Fiction > Serialisations > New York, 1888-1889 - Master of Ballantrae > Volume 5

758
THE MASTER OF B ALL ANTRA E.
you, if you were not stanch to yoiu'
employer." You are to consider, he
seemed to me quite impotent for any
evil ; and how it is a most engaging
form of flattery when (after man}' years)
tardy justice is done to a man's charac-
ter and parts. But I have no thought
to excuse myself. I was to blame ; I let
him cajole me ; and, in short, I think
the watch-dog was going sound asleep,
when he was suddenly aroused.
I should say the Indian was continu-
ally travelling to and fro in the house.
He never spoke, save in his own dialect
and with the Master ; walked without
sound ; and was always turning up
where you would least expect him, fall-
en into a deep abstraction, from which
he would start (upon your coming) to
mock you ^vith one of his grovelling
obeisances. He seemed so quiet, so
frail, and so wrapped in his own fancies,
that I came to pass him over without
much regard, or even to pity him for a
harmless exile fi'om his country. And
yet without doubt the creature was still
eaves-dropping ; and without doubt it
was through his stealth and my security
that our secret reached the Master.
It was one very wild night, after sup-
per, and when we had been making
more than usually merry, that the blow
fell on me.
" This is all very fine," says the Mas-
ter, " but we should do better to be
buckling our vaHse."
"Why so ? " I cried. " Are you leav-
ing?"
" We are all leaving to-morrow in the
morning," said he. " For the port of
Glascow first; thence for the province
of New York."
I suppose I must have groaned aloud.
" Yes," he continued, " I boasted : I
said a week, and it has taken me near
twenty days. But never mioid : I shall
make it up ; I will go the faster."
"Have you the money for this voy-
age ? " I asked.
" Dear and ingenuous personage, I
have," said he. " Blame me, if you
choose, for my duplicity ; but while I
have been wringing shillings from my
daddy, I had a stock of my own put by
against a rainy day. You will pay for
youi- own passage, if you choose to ac-
company us on om- flank march ; I have
enough for Secundra and myself, but
not more : enough to be dangerous, not
enough to be generous. There is, how-
ever, an outside seat upon the chaise
which I will let you have upon a moder-
ate commutation ; so that the whole
menagerie can go together, the house-
dog, the monkey, and the tiger."
"I go with you," said I.
" I count upon it," said the Master.
" You have seen me foiled, I mean you
shall see me victorious. To gain that, I
will risk wetting you Hke a sop in this
wild weather."
"And at least," I added, "you know
very well you could not throw me o£f."
" Not easily," said he. " You put
your finger on the point with your
usual excellent good sense. I never
fight with the inevitable."
" I suppose it is useless to appeal to
you," said I.
" Believe me, perfectly," said he.
" And yet if you would give me time,
I could write — " I began.
" And what would be my Lord Durris-
deer's answer ? " asks he.
" Ay," said I, " that is the rub,"
" And at any rate, how much more
expeditious that I should go myself ! "
says he. " But aU this is quite a waste
of breath. At seven to-morrow the
chaise will be at the door. For I start
from the door, Mackellar ; I do not
skulk through woods and take my chaise
upon the wayside — shall we say, at
Eagles ? "
My mind was now thoroughly made
up. "Can you spare me quarter of an
hour at St. Bride's ? " said I. " I have
a little necessary business with Carlyle."
"An hour, if you prefer," said he.
"I do not seek to deny that the money
for your seat is an object to me ; and
you could always get the first to Glas-
cow with saddle-horses."
"Well," said I, "I never thought to
leave old Scotland."
" It will brisken you up," says he.
" This will be an ill journey for some
one," I said. "I think, sir, for you.
Something speaks in my bosom ; and so
much it says plain. That this is an ill-
omened journey."
" If you take to prophecy," says he,
"listen to that."
There came up a violent squall off the