The Romance of War; or, The Highlanders in Spain, Volume 3 (of 3)Grant, James
General
The Romance of War; or, The Highlanders in Spain, Volume 3 (of 3)
Grant, James
Great Britain. Army. Gordon Highlanders -- Fiction; Peninsular War, 1807-1814 -- Fiction
"’Had you and others of your race struck for the right this day, the
Prince would not have been a fugitive in the land of his fathers!’
replied the other with an indignant scowl.
"’Oich! you are somewhat insolent for a cock laird or upstart gilly,’
said the abashed Campbell. ’But remember that freedom is before you if
you conquer; and if not, the hemp is grown—ay, man, and twisted
too,—that will hang you like a dog from the walls of Carlisle some day
to come.’
"’Better a thousand times to die on the scaffold with the white cockade
on my brow, than eat the bread of a foreign oppressor and usurper,’
replied my father heedlessly. ’But am I to encounter the sidier roy
with my hands, after the base manner of his people?"
"’No: take my claymore,’ answered Campbell; ’its temper and metal are
matchless. Luno of Lochlin never forged a better: and if you are brave
as you are impudent, I have no fears for you.’
"’But a dirk; what shall I do for a dirk?’
"’Take mine, Evan of Tor-a-muilt,’ said an aged Highlander stepping
forward, wearing red tartans and the bramble-berry badge in his bonnet.
He placed a dirk,—this very weapon with which I slew the wolves
to-night,—in the hand of my father, who started back with awe at the
sight of the giver. The Highlanders around shrunk back likewise. His
height was superhuman; his hair was white as snow, and a beard of the
same hue descended to the square buckle at his girdle. His eyes had
that keen and bright expression in them which seemed to harrow up the
soul, and read the inmost thoughts of those he looked upon. In his
bonnet he still wore that badge which all others had discarded for
safety,—the white rose of the Stuarts.
"’Strike well, Cameron, and you will have your revenge,’ said he, waving
his bonnet as he added, ’God bless King James the Eighth, and send death
to the Elector of Hanover!’
"’Shoot him! bayonet him! Forward!’ cried Cumberland in a tempest of
fury, and with the hoarse accents of rage. ’Blow out the brains of the
insolent rebel!’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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