第43章 A LEGEND OF MONTROSE.(36)

"For all that,Sir Duncan,"answered the persevering commander,"I would premonish you,as a friend,to trace out a sconce upon that round hill,with a good graffe,or ditch,whilk may be easily accomplished by compelling the labour of the boors in the vicinity;it being the custom of the valorous Gustavus Adolphus to fight as much by the spade and shovel,as by sword,pike,and musket.Also,I would advise you to fortify the said sconce,not only by a foussie,or graffe,but also by certain stackets,or palisades."--(Here Sir Duncan,becoming impatient,left the apartment,the Captain following him to the door,and raising his voice as he retreated,until he was fairly out of hearing.)--"The whilk stackets,or palisades,should be artificially framed with re-entering angles and loop-holes,or crenelles,for musketry,whereof it shall arise that the foeman--The Highland brute!the old Highland brute!They are as proud as peacocks,and as obstinate as tups--and here he has missed an opportunity of making his house as pretty an irregular fortification as an invading army ever broke their teeth upon.--But I see,"he continued,looking own from the window upon the bottom of the precipice,"they have got Gustavus safe ashore--Proper fellow!I would know that toss of his head among a whole squadron.I must go to see what they are to make of him."

He had no sooner reached,however,the court to the seaward,and put himself in the act of descending the staircase,than two Highland sentinels,advancing their Lochaber axes,gave him to understand that this was a service of danger.

"Diavolo!"said the soldier,"and I have got no pass-word.I could not speak a syllable of their salvage gibberish,an it were to save me from the provost-marshal."

"I will be your surety,Captain Dalgetty,"said Sir Duncan,who had again approached him without his observing from whence;"and we will go together,and see how your favourite charger is accommodated."

He conducted him accordingly down the staircase to the beach,and from thence by a short turn behind a large rock,which concealed the stables and other offices belonging to the castle,Captain Dalgetty became sensible,at the same time,that the side of the castle to the land was rendered totally inaccessible by a ravine,partly natural and partly scarped with great care and labour,so as to be only passed by a drawbridge.Still,however,the Captain insisted,not withstanding the triumphant air with which Sir Duncan pointed out his defences,that a sconce should be erected on Drumsnab,the round eminence to the east of the castle,in respect the house might be annoyed from thence by burning bullets full of fire,shot out of cannon,according to the curious invention of Stephen Bathian,King of Poland,whereby that prince utterly ruined the great Muscovite city of Moscow.

This invention,Captain Dalgetty owned,he had not yet witnessed,but observed,"that it would give him particular delectation to witness the same put to the proof against Ardenvohr,or any other castle of similar strength;"observing,"that so curious an experiment could not but afford the greatest delight to all admirers of the military art."

Sir Duncan Campbell diverted this conversation by carrying the soldier into his stables,and suffering him to arrange Gustavus according to his own will and pleasure.After this duty had been carefully performed,Captain Dalgetty proposed to return to the castle,observing,it was his intention to spend the time betwixt this and dinner,which,he presumed,would come upon the parade about noon,in burnishing his armour,which having sustained some injury from the sea-air,might,he was afraid,seem discreditable in the eyes of M'Callum More.Yet,while they were returning to the castle,he failed not to warn Sir Duncan Campbell against the great injury he might sustain by any sudden onfall of an enemy,whereby his horses,cattle,and granaries,might be cut off and consumed,to his great prejudice;wherefore he again strongly conjured him to construct a sconce upon the round hill called Drumsnab,and offered his own friendly services in lining out the same.To this disinterested advice Sir Duncan only replied by ushering his guest to his apartment,and informing him that the tolling of the castle bell would make him aware when dinner was ready.

CHAPTER XI.

Is this thy castle,Baldwin?Melancholy Displays her sable banner from the donjon,Darkening the foam of the whole surge beneath.

Were I a habitant,to see this gloom Pollute the face of nature,and to hear The ceaseless sound of wave,and seabird's scream,I'd wish me in the hut that poorest peasant E'er framed,to give him temporary shelter.BROWN.

The gallant Ritt-master would willingly have employed his leisure in studying the exterior of Sir Duncan's castle,and verifying his own military ideas upon the nature of its defences.But a stout sentinel,who mounted guard with a Lochaber-axe at the door of his apartment,gave him to understand,by very significant signs,that he was in a sort of honourable captivity.

It is strange,thought the Ritt-master to himself,how well these salvages understand the rules and practique of war.Who should have pre-supposed their acquaintance with the maxim of the great and godlike Gustavus Adolphus,that a flag of truce should be half a messenger half a spy?--And,having finished burnishing his arms,he sate down patiently to compute how much half a dollar per diem would amount to at the end of a six-months'campaign;

and,when he had settled that problem,proceeded to the more abstruse calculations necessary for drawing up a brigade of two thousand men on the principle of extracting the square root.