GRAHAM OF CLAVERHOUSE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 79, 1 April 1908, Page 11

GRAHAM OF CLAVERHOUSE.

By lAN MACJLAREN.

~ ; i- BOOK TV. (Ciapter I—continued.) ■«3f-y-lord," said Jock, in answer to tie iaierrdg-tion on.. Ms. master's face.. "1 dl _ c to speak, if Providence gave —= the chance, for alter all that la-rmened. I * itoa <"o nsider J o ™ ear woak-be open to hear mc. When a man . jnade as hig a —listake as I have toe, and caused as muekle sorrow, it ieho'oves hhn to -walk softly, and this is ■nairf of'-fiis"judgment that them he loves ■fflost may trust'him least. "T_ na, my lord," for the face of __B_»'-tnD! heginning to blacken, "rye _ 0 a ' -w-ord to say against her ladyship. T gather she has heen doing what she •aaior-the cause wi' them sUppery Tas,2l3 o' drasoons and their Liaodicean co_iinaiidex. of whom I have my am aon-hts. I fear mc, indeed, to say -ffiaiTl have fo__i, and what I am sns.ggtmCT. for ye hae reason to conclude fjjatmv head is full o' plots, and that Jroodin"' ower treachery has made mc v. v "What is ft now. Jock?" in a tone ieiweea amusement and seriousness. e 'Te havena found a letter from I>ochiel to the Prince of Orange, offering to win _c reward upon my head, or caught general __i__ay. dressed in a ragged _3t. stealing about through the army? Oat with it, and let us know the worst tt once." *__ are laughm'. Maister John, and I -will not deny ye have justification. I »__ to God I be as far frae the truth fins time as I was last time, but there is sometMn' g_ein' on in the camp that "jedes nae gude to yersel', and through rvu. to the cause. It was not for naefian' T watched two of our new recruits for days, and heard a snap o' their conrenation yesterday on the march." "I_ be bonad, Joclc. ye heard some talk, for I doubt our men are readier ■**.£_ an oath than _ Psabi and a loose story than, a EennoE. But we- must just take them as _cv come—rough men for rough work, sod desperate men for a wild venture." "Gude knows, my ears are weel aceusicmed to the clatter of the camp, and g_ no a coarse word here or there would offend Jock Grimond. But the men I '___. are of the other kind; they speak like gaitlefolk. and micht, for the manner (f them, sit wi' her ladyship in Dudhope

■Castle.'' "Broken gentlemen, very likely, Jock. Ifere has always been plenty in our

__ks. Surely you are not going to -___ that a crime at this time of the day. If I had five hundred of that kidney beiind mc, I would drive MacKay— kaae, foot, and bits of artillery—like chaff before the wind. A gentl em an makes s good trooper, and when he has nothing *to lo_, he's the very devil to fight." "Bnt that's no a' else. I wouldna live troubled you, my lord, but the two are aye the-gither, and keep in company _a _ pair o' dogs poachin'- They have __ took o' men who are on their gaird, ____ feared o' bein' caught by surprise. _a__ig to their story they had served dragoons, . and had csne'over to us Tsecarse They - were __r _; good cause. But am o' Livingstone's Ms wha deserted at the same time, and las naethin' wrong wF him except that _c belongs to Forfar and has a perpetual -rcuth, tells mc that our twa friends were juist in and oot, no mair than a week withe dragoons. My idea is that i_ey went wi' Livingstone to get to us. _nd what for —aye, what for?" "Tor King James, I should say. and a leUyful of fighting," said Dundee care_—iy.

'"Maybe .ye're richt, and if so, there's _6 mischief-done; .and maybe ye're wrang, and if so, there wQj be black trouble. At _ty rate, I didna ttjffl the story, and I irasna taken ' wi' ths.* men. No that i-eyre bad-lookin', but _hey*re after some ploy. Weel, they ride bj' themsel's, and they-camp by themsel's.''.and they eat -v themsel's, and they sleep \?J themsel's. So this midday,when we haltit, they made -c to the bank o' the river, ar.'i settled iliemsel's ablow a tree, and. by chance a. bora ran into the river there ."? a 3ngb bank on the side next them. __&, e 7 e fetenin', my lord?" yes," said Dundee, whos.' -.ifcongjits had evidently been far away, *-ii who was attaching little importance *o Jock's groundless fears. "Go on. So ipm did a bit of scouting, I suppose?" SC did," said Jock, with some pride, ; and they never jaloused wha was lying toise beside them, like a tod (fox) in his ■fcole, r_t no prepared to say that I could catch a' their colloguing. but I got .SBwgh to set mc thinkin'. Juist bits, fat they could be pieced together." "Well," said Dundee, with more invest,"what were the bits?" "The" _ one asfe the other where he Seeps his pass. 'Sown in the lining of my s°at,' says he. yours?' Tn my *oot,* answers he, 'the safest place.' Who gave, them the passes, thinks I to myand what are they. Mding them for? *» I cocks both mv "ears to hear the sest."

what was that, Jock?" And afciidee now was paying close attention. ■Tor a while they spoke so low I could "■ay. hear, This underhand work goes egamst my stomach.' 'Aha. my lad, so it's says I in mv "hole. It's ■*wr_. the doing.' says the" other, 'and a «g stroke of work" if we succeed. It . be a throne one way or other.' ggj: vo us,' laughs the first, .no.' says _ut we .1 have our share.' J*s£js no ordinary work,' says Ito mm, and I risked my ears out of the ■= -.- TtV no an army.' says one o' «an, hut juist a rabble, and a' depends i£S °ne man.' You're right there.' the other, 'if he falls all is over!' jam they said something to one another * couldn't catch, and then one stretched ||gg| as I took it by his kicking a the river, and rose, savin., 'By _nTy " B ' e ' U mana Se it.' The other ggff^; as te r °se too, and as they went ESS the last words I heard were, 'The mor e likely to be our .JnftT^ No . tice t 1 " 3 ' my lord, every word lie English tongue, as fine and smooth as ye like. Where did they come "fa, and what are they after? Aye, and to fall, that's the question, my

started, for Jock's story had a secret fear in his mind, which aaa often banished, but which had _S burning with great force. As a £™ holds together the sheaf of corn, kept King James' army. ejT; "j™ -™ 1 there was no cohesion, ■*«ia_^ t TrSSf n _. I,i _ l there was no c<>m - tfle &T" _ death, not only would wrces disperse, but the cause "of King BBSS would be ended. If he were out ■*ai_r ■ "Waii-m would have no ! ' fe> d T' 11 " 6 for aasietv. and he knew , . - fanned and cold-blooded charac,.n w __= fojm-. W2__m had

given him his chance, and he had not taken it. He -would have no more scruple in assassinating his opponent than in brushing a fly off the table. Instead of gathering an army and fighting him through the Highlands and Lowlands, just one stroke of a flfrl- or a pistol bullet and William is secure on his throne. "Jock may be right- for once," said Clayerhouse to himself, "and by Heaven! if I am to fa IT., I liM rather he shot in front than behind." He wrote an order to the commander of the cavalry, and in fifteen minutes the two troopers were ~ standing lief ore him disarmed and guarded. The moment Dundee looked at them he Blew that Jock was correct in saymg that they were not common soldiers, lor they had the unmistakable manner of gentlemen; and as soon as they epoke he also knew that they were Englishmen. One was tall and fair, v»ith honest blue eyes, which did not suggest tre&eliery, the other was shorter and dark with a more cautious and uncertain expression. " For certain reasons, gentlemen," said Dundee, with emphasis upon the word, " I desire by your leave to ask you. one or two questions. If you will take my advice, you had better answer truthfully. J will not waste time about things I know. "What brought you from Xavingstone ? s dr-agoona to us? Why were ye so short a time with them? and why did ye leave the English army? Tell no lies. I pray you. I can see that ye are soldiers and have been officers. Why are you -with us in the guise of troopers? •" " You know so much, my lord," said the taller man, with that outspoken candour which is so taking, " that I may as well tell you all. We have held commissions ia the army, and are, I suppose, officers to-day, though they will be wondering rwhere we are, and we should be shot if -we were caught. - You will excuse mc giving onr names, for they could not be easily kept. We belong to families which have ever been true to their king, azsd we came north to take a share in the good work. That is the only way that we could manage it. and we do not fancy it overmuch, but we have taken our lives in our hands for the adventure." "You are men of spirit, I can see," said Dundee, ironically, "but ye are wise men also, and have reduced your risks. Would you do mc the -favour of showing th"c passes with which you provided yourselves before leaving England? Save yourselves the trouble of—argument. One of you has got his pass in hise oat, end the other in his boot. Tm sure you would not wish to be. stripped." The shorter man coloured with vexation then paled, but the other only laughed like a boy caught in a Trick/and said, "There are quick eyes, or, more likely, quick ears, in this army, my lord." Then, without more ado, they handed Lord Dundee the passes. "As I expected," said Dundee, "to the officers of King William's army, and to allow the bea£ ers to go where they please, and signed by his 3lajesty's secretary of state." And Dundee looked at them with a mock"Damn those passes!" said the spokesman with much geniality. "I always thought we should have "destroyed them once we were safely through the other lines, but my friend declared they might help us afterwards in time of need." "And now, gentlemen, they are going to hang you, for shooting ts too honourable for spies and, worse than spies, assassins, for," concluded Dundee softly, "it was to shoot mc you two loyal Cavaliers have come." The shorter man was about-to protest, in hope of saving his life, but his comrade waved himto be silent, and for the last time took up the talk. "We are caught in a prety coil, my lord. Circumstances are against us, and we have nothing to put on the other side, except our word of honour as gentlemen. Neither my comrade nor I are going to plead for our liyes, though we don't fancy being hung. But perhaps of your courtesy, if we write our names, you will allow a letter to go to General MaeKay, and that canting Puritan will be vastly amused when he learns that he had hired us to assassinate my LordJDundee. He > will be more apt to consider our execuan act of judgment for joining the }i~Jignants. We got our passes by trick*, ry from Lord Nottingham, and they ia. Te tricked us, and, by the gods! the who'll affair is a fine jest, except the hanging'- I would rather it had been shooting, but ,- I grant that if MacKay had sent us oiv , SUCQ an errand, both he and we deserve to tang." And the Englishman shoulders as one who had said X.' s * as t "word and accepted his fate. He carried himself S6" bravely, with such an ingenuous eoxtnte. nallce an d honest speech, that Claverbotk se was interested in the man, and the Reference to MacKay arrested him in his purpose. They were not likely to have mc °° such an errand from Mackay's camp without the English general what they were about. Was Mack a y the man to sanction a proceeding s> ° cowardly and so contrary to the rules of war? Of all thingß in the world, was not this action the one his principles would most strongly condemn? Certainly their conversation, by the riverside had been suspicious, but then Grimond had made one hideous mistake before. It -was possible that he had made another. Graham had insulted his loyal wife through Grimond's blundering; it would be almost as bad if he put to an ignominious death two advneturous, blundering English Cavaliers. He ordered that the Englishmen should be kept under close arrest till next morning, and he sent the following letter by a swift messenger and under a flag of truce to the general of the English forces. Blair Castle, July 26, 1689. To Major-General Hugh. MacKay, Commanding the forces in the interests of the Prince of Orange. Sir, —It is years since we have met, and many things have happened since, but I freely acknowledge that you have ever been a good soldier, and one who •would not condescend to And t.Tiig Turing my mind, I crave your assistance in the folio Wing matter. Two inglish officers have been 'arrested in disguise, and carrying compromising passes; there is reason to believe that their errand was to assassinate mc, and if this be the case they shall be Irnng i early to-morrow morning. Albeit -we were rivals in the Low Country, and will soon fight our duel to the death, I am loath to believe that this thing is true of you, and" I wQI ask" of you thic last courtesy, for your sake and mine and that of the two Englishmen, that je telL mc the trufiv