his goods were deposited--all that were saved. The coach was rigged
out, and reached the Cowgate in the usual manner, when it was
attacked and captured, in spite of stout resistance, by a party of
citizens. What of the goods remained in the neighbourhood of
Musselburgh were detained for the loss of the horses and coach. I
was now sick of Holland, and resolved to return, poor as I left it,
to the haunts of my happiest recollections. To be rich, and riches
still accumulating, in a foreign land, the idea of what we can at any
time enjoy--a return--makes it bearable. But poverty and
disappointment sadden the heart of the exile; and make the toil that
would be counted light at home, a burden that sinks him early in a
foreign grave.
"Did your partner make no mention of carrying off one of the townsmen
in the coach?" said the Treasurer.
"Excuse me, master, for not mentioning it," replied Walter. "He did
give me a full account of all that happened to you, and all you said;
and regretted, when he heard of your illness, what, at the time, he
was forced to do in self-preservation. When you fell out of the
stair he meant to enter, he knew not who you were--a friend he knew
you could not be, for only other two in the city had his secret.
That you were a revenue officer, on the look-out for him, was his
first idea. He was as much alarmed as you, until he found you were
insensible. Not a moment was to be lost. The goods were hurried
out, and you placed in the carriage, which was on its way from town,
before you showed any symptoms of returning consciousness. His first
intention was to carry you on board his lugger, and convey you to
Holland, then sell you to the Dutch East India Company, that you
might never return to tell what you had been a witness of that night.
The terror you were in, the sincerity of your confession, and belief
that you were in the power of the Major, saved you from the miserable
fate he had fixed for you. Pity struggled against the caution and
avarice which urged him to take you away. Pity triumphed--you had
been both play and school-fellows in former years. You were
released--you know the rest."
The wife and mother scarce breathed, while Wattie related the danger
the Treasurer had been in; he himself gave a shudder. All thanked
God for his escape. Wattie Brown continued in his employ, as foreman
over his work, and died about the year 1789. Widow Horner did not
long survive that night of intense anguish--she died of a broken
heart in her son's house. It was remarked by all, that, while Thomas
Kerr prospered, Walter Horner, who was at one time much the richer
man, gradually sank into the most abject circumstances, and died a
pensioner on his incorporation, more despised than pitied. And thus
ends our tale of Major Weir's famous night airings in Edinburgh.
WE'LL HAVE ANOTHER.
By JOHN MACKAY WILSON.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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