to his countryman,and the heavier to me,whereupon,ill-stomaching such partiality,I exchanged my commission for one under the Spaniard."
"I hope you found yourself better off by the change?"said Lord Menteith.
