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I had listened in silence, but now I had a question for him.
"But if theMacDonalds holdTrotternish , how does it happen that you can be
here, when you are of theMacLeods ?"
"Oh, they let me be! Perhaps they think me not worth the trouble, for I am
seldom here. They know when I am here, and they know when I come and go, but
they walk a wide circle.
"Afraid? Not theMacDonalds . I know them too well to think they fear. I have
shed MacDonald blood, and this they know, yet I believe they like me a little
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and think perhaps I am better left alone.
"Someday ... ah, someday one of them may come seeking me. One or many. It is
to be expected."
We fenced and fought with this weapon and that, and I could feel my skill
growing, and my confidence. He was a great master. Whenever I seemed ready to
equal him he uncovered a new trick, a new stratagem, a new device. His eyes
would twinkle a little, and he would look at me slyly, enjoying the moment.
There came a night when we sat by the fire. Food was eaten, the dishes put
aside, and there was rain upon the roof. Occasionally a gust of wind whined
under the eaves. Firelight played onMacAskill's cheekbones, his shaggy brows,
and the old scar.
"Aye," he said, "there have been bloody times.D'you ken the Isle ofEigg ?
'Tisyonder." He gestured toward the south. "A few years back some MacLeod
lads, denied the hospitality of theMacDonalds , butchered a beef upon the
shore, but before they could flee they were come upon by theMacDonalds , who
whipped them brutally.
"Norman, he who was the eleventh chief of theMacLeods , sent out his fleet.
TheMacDonalds , seeing themselves outnumbered, took their whole population
into a cave and hid themselves. This was in 1577, if I recall. TheMacLeods
searched but could not find them and were sailing away when one of
theMacDonalds , impatient to see had they gone, came from the cave and was
seen.
"They tracked him by new-fallen snow, and when theMacDonalds would not come
out, theMacLeods gathered brush and seaweed from shore and hill and placed it
before the opening and set fire to it. All inside were smothered and killed.
Not a one of the nearly four hundred survived."
"Was that an end to it then?"
"Is it ever? Ah,Tatt , we are a vengeful people, we Scots! TheMacDonalds
waited and they watched and they lurked about, wanting a chance for vengeance.
It came on a Sunday morning. They slipped into the bay under the cover of a
fog and they barred the door of the church which was filled withMacLeods and
then they put a fire to the church and burned them alive, all but one woman
who somehow escaped.
"Word had reachedDunveganCastle where theMacLeods had gathered. Ah, how I
remember that day! I was there, mind. I saw it with my own eyes, and did some
of the killing that was done, too, for I lost a friend or two in that burning
church, and a girl who ... well, no mind to that. I was there.
"Our galleys were swift, and the church took long to burn, and they stood
about so that none might escape, beyond the one woman who did.
"Then when the church was down, and in embers and blackened stones, they took
their loot and returned to their own boats. But they had reckoned without the
tides, for their craft were beached high and dry by the ebb tide. And here
were theMacLeods coming, and their Fairy Flag flying, too.
"I was the first man ashore, leaping from the bow of our galley and rushing
forward. An instant and I was alone, surrounded byMacDonalds , and my claymore
was out and swinging as I charged into them!
"Then all theMacLeods were ashore and theMacDonalds fell back to the stone
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dyke protecting the shore lands from the sea. They put their backs to the wall
and they faced us! Ah, what a fight that was!
"TheMacDonalds weremen! Fight them I did, but I hated them not a whit! I
loved them for their strength and their valor, and the grand fight they made!
"It was sword and sword. I had cut two down in that first rush, but they
hadknicked me a time or two, and we set to it.
"In my time I have seen fights, but never a better one than there against the
sea wall in the light of a waning day. Again and again they charged us, again
and again we drove them back! Yes, we outnumbered them. We surely did, but
before it was over I was glad for our numbers, although we cut them down,
every man."
Again and again during the weeks that followed didMacAskill regale me with
stories of the fighting between the clans, for they were a hardy and ferocious
lot willing to fight at the drop of a hat, and to drop it themselves.
Several times we sailed toLews , once toEigg and toRhum . I became more
skillful at handling a boat in a rough sea. It was on one of these days, as we
tied the boat after such a voyage, that I suddenly realized I was fifteen
years old.
For months I had fenced, boxed, wrestled, walked, climbed, and sailed. The
food we ate was simple, indeed. The life we lived was along the shore of the
loch or on the sea itself, and I had grown, both in height and in strength.
Immeasurably had I grown in skill.
The sunlight had gone from the loch that day, and the wind was picking a few
whitecaps from the crests of the small waves. The reeds were bending and
ripples ran through the grassland as it bent before the wind. I had come up
from the loch with several fish, fresh caught from the cold water.
For a moment, as I often did, I stepped up on a small hillock near the
cottage and looked over the moorland. It was then I saw him ... a rider on a
gray horse, mane and tail streaming in the wind, the horse coming fast,
weaving and turning to avoid obstructions of rocks or clumps of heather.
"Fergus!" I called it, not too loud, but above the wind.
He came to the door, book in hand.
"A rider," I said, "and he comes with grief and danger in his arms."
He came up beside me. "Aye," he said, "when they come that fast it is always [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]