there is a long, low, flat-topped, and prettily wooded eminence, that rises out of the middle of the bonny haughs of kilmaichly, at some distance below the junction of the rivers aven and livat. i don’t remember that it has any particular name, but it looks, for all the world, like the fragment of some ancient plain, that must have been of much higher level than that from which it now rises, which fragment had been left, after the ground on each side of it had been worn down to its present level, by the changeful operations of the neighbouring streams. but whatever [3]you geology gentlemen might say, as to what its origin might have been, every lover of nature must agree, that it is a very beautiful little hill, covered as its slopes are with graceful weeping birches, and other trees. the bushes that still remain, show that, in earlier times, it must have been thickly wooded with great oaks, which probably gave shelter to the ould auncient druids, when engaged in their superstitious mysteries. at the period to which the greater part of my story belongs—that is, in and about that of the reign of king james the iii.—the blue smoke that curled up from among the trees betrayed the existence of a cottage, that sat perched upon the brow of its western extremity, looking towards the castle of drummin. this little dwelling was much better built, and, in every respect, much neater than any of those in the surrounding district; and its interior exhibited more comforts as to furniture and plenishing of all sorts, and those too of a description, superior to any thing of the kind which a mere cottager might have been reasonably expected to have possessed.
the inhabitants of this snug little dwelling were, a very beautiful woman, of some four or five and twenty years of age, named alice asher, and her son, a handsome noble looking boy, who, from certain circumstances affecting his birth, bore the name of charles stewart.
there was a well doing and brave retainer of the house of clan-allan, called macdermot, who had lived a little way up in glen livat, and who, for several years, had done good service to the sir walter stewart, who was then chieftain of the clan, as son and heir of that sir patrick whom my last legend left so happily married to the lady catherine forbes, and quietly settled at drummin. this man macdermot died bravely in a skirmish, leaving a widow and an infant daughter. it happened that some few months after the death of her husband, the good woman bessy macdermot went out to shear one of those small patches of wretched corn, which were then to be seen, almost as a wonder, scattered here and there, in these upland glens, and which belonged in run-rig, or in alternate ridges, to different owners, [5]being so disposed, as you probably know gentlemen, that all might have an equal interest, and consequently an equal inducement, to assemble for its protection in the event of the sudden appearance of an enemy. charley stewart, then a fine, kind-hearted boy of some nine or ten years of age, had taken a great affection for the little rosa, the child of bessy macdermot; and this circumstance had induced the mother to ask permission of alice asher, to be allowed to take her son with her on this occasion to the harvest-field, that, whilst she went on with her work, he might watch the infant. charley was delighted with his employment; and accordingly she laid the babe carefully down by him to leeward of one of the stooks of sheaves. many an anxious glance did the fond mother throw behind her, as the onward progress of her work slowly but gradually increased her distance from charley and his precious charge. the thoughts of her bereft and widowed state saddened her heart, and made it heavy, and rendered her eyes so moist from time to time, that ever and anon she was [6]compelled to rest for an instant from her labour, in order to wipe away the tears with her sleeve. her little rosa was now all the world to her. the anxiety regarding the child which possessed her maternal bosom was always great; but, at the present moment, she had few fears about her safety, for, ever as she looked behind her, she beheld charley stewart staunchly fixed at his post, and busily employed in trying to catch the attention of the infant, and to amuse it by plucking from the sheaves those gaudy flowered weeds, of various kinds and hues, which nature brought up everywhere so profusely among the grain, and which the rude and unlearned farmers of those early times took no pains to extirpate.
whilst the parties were so occupied, the sun was shining brightly upon the new shorn stubble, that stretched away before the eyes of charley stewart, when its flat unbroken field of light was suddenly interrupted by a shadow that came sailing across it. he looked up into the air, and beheld a large bird hovering over him. inexperienced as he was, and by no means aware that [7]its apparent size was diminished by the height at which it was flying, he took it for a kite, or a buzzard, and it immediately ceased to occupy his attention. round and round sailed the shadow upon the stubble, increasing in magnitude at every turn it made, but totally unheeded by the boy amid the interesting occupation in which he was engaged. at length a loud shriek reached him from the very farther end of the ridge. charley started up from his sitting position, and beheld bessy macdermot rushing towards him, tossing her arms, and screaming as if she were distracted. she was yet too far off from him to enable him to gather her words, amidst the alarm that now seized him; and, accordingly, believing that she had been stung by some viper, or that she had cut herself desperately with the reaping-hook, he abandoned his charge, and ran off to meet her, that he might the sooner render her assistance; but, by the time they had approached near enough to each other to enable him to catch up the import of her cries, he halted—for they made his little heart faint within him. [8]
“the eagle! the eagle!” wildly screamed bessy macdermot. “oh, my child! my child!”
turning round hastily, charley stewart now saw that the very bird which he had so recently regarded with so little alarm, had now grown six times larger than he had believed it really to be. it was in the very act of swooping down upon the infant. charley ran towards the spot, mingling his shrieks with those of the frantic mother; but ere their feet had carried them over half the distance towards it, they heard the cries of the babe, as the fell eagle was flapping his broad wings, in his exertions to lift it from the ground; and, ere they could reach it, the bird was already flying, heavily encumbered with his burden, over the surface of the standing corn, from which he gradually rose, as his pinions gained more air, and greater way, till he finally soared upwards, and then held on his slow, but strong course, towards his nest in the neighbouring mountains.
“oh, my babe! my babe!” cried the agonized bessy macdermot, her eyes starting from [9]their very sockets, in her anxiety to keep sight of the object of her affections, and her terrors.
but she did not follow it with her eyes alone. she paused not for a moment, but darted off through the standing corn, and over moor and moss, hill and heugh, and through woods, and rills, and bogs, in the direction which the eagle was taking, without once thinking of poor little charley stewart, who kept after her as hard as his active little legs could carry him; and, great as the distance was which they had to run, the eagle, impeded as he was in his flight by the precious burden he carried, was still within reach of the eyes of the panting and agonized mother, when a thinner part of the wood enabled her to see, from a rising ground, the cliff where he finally rested, and where he deposited the child in his nest, that was well known to hang on a ledge in the face of the rock, a little way down from its bare summit. on ran the frantic mother, with redoubled energy,—for she remembered that an old man lived by himself, in a little cot hard by the place, and she never [10]rested till she sank down, faint and exhausted, at his door.
“oh, peter, peter!—my baby, my baby!” was all she could utter, as the old man came hobbling out, to learn what was the matter.
“what has mischanced your baby, mrs. macdermot?” demanded peter.
“oh, the eagle! the eagle!” cried the distracted mother. “oh, my child! my child!”
“holy saints be about us! has the eagle carried off your child?” cried peter, in horror.
“och, yes, yes!” replied bessy. “oh my baby, my baby!”
“st. michael be here!” exclaimed peter. “what can an old man like me do to help thee?”
“ropes! ropes!” cried little charley stewart, who at this moment came up, so breathless and exhausted that he could hardly speak.
“ropes!” said peter; “not a rope have i. there’s a bit old hair-line up on the baulks there, to be sure, that my son donald used for stretching his hang-net; but it has been so much in the water, that i have some doubt if it would stand the weight of a man, even if we [11]could get a man to go down over the nose of the craig;—and there is not a man but myself, that i know of, within miles of us.”
“you have forgotten me,” cried charley stewart, who had now somewhat recovered his wind. “i will go down over the craig. come, then, peter!—get out your hair-line. it will not break with my weight.”
“by the rood but thou art a gallant little chield!” said peter.
“oh, the blessings of the virgin on thee, my dearest charley!” cried bessy macdermot, embracing him. “and yet,” added she, with hesitation, “why should i put alice asher’s boy to such peril, even to save mine own child? oh, canst thou think of no other means? i cannot put charley stewart in peril.”
“nay,” said peter, “i know of no means; and, in truth, the poor bairn is like enough to have been already half devoured by the young eagles.”
“merciful mother of god!” cried poor bessy, half fainting at the horrible thought. “oh, my baby, my baby!” [12]
“come, old man,” cried charley stewart, with great determination, “we have no time to waste—we have lost too much already. where is the hair-line you spake of?—tut, i must seek for it myself;” and rushing into the cot, he leaped upon a table, made one spring at the rafters, and, catching hold of them, he hoisted himself up, gained a footing on them, and ran along them like a cat, till he found the great bundle of hair-line. “now,” said he, throwing it down, and jumping after it; “come away, good peter, as fast as thy legs can carry thee.”
having reached the summit of the crag by a circuitous path, they could now descry the two eagles, to which the nest belonged, soaring aloft at a great distance. they looked over the brow of the cliff, as far as they could stretch with safety, but although old peter was so well acquainted with the place where the nest was built, as at once to be able to fix on the very spot whence the descent ought to be made, the verge of the rock there projected itself so far [13]over the ledge where the nest rested, as to render it quite invisible from above. they could only perceive the thick sea of pine foliage that rose up the slope below, and clustered closely against the base of the precipice. a few small stunted fir trees grew scattered upon the otherwise bare summit where they stood. old peter sat himself down behind one of these, and placed a leg on each side of it, so as to secure himself from all chance of being pulled over the precipice by any sudden jerk, whilst charley’s little fingers were actively employed in undoing the great bundle of hair-line, and in tying one end of it round his body, and under his armpits. the unhappy mother was now busily assisting the boy, and now moving restlessly about, in doubtful hesitation whether she should yet allow him to go down. now she was gazing at the distant eagles, and wringing her hands in terror lest they should return to their nest; and torn as she was between her cruel apprehensions for her infant on the one hand, and her doubts and fears about charley stewart on the other, [14]she ejaculated the wildest and most incoherent prayers to all the saints for the protection and safety of both.
“now,” said charley stewart at length; “i’m ready. keep a firm hold, peter, and lower me gently.”
“stay, stay, boy!” cried the old man. “stick my skian dhu into your hoe. if the owners of the nest should come home, by the rood, but thou will’t need some weapon to make thee in some sort a match for them, in the welcome they will assuredly give thee.”
charley stewart slipped the skian dhu into his hoe, and went boldly but cautiously over the edge of the cliff. he was no sooner fairly swung in air than the hair rope stretched to a degree so alarming that bessy macdermot stood upon the giddy verge, gnawing her very fingers, from the horrible dread that possessed her, that she was to see it give way and divide. peter sat astride against the root of the tree, carefully eyeing every inch of the line ere he allowed it to pass through his hands, and every now and then pausing—hesitating, and shaking his head [15]most ominously, as certain portions of it, here and there, appeared to him to be of doubtful strength. meanwhile, charley felt himself gradually descending, and turning round and round at the end of the rope, by his own weight, his brave little heart beating, and his brain whirling, from the novelty and danger of his daring attempt—the screams of the young eagles sounding harshly in his ears, and growing louder and louder as he slowly neared them. by degrees he began distinctly to hear the faint cries of the child, and his courage and self-possession were restored to him, by the conviction that she was yet alive. in a few moments more he had the satisfaction to touch the ledge of rock with his toes, and he was at last enabled to relieve the rope from his weight, by planting himself upon its ample, but fearfully inclined surface. he shouted aloud, to make peter aware that the line had so far done its duty, and then he cautiously approached the nest, where, to his great joy, he found the infant altogether uninjured, except by a cross cut upon her left cheek, which she seemed to have received from some accidental [16]movement of the beak or talons of one of the two eaglets, between which she had been deposited by the old eagle. had she not been placed between two so troublesome mates, and in a position so dangerous, nothing could have been more snug or easy than the bed in which the little rosa was laid. the nest was about two yards square. it was built on the widest and most level part of the ledge, and it was composed of great sticks, covered with a thick layer of heather, over which rushes were laid to a considerable depth. fortunately for the infant, the eaglets had been already full gorged ere she had been carried thither, and there yet lay beside them the greater part of the carcass of a lamb, and also a mountain hare, untouched, together with several moorfowl, and an immense quantity of bones and broken fragments of various animals.
charley stewart did not consume much time in his examination of the nest. being at once satisfied that it would be worse than hazardous to trust the hair-line with the weight of the child, in addition to his own, he undid it from [17]his body. approaching the nest, he gently lifted the crying infant from between its two screeching and somewhat pugnacious companions. the moment he had done so, the little innocent became quiet, and instantly recognising him, she held out her hands, and smiled and chuckled to him, at once oblivious of all her miseries. charley kissed his little favourite over and over again, and then he proceeded to tie the rope carefully around and across her, so as to guard against all possibility of its slipping. having accomplished this, he shouted to peter to pull away—kissed the little rosa once more, and then committed her to the vacant air. nothing could equal the anxiety he endured whilst he beheld her slowly rising upwards. and when he beheld the mother’s hands appear over the edge of the rock, and snatch her from his sight, nothing could match the shout of delight which he gave. the maternal screams of joy which followed, and which came faintly down to his ears, were to him a full reward for all the terrors of his desperate enterprise. for [18]that instant he forgot the perilous situation in which he then stood, and the risk that he had yet to run ere he could hope to be extricated from it.
but a few moments only elapsed ere all thoughts of any thing else but his own self preservation were banished from his mind. the angry screams of the two old eagles came fearfully through the air, and he beheld them approaching the rock, cleaving the air with furious flight. he cast one look upwards, and saw the rope rapidly descending to him—but the eagles were coming still faster, and he had only time to wrench out a large stick from the nest, to aid him in defending himself, when they were both upon him. he had nothing for it but to crouch as close in under the angle of the rock as he could, and there he planted himself, with the stick in his right hand, and the skian dhu in his left, resolved to make the best fight he could of it. they commenced their attack on him whilst still on the wing, by flying at him, and striking fiercely at him with their talons, each returning alternately to the assault after [19]making a narrow circuit in the air. whilst thus engaged, charley neither lost courage nor presence of mind, but contrived to deal to each of them a severe blow now and then with the rugged stick, as they came at him in succession. finding that they could make no impression upon him in this way, sheltered as he was by his position under the projecting rock, they seemed at once to resolve, as if by mutual consent, to adopt a more resolute mode of attack.
alighting on the ledge of rock at the same moment, one on each side of the place where he was crouching, both the eagles now assailed him at once with inconceivable ferocity. half fronting that one which was to his right, he laid a severe blow on it, which somewhat staggered it in its onset. but whilst he was thus occupied with it, the other, which was to his left, tore open his cheek, with a blow of his talons, that had nearly stunned him. more from mechanical impulse, than from any actual design, he struck a back-handed blow with his skian dhu. fortunately for him it proved most effectual, for it penetrated the eagle to the very heart, laid it [20]fluttering on its back, and, in the violence of its struggles, it rolled over the inclined ledge, and fell dead to the bottom of the crag. but poor charley had no leisure to rejoice over this piece of success. he looked anxiously to the hair-line, which hung dangling within reach of his grasp; but, ere he could seize it, his other enemy was at him again. as if it had profited by the severe lessons it had gotten, the strokes of this second eagle were given with so much rapidity and caution, that close as charley stewart was obliged to keep into the angle of the rock, and stupified as he was, in some degree, by the wound he had received, he was able to do little more than to defend his own person from injury, whilst he was obliged slowly to give ground before his feathered assailant. whilst retreating and fighting in this manner, one blow of his stick, better directed than the rest, struck the eagle on the side of the skull, close to its juncture with the neck, and it went fluttering down over the rock, in the pangs of death, after its fellow. but alas! poor charley stewart’s victory cost him dear. [21]
the two listeners above, who had seen the approach of the eagles, were dreadfully alarmed by the noise of the terrific conflict that was going on upon the ledge below. in vain did they shout to terrify the birds. in vain did old peter frequently try the hair-line, by pulling gently at it, in the hope of finding that the weight of charley’s body was attached to it. they were tortured by anxious uncertainty regarding him, until a piercing shriek came upwards from him, and all was quiet. winged by terror, bessy macdermot rushed, with her child in her arms, down the winding path, to a point whence she could command a view of the ledge. the boy was no longer there!—she rubbed her dimmed eyes, gave one more intent gaze. from the very nature of the place, it was impossible that he could be there unseen by her, from the point she now occupied, and she was thus too certainly assured that he was gone. uttering a despairing scream, she flew franticly down to look for him among the trees at the bottom of the cliff. there she sought all along the base of it, dreading every moment to have [22]her eyes shocked with the sight of his mangled remains, and uttering the most doleful lamentations that she had murdered her dear friend’s gallant boy. she found both the dead eagles indeed, but she could see nothing of charley stewart. old peter then came hobbling after her, to join her in her search, and both of them went over the ground again and again in vain. a faint hope began at length to arise in the minds of both, that he might, after all, be still on the ledge above, though, perhaps, lying wounded, or in a swoon; and, although both felt it to be almost against all reason to indulge in it, they instantly prepared to return, to endeavour more perfectly to ascertain the fact; and, if it could be done no otherwise, bessy macdermot resolved to run and rouse the country, in order to procure strong ropes, and men to go down to examine the ledge itself.
full of these intentions, they were in the act of quitting the bottom of the cliff, when a faint voice arrested their steps. they stopped to listen, and, after a little time, they were aware that it came down from over their heads. they [23]looked up, but, seeing nothing, they became more than ever convinced, that it was charley’s voice calling to them from the ledge, and they again turned to hurry away to assure him of help. but the voice came again, and so much stronger, as to satisfy them that the speaker could be at no very great distance from them.
“peter!—bessy!—i am here in the tree,” said charley stewart, “for the love of saint michael, stop and take me down!”
some minutes elapsed before they could catch a glimpse of the poor boy. at length they discovered him, half way up a tall pine tree, hanging by his little coat to the knag of a broken branch. i may as well tell you at once how he came there. whilst he was in the very act of dealing that last well directed blow of the stick, that proved so fatal to the second eagle, his foot slipped on the narrower and more inclined part of the ledge, to which he had been gradually driven back during the combat, and uttering that despairing scream which rang like his knell in the affrighted ears of bessy macdermot, and peter, he fell through the air, and [24]crashed down among the dense foliage of the pine-tops below. one of his legs was broken across a bough, which it met with in his descent through the tree, but his head, and all his other vital parts, had luckily escaped injury; and the knag, which so fortunately caught his clothes, and kept him suspended, had been the providential means of saving him from that death, which he must have otherwise inevitably met with on coming to the ground.
but how were they to get poor charley down from the tree? old peter could not climb it; but, seeing that it was furnished with branches nearly to its root, bessy macdermot gave her child into the hands of the old man, and, taking a double end of the hair-line with her, she clambered up the stem to the place where the boy was hanging. tenderly relieving him from his distressing position, she quickly passed two or three double folds of the rope around him, and then lowered him gently down to peter. so patient had charley been under his sufferings, excruciating as they were, that it was not until [25]they were about to move him from the ground, that they discovered the injury that his limb had received.
“oh, what shall i do?” cried bessy macdermot, wringing her hands; “oh, how can i face alice asher, after thus causing so sad a mischance to her darling, her beautiful boy?”
“tut, bessy, never mind me!” said charley faintly, but with a gentle smile, that sorted but ill with his wounded and bloody countenance; “i shall soon get the better of all this; but if it had been twice as bad with me, bessy, nay, if i had been killed outright, i should have well deserved it, for quitting my poor little rosa there, as i did upon the harvest rig.”
“nay, nay, my dearest boy, charley,” said mrs. macdermot, kissing him, and weeping fondly over him; “thou did’st thy part faithfully. had it not been for my foolish fright, and my silly screams when i first saw the eagle, thou wouldst never have left my child, and nought of these sad mischances could have happened.” [26]
with some difficulty, and not without bessy macdermot’s help, old peter managed to carry charley stewart down to his hut, whence he was afterwards moved home, when proper assistance could be procured. alice asher was overpowered with grief, when the darling of her heart was brought to her in this melancholy and maimed condition. but she readily forgave bessy macdermot for the innocent share she had had in producing it; and after charley’s wounds were dressed, the bones of his fractured limb set, and that she was satisfied that his life was perfectly safe, she not only felt grateful to god that he had been so wonderfully preserved, but she began to regard him with honest pride for the gallant action he had performed.
“well hast thou proved thyself, my boy, to be a true clan-allan stewart!” said she to him, with a deep blush on her countenance, as she sat fondly watching by the bed where charley was quietly sleeping, from the effects of the drugs that had been given to him, till the tears began to follow one another fast from her eyelids. “well might thy father now, methinks, make [27]thee his lawful son, by extending to me those holy rites, the false hope of obtaining which betrayed mine innocent and simple youth! thou at least ought not to suffer for thine unhappy mother’s fault, which now nearly nine years of sorrow, of remorse, and of heart-felt penitence, and prayer, and penance, have not yet expiated! but god’s holy will be done!”
