God's Highlander (35 page)

Wyatt wondered whether he should have learned a lesson from his father's experience. Instead he was not only opposing the clearance policies of the landowners, he had also joined battle with the State-supported might of the established church. Wyatt stayed sunk in his thoughts beside the grave until he heard the elders of Eskaig making their way along the road to the school.

W
YATT'S CALL ON John Garrett at the factor's Corpach home began in exactly the same way as an earlier visit. He was let into the house by the same dour, vaguely disapproving, middle-aged maidservant. When she went upstairs to inform the factor of his visitor, Wyatt heard the same whisperings from the room when the servant returned downstairs to where Wyatt waited in the hall.

John Garrett had never been short on arrogance, but when he came down a few minutes later the arrogance was heavily tinged with disdain.

‘I never expected to see you back in the Highlands, Jamieson. Common sense should have told you there was no place for you here. Eskaig has a new minister, one who knows on which side his bread's buttered. There's no room for you, or the trouble-making church you now represent. In case you haven't heard, I've not only taken back the manse on behalf of the
established
church, I've also warned the villagers against allowing you to stay with any one of them.'

‘I haven't come here to quarrel with you, Garrett. I had hoped you'd raise no objection to me conducting a Sunday service in the kirk.'

John Garrett hooted with mirth. ‘You're on the wrong side, Jamieson. It's the
devil's
cheek you have. The church is under Kilmalie patronage. As long as I'm factor here you'll never be allowed so much as a square
foot
of Kilmalie land on which to preach. That leaves you with
nowhere
. Go back to Glasgow, Jamieson – and take that one-legged schoolteacher with you. There's no place for him here, either.'

‘I'm sorry you feel like this, Factor. Neither Alasdair Burns nor I will be leaving. We've both work to do, and since you've brought an Irish regiment to the district I suspect my presence in Eskaig will be needed more than ever before.'

John Garrett's anger flared up, but before he could speak Wyatt held up a hand to silence him. ‘Before you repeat yourself, I'll not
need
to preach on Kilmalie property. The late Lord Kilmalie left me the land on which the school is built, to do with as I will. I've brought a copy of the deed with me. The original is in the safe hands of Charles Graham. I had hoped you and I might have been able to reach some form of agreement on the use of the kirk. I perhaps should have known better. I'll be holding services in the school building until we can build a new kirk on the land. Good-bye, Garrett. I see no reason why we should meet again.'

Wyatt turned to go, but then paused. ‘By the way, Alasdair Burns has received a letter from Evangeline. She hopes to be bringing her mother home later this week. I don't think Mrs Garrett will take kindly to sharing your bedroom with anyone else.'

For once John Garrett did not come back at Wyatt with a ready reply, but Wyatt walked from the factor's house with a sense of failure. He knew he had been hoping for nothing short of a miracle in thinking he and the Kilmalie factor might have been able to talk matters over sensibly. Their mutual dislike created an insurmountable barrier between them. It had been a naive and forlorn hope. Wyatt's concern now was for the welfare of the people in the mountains who barred the way to the extra profit Garrett hoped to make from the introduction of huge flocks of sheep.

 

The expression of welcome on Mairi's face when she walked from the Ross cot and saw Wyatt approaching helped dispel much of the uncertainty Wyatt felt about his present role in Eskaig affairs. Running to meet him, she hugged him close, and her kiss drove all other thoughts from his mind for a while.

News of the Disruption within the Church had somehow reached the remote Ross croft, and Mairi's first words were of its effect upon Wyatt.

‘I never expected to see you up here so soon after the Disruption. What's happening in Eskaig? Are you still our minister?'

Wyatt told Mairi of his eviction from the manse and of Angus Cameron's appointment in his place. By the time they reached the door of the croft Eneas Ross had appeared, and Wyatt was obliged to repeat his answers to the same questions.

‘That's the gratitude of a Cameron for you,' nodded Eneas Ross sagely. ‘They've always been men you'd be better stamping on when you have them down, not extending a hand to help them up again. There's never been any gratitude in Angus Cameron's soul.'

As Eneas Ross was speaking, a number of unsmiling men emerged from the croft behind him. Wyatt recognised a few of them as cottars. Among them were men he had last seen at the funeral of the Highland centenarian Archibald Mackinnon. Many more were strangers of about Eneas Ross's own age – and the majority carried muskets or rifles.

‘Kinsmen of mine,' said Eneas Ross in the briefest of explanations. To the ‘kinsmen', he said: ‘This is Preacher Jamieson from Eskaig. He's a dissenter and has just been turned out of the manse by Factor Garrett.'

His introduction provoked a few grunts that might have expressed sympathy. They could equally have indicated lack of interest.

‘The preacher's an ex-army man. A captain in the Seventy-Second Regiment.'

There was an immediate change in the attitude of Eneas Ross's ‘kinsmen'. Smiles appeared on their faces for the first time, and each of them stepped forward politely to shake Wyatt's hand.

Eyeing the armed men, Wyatt asked: ‘Is there any special reason for this family gathering?'

Expressionless, Eneas Ross shook his head. ‘It's been a long time since we last met. Now seemed as good a time as any.'

‘I disagree.'

Wyatt's unexpected comment took his listeners by surprise, and Wyatt explained. ‘Factor Garrett returned from Glasgow a few days ago with at least a full company of an Irish regiment. They're garrisoned at Fort William.'

The concern shown by his listeners told Wyatt that, without exception, Eneas Ross's ‘kinsmen' were military men. They realised the implications of having Irish regular soldiers garrisoned in the Highlands. Many Irishmen were brought up on tales of Highland savagery. Scots soldiers had been used to put down the sporadic uprisings in that tortured country, and Highland regiments had proved particularly effective.

Wyatt pressed home his point. ‘If the Irish find a Highlander carrying
a gun, they'll shoot him on sight. You'd be wise to break up the family gathering and send everyone home.'

When none of the men would meet his eyes, Wyatt knew they had been plotting something. Whatever it was, his news had not caused them to change their plans. Wyatt decided he must drop all pretence and appeal to them directly.

‘Rumours are rife in Eskaig. Whatever it is you're plotting, I hope you'll see sense and forget it altogether now you know about the soldiers. '

Eneas Ross's face took on an expression of Highland stubbornness such as Wyatt had seen many times before, and his hopes plummeted.

‘You've probably been too tied up with affairs of the Church to take notice of what's been happening about you, Preacher. The Army isn't here to support only Garrett. Landowners are clearing tenants from Glenelg to Morvern. Emigration has become such good business that shipowners are bringing vessels into Fort William and offering five-pound passages to Nova Scotia. My father witnessed the hunting down of the last wolf in the Highlands.
I've
no wish to live to see the passing of the last Highlander.'

‘You can't fight the landowners, Eneas. At least, not
your
way.'

‘It's too late for any other way, Preacher. They're evicting and burning. You can't fight force and fire with words.'

‘Think about it very carefully, Eneas. You've already lost two sons. Let that be enough.'

‘Is dying as a man more to be feared than living as a coward?' Eneas Ross answered his own question with a shake of his head. ‘I'll take your advice kindly because it comes from a man who's faced death himself. You're still the same man, Preacher. If you weren't, you'd be living well in the manse in Eskaig now, taking Kilmalie money. Men like us can't change, either. It's what sets Highlanders apart from other men. Kings and generals have known it for hundreds of years.'

‘Nonsense! It's
pride
, Eneas. The sort of pride the Bible tells us leads only to destruction. Your family deserves more. Magdalene and Mairi –
they
deserve more.'

Wyatt made the plea as Magdalene Ross appeared in the doorway of the croft looking anxious. She was far removed from the confident and contented woman he had first met here little more than a year ago.

‘I was a soldier when Magdalene first met me. She understands. As for Mairi … you've said you want to marry the girl. Take her for a walk to the ridge and ask her again. She's talked of no one else these past weeks.'

With a jerk of his head to his ‘kinsmen', Eneas Ross led them back inside the croft. In the doorway he turned. ‘Don't take her too far off, Preacher. We can teach the Irish to respect Highland
men
. I wouldn't trust them with our women.'

Eneas Ross ducked inside the low doorway of the croft and was followed by his ‘kinsmen', leaving Wyatt staring after him.

‘Would you like to take that walk? You don't have to….' Mairi was looking at him uncertainly.

‘Of course I would. For weeks I've wanted to be with you again. Even when I should have had my mind on other matters. But I'm worried about what might happen if your father and the others clash with Garrett and the Army.'

‘So am I. Tibbie is, too. It's more difficult to know what Ma's thinking. She believes she's being disloyal to Pa if she doesn't agree with him – when we're around anyway.' Mairi took his hand in an affectionate gesture as they walked together from the croft.

‘She'll be even more disloyal if she doesn't try to stop him acting foolishly. She must know that.'

‘Ma hasn't been seeing things too clearly since Donnie was killed. He was the baby of the family, a wee bit special for all of us….' There was a break in Mairi's voice, and Wyatt squeezed her hand sympathetically. ‘One day Ma will be all weepie about Donnie; the next she'll be saying that if he'd been killed in Spain the family would have taken their revenge on the factor by now.'

They walked on in silence for some minutes before Mairi said: ‘All we've spoken of so far are Ross troubles, but how about you? Ewan Munro was up here a day or two ago to bring us the Munros' first calf. It's payment for the cow Pa gave them when they were given the croft. But what's happening to the Church? How do you see your future?'

Wyatt told Mairi of all that had occurred in Edinburgh, and of the plans for an evangelical Free Church of Scotland, stronger than the church in which it had its beginnings.

‘You
will
be staying in Eskaig?'

‘I hope so.' They topped a small rise and could see a waterfall tumbling down towards Loch Arkaig, some miles away, with the high peaks of Glengarry beyond. Farther away the peaks appeared to have been painted in pastel shades of mauve by distance.

Mairi stood in an unselfconscious pose, the dress moulded to her body by the wind. ‘It's a beautiful land, Wyatt, yet there's been so much blood spilled in these mountains. Why?'

Wyatt shook his head. ‘The beauty is God's handiwork. It's men who do the fighting.'

Mairi looked at Wyatt as though seeking something in his face. Then she moved towards him and kissed him, and his arms went about her.

When a need for breath made Mairi turn her face away, she stayed close, her head against his chest. ‘I'm frightened, Wyatt. Frightened of what will happen to us; to Pa and the boys – and to this land of ours. I feel as though I'm clinging on by my fingernails to everything I know and love.'

‘That isn't so. Your hold on me grows stronger every time we're together.' He tried to think of words to reassure her. ‘As for your father … I've deliberately exaggerated things to him, in the hope of stopping him from doing anything foolish.'

Again Mairi sought the truth in Wyatt's face. She found what she was seeking, but her kiss was briefer this time.

‘You're a very nice man, Wyatt Jamieson.' She pushed herself from him and, ignoring his protests, kept an arm's length between them.

‘Do you still want to marry me?'

Wyatt could hardly believe he had heard her aright.

‘You know I do. Wanting to marry you gets in the way of every other thought that comes into my head. I wake in the night and reach out to see if you're lying beside me, not wanting to accept I've been dreaming. I love you so much, Mairi.'

Mairi was silent for so long that Wyatt was afraid his confession might have frightened her in some way. He was wondering whether he should apologise, when she spoke again.

‘All right.'

That was all, just two words: ‘All right.'

He waited for her to say more. When she remained silent, he said in confusion: ‘What do you mean … “All right”?'

‘I mean all right – I'll marry you.'

Wyatt's mouth spoke two or three sentences before any words came out.

‘You mean it? You
really
mean it? You'll
marry
me?'

She nodded, his astonishment both delighting and amusing her. ‘Yes. I've learned to read and write. I haven't got any shoes yet, but I will. I won't disgrace you….'

Words were squeezed from her as Wyatt hugged her clear of the ground and swung her around in a circle. Then Wyatt kissed her and kissed her again.

Eventually she managed to push him from her. ‘Wyatt … listen to me. When? When do you want me to marry you?'

‘Soon.
Very
soon. As soon as I know what my future is to be.' Suddenly he sobered. ‘I'll know this Sunday whether or not I'll be staying in Eskaig. If Angus Cameron gets overwhelming support from the people, I'll have to leave. I'll return to Edinburgh and seek somewhere else to work.' Wyatt hesitated. ‘Would you leave the Highlands and come with me, if it's necessary?'