Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters, Page 3

  CHAPTER II

  The Earl of Glencairn, having much to do with the other Lords of theCongregation, did not come to his lodging till late in the afternoon,when, as soon as he had passed into his privy chamber, he sent for histhree new men, and entered into some conversation with them concerningwhat the people at Lithgow said and thought of the Queen-dowager'sgovernment, and the proceedings at that time afoot on behalf of thereformed religion. But my grandfather jealoused that in this he was lessswayed by the expectation of gathering knowledge from them, than by awish to inspect their discretion and capacities; for, after conversingwith them for the space of half an hour or thereby, he dismissed themcourteously from his presence, without intimating that he had anyspecial service for them to perform.

  One evening as the Earl sat alone at supper, he ordered my grandfatherto be brought again before him, and desired him to be cup-bearer forthat night. In this situation, as my grandfather stood holding thechalice and flagon at his left elbow, the Earl, as was his wonted customwith such of the household as he from time to time so honoured, enteredinto familiar conversation with him; and when the servitude and homagesof the supper were over, and the servants were removing the plate andtrenchers, he signified, by a look and a whisper, that he wished him tolinger in the room till after they were gone.

  "Gilhaize," said he, when the serving-men had retired, and they were bythemselves, "I am well content with your prudence, and therefore, beforeyou are known to belong to my train, I would send you on a confidentialerrand, for which you must be ready to set forth this very night."

  My grandfather made no reply in words to this mark of trust, but bowedhis head in token of his obedience to the commands of the Earl.

  "I need not tell you," resumed his master, "that among the friends ofthe reformed cause there are some for policy and many for gain, and thatour adversaries, knowing this, leave no device or stratagem untried tosow sedition among the Lords and Leaders of the Congregation. This veryday the Earl of Argyle has received a mealy-mouthed letter from thatdissolute papist, the Archbishop of St Andrews, entreating him, withmany sweet words, concerning the ancient friendship subsisting betweentheir families, to banish from his protection that good and piousproselyte, Douglas, his chaplain, evidently presuming, from the easytemper of the aged Earl, that he may be wrought into compliance. ButArgyle is an honest man, and is this night to return, by theArchbishop's messenger and kinsman, Sir David Hamilton, a fitting andproper reply. It is not, however, to be thought that this attempt totamper with Argyle is the sole trial which the treacherous priest is atthis time making to breed distrust and dissension among us, though asyet we have heard of none other. Now, Gilhaize, what I wish you to do,and I think you can do it well, is to throw yourself in Sir David's way,and, by hook or crook, get with him to St Andrews, and there try by allexpedient means to gain a knowledge of what the Archbishop is at thistime plotting--for plotting we are assured from this symptom he is--andit is needful to the cause of Christ that his wiles should becircumvented."

  In saying these words the Earl rose, and, taking a key from his belt,opened a coffer that stood in the corner of the room, and took out twopieces of gold, which he delivered to my grandfather, to bear theexpenses of his journey.

  "I give you, Gilhaize," said he, "no farther instructions; for, unless Iam mistaken in my man, you lack no better guide than your owndiscernment. So God be with you, and His blessing prosper theundertaking."

  My grandfather was much moved at being so trusted, and doubted in hisown breast if he was qualified for the duty which his master had thusput upon him. Nevertheless he took heart from the Earl's confidence,and, without saying anything either to his two companions or to IcenerCunningham, he immediately, on parting from his master, left the house,leaving his absence to be accounted for to the servants according to hislord's pleasure.

  Having been several times on errands of his father in Edinburgh before,he was not ill-acquainted with the town, and the moon being up, he hadno difficulty in finding his way to Habby Bridle's, a noted stabler's atthe foot of Leith Wynd, nigh the mouth of the North Loch, where gallantsand other travellers of gentle condition commonly put up their horses.There he thought it was likely Sir David Hamilton had stabled his steed,and he divined that, by going thither, he would learn whether thatknight had set forward to Fife, or when he was expected so to do; thewhich movement, he always said, was nothing short of an instinct fromHeaven; for just on entering the stabler's yard, a groom came shoutingto the hostler to get Sir David Hamilton's horses saddled outright, ashis master was coming.

  Thus, without the exposure of any inquiry, he gained the tidings that hewanted, and with what speed he could put into his heels, he went forwardto the pier of Leith, where he found a bark, with many passengers onboard, ready to set sail for Kirkcaldy, waiting only for the arrival ofSir David, to whom, as the Archbishop's kinsman, the boatmen were fainto pretend a great outward respect; but many a bitter ban, mygrandfather said, they gave him for taigling them so long, while windand tide both served--all which was proof and evidence how much thehearts of the common people were then alienated from the papisticalchurchmen.

  Sir David having arrived, and his horses being taken aboard, the barkset sail, and about daybreak next morning she came to anchor atKirkcaldy. During the voyage, my grandfather, who was of a mild andcomely aspect, observed that the knight was more affable towards himthan to the lave of the passengers, the most part of whom were coopersgoing to Dundee to prepare for the summer fishing. Among them was onePatrick Girdwood, the deacon of the craft, a most comical character, sovogie of his honours and dignities in the town council that he could notget the knight told often enough what a load aboon the burden he had inkeeping a' things douce and in right regulation amang the bailies. ButSir David, fashed at his clatter, and to be quit of him, came across thevessel and began to talk to my grandfather, although, by his apparel, hewas no meet companion for one of a knight's degree.

  It happened that Sir David was pleased with his conversation, which wasnot to be wondered at, for in his old age, when I knew him, he was a manof a most enticing mildness of manner, and withal so discreet in hissentences that he could not be heard without begetting respect for hisobservance and judgment. So out of the vanity of that vogie tod of thetown council was a mean thus made by Providence to further the ends andobjects of the Reformation in so far as my grandfather was concerned;for the knight took a liking to him, and being told, as it wasexpedient to give a reason for his journey to St Andrews, that he wasgoing thither to work as a ferrier, Sir David promised him not only hisown countenance, but to commend him to the Archbishop.

  There was at that time in Kirkcaldy one Tobit Balmutto, a horse-setter,of whom my grandfather had some knowledge by report. This Tobit beingmuch resorted to by the courtiers going to and coming from Falkland, andwell known to their serving-men, who were wont to speak of him in thesmiddy at Lithgow as a zealous reformer--chiefly, as the prodigals amongthem used to jeer and say, because the priests and friars in theirjourneyings atween St Andrews and Edinburgh took the use of his beastswithout paying for them, giving him only their feckless benisons insteadof white money.

  To this man my grandfather resolved to apply for a horse, and such aone, if possible, as would be able to carry him as fast as Sir DavidHamilton's. Accordingly, on getting to the land, he inquired for TobitBalmutto, and several of his striplings and hostlers being on the shore,having, on seeing the bark arrive, come down to look out for travellersthat might want horses, he was conducted by one of them to theiremployer, whom he found an elderly man of the corpulent order, sittingin an elbow-chair by the fireside, toasting an oaten bannock on a pairof tormentors, with a blue puddock-stool bonnet on his head, and hisgrey hose undrawn up, whereby his hairy legs were bare, showing a powerand girth such as my grandfather had seen few like before, testifying towhat had been the deadly strength of their possessor in his youngeryears. He was thought to have been an off-gett of the Boswells ofBalmutto.

  When h
e had made known his want to Tobit, and that he was in a mannerobligated to be at St Andrews as soon as Sir David Hamilton, thehorse-setter withdrew the bannock from before the ribs, and seeing itsomewhat scowthert and blackent on the one cheek, he took it off thetormentors and scraped it with them, and blew away the brown burningbefore he made any response; then he turned round to my grandfather, andlooking at him with the tail of his eye from aneath his broad bonnet,said,--

  "Then ye're no in the service of his Grace, my Lord the Archbishop? Andyet, frien', I think na ye're just a peer to Sir Davie, that you need toettle at coping with his braw mare, Skelp-the-dub, whilk I selt to himmysel'; but the de'il a bawbee hae I yet han'let o' the price; howsever,that's neither here nor there, a day of reckoning will come at last."

  My grandfather assured Tobit Balmutto it was indeed very true he was notin the service of the Archbishop, and that he would not have been soinstant about getting to St Andrews with the knight had he not a dreadand fear that Sir David was the bearer of something that might be sorenews to the flock o' Christ, and he was fain to be there as soon as himto speak in time of what he jealoused, that any of those in the town whostood within the reverence of the Archbishop's aversion, on account oftheir religion, might get an inkling and provide for themselves.

  "If that's your errand," said the horse-setter, "ye s'all hae theswiftest foot in my aught to help you on, and I redde you no to sparethe spur, for I'm troubled to think ye may be owre late--Satan, or theylie upon him, has been heating his cauldrons yonder for a brewing, andthe Archbishop's thrang providing the malt. Nae farther gane thanyesterday, auld worthy Mr Mill of Lunan, being discovered hidden in akiln at Dysart, was ta'en, they say, in a cart, like a malefactor, bytwa uncircumcised loons, servitors to his Grace, and it's thought itwill go hard wi' him on account of his great godliness; so mak whathaste ye dow, and the Lord put mettle in the beast that bears you."

  With that Tobit Balmutto ordered the lad who brought my grandfather tothe house to saddle a horse that he called Spunkie; and in a trice hewas mounted and on the road after Sir David, whom he overtooknotwithstanding the spirit of his mare, Skelp-the-dub, before he hadcleared the town of Pathhead, and they travelled onward at a brisk trottogether, the knight waxing more and more pleased with his companion, inso much that by the time they had reached Cupar, where they stopped tocorn, he lamented that a young man of his parts should think offollowing the slavery of a ferrier's life, when he might rise to trustsand fortune in the house of some of the great men of the time, kindlyoffering to procure for him, on their arrival at St Andrews, the favourand patronage of his kinsman, the Archbishop.