第23章 SWANSTON COTTAGE(1)

I HAD two views.The first was, naturally, to get clear of Edinburgh Castle and the town, to say nothing of my fellow-

prisoners; the second to work to the southward so long as it was night, and be near Swanston Cottage by morning.What I should do there and then, I had no guess, and did not greatly care, being a devotee of a couple of divinities called Chance and Circumstance.

Prepare, if possible; where it is impossible, work straight forward, and keep your eyes open and your tongue oiled.Wit and a good exterior - there is all life in a nutshell.

I had at first a rather chequered journey: got involved in gardens, butted into houses, and had even once the misfortune to awake a sleeping family, the father of which, as I suppose, menaced me from the window with a blunderbuss.Altogether, though I had been some time gone from my companions, I was still at no great distance, when a miserable accident put a period to the escape.Of a sudden the night was divided by a scream.This was followed by the sound of something falling, and that again by the report of a musket from the Castle battlements.It was strange to hear the alarm spread through the city.In the fortress drums were beat and a bell rung backward.On all hands the watchmen sprang their rattles.Even in that limbo or no-man's-land where I was wandering, lights were made in the houses; sashes were flung up; I could hear neighbouring families converse from window to window, and at length I was challenged myself.

'Wha's that?' cried a big voice.

I could see it proceeded from a big man in a big nightcap, leaning from a one-pair window; and as I was not yet abreast of his house, I judged it was more wise to answer.This was not the first time I had had to stake my fortunes on the goodness of my accent in a foreign tongue; and I have always found the moment inspiriting, as a gambler should.Pulling around me a sort of great-coat I had made of my blanket, to cover my sulphur-coloured livery, - 'Afriend!' said I.

'What like's all this collieshangie?' said he.

I had never heard of a collieshangie in my days, but with the racket all about us in the city, I could have no doubt as to the man's meaning.

'I do not know, sir, really,' said I; 'but I suppose some of the prisoners will have escaped.'

'Bedamned!' says he.

'Oh, sir, they will be soon taken,' I replied: 'it has been found in time.Good morning, sir!'

'Ye walk late, sir?' he added.

'Oh, surely not,' said I, with a laugh.'Earlyish, if you like!'

which brought me finally beyond him, highly pleased with my success.

I was now come forth on a good thoroughfare, which led (as well as I could judge) in my direction.It brought me almost immediately through a piece of street, whence I could hear close by the springing of a watchman's rattle, and where I suppose a sixth part of the windows would be open, and the people, in all sorts of night gear, talking with a kind of tragic gusto from one to another.

Here, again, I must run the gauntlet of a half-dozen questions, the rattle all the while sounding nearer; but as I was not walking inordinately quick, as I spoke like a gentleman, and the lamps were too dim to show my dress, I carried it off once more.One person, indeed, inquired where I was off to at that hour.

I replied vaguely and cheerfully, and as I escaped at one end of this dangerous pass I could see the watchman's lantern entering by the other.I was now safe on a dark country highway, out of sight of lights and out of the fear of watchmen.And yet I had not gone above a hundred yards before a fellow made an ugly rush at me from the roadside.I avoided him with a leap, and stood on guard, cursing my empty hands, wondering whether I had to do with an officer or a mere footpad, and scarce knowing which to wish.My assailant stood a little; in the thick darkness I could see him bob and sidle as though he were feinting at me for an advantageous onfall.Then he spoke.

'My goo' frien',' says he, and at the first word I pricked my ears, 'my goo' frien', will you oblishe me with lil neshary infamation?

Whish roa' t' Cramond?'

I laughed out clear and loud, stepped up to the convivialist, took him by the shoulders and faced him about.'My good friend,' said I, 'I believe I know what is best for you much better than yourself, and may God forgive you the fright you have given me!

There, get you gone to Edinburgh!' And I gave a shove, which he obeyed with the passive agility of a ball, and disappeared incontinently in the darkness down the road by which I had myself come.

Once clear of this foolish fellow, I went on again up a gradual hill, descended on the other side through the houses of a country village, and came at last to the bottom of the main ascent leading to the Pentlands and my destination.I was some way up when the fog began to lighten; a little farther, and I stepped by degrees into a clear starry night, and saw in front of me, and quite distinct, the summits of the Pentlands, and behind, the valley of the Forth and the city of my late captivity buried under a lake of vapour.I had but one encounter - that of a farm-cart, which I heard, from a great way ahead of me, creaking nearer in the night, and which passed me about the point of dawn like a thing seen in a dream, with two silent figures in the inside nodding to the horse's steps.I presume they were asleep; by the shawl about her head and shoulders, one of them should be a woman.Soon, by concurrent steps, the day began to break and the fog to subside and roll away.

The east grew luminous and was barred with chilly colours, and the Castle on its rock, and the spires and chimneys of the upper town, took gradual shape, and arose, like islands, out of the receding cloud.All about me was still and sylvan; the road mounting and winding, with nowhere a sign of any passenger, the birds chirping, I suppose for warmth, the boughs of the trees knocking together, and the red leaves falling in the wind.