



Produced by Henry Flower, Carlo Traverso and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
book was produced from scanned images of public domain
material from the Google Print project.)









    THE

    THREE PERILS OF MAN:

    _A BORDER ROMANCE_.




    THE
    THREE PERILS OF MAN;

    OR,
    War, Women, and Witchcraft.

    _A BORDER ROMANCE._

    BY JAMES HOGG,
    AUTHOR OF "WINTER-EVENING TALES," "BROWNIE OF
    BODSBECK," "QUEEN'S WAKE," _&c._ _&c._

    IN THREE VOLUMES.

    VOL. III.

    Beshrew me if I dare open it.
        FLETCHER.

    LONDON:
    LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
    PATERNOSTER-ROW.

    1822.




John Moir, Printer, Edinburgh, 1822.




THE

THREE PERILS OF MAN.




CHAP. I.

    And he said unto Satan; whence comest thou?
    And he answered, and said, thou knowest it is true,
    That I come from wandering on the earth,
    And from going to and fro on it,
    Like a masterless dog, with my bow-wow-wow.

        _Zach. Boyd's Bible._


At the very time they were disputing about the right of Tam to proceed
with his tale, their ears were astounded by a loud hollo! at the gate.
Every man's heart leaped for joy, and every one was instantly on his
feet; but Charlie was first on the platform, and answered the hollo!
with full stentorian voice. The same voice called again,

"A Bellandine."

"Where bye?" answered Charlie.

"By the moon," said the voice.

"And the seven stars!" rejoined Yardbire, clapping his hands, and
shouting for joy, "The Warden for ever! My chief for ever! He is the
man that cares for his own! Ah! he is the noble master."

Charlie well knew the voice that hailed him. It was that of his friend
and companion in arms, Dan Chisholm, whom the Warden had indeed
despatched all the way from Northumberland to Aikwood, to see what was
become of his embassy, with six-and-twenty chosen troopers. Charlie
Scott's arm was a bulwark of strength, and his breast a tower of
fidelity, the value of which Sir Ringan knew how to estimate, while
his acts of kindness and regard made a deep impression on Charlie's
honest unsophisticated heart; and before he would say a word about the
situation of either himself or his associates, he caused Dan to inform
him of the Warden's fortune and success in their absence. Being
satisfied concerning these, he called out,

"What ither uncos, Dan? What mair news are come out?"

"O, God shield you!" cried Dan, "Do nae ye ken that the world's
amaist turned up-side-down sin ye left us? The trees hae turned their
wrang ends upmost--the waters hae drowned the towns, and the hills hae
been rent asunder and riddled up like heaps o' chaff. 'Tis thought
that there has been a siege o' hell, and that the citadel has been
won, for the deils are a' broken loose and rinning jabbering through
the land. They hae been seen, and they hae been heard; and nae man
kens what's to be the issue, or what's to fa' out neist."

"Blaw lown, Dan; ye dinna ken wha may hear ye," said Charlie. "We hae
had hand in these matter oursels: But for the sake of a' that's dear
to you and to us bring gavelocks and ern mells, pinching-bars, and
howies, and break open every gate, bar, and door in this castle; for
here are we a' imprisoned on the top of it, and famishing to dead wi'
hunger and starvation."

"That I will do wi' a' expedition," answered Dan. "It is a shame for
the master of the castle to imprison his kinsmen's friends, who came
to him in peace and good fellowship. What strength of opposition
holds he?"

"Nane, good Chisholm, but these gates. The great Master is himself a
prisoner, and suffering with us."

"That dings a'!" said Dan; "I canna understand it! But its a' ane for
that; ye maunna stay there. I shall gar his gates flee a' into as mony
flinders as there are hairs on his grey beard."

"If you demolish one bar of these gates, young man," cried the Master
fiercely, "you do it at your peril."

"So I do, and so I will," answered Dan: "Either bring down my friends
and companions to me this instant, or--I have orders,--and here goes."

"Man of mystery and of misery, what dost thou mean?" said the friar.
"Lo I have saved thy life; and if thou refusest to let us escape from
the face of death, I will even throw thee from the top of thy tower,
and thy blood shall be sprinkled on the wall."

The Master gave him a fierce look, but made no reply. As he strode the
battlement, however, he muttered to himself with great violence,
"Does the Christian dog dare to beard me thus? To what am I fallen? I
am fallen low, but not to this. And not to know what I am! nor what
power remains with me? Would that I were in the midst of my arcana and
of the spirits once more! Young warrior, use your liberty. Break up
and demolish. Set us all free, and see who is the profiter."

Dan scarcely needed such permission. He and twenty others had each a
stone of at least half his own weight heaved on his shoulder, which,
at a given signal, they all dashed on the gate at once. The bars bent,
but nothing gave way; and it was not before the twentieth broadside,
in the same irresistible style, that the cross bars became like a bow
and the lock slipped. As for the large bolt, one of the men had
climbed over the counterguard on the shoulders of the rest and drawn
it. When they came to the gate of the castle, entrance seemed
hopeless. It was stedfast and immoveable, the door being double. Dan
bellowed for the porter, and asked those on the top what was become of
him; but none made answer to his rash question. After waiting a while
for it, with his face placed horizontally, he muttered to himself,
"Aha! mum there! He has gane nae gude gate, I'll warrant him. It's a
queer place this, an' as queer folk about it."

"What's queer about it, lad," said a strange voice through the key
hole, whence it would not speak again.

They had nothing for it but to begin with such awkward mattocks as
they had, namely, a score of huge stones; but, to their excessive joy,
the doors gave both way at the first assault. This was owing to a most
fortunate blunder of the friar, who, during the time he was in
possession of the keys, had gone forth to provide for his mule, which
he did in an ample manner, but, on returning, had either been unable
or unwilling to turn the tremendous locks again into their sockets;
and open flew the gates with a jarring sound. Of course, it was not
long till our yeomen were thundering at the iron door on the small
stair. It was a double door of strong iron bars, and the lock was
inclosed between them, so that all attempts to open it appeared
fruitless, one man only being able to get to it at once, (that is, one
on each side,) and these had no footing. After tugging at it in vain
for a space, Dan swore that, to open it, it would be necessary either
to begin at the top of the tower and demolish downward, or at the
bottom and demolish upward. This appeared a job so tedious to starving
people, that it was agreed to feed them with meat and drink through
the bars. Every man readily proffered the contents of his wallet; but
the getting of these through the bars required ingenuity. They poured
the meal through in tubes made of leather, and water and strong drink
in the same way; but the flesh could only be got through in long small
pieces; and Tam Craik having taken his station at the back of the
door, in order to hand up the provisions to his companions, none of
the butcher-meat (as it is now called) found its way farther. By the
time they had got a supply of meal, water, and distilled liquor, some
of Dan's party, by the direction of the Master, went to bring mattocks
for raising the stair, and forcing a passage through below the door;
others had gone to the brook for more water; so that none remained in
the narrow stair save Dan Chisholm and another person.

By this time there was one who had been silently watching the progress
of affairs at Aikwood castle, where he had long been accustomed to
reckon on every thing as his own; but now there were some things
passed under his potent eye, the true motives for which he could not
comprehend, and these actions were still growing more and more
equivocal; so he resolved on trusting his sworn vassals no more to
their own guardianship, but to take an active management in guiding
the events that so deeply concerned his honour and power. Who this
august personage was the reader will scarcely guess. He may perhaps
discover it in the detail.

It was wearing toward evening, the sun being either set or hid behind
dark clouds; for, short as these tales may appear as here related by
Isaac the curate, they had taken a day in telling by the wights
themselves. The individuals who had been shut up were all light of
heart and rejoicing. Delany had fainted in ecstacy, or partly,
perhaps, by exhaustion, but was soon recovered by a cup of cold water.
They had got plenty of stores laid in for a night and more; so that
they were freed from the dread of perishing by starvation, or saving
their lives by a resource of all others the most repulsive to
humanity. Such was the state of affairs, when the most appalling noise
was heard somewhere about the castle,--a noise which neither could be
described nor the cause of it discovered. The people below ran out to
the court or to the tops of the outer walls, and those above to the
battlements--but they saw nothing save the troopers' horses scowering
off in all directions, every one of them snorting aloud, and cocking
their heads and their tails. Tam Craik and Dan Chisholm were still
standing with their noses close to the iron door, and conversing
through it. Another trooper stood close at Dan's back; and, when the
rushing sound arose, the one said to the other,

"What the devil is that?"

"Take care wha ye speak about here, friend, or wi' reverence be it
spoken," said Tam. Then turning round, he called out, "Yardbire, what
hurly-burly is that?"

"I cannot tell," answered Charlie; "only I think the devil be entered
into the horses."

Tam, who did not hear distinctly from the top, answered Dan thus: "He
says its only the devil entered into the horses." Dan was just about
to reply, when the trooper tapped him on the shoulder, and said in a
whisper, "Hush, squire! Good Lord! look what is behind us." He looked
about, and saw a terrific being standing on the landing-place,
beckoning him to come down. From an irresistible impulse, he lost no
time in obeying; and, pushing the trooper down before him, he
descended the steps. When he came to the bottom he got a full view of
the figure, that stood upright between two pilasters, with its face
straight to the aperture that lighted the place. One may judge of our
yeomen's feelings when they gazed on a being which they always
described as follows:

It appeared about double the human size, both in might and proportion,
its whole body being of the colour of bronze, as well as the crown
upon its head. The skin appeared shrivelled, as if seared with fire,
but over that there was a polish that glittered and shone. Its eyes
had no pupil nor circle of white; they appeared like burning lamps
deep in their sockets; and when it gazed, they rolled round with a
circular motion. There was a hairy mantle hung down and covered its
feet that they could not be seen; but Dan saw its right hand, as it
pointed to them to retire, every finger of which terminated in a long
crooked talon that seemed of the colour of molten gold. It once opened
its mouth, not as if to speak but to breathe, and as it stooped
forward at the time, both of them saw it within. It had neither teeth,
tongue, nor throat, its whole inside being hollow, and of the colour
of burning glass.

It pointed with its right hand across its bosom for them to be gone,
and, as they passed by with hurried strides, it drew a stroke with its
paw which threatened to send them heels over head down the stair; but
it withheld the blow in a moment, as if moved to some higher revenge;
and all the way down the great winding stair, it followed and showered
on them such a torrent of burning sulphur that they were almost
overwhelmed, all the while vomiting it from its burning bosom, with a
noise that resembled the hissing of a thousand great serpents. Besides
this, on every landing-place there were a pair of monsters placed as
guards, immense snakes, bears, tigers, and lions, all with eyes like
burning candles. For all these, our two yeomen still kept their feet,
which was a wonder, and escaped fairly into the court of the castle.

When they arrived there, every one of their companions had taken
leg-bail, and were running as if for death or life; and after what our
two champions had seen, there was no occasion to bid them run after
the others. Those above heard only the rushing noise, which still
increased as long as there was one of those below within the gate, but
they saw nothing further,--and wondered not a little when they saw
first the horses run away, and then the men after them. When Charlie
saw that they _were_ gone, and his brother-in-arms Dan leaving the
outer-gate the last, he called after him to go _by the mill, and see
that Corbie got plenty of water_.

What our prisoners had witnessed was, like every thing else about that
castle, quite incomprehensible. Even the great Master himself was
manifestly at a loss; when he first heard the sound, and saw the
beginning of the confusion, his eyes beamed with exultation. He
gave three stamps with his foot, and called aloud, as to some
invisible being, in an unknown tongue; but on receiving no answer his
countenance fell, and he looked on in gloomy mood.

The flyers vanished after their horses on the hill to the eastward of
the castle. Once a few of them rallied and faced about; but on the
next one coming up they betook them again to their heels; and thus was
our hapless embassy left in the same state as before, save that they
were rather in higher spirits, their situation being now known, and
instant death averted. After they had refreshed themselves, most of
them fell into a slumber; but at length, as the evening advanced, the
poet claimed his privilege of telling a story. Some of them proposed
that the conversation should be general instead, seeing the great
stake for which they contended was now, in all likelihood, superseded.
The poet, however, was of a different opinion, on the ground that the
highest stake, in his estimation, still remained. "What though my life
may not be forfeited," said he, "to feed the hungry and carnivorous
maw of this outrageous baconist; although my warm and oozing blood may
not be sucked up like the stagnant marsh by bittern vile, or by the
tawney snipe; yea, though my joints should not be skatched and
collared by the steel, or sinews gnawed up by officious grinder:
What's that to me? a gem of higher worth, of richer acceptation, still
remains. Beauty unsullied! pure simplicity! with high endowments, in
affliction nursed, and cramped by bondage! Oh my very heart yearns to
call such a pearl of lustre mine! A kindred soul! A bosom friend! A
oh--oh--oach."

Charlie hasted to clap his hand on the poet's mouth, as he burst out
a-crying, "Hout, hout, Colly!" said he, "I am quite o' your opinion;
but truly this is carrying the joke ower far. I wish ye maunna hae
been hauddin rather freely to your head o' thae strong liquors; for
the singing crew are a' drowthy deils, ilk ane o' them. Whisht,
whisht, and ye sal tell your tale, or sing your sang, which you like;
and then you are free to take a collop, or gie a collop, wi' the best
o' them."

"I flatter myself that's rather a good thing? Eh?" said the poet.

"What thing?" said the other.

"The song that we overheard just now. Do you know who made that song?
Eh?"

"Not I."

"But you have heard our maidens chaunt it,--have you not? God bless
them! Sweet, dear, sweet, sweet creatures! Why, Sir, that song happens
to be mine; and I think I may say, without vanity, it is as good a
thing of the kind as you ever heard? Eh?"

"Faith, I believe it is," said Charlie--not knowing well what to say,
for he had heard no song whatever; and then turning to the rest, while
the poet was enlarging on the excellency of his song, he said, in an
under voice, "Gude faith, the poet's either gaen clean daft, or else
he's drunk. What shall I say to him?"

The poet tapped him on the shoulder, seeing he was not paying
attention.

"It is not for this, I say, that I judge the piece worthy of
attention; nor yet what it shows of ability, hability, docility,
or any of the terms that end in _ility_; nor for its allegory,
category, or any of the terms that end in _ory_. Neither is it for its
versification, imagination, nor any of the thousand abominable terms
that end in _ation_. No, sir, the properties of all my songs, I am
thankful to Saint Martin, end in _icity_ and _uity_. You know the
song, Yardbire?"

"O yes. Quite weel."

What do you think of the eleventh verse? Let me see. No, it is the
thirteenth verse." "Good Friday! are there so many?" "Hem--m--m.
The tenth is, the Ox-eye, I am sure of that. The eleventh is the
Mill-stone. The twelfth, the Cloudberry and the Shepherd Boy. The
thirteenth, is the Gander and Water-Wagtail. It is the fourteenth.
What do you think of the fourteenth? Ay, it is the Gowans and the
Laverock that you will like best. You remember that, I am sure?"

"O yes; to be sure I do,"--(Aside,) "Good Lord, the poet's horn mad!
Heard ever any body the like o' this?"

"How is this it