第35章

``Farewell, my father!'' murmured Isabella--``farewell, my --my friends!'' and shutting her eyes, as Edie's experience recommended, she gave the signal to Lovel, and he to those who were above.She rose, while the chair in which she sate was kept steady by the line which Lovel managed beneath.

With a beating heart he watched the flutter of her white dress, until the vehicle was on a level with the brink of the precipice.

``Canny now, lads, canny now!'' exclaimed old Mucklebackit, who acted as commodore; ``swerve the yard a bit--Now--there! there she sits safe on dry land.''

A loud shout announced the successful experiment to her fellow-sufferers beneath, who replied with a ready and cheerful halloo.Monkbarns, in his ecstasy of joy, stripped his great-coat to wrap up the young lady, and would have pulled off his coat and waistcoat for the same purpose, had he not been withheld by the cautious Caxon.``Haud a care o' us! your honour will be killed wi' the hoast--ye'll no get out o'your night-cowl this fortnight--and that will suit us unco ill.--Na, na--there's the chariot down by; let twa o' the folk carry the young leddy there.''

``You're right,'' said the Antiquary, readjusting the sleeves and collar of his coat, ``you're right, Caxon; this is a naughty night to swim in.--Miss Wardour, let me convey you to the chariot.''

``Not for worlds till I see my father safe.''

In a few distinct words, evincing how much her resolution had surmounted even the mortal fear of so agitating a hazard, she explained the nature of the situation beneath, and the wishes of Lovel and Ochiltree.

``Right, right, that's right too--I should like to see the son of Sir Gamelyn de Guardover on dry land myself--I have a notion he would sign the abjuration oath, and the Ragman-roll to boot, and acknowledge Queen Mary to be nothing better than she should be, to get alongside my bottle of old port that he ran away from, and left scarce begun.But he's safe now, and here a' comes''--(for the chair was again lowered, and Sir Arthur made fast in it, without much consciousness on his own part)--``here a' comes--Bowse away, my boys! canny wi' him --a pedigree of a hundred links is hanging on a tenpenny tow --the whole barony of Knockwinnock depends on three plies of hemp--_respice finem, respice funem_--look to your end--look to a rope's end.--Welcome, welcome, my good old friend, to firm land, though I cannot say to warm land or to dry land.

A cord for ever against fifty fathom of water, though not in the sense of the base proverb--a fico for the phrase,--better _sus.per funem,_ than _sus.per coll._"While Oldbuck ran on in this way, Sir Arthur was safely wrapped in the close embraces of his daughter, who, assuming that authority which the circumstances demanded, ordered some of the assistants to convey him to the chariot, promising to follow in a few minutes, She lingered on the cliff, holding an old countryman's arm, to witness probably the safety of those whose dangers she had shared.

``What have we here?'' said Oldbuck, as the vehicle once more ascended--``what patched and weather-beaten matter is this?'' Then as the torches illumed the rough face and grey hairs of old Ochiltree,--``What! is it thou?--Come, old Mocker, I must needs be friends with thee--but who the devil makes up your party besides?''

``Ane that's weel worth ony twa o' us, Monkbarns;--it's the young stranger lad they ca' Lovel--and he's behaved this blessed night as if he had three lives to rely on, and was willing to waste them a' rather than endanger ither folk's.Ca' hooly, sirs, as ye, wad win an auld man's blessing!--mind there's naebody below now to haud the gy--Hae a care o' the Cat's-lug corner--bide weel aff Crummie's-horn!''

``Have a care indeed,'' echoed Oldbuck.``What! is it my _rara avis_--my black swan--my phnix of companions in a post-chaise ?

--take care of him, Mucklebackit.''

``As muckle care as if he were a graybeard o' brandy; and Icanna take mair if his hair were like John Harlowe's.--Yo ho, my hearts! bowse away with him!''

Lovel did, in fact, run a much greater risk than any of his precursors.His weight was not sufficient to render his ascent steady amid such a storm of wind, and he swung like an agitated pendulum at the mortal risk of being dashed against the rocks.