Great Britain -- History -- 17th century -- Fiction; Historical fiction
"Na, na," he said, with conviction, "nae fear. Thae things dinna come to
the lugs o’ the law. We didna dae ony hairm except to oorsels, and
there’s nane o’ us killed save Kennedy whae dee’d a naitural death, so
there can be nae word aboot that. Forbye, how’s the law to grip us?"
And he turned on me a face full of roguish mirth which looked oddly
between the bandages. "If they heard we were at Biggar Moss yae day and
cam after us, afore the morn we wad be in the Douglas Muirs or the
Ettrick Hills. We’re kittle cattle to fash wi’. We gang slow for
ordinar, but when aucht presses we can flee like a flock o’ stirlins."
"Then where are you going?" I asked.
"Where, but to Lancrick," he said. "There’s a fair comes on there
Monday three days, and the muir is grand beddin’. I didna ask your will
on the maitter, for I kenned a’ places the noo were muckle the same to
ye, provided they were safe and no ower far away frae the wast country."
"That’s true enough," I said, thinking sadly of Marjory and my miserable
plight. I had not told Baillie anything of my story, for I did not care
to commit it to such ears. But I was glad that we travelled in this
airt, for I had still in my heart a wild hope that by some fortunate
chance I should be in time to save my love.
About midday we came to Lanark Moor, where the baggage and shelties, as
well as most of the women and children, were left behind to find an
encampment. As for us, we pushed on to the town to see what was doing
and hear some news of the countryside. I had no fear of detection, for
in my new guise I passed for the veriest gipsy in the land. I was still
clothed in my suit of crimson, but the fight had made it torn in many
places, and all smirched with mire and bog-water. Also, my face was not
only stained with the captain’s dye, but the storms and dust of the
encounter had deepened its colour to the likeness of an Ethiop. I had
not a rag left of gentility, save maybe the sword which still swung at
my side. In this fashion I rode by Baillie’s elbow in a mood neither
glad nor sad, but sunk in a sort of dogged carelessness. The entrance
to the town was down a steep path from the moor, for the place is built
above the gorge of Clyde, yet something lower than the surrounding
moorlands. Far on all sides I had a view of the wide landscape, from the
rugged high hills of Tweeddale and the upper Clyde to the lowlands in
the west which stretch to Glasgow and the sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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