IN KILT AND PLAID

Evening Star, Issue 11897, 27 May 1903, Page 2

IN KILT AND PLAID

[All Rights Rewired.]

(A Romance of the Gordofa Highlanders), Bx KAI.EU3dSCOPB. CHAPTER XVIII. THIS MUSTERING OF THE SFEA.ES. " Orderly." "Well?" " What time was Gordon to be here V "At five. It wants twenty minutes to that yet. And I say, comrade, if you don't want to have him turned at "the door, you'd better keep cool! If tho doctbr Bees you worrying yourself into a fever over it, your chum's visit's a goner." " I'll try, but it's the hardest of hard work." '" Like enough ; but seeing that you've waited for two months you can surely wait for the matter of a minute or two longer Without getting into a worry about it. Anyway, he won't come a bit sooner for all the ewearing you can do." The speaker, an orderly in the Cairo hospital, passed on, while his questioner, who was no other than Murray, sank back on his pillow with a weary sigh, and, closing his eyes, gave himself up wholly to his own bitter thoughts. Two months had elapsed since, on receiving Gordon's letter, he had determined to go to Alexandria and confound his accusers for once and all. But on the very day, before he had time to take even the first steps towards carrying out his intention, hu had beeu struck down by a malignant fever, and, within less than six hours afterwards, conveyed to hospital in i state of delirium. From that time up to within a very few days of the date of :.he foregoing colloquy, indeed, he had been fighting, and that only half consciously, a grim and protracted battle for life. Tho iroti hardihood of his constitution, however, prevailed in tho end over the forces of disease, and the time came at length when the doctor, with a sigh of relief, pronounced his patient out of danger. But with returning strength came also reviving recollection, of which the result was an access of mental trouble so great that it more than once threatened to terminate in disaster. In his excessively Weakened condition of body and mind he was altogether unable to combat this new rlauger, and it was possibly the recognition nf that faet that induced the doctor to iccedetohis repeated requests that Gordon should bo sent for. There might be danger in the excitement necessarily attending a meeting to which his patient appeared to attach such transcendent importance, the doctor thought, but it Would not be greater than that attending refusal, and so the required permission was given. " Murray." He opened his eyes with a great start and saw Gordon standing beside his bed. A quick flush rose on his worn white facej and with a feeble movement he held out bis hand.

" It Was good of yon to come," he said. " That'll depend on how we behave oursel's, I'm thinkin'," replied GordoD, trying to hide under an assumption of jocose cheerfulness the extent to which he was moved by the change which disease had wrought on his companion. "If my comin' here mak's ye waur I'm no' like to win back in a hurry." " But it won't,"'replied Murray eagerly.

"But it will, though," interrupted Sdrdon, as he seated himself, "ifyou insist on talkin' instead o : listenin'. Ye want news, d'ye no T Murray nodded.

" A weel, then, I'll gie ye't, as ye get your medicine, in spoonfu's. An' to begin at 3or ain doors first, I may tell ye that°we're oot that infernal camp, the hale o"s. Oor lot are in the Citadel." "Well?"

"Next thing is that a' oor wounded are aboot richt again. Captain Ross an' the lieutenant, Steven, are daein' brawly, an' maist o' the rest are oot o' the doctor's han's."

" Is Flynn out V "Ay ; an' he wasna three hours oot o' the hospital afore he wa3 in the guardroom."

"What for?" asked Murray, a momentary smile flitting across bis white face

" Weel, he gaed to the canteen, an' I jalouse he maun hae been tryin' to mak' up for lost time, for when he cam' oot o't he was as fu's" an egg an' wantin' to murder a wheen Egyptians. ' He sends a' guid wishes to yo, though, an' hopes ye'll sune be oot." " And Stuart V

'• He's a' richt, or rather as richt as e'er he will be ; for his mouth looks noo as if it were trovellm' richt roun' to the back o'a his neck. It's a guid thing he ne'er tfas a conceited chap, for ony beauty e'er he bad is 'ower the hills an' far awa',' sin' that fecht in the battery." "And Ugilvie—ha3 he come back?' asked Murray, in a tono that was constrained in spite of his efforts to make it otherwise. He had divined perfectly what his comrade's motive was in postponing immediate reference to what had transpired in Alexandria, and up to this point had been able to restrain his anxiety. But the effort was becoming too much for him, and his inward agitation showed itself in defiance of his attempt to hide it. "Ay, he cam' back a fortnicht syne," replied Gordon, watching the other keenly. " His father's a hantle better than he was, Hicks tells me, although the doctors dinna think he'll ever win ower that last illness o' his—be the same man as he was afore't I mean. . '

Murray was silent for a little, then without looking at his companion he asked:

" The Rutherfordß—are they " He stopped, unable to finish the sen tence.

" They're a' richt, sae far as I ken," said Gordon. " The last I heard o' them was that Harry was makin't better, but slowly, an' that the rest were a' weel."

" How long is that ago V " Aboot a month syne." " A month ! Has Ogilvie been down at Alexandria since he returbed ?" "Ay, ance. But ye needna let that bother ye, for though he gaed there a hunder times, see them.

" What do you mean V asked Murray in a startled tone.

"Just that they've left Egypt, "Whatf

"'There, poo, dihoa get into a flurry. They've left Egvpt; gane to Nice, They gaed aWa' or Ogilvie cam' back, sti ye sae it hasna turned oot sae bad, after a'." " I don't see it," said Murray in a tone of such utter dejection that Gordon felt profoundly moved by it, so strongly did i evidence the speaker's prostration. "I seems to. me it would be better to close the book, now add for ever."

"That's a wean that speakin', no' Elliot Murray," said Gordon in ft low, deliberate way. " Cab f6 flo* see that when they're not o' the country they're as near you as th ey are to Ogil via 1 He can na get to & ice a« easily ad he could get to A'exandria j an' when ye get on your feet again ye can iedd up this mess} get up, I'll be stvorn, by Rutherford himsel', wi', maybe, Ogilvie to help him. " Maybe," echoed Murray, with a curling lip. " Weel, maybe, el oct atf dot, I mean, for I canna bring tflysel' to think that he wad len' himsel' to downricht leein' an' intercepts a lassie's letters." " You may be right," said Murray slowly, " and perhaps I had better Wait. All is not lost yet, whatever devilish plot her father may have devised." JZ&sateg Qodojuintent on j

following up his advantage, "ye forgot] that wi' Harry in the Way o' mendin', tho time canoa be far awa' when ha'll want to Write, ah' then the tritth'll come oot in spite o' fluid Rutherford. Sae, yo see, whether ye win oot o' the service sune or oo' ye can raak' geylies sui-e o' bein' at the richt en' o' the bayonet in this tulzie." As he listened, Muf ray's face brightened, and the look of dull despair left his eyes. Catching something of his companion's hopeful spirit, ho begau to clothe tho future in less sombre colors than hitherto, and even to find foundation for cheerfulness in what had before seemed but one wide morass, limitless and unfathomable, of misery. They were still conversing when the doctor paid his customary visit to the ward, and so much was ho impressed by the improvement wrought in Murrav's condition by Gordon's visit that he gave the latter permission to enter tho hospital at any time. With that, and a cheery expression of confidence in the future, Gordon went back to the' barracks, leaving Murray, despite his' weakness, more hopeful than he had beeii even before his illness.

As a consequence, ho almost at once entered upon what proved to be, comparatively speaking, a rapid recovery, and within less than six weeks was back among his comrades, {jaler and thinner than they remembered him before he left them, but with all liis old firo and dash returning with returning vigor. In somo Way, unknown even to himself, his illness had benefited him, in that it had rendered him proof now against all the attacks of doubt, impatience, and jealousy, and he felt that, be the time of estrangement long or short, he could wait in confidence for its ending. Thus it was that what before would have fretted him to the point of madness, the absence of news from May, now resolved itself into a very minor matter indeed, a mere exercise of salutary patience. His first meeting with Ogilvio, subse quent to his return to duty, was attended on his side, at least, by a certain curiosity regarding the possible action of the Laird of Auchinearn during the lieutenant's visit 'to Scotland. That something had occurred to strengthen the latter's suspicions was made apparent to Murray almost as soon as ho had entered the room into which, as orderly, he had gone wich somo papers for Ogilvie'.s signature. The lieutenant, who was writing at a littlo side-table, looked up as the door opened, and, recognising his visitor, pushed away his desk, and, wheeling his chair sharply round, asked curtly : " What do you waut 1" "Your signature to those forms, sir," replied Murray, quietly. Ogilvie looked at the sheets, and at once proceeded to attach his signature to each. Then, with the hard look deepening on his face, he said : " You did not go to Alexandria ?" " I am not aware that I ever expressed to you such an intention, sir." " To me—no ; but you entertained such intention nevertheless ?"' " I did. Unfortunately my illness upset all my plans." " Plans for what ?"' " Frustrating a schemer." Ogilvie's face grew almost cruel in its iron repression of feeling he asked : " In whose interest V " My own." " Only your own V " I did not say so." "Ah ! I think I understand. You are still determined to prosecute that design, then V '•I am." " Are you aware that you are likely to get into serious trouble V "I am not; but, even if it were so. it would make no difference." " And—assuming that you have a chance of success—the thing is an absurdity, but let us assume it—do you think it a manly thing that you, a private soldier, should take advantage of a romantic and unexperienced girl V A gleam like summer lightning came and went in Murray's eyes, but not a muscle of his face moved. "I shall uot be always a private soldier," he said. " Answer my qnestion." "Then I say that I do not think it a manly thing to take advantage of even a dog. In this matter, sir, my ground is firmer than your own." " Explain, fellow ?" The speaker's voice had all at once sunk to a sort of husky temper, and under his knitted brows his eyes glowed like live coals. " That is easily done," replied Murray, his own countenance now as full of menace as was that of Ogilvie himself. " I asked the lady a question in tho full determination to abide by the answer, whatever it might be. Had it been other than it was I would still have accepted it, and never even dreamed of employing persecution or forco." " As I have done ?"

" As you are trying to do—not in your own person, certainly, but nono the less powsrfully in that of another." "YoU speak plainly, and I do not think that I can do better than follow vour example. I presume you will give me credit for meaning what I say V " I will."

"Very well—and please to remember that this is not a case of an officer speaking to a private, but one of ono man speaking to another about a matter that may cost one or both their lives. Do you understand 1" " Perfectly." "Then afso understand, once and for all, that I will not yield to you in this matter; that I intend to win, at all hazards, at all costs. A woman's word, for or against, is never final, so that I decline to accept it now. More than that, you who know the Ogilvies of Auchinearu, also know that they never relinquish a purpose. My purpose, a purpose sworn remember, is that I will win in this—and that if I do not, yoit shall not. You might have borno down her father ; you cannot bear mo down. I know whom my father suspects you to be—may add, too, that I have suspected the same thing all along—but if those suspicions were verified to-morrow, and the fact proclaimed from every housetop in Britain, it would make Ho difference to me, for even then I would be more than vour equal." " Is that all," asked Murray, in a low, concentrated voice." "That is all."

"Very Well. What I have to say can be put in fewer words. It is that I will hold and defend my own in despite of all yon can do, Alan Ogilvie, that I am not the man you add your father take me to be, and that I hold her father, voUrs, and you yourself in the hollow of "my hand. As soon as I can, as soon as these Soudan troubles are settled, I will leave the army —then you and the Laird of Auchinearn shall know how egregiously you have both erred in deemiug the bar-sinister rests on my name." "So be it; and till then let this be dpoken of between us no more." " I consent"

[ And with that they parted. This meeting, with its resulting coni verslation, was all that had been needed to | sweep away from Murray's mind the last j vestige of a doubt regarding Ogilvie's ( complicity in—if not, indeed, initiauon of '—the plot to separate himself and May. Well, it should not succeed. He could trust her in that, whatever she might think of him, she would always be true to herself. Ogilvie's chance of success was none the nearer for the fact that she evidently believed her lover unworthy, nor was its value at all likely to be enhanced by the advocacy of her father. Yes, he would wait. It was more than fortunate ior hi»

peace x>f mind that he reached that conclusion when he did, as with the passage of each successive week it was becoming more and moro apparent that active intervention by Britain in the Soudan quarrel was unavoidable. The crowning disaster which befell the Egyptian Government in the destruction of Baker Pasha's army near El Teb at last decided the longbalancod question in favor of war, and again the word was '*To the front."

Decision once reached, the British Government lost no tiuiß in translating that decision into action, and within a week of the receipt of the order from home a strong force, in which two Highland regiments were included, was on its way to Swz, there to embark for Suakim.

" Glory to my gran'father's pig, but it's mesilf that's afther thankin' Osman Digna for takin' us out av Cairo," exclaimed Flynn, when at length the transport began to move and the voyage was fairly begun.

Pat had quite recovered his old spirits and nearly all his old vigor, although his opinions regarding the inherent depravity of Egyptians were as proßounced as ever. "Then it's but little yo hao to be thankfu' for, Pat," said Gordon. " Osman Digna an' his H idendowas are like to be waur to thrash than Arabi's men."

"S> much the better ; we'll be able to give them passes to purgatory all the sooner. But where's this Suakim at all, at all ? Murray sez it's on the Red Say lithoral, av any av yez know what that mains.''

"It's only another namo lor a shore, a coast," put in Hicks. " Leastways, that's wot I 'eard Ogilvie say." "Sowl, but it's a mighty fine thing eddisation. Now, I'd have said it meant mighty poor lodgin's—that we were all to be lithered there like cows or pigs." " We'll bo lucky if that should prove the worst of our troubles," said Murray, who had come up in time to hoar the last remark. " From all I can learn, this is going to prove the ugliest piece of work the tartan has beeu seen in for long. They've heard of our coming, and the spears are mustering u earnest."

"Well, let them," replied Flynn, "an' now, seein' we're in this nice quiet corner, supposa somebody sings a song—you, Gordon."

"A' richt," replied Gordon, after a momentary hesitation. " But as I'm no' in a rantin' humor, ye maun just tak' the other kin'." -

LIGHTS OUT. .She had nmckle to hand un' mair to hide, Frae kith an' kin an' a'; She had lang to greet through ilk mcht-tide, Wheu her true luve gaed awa'— Wi'—" Wiuna ye trust me, lassie true? Ail' winna ve trust my name? The swore! ha? tnen me awa' frae you, 13ut luve will bring me harne." He had laid a kiss on her inou' sae sweet, He bad twined a rose in her hhir, An' aye she heard her heart repeat When her breast was sabbin' sair: "Oh, winna we trust him, lassie true? An' wiuna ye tr st his name? The sword has taen him awa' frae you, But luve will bring him hame." Eh, there cam' a day thit was ill an' drear, An' there cam' a bird on the wing; An' it spak' o' a fray on a fiel I o' fuar. An' it grat when it tried to sing: " Oh, weel ye hae trusted him, lassie true, An' weel ye hae trusted his name - But the sword has taen him awa' frae you, An' luve canna bring him hame." Low doon she crap' on the grass sae green, An' death ram' quick at hj r cry ; An' he kissed hor mou' an' he closed her een, An' he heard her wagaun sigh: "Oh, I hae trusted my luve sae true, An' I hae trusted his name— The sword has dune a' the sword can do, An' luve has taen us hame."

Almost before the singer ceased he was summoned by a corporal to execute somo duty, and at once left the group. After his departure there was a momentary silence, and then Hicks remarked :

"Wonder wot's gone wrong wich Gordon to set 'im singiu' so many ov them creepy songs ? 'E used to be the jolliest cove in the whole gang."

"So he is still," replied Murray,lightly. " You don't expect a man to be always howling out canteen ditties, do you Hicks V

"No," replied tho other, doubtfully « But " *

"Never mind the buts, man. Pat, you're next. Give us something operatic." But though he dismissed the subject thus carelessly, Murray had been impressed by the same thing in Gordon that so much disturbed Hicks. All along he had felt that Gordon bore in his breast some great and abiding sorrow or disappointment. Yet, though he knew this, and keenly as his sympathy was excited, the subject had never been spoken of between them. Gordon made no sign, and until he did so Murray could not. Nevertheless, t';e steady increase of gloom whi> hj had marked Gordon's manner of late had aroused in Murray a depth of concern so great that he felt more than half-inclined to risk giving offence by endeavoring to discover the cause. He resolved to watch Gordon narrowly and tako advantage of the first opportunity to offer aid, which, it might happen, would enable him to show, to some extent at least, that friendship with him meant more than an emptv name.

The short voyage was soon over, and, disembarkation effected, the regiment found itself at onco brought face to face with the grim realities of war. Suakim was almost in the position of a beleaguered town, so closely did the Arabs swarm around its landward defences. Daring beyond conception in their attacks, and animated by a very fury of fanaticism, they made themselves of all living men the mo3t to be feared by such troops as had been hitherto opposed to them. Their partiality, too, for night operations was an added source of weakness to the garrison, a3 the men were becoming steadily demoralised by a growing fear of their intrepid aud uniformly merciless foes. Needless to say that in these circumstances the appearance of the British troops was hailed with the wildest delight, alike by tie Egyptian soldiery and the inhabitants of the town.

"Say, Murray,'ave you'eard as we've to take over the outposts to-morrow nieht?"said Hicks on the day after their arrival. ' '• No. Is it so V

" Yes ; tnem garrison fellows 'ad seven sentries cut up last night, 'sides 'avin' most ov the- rest chased off n their posts. Blirny, wot a lot of wet rags them Egyptians are ! Why, a regiment ov old women ud do better!"

"So ; then, if that's the case, we're likely to have a hot time of it."

" Yes ; an', as usual, the Canteen Gang are to see 'ow far they can go into 'ell without loosin' ov themselves."

" What d'ye mean V

" Well, it seems that there's an outlyin' post—the farthest out ov the lot—called the White Rock. It's been rushed three times, an' Ogilvie 'as volunteered to 'old it every night for a week with the Canteen Gai 4» " Well done !" exclaimed Murray, with kindling eyes. " And since he has so good an opinion of us, we'll Btand by him while one of us can gasp." " That's just wot I told 'im. 'E- asked me to go round an' ask the chaps if they were willin' to volunteer. I said as you were the best man for that job, an' then 'e said 'e'd see you about it. You can count on me for one." x « All right* Scarcely bad he parted from Hicks before Murray encountered the lieutenant. He stopped and saluted.

"Hicks has just told me, sir, that you wish volunteers from the Canteen Gang to hold the White Eock outpost," he said. " Am I authorised to take the names V

"Adding, of course, your own," said Ogilvie, with a smile that was half a sneer

" Yes ; adding my own," replied Murray calmly. "It will immediately follow jfourson thelis^sir."

"That ia well;" said Ogilvie. Then with a sudden change of tone he added : "The Arab spears may settle our difference for us. I, at least, am willing to set my life against the chauce." " You willingness can be no greater than mine. Where you lead, I will follow; Wheh you turn back, I will go yet nearer to the enemy." . " Then get the men's names, and bring the list to me as soon as possible." And with the words he passed on. At this moment Murray saw Hicks making towards him at a run, waving something white above his head as h6 came. It was a letter. Snatching it from him, Murray glanced at it, then uttered an exclamation. It was from Harry. (To he continued.)