but,powerful as he was,he proved in the struggle inferior to the gigantic mountaineer,who threw him off with such violence,that after reeling a few paces,he fell at full length,and the vaulted hall rang with the clash of his armour.When he arose,his first action was to draw his sword and to fly at Allan,who,with folded arms,seemed to await his onset with the most scornful indifference.Lord Menteith and his attendants interposed to preserve peace,while the Highlanders,snatching weapons from the wall,seemed prompt to increase the broil.
"He is mad,"whispered Lord Menteith,"he is perfectly mad;there is no purpose in quarrelling with him."
"If your lordship is assured that he is NON COMPOS MENTIS,"said Captain Dalgetty,"the whilk his breeding and behaviour seem to testify,the matter must end here,seeing that a madman can neither give an affront,nor render honourable satisfaction.
But,by my saul,if I had my provstnt and a bottle of Rhenish under my belt,I should hive stood otherways up to him.And yet it's a pity he should be sae weak in the intellectuals,being a strong proper man of body,fit to handle pike,morgenstern,or any other military implement whatsoever."[This was a sort of club or mace,used in the earlier part of the seventeenth century in the defence of breaches and walls.When the Germans insulted a Scotch regiment then besieged in Trailsund,saying they heard there was a ship come from Denmark to them laden with tobacco pipes,"One of our soldiers,"says Colonel Robert Munro,"showing them over the work a morgenstern,made of a large stock banded with iron,like the shaft of a halberd,with a round globe at the end with cross iron pikes,saith,'Here is one of the tobacco pipes,wherewith we will beat out your brains when you intend to storm us.'"] Peace was thus restored,and the party seated themselves agreeably to their former arrangement,with which Allan,who had now returned to his settle by the fire,and seemed once more immersed in meditation,did not again interfere.Lord Menteith,addressing the principal domestic,hastened to start some theme of conversation which might obliterate all recollection of the fray that had taken place."The laird is at the hill then,Donald,I understand,and some English strangers with him?"
"At the hill he is,an it like your honour,and two Saxon calabaleros are with him sure eneugh;and that is Sir Miles Musgrave and Christopher Hall,both from the Cumraik,as I think they call their country."
"Hall and Musgrave?"said Lord Menteith,looking at his attendants,"the very men that we wished to see."
"Troth,"said Donald,"an'I wish I had never seen them between the een,for they're come to herry us out o'house and ha'."
"Why,Donald,"said Lord Menteith,"you did not use to be so churlish of your beef and ale;southland though they be,they'll scarce eat up all the cattle that's going on the castle mains."
"Teil care an they did,"said Donald,"an that were the warst o't,for we have a wheen canny trewsmen here that wadna let us want if there was a horned beast atween this and Perth.But this is a warse job--it's nae less than a wager."
"A wager!"repeated Lord Menteith,with some surprise.
"Troth,"continued Donald,to the full as eager to tell his news as Lord Menteith was curious to hear them,"as your lordship is a friend and kinsman o'the house,an'as ye'll hear eneugh o't in less than an hour,I may as weel tell ye mysell.Ye sall be pleased then to know,that when our Laird was up in England where he gangs oftener than his friends can wish,he was biding at the house o'this Sir Miles Musgrave,an'there was putten on the table six candlesticks,that they tell me were twice as muckle as the candlesticks in Dunblane kirk,and neither airn,brass,nor tin,but a'solid silver,nae less;--up wi'their English pride,has sae muckle,and kens sae little how to guide it!Sae they began to jeer the Laird,that he saw nae sic graith in his ain poor country;and the Laird,scorning to hae his country put down without a word for its credit,swore,like a gude Scotsman,that he had mair candlesticks,and better candlesticks,in his ain castle at hame,than were ever lighted in a hall in Cumberland,an Cumberland be the name o'the country."
"That was patriotically said,"observed Lord Menteith.
"Fary true,"said Donald;"but her honour had better hae hauden her tongue:for if ye say ony thing amang the Saxons that's a wee by ordinar,they clink ye down for a wager as fast as a Lowland smith would hammer shoon on a Highland shelty.An'so the Laird behoved either to gae back o'his word,or wager twa hunder merks;and sa he e'en tock the wager,rather than be shamed wi'the like o'them.And now he's like to get it to pay,and I'm thinking that's what makes him sae swear to come hame at e'en."
"Indeed,"said Lord Menteith,"from my idea of your family plate,Donald,your master is certain to lose such a wager."
"Your honour may swear that;an'where he's to get the siller I kenna,although he borrowed out o'twenty purses.I advised him to pit the twa Saxon gentlemen and their servants cannily into the pit o'the tower till they gae up the bagain o'free gude-will,but the Laird winna hear reason."
Allan here started up,strode forward,and interrupted the conversation,saying to the domestic in a voice like thunder,"And how dared you to give my brother such dishonourable advice?
or how dare you to say he will lose this or any other wager which it is his pleasure to lay?"
