o far as regarded Alan, the best thing would be to lie
low, and let the King, and his Grace of Argyll, and the corbie
crows, pick the bones of his kinsman their own way. Nor could I
forget that, while we were all in the pot together, James had shown
no such particular anxiety whether for Alan or me.
Next it came upon me I was acting for the sake of justice: and I
thought that a fine word, and reasoned it out that (since we dwelt
in polities, at some discomfort to each one of us) the main thing
of all must still be justice, and the death of any innocent man a
wound upon the whole community. Next, again, it was the Accuser of
the Brethren that gave me a turn of his argument; bade me think
shame for pretending myself concerned in these high matters, and
told me I was but a prating vain child, who had spoken big words to
Rankeillor and to Stewart, and held myself bound upon my vanity to
make good that boastfulness. Nay, and he hit me with the other end
of the stick; for he accused me of a kind of artful cowardice,
going about at the expense of a little risk to purchase greater
safety. No doubt, until I had declared and cleared myself, I might
any day encounter Mungo Campbell or the sheriff's officer, and be
recognised, and dragged into the Appin murder by the heels; and, no
doubt, in case I could manage my declaration with success, I should
breathe more free for ever after. But when I looked this argument
full in the face I could see nothing to be ashamed of. As for the
rest, "Here are the two roads," I thought, "and both go to the same
place. It's unjust that James should hang if I can save him; and
it would be ridiculous in me to have talked so much and then do
nothing. It's lucky for James of the Glens that I have boasted
beforehand; and none so unlucky for myself, because now I'm
committed to do right. I have the name of a gentleman and the
means of one; it would be a poor duty that I was wanting in the
essence." And then I thought this was a Pagan spirit, and said a
prayer in to myself, asking for what courage I might lack, and that
I might go straight to my duty like a soldier to battle, and come
off again scatheless, as so many do.
This train of reasoning brought me to a more resolved complexion;
though it was far from closing up my sense of the dangers that
surrounded me, nor of how very apt I was (if I went on) to stumble
on the ladder of the gallows. It was a plain, fair morning, but
the wind in the east. The little chill of it sang in my blood, and
gave me a feeling of the autumn, and the dead leaves, and dead
folks' bodies in their graves. It seemed the devil was in it, if I
was to die in that tide of my fortunes and for other folks'
affairs. On the top of the Calton Hill, though it was not the
customary time of year for that diversion, some children were
crying and running with their kites. These toys appeared very
plain against the sky; I remarked a great one soar on the wind to a
high altitude and then plump among the whins; and I thought to
myself at sight of it, "There goes Davie."
My way lay over Mouter's Hill, and through an end of a clachan on
the braeside among fields. There was a whirr of looms in it went
from house to house; bees bummed in the gardens; the neighbours
that I saw at the doorsteps talked in a strange tongue; and I found
out later that this was Picardy, a village where the French weavers
wrought for the Linen Company. Here I got a fresh direction for
Pilrig, my destination; and a little beyond, on the wayside, came
by a gibbet and two men hanged in chains. They were dipped in tar,
as the manner is; the wind span them, the chains clattered, and the
birds hung about the uncanny jumping-jacks and cried. The sight
coming on me suddenly, like an illustration of my fears, I could
scarce be done with examining it and drinking in discomfort. And,
as I thus turned and turned about the gibbet, what should I strike
on, but a weird old wife, that sat behind a leg of it, and nodded,
and talked aloud to herself with becks and courtesies.