Puck — October 1, 1879 — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

PUCK. 475, ARCHIE GASCOYNE A ROMANCE OF SKYE, WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR PUCK, BY JOHN FRASER, AUTHOR OF A Tale of Two Worlds;" «Essays from the Westminster;" “Duncan Fenwick’s Daughters” “Fair Fragoletta;” «Scottish Chapbooks;" “A Dream of Lifes” “ Legends of Lorne “Lone Glengartney,” ete., ete., etc, (Continued. O, after a hasty toilette, he and Schneider went on deck, where the first person to meet them was our friend the Captain, “Good morning, Captain," said Archie courteously, “The same tull you, sir, and I hope that you will hev had a good night or rather day, for it iss noo goin’ one o'clock.” “One o'clock!" exclaimed our hero in sur- rise as he looked at his watch, ‘ Bless me, I had no idea it was so late, and my watch jastop 7 ped too, Why did you not have me knocked up?” Ye lookit so fairly wearied oot this morn- ing when yekemon board, and until an hour ago it wass so coorse, wass the weather, that I dud not like to pit you up; but where in kott's name did you'll get the dog—and a_peautiful dog it iss, and pure breed to the back-bone or my name's no ‘Tonald McTavish.” And the Captain stooped and patted Schnei- der, who took to him kindly, as dogs always do to sterling, honest natures, and wagged her tail and looked supremely happy. “That,” replied her master, “ is my faithful friend Schneider. In the hurry of coming away I forgot her, but she followed me to the boat, and when I wakened this morning there she was at the door, poor thing. “Aye, aye, ye kem away in a hurry, did ye? An’ where might ye come from, if it’s a fair question?” Archie flushed slightly and hesitated before replying to this inconvenient query, at the same time inwardly cursing the Captain's Highland inquisitiveness, “ Eh—what ? come from? oh, the other end of the island,” he managed to stammer out at last, and then, to change the conversation, which promised to get awkward, he continued: “ But look, Captain, what is yon object away to the north—just seen above the horizon and no more?” ‘The Captain looked, then called for his glass; “‘Hech, sir, but ye hev goot eyes, at any rate. I could hardly see her meself, If I’m no mistaken, that's the Clansman, and if it iss, she has made fine time. I thocht we would hev been in ‘Topermory pefore her so mooch as an hour an' more, but by kott she'll be there more as that pefore us—tam her.” . Saying which the worthy Captain hurried away to give some instructions to the engineer, and take up his position on the quarter-deck, Although the storm had passed it had left evidences of its recent presence everywhere, ‘The distant islands of the Hebrides, ‘Tyree and Egg and Coll, were only visible to a practiced eye, and to it only as thin, low banks of cloud, hard to be distinguished from the kindred dull gray, vaporous color of sea and sky, To their immediate left, and not many hun- dred yards off, towered the black, precipitous and gigantic crags of Ardnamurchan point, vooad whose black and wave-worn base the long unbroken swell, left by the storm, lashed and moaned; the water no longer beautifully and delicately green, but dark, black and for- bidding. Away up round the towering crags innumer- able sea-fowl screamed and screeched, darted and wheeled; while farther up, all but lost amid the dark, heav » dun-gray clouds, a soli- tary eagle remained poised, as if surveying with contempt, from his inaccessible altitude, the weak and giddy crowd below, To the westward far as eye could see stretched the great Atlantic, reflecting in its dull, heavy, leaden-gray hue the dull, sunless, leaden-gray sky above, Over the ocean, too, came a chilly breeze— raw, uncomfortable and damp—while on the distant horizon, and on every headland, hill and cape brooded a thick, gray, heavy mist. And it was out of this thick, gray, heavy mist, away far in the wake of the little steamer, that the great Clansman began slowly to emerge —growing gradually larger and larger, and more and more distinct, until, magnlied by the mist, its hull loomed vast and ominous above the horizon. ‘As McTavish saw the great ship rapidly over- hauling his own little craft, he cursed and swore in good, round Gaelic; for had he not calcu- lated on being in Tobermory two hours ahead of her? and now he would be two hours and more behind, for he had to call in ata “tamm'd small place called Altornish, wher’ ther’ wass no pier but only a ferry; an’ all that he had to ut out ther’ wass four pokes off meal and a ox off lobsters for the laird—tam him.” So the worthy Captain grew redder and red- der in the face, and his imprecations got louder and deeper, and all the while the great steamer kept growing larger and larger, until in less than an hour she was close upon their stern— so close that, fearful of being recognized b any one on board—the Captain ani iteward, at any rate, knew him—Archie retreated be- hind ‘the funnel until the C/ansman should pass, “Tam her,” cried Captain McTavish in a reat rage, ‘‘ iss she goin’ to run us down? By ott, it will be a pad day for David Hutcheson when she wull do that.” But the gallant Captain of the Clansman cherished no such bellicose intentions, Quite the other way, indeed, as no sooner had he got up parallel with the little screw than he slowed, “ By kott, what wull she be wantin’ now?” growled the astonished McTavish, but Archie, stricken with a sudden great terroy, crept stealthily away down to his cabin and hid him- self below, Had the body been discovered? Were the sleuth-hounds of the law upon his track al- ready? He shuddered as the terrible suspicion —amounting almost to a certainty—flashed across his nervous and excited brain; and poor Schneider whined in sympathy as it lickes limp and nerveless hands, Meanwhile the Captain of the C/ansman had inquired of McTavish, through his speak- ing-trumpet, if he would take on board a pas- senger who was anxious to get out at Altornish, The indignant McTavish shouted back that he'd be “ tammed if he would,” whereupon the answer came that it was a case of life and death; the passenger in question's mother was lying in Altornish at the pais of death, &c, low McTavish, with all his faults, was a warm-hearted man, and kindly as a woman, He knew that the C/ansman, a passenger and mail-boat, could not go so far off her course as Altornish, and even if she did, was of too heavy burden to get into the harbor, So, with many a deep growl and muttered imprecation, he gave the necessary consent, and in a minute more a small boat was lowered, into which two of the crew handed some person heavily cloaked and covered as if from the inclement weather, From the little port-hole in his bunk Archie could see all this, though, as he could hear no- thing distinctly of what passed between the two captains, he was left otherwise in complete darkness. But he had little difficulty in surmising the worst, and as the little yawl came rapidly danc- ing over the water, the black, heavily cloaked figure in the stern seemed to him his Fate—his Nemesis, Now, however, that the worst had come, or was just upon him, he nerved himself to meet it as a Gascoyne should, and though his face was deadly pale, and a strange light shone from his eyes, he was more composed than at any time since that fatal rencontre, And now the small boat had reached the steamer, He could hear them lower the little iron steps; could almost hear the stranger clam- bering up; and immediately after—very indis- tinctly—the muffled sounds of a hurried con- versation, as if between him and the Captain; and then the rope by which the men in the yawl had held on was cast loose; the engine resumed its thud-thud, and the little steamer resumed its way, ‘Ten minutes of terrible suspense followed, and at the end of that time a hasty rat-tat at the door startled Archie from his seat, “It’s me, man—and I want to see you im- meediately—Mister Gascoyne,” . a . Archie had been careful not to reveal his name, and now the Captain called him by it, laying significant emphasis on the words, ‘The game was up. : “ Mister Gascoyne!"—The words smote on Archie's soul like a death-knell, He had been particularly careful to hide from the Captain and crew his real name, and his traps had neither label nor address of any kind on them, He was too perfectly unknown to any of them, and was quite certain that they had never heard of him even by name, And now McTavish was at the door, and had called him “ Mister Gascoyne,” laying significant emphasis on the words, ‘There was of course but one inference; the stranger from the other ship had told the Captain all about him, and was now doubtless at the cabin-door along with him, waiting and anxious to arrest him, These thoughts take a long time-to tell, but they flashed through Archie's brain in an in- stant. All his suspicions were now confirmed, but he had nerved himself for the worst, and the sharpest ear could not detect the slightest aulver in his voice, as he answered the Captain with: “ Presently, Captain; presently,”” A moment's space sufficed to run the brush over his hair “tidy” his necktie and collar, and then he opened the door, Captain McTavish was alone, and, trifling as the circumstance may seem, Archie felt re- lieved, “Well, Captain, is there anything wrong ?” he inquired, to all appearance composedly enough, “Wrong, Mister Gascoyne ?—ay, ay, ye see I hev yer name for all yer bein’ so close—it’s for yourself to say that, but I’m thinkin’ there's plenty wrong when a young gentleman like you comicbooks.com