Rob Roy (39 page)

‘Black-mail?—I do not understand the phrase,' I remarked.

‘Ou, ye see, Rob soon gathered an unco band o' blue-bonnets at his back, for he comes o' a rough name when he's kent by his ain, and a name that's held it's ain for mony a lang year, baith again king and parliament, and kirk too, for aught I ken—an auld and honourable name, for as sair as it has been worried and hadden down and oppressed. My mother was a MacGregor—I carena wha kens it—And the Rob had soon a gallant band; and as it grieved him (he said) to see sic
hership,
and waste, and depredation to the south o'
the Hieland line, why, if ony heritor or farmer wad pay him four punds Scots out of each hundred punds of valued rent, whilk was doubtless a moderate consideration, Rob engaged to keep them scaithless—let them send to him if they lost sae muckle as a single cloot by thieving, and Rob engaged to get them again, or pay the value—and he aye keepit his word—I canna deny but he keepit his word—a' men allow Rob keeps his word.'

‘This is a very singular contract of assurance,' said Mr. Owen.

‘it's clean again our statute law, that must be owned,' said Jarvie, ‘clean again law; the levying and the paying blackmail are baith punishable: but if the law canna protect my barn and byre, whatfor suld I no engage wi' a Hieland gentleman than can?—answer me that.'

‘But,' said I, ‘Mr. Jarvie, is this contract of black-mail, as you call it, completely voluntary on the part of the landlord or farmer who pays the insurance? or what usually happens, in case any one refuses payment of this tribute?'

‘Aha, lad!' said the Bailie, laughing, and putting his finger to his nose, ‘ye think ye hae me there. Troth, I wad advise ony friends o' mine to gree wi' Rob; for, watch as they like, and do what they like, they are sair apt to be harried
¹
when the lang nights come on. Some o' the Grahame and Cohoon gentry stood out; but what then?—they lost their haul stock the first winter; sae maist folks now think it best to come into Rob's terms. He's easy wi' a' body that will be easy wi' him; but if ye thraw him, ye had better thraw the deevil.'

‘And by his exploits in these vocations,' I continued, ‘I suppose he has rendered himself amenable to the laws of the country?'

‘Amenable?—ye may say that; his craig wad ken the weight o' his hurdies if they could get haud o' Rob. But he has gude friends amang the grit folks; and I could tell ye o' ae grit family that keeps him up as far as they decently can, to be a thorn in the side of another. And then he's sic an auld-farran lang-headed chield as never took up the trade o' cateran in our time; mony a daft reik he has played—mair than wad fill a book, and a queer ane it wad be—as gude as Robin Hood, or William Wallace—a' fu' o' venturesome deeds and escapes, sic as folks tell ower at a winter-ingle in the daft days. It's a queer thing o' me, gentlemen, that am a man o' peace mysell, and a peacefu' man's son, for the deacon my father quarrelled wi' nane out o' the town-council—it's a queer thing, I say, but I think the Hieland blude o' me warms at thae daft tales, and whiles I like better to hear them than a word o' profit, gude forgie me!—But they are vanities—sinfu' vanities—and, moreover, again the statute law—again the statute and gospel law.'

I now followed up my investigation, by enquiring what means of influence this Mr. Robert Campbell could possibly possess over my affairs, or those of my father.

‘Why, ye are to understand,' said Mr. Jarvie, in a very subdued tone—‘I speak amang friends, and under the rose—Ye are to understand, that the Hielands hae been keepit quiet since the year aughty-nine—that was Killiecrankie year. But how hae they been keepit quiet, think ye? By siller, Mr. Owen—by siller, Mr. Osbaldistone. King William caused Breadalbane distribute twenty thousand gude punds sterling amang them, and it's said the auld Hieland Earl keepit a lang lug o't in his ain sporran. And then Queen Anne, that's dead, gae the chiefs bits o' pensions, sae they had wherewith to support their gillies and caterans that work nae wark, as I said afore; and they lay by quiet eneugh, saving some spreagherie on the Lowlands,
whilk is their use and wont, and some cutting o' thrapples amang themsells, that nae civilized body kens or cares ony thing anent.—Weel, but there's a new warld come up wi' this King George, (I say, God bless him, for ane,)—there's neither like to be siller nor pensions gaun amang them; they haena the means o' mainteening the clans that eat them up, as ye may guess frae what I said before; their credit's gane in the Lowlands; and a man that can whistle ye up a thousand or feifteen hundred linking lads to do his will, wad hardly get fifty punds on his band at the Cross o' Glasgow—This canna stand lang—there will be an outbreak for the Stewarts—there will be an outbreak—they will come down on the Low Country like a flood, as they did in the waefu' wars o' Montrose, and that will be seen and heard tell o' ere a twalmonth gangs round.'

‘Yet still,' I said, ‘I do not see how this concerns Mr. Campbell, much less my father's affairs.'

‘Rob can levy five hundred men, sir, and therefore war suld concern him as muckle as maist folk,' replied the Bailie; ‘for it is a faculty that is far less profitable in time o' peace. Then, to tell ye the truth, I doubt he has been the prime agent between some o' our Hieland chiefs and the gentlemen in the north o' England. We a' heard o' the public money that was taen frae the chield Morris somewhere about the fit o' Cheviot by Rob and ane o' the Osbaldi-stone lads; and, to tell ye the truth, word gaed that it was yoursell, Mr. Francis, and sorry was I that your father's son suld hae taen to sic practices—Na, ye needna say a word about it—I see weel I was mistaen; but I wad believe ony thing o' a stage-player, whilk I concluded ye to be. But now, I doubtna, it has been Rashleigh himsell, or some other o'your cousins—they are a' tarr'd wi' the same stick—rank Jacobites and papists, and wad think the government siller and government papers lawfu' prize. And the creature
Morris is sic a cowardly catiff, that to this hour he daurna say that it was Rob took the portmanteau aff him; and troth he's right, for your customhouse and excise cattle are ill liket on a' sides, and Rob might get a back-handed lick at him, before the Board, as they ca‘t, could help him.'

‘I have long suspected this, Mr. Jarvie,' said I, ‘and perfectly agree with you; but as to my father's affairs——'

‘Suspected it?—it's certain—it's certain—I ken them that saw some of the papers that were taen aff Morris—it's needless to say where. But to your father's affairs—Ye maun think that in thae twenty years by-gane, some o' the Hieland lairds and chiefs hae come to some sma' sense o' their ain interest—your father and others hae bought the woods of Glen-Disseries, Glen Kissoch, Tober-na-Kippoch, and mony mair besides, and your father's house has granted large bills in payment,—and as the credit o' Osbaldistone and Tresham was gude—for I'll say before Mr. Owen's face as I wad behind his back, that, bating misfortunes o' the Lord's sending, nae men could be mair honourable in business—the Hieland gentlemen, holders o' thae bills, hae found credit in Glasgow and Edinburgh—(I might amaist say in Glasgow wholly, for it's little the pridefu' Edinburgh folk do in real business)—for all, or the greater part of the contents o' thae bills,—So that—Aha! d'ye see me now?'

I confessed I could not quite follow his drift.

‘Why,' said he, ‘if these bills are not paid, the Glasgow merchant comes on the Hieland lairds, whae hae deil a boddle o' siller, and will like ill to spew up what is item a'spent—They will turn desperate—five hundred will rise that might hae sitten at hame—the deil will gae ower Jock Wabster—and the stopping of your father's house will hasten the outbreak that's been sae lang biding us.'

‘You think, then,' said I, surprised at this singular view of the case, ‘that Rashleigh Osbaldistone has done this injury
to my father, merely to accelerate a rising in the Highlands, by distressing the gentlemen to whom these bills were originally granted?'

‘Doubtless—doubtless—it has been one main reason, Mr. Osbaldistone. I doubtna but what the ready money he carried off wi' him might be another. But that makes comparatively but a sma' part o' your father's loss, though it might make the maist part o' Rashleigh's direct gain. The assetts he carried off are of nae mair use to him than if he were to light his pipe wi' them. He tried if MacVittie and Co. wad gie him siller on them—that I ken by Andro Wylie—but they were ower auld cats to draw that strae afore them—they keepit aff and gae fair words. Rashleigh Osbaldistone is better kend than trusted in Glasgow, for he was here about some jacobitical papistical troking in seventeen hundred and seven, and left debt ahint him. Na, na, he canna pit aff the paper here; folk will misdoubt him how he came by it. Na, na, he'll hae the stuff safe at some o' their haulds in the Hielands, and I daur say my cousin Rob could get at it gin he liked.'

‘But would he be disposed to serve us in this pinch, Mr. Jarvie?' said I. ‘You have described him as an agent of the Jacobite party, and deeply connected in their intrigues; will he be disposed for my sake, or, if you please, for the sake of justice, to make an act of restitution, which, supposing it in his power, would, according to your view of the case, materially interfere with their plans?'

‘I canna preceesely speak to that—the grandees among them are doubtfu' o' Rob, and he's doubtfu' o' them—and he's been weel friended wi' the Argyle family, wha stand for the present model of government.—If he was freed o' his hornings and captions, he wad rather be on Argyle's side than he wad be on Breadalbane's, for there's auld ill-will between the Breadalbane family and his kin and name. The
truth is, that Rob is for his ain hand, as Henry Wynd feught
¹
—he'll take the side that suits him best; if the deil was laird, Rob wad be for being tenant, and ye canna blame him, puir fallow, considering his circumstances. But there's ae thing sair again ye—Rob has a grey mear in his stable at hame.'

‘A grey mare?' said I. ‘What is that to the purpose?'

‘The wife, man—the wife,—an awfu' wife she is. She downa bide the sight o' a kindly Scot, if he come frae the Lowlands, far less of an Inglisher, and she'll be keen for a' that can set up King James, and ding down King George.'

‘It is very singular,' I replied, 'that the mercantile transactions of London citizens should become involved with revolutions and rebellions.'

‘Not at a', man—not at a',' returned Mr. Jarvie, ‘that's a' your silly prejudications. I read whiles in the lang dark nights, and I hae read in Baker's Chronicle that the merchants o' London could gar the Bank of Genoa break their promise to advance a mighty sum to the King of Spain, whereby the sailing of the Grand Spanish Armada was put aff for a haul year—What think you of that, sir?'

‘That the merchants did their country golden service, which ought to be honourably remembered in our histories.'

‘I think sae too; and they wad do weel, and deserve weel baith o' the state and o' humanity, that wad save three or four honest Hieland gentlemen frae louping heads ower heels into destruction, wi' a' their puir sackless
²
followers,
just because they canna pay back the siller they had reason to count upon as their ain—and save your father's credit— and my ain gude siller that Osbaldistone and Tresham awes me into the bargain—I say if ane could manage a' this, I think it suld be done and said unto him, even if he were a puir ca'-the-shuttle body, as unto one whom the king delighteth to honour.'

‘I cannot pretend to estimate the extent of public gratitude,' I replied;'but our own thankfulness, Mr. Jarvie, would be commensurate with the extent of the obligation.'

‘Which,' added Mr. Owen, ‘we would endeavour to balance with a
per contra,
the instant our Mr. Osbaldistone returns from Holland.'

‘I doubtna—I doubtna—he is a very worthy gentleman, and a sponsible, and wi' some o' my lights might do muckle business in Scotland—Weel, sir, if these assetts could be redeemed out o' the hands o' the Philistines, they are gude paper—they are the right stuff when they are in the right hands, and that's yours, Mr. Owen.—And I'se find ye three men in Glasgow, for as little as ye may think o' us, Mr. Owen,—that's Sandie Steenson in the Trade's-Land, and John Pirie in Candleriggs, and another, that sail be nameless at this present, sail advance what soums are sufficient to secure the credit of your house, and seek nae better security.'

Owen‘s eyes sparkled at this prospect of extrication; but his countenance instantly fell on recollecting how improbable it was that the recovery of the assetts, as he technically called them, should be successfully achieved.

‘Dinna despair, sir—dinna despair,' said Mr. Jarvie; ‘I hae taen sae muckle concern wi' your affairs already, that it maun een be ower shoon ower boots wi' me now. I am just like my father the deacon, (praise be wi' him!) I canna meddle wi' a friend's business, but I aye end wi' making it my ain— Sae, I'll een pit on my boots the morn, and be jogging ower
Drymen-Muir wi' Mr. Frank here; and if I canna mak Rob hear reason, and his wife too, I dinna ken wha can—I hae been a kind freend to them afore now, to sae naething o' ower-looking him last night, when naming his name wad hae cost him his life—I'll be hearing o' this in the council maybe frae Bailie Grahame, and MacVitrie, and some o' them. They hae coost up my kindred to Rob to me already—set up their nashgabs! I tauld them I wad vindicate nae mon's faults; but set apart what he had done again the law o' the country, and the hership o' the Lennox, and the misfortune o' some folk losing life by him, he was an honester man than stude on ony o' their shanks—And what for suld I mind their clavers?—If Rob is an outlaw, to himsell be it said—there is nae laws now about reset of intercommuned persons, as there was in the ill times o' the last Stewarts—I trow I hae a Scotch tongue in my head—if they speak, I'se answer.'