The Brotherhood of the Coast

Front matter

THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE COAST BOOKS BY D. LAWSON JOHNSTONE PUBLISHED BV W. & R. CHAMBERS, Limited. THE REBEL COMMODORE. With six Illustrations by W. Boucher. 3/6 ' The Rebel Commodore is a spirited and well-written story. The scenes at sea and on shore are dramatically presented, and strike us as wonderfully true to the life.' — Times. 'An addition not merely to Galloway literature, but to the fiction of the country.'— Galloway Advertiser. ' It is a good story, full of hairbreadth escapes and perilous adventures. ' — To -Day. ' The picture of the wild life of the smuggling population on the shores of the Solway Firth is admirably drawn, and the account of the doings of the buccaneering squadrons on the coasts of Scotland and Holland is strictly historical. ' — Stan dard. IN THE LAND OF THE GOLDEN PLUME : A Tale of Adventure.

With six Illustrations by W. S. Stacey. 3/6 'Most thrilling, and excellently worked out.' — Graphic. 'A genuine old-fashioned boys' book of the Kingston- Ballantyne stamp. It merits a place on the same shelf with the Coral Island and King Solomon's Mines.' — SCHOOL Monthly. THE PARADISE OF THE NORTH : a Story of Discovery and Adventure around the Pole. With fifteen Illustrations by W. Boucher. 3/6 'A lively story of adventure, and a decided addition to Polar literature.'— Spectator. 'Marked by a Verne-like fertility of fancy.' — SATURDAY Review. W. & R. CHAMBERS, Limited, London and Edinburgh. 'Jos !' he cried. ' We have forgotten Jos !' Page 305. THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE COAST BY DAVID LAWSON JOHNSTONE „ AUTHOR OF ' THE REBEL COMMODORE ; ' 'THE PARADISE OF THE NORTH ; 'IN THE LAND OF THE GOLDEN PLUME' with twenty-one illustrations BY %V. BOUCHER W. & R. CHAMBERS, Limited LONDON AND EDINBURGH Edinburgh : Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited.

CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. OF SIR NIGEL ELPHINSTONE AND THE HOUSE OF WAUCHOPE 7 II. THE RISING OF THE HILL-MEN 16 III. LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT 28 IV. OF MY MEETING WITH MR ROGER DUNCOMBE, LATE CAPTAIN IN THE COLDSTREAM REGIMENT 37 V. THE BOND OF COMRADESHIP 50 VI. ADVENTURES ON THE HIGH SEAS 59 VII. A DUTCH PRISON 73 VIII. PROVIDENCE AND THE FOG 82 IX. OF MY COMING TO LONDON 92 X. ALICE 101 XI. MY LADY MUSCHAMP 116 XII. BEHIND MONTAGUE HOUSE 132 XIII. HONEST GEORGE'S COMMISSION TO SCOTLAND 145 XIV. AN INTERLUDE ON THE GREAT NORTH ROAD 156 XV. MY LADY BREAKS THE MIRROR 169 XVI. HOW NORTHWARD STAR SHOWED TROUBLED FATE. ...184 XVII. POISON AND ANTIDOTE 197 XVIII. THE WANDERER RETURNS 209 XIX. THE BRIG 'BEATRICE' OF BRISTOL 222 XX. ROGER'S STORY— AND WHAT FOLLOWED 236 XXI. THE HOME OF THE BROTHERHOOD 252 XXII.

Chapter I. Of Sir Nigel Elphinstone And The House Of Wauchope

HIS I begin to write within my house of Wauchope in the back-end of the year of grace 1716, being now in my seventy-second year, and as clear in mind, if scarcely so hale in body, as in the days of my prime. To many it may seem strange that, after the lapse of half a century, I should take up my pen to write the history of the travels and adventures of my youth. Such reasons as I have are these — first, that the whim hath entered into me ; and, second, that great events have crowded so fast upon each other's heels since Charles Stuart danced at Whitehall, that to the present generation many of the less notable occurrences are unknown. These, so far as I was concerned in them, I mean to relate in their proper order, setting down nought in malice, and only the doings wherein I bore a part. For, with the wise Florio, I would have every man write what he knoweth, and no more.

Of the house of Elphinstone of Wauchope, it is needless to Ol? SIR NIGEL ELPHINSTONE. speak, for its story is the story of Scotland. As a family of distinction it dates from the reign of the second Robert, grand son of the Bruce. It hath been connected with every noble deed in the country's annals, and with several that cannot be called noble ; and its cadets, in the last century, were to be found wherever there was fighting to be done and honour to be gained. The district of Wauchope, on the borders of the Lothians and the Merse, was the cradle and is still the home of the race. You may judge of the extent of the barony over which my forefathers exercised their right of pit and gallows, from the fact that in the old days of Border warfare it furnished its lord with a hundred men-at-arms. The Tower — built upon the brow of an eminence, encompassed on every side by the green hills stretching away until on the east and south they merge into the cornland, and on the west into the bleak mountain moors — doth occupy a post that in troubled times was of much importance.

On three sides the hill on which it stands is steep and difficult to climb ; the base of the fourth is protected by a swift-running tributary of the Leader Water, crossed by a little wooden bridge ; and the Tower itself is strong, and its walls are thick. Three cannon, of no great weight, cover its approaches. On the other side of the Wauchope Burn is the village of a few houses clustered around the kirk ; beyond the kirkyard, on the face of the hill, are the manse and the school ; and one or two upland farmhouses are to be seen in the far distance. And in this parish was I born in the year of our Lord 1645. My father, Sir Nigel Elphinstone, was twelfth of the line in direct descent. In early life he served as a soldier in the Low Countries ; and there, at the siege of Maestricht in 1632, he had the good-fortune to save the life of one George Monk, of Lord Vere's regiment of foot, a young officer destined to become the first man in the two kingdoms.

Ever thereafter, in the Netherlands and through all the troubles of the Civil War, in which for a space they were opposed, they remained steadfast friends. My father held a command in the army of the Covenant ; and after the battle of Longmarston Moor he met, wooed, and married the daughter of a Yorkshire Cavalier baronet who had been killed in that action, little heeding the forebodings of his stricter companions that nothing but evil could result from his alliance to a Malignant. But the gloomy prophecy came to nought, for I was born in the year follow ing — my birth, as my mother died soon afterwards, being the chief result of the union. Colonel Elphinstone fought with the Scots against Cromwell at Dunbar and in the subsequent battles of the campaign; rode with Charles Second into England, and was knighted by that monarch ; and was wounded so sorely at Worcester that to the hour of his death he was never himself again.

Then, remarking that his fight ing days were over, he made his peace with the Common wealth through General Monk, now Governor of Scotland, and retired to Wauchope. Here, on one occasion, he was visited by the great soldier. Although at the time I could have been no more than ten years old, I can recall to memory as if it were yesterday the brave cavalcade of Ironsides as they crossed the little bridge and wended their way up the hill towards the Tower, their accoutrements glancing brightly in the sun. At their head was Monk in person — a short, thick-set man of middle age, with a heavy and impassive face, overhanging brows, and eyes that permitted little to escape them ; plainly a born leader of men — one, I take it, to whom the words of Mr Andrew Marvell might well apply : To speak not forward, but in action brave ; In giving generous, and in council grave.

When my father had bade him welcome, and the greetings were over, he chanced to observe me ; and with a rare smile he leaned forward and patted me on the shoulder. '' Thine only son, I suppose, friend Nigel 1 ' he asked of my father. ' A promising lad, by his looks ; and with a bit of thy soldierly spirit, unless I 'ni cheated.' Turning quickly to me : ' Shouldst like to be a soldier, my boy .' I replied that I should like it well — adding, with a look at the grim Ironsides around, 'And one like you.' ' 'Tis a good ambition,' said he, with a quiet smile, ' and may come to thee in time.' This as he crossed the threshold of the great hall. Again he noticed me as he was leaving. He was already in his saddle, and his men were forming behind him ; but, motioning me towards him, he shook me by the hand in his kindly manner. ' Farewell, my little general,' he said. — ' Farewell, Sir Nigel, and forget not thy promise to visit me at Dalkeith. — Soldiers — -march !' And then he placed himself at the head of his escort, and departed on his way to Berwick, whither he was bound.

Little did I imagine, as I watched him in admiring wonder until he had disappeared from my view, that eleven years were to elapse before I should again see him ! It was about this time that my cousin David, son of my father's younger brother, came to Wauchope for good. My uncle, dying somewhere in Germany, in which country he had married and settled, with his last breath commended his offspring to the care of his brother. In due course David arrived, speaking a strange medley of broken English and rough-sounding German : a quiet boy with wisdom beyond his years, and little of the high spirits that were mine in so abundant a measure. He was my senior by ten months, and yet I think my influence over him was greater than his over me. Together, as we grew up to manhood, we gleaned our stock of learning from the Reverend Mr Peter Fleming, minister of our parish ; and together we rode over the hills to visit our kinsman, Cochrane of Burnfoot, and his little daughter Anne.

Of the learning, at least on my part — for with David it was different — it were better to be silent. Mr Fleming, indeed was a man of erudition ; Greek and Latin, not to speak of Hebrew, were as familiar to him as his own tongue ; but for the rest, either I could not or would not learn, and all his efforts to instruct me were in vain. Of the mathematics he knew little, of the modern languages of Europe nothing ; these, as it happened, were the branches of study for which 1 had the most affection ; and in them, under the tutelage of my father, I made some progress. But with the minister and his classics I waged continual war ; in spite of which I loved him dearly, and not the less so that his frequent ailments were the excuses for many an idle hour. Sir Nigel and he had in common a strong liking for old folios.

Now that the health of the former had broken, he was used to sit by the chimney-corner of the great hall for hours at a bout, with a volume of Chaucer or Will Shakespeare on his knee, and fret ful if he were disturbed in his reading or meditation. At these times, then, it was my custom and David's, when we had occasion to enter the hall, to do so by a narrow and intricate staircase — in days past used for such a purpose as the despatch of secret messages — leading up from one of the rear bastions of the Tower. Its existence was known to few even of the household ; its doorway was cunningly hidden from sight behind the tapestry of the far wall ; and its outside portal, being upon the rocky side, was inaccessible save to those aware of its exact locality, and with heads of the strongest. Entering the hall in this manner, often have I found my father and the minister in hot debate over a passage in one of the old poets ; but, oddly enough, I never heard that the one had success in converting the other to his views.

Soon, however, they had more weighty matters to discuss. Early in Charles Second's reign the unhappy religious troubles began ; and Mr Fleming, being a man of peace and more devoted to his books than to his flock, was one of the few who elected to submit to the Government rather than leave their manses. What if his parishioners were mostly of the strictest sect of Covenanters, and therefore ready to ban all but their own version of the true faith ? He had known for long that they regarded him as a benighted Erastian, and that their contempt and dislike could hardly be increased by any thing he did. So, with the calmness of philosophy, he preached twice every Lord's Day to the four bare walls of the kirk, while those under his spiritual charge gathered on lonely hillsides to worship God in the more saintly company of pastors who had suffered for their belief.

My father, though a man of deep religious feeling, espoused neither side. ' I have seen,' said he, ' the issue of taking up arms against an anointed king, and for a covenanted king I have become what I am, useless for good or ill. And there, for me, the argument rests.' And so it rested — I, for one, caring not to disturb it — until the autumn of 1666. My cousin David had returned from Edinburgh — where he studied law with the design of entering the Faculty of Advocates — with great stories of the brutality and cruel conduct of the soldiery throughout all the Lowlands, and of the miserable fate of the poor hill-folk who had dared to resist them. In the hottest words he denounced the Government for its injustice, and spoke largely of a national rising, like that of the Solemn League and Covenant, urging my father to allow me or him to join it at the head of our people.

To all which Sir Nigel had but one answer : that in time the evil would bring its remedy, whilst an act of open rebellion could result but in one way. In his old age and broken health, he was all for peace. For me, at first, I had little interest in my cousin's tales ; I regarded the hill-folk as fanatics, who should be indulged, or, failing that, put down with as much kindness as might be ; and as for rebellion, I laughed at the idea. Alike with hard arguments and appeals to my conscience and heart, David strove to make me see with his eyes ; until at last, in despair, he was forced to give up the thankless task. But the time came when it seemed likely that what his efforts could not accomplish would be done by simpler means. I have made mention of Anne Cochrane, our kinswoman and early playmate, and the sharer of all our boyish secrets and desires.

She was now grown into womanhood, and in my eyes the loveliest maiden from Channelkirk to Melrose : tall, beautiful to look upon, with a grace inherited from many generations of Cochranes, Scotts, and Elphinstones. Suitors she had in plenty, myself amongst the number. What wonder if, perceiving her eyes brighten and her cheeks kindle whenever I arrived at Burnfoot, with David or alone, I put my hopes high? Others were of the same belief; for all over the country-side it was whispered that ' there was like to be a wedding sune between Burnfoot's dochter and young Wauchope ;' and, in the conceit that it was even so, I was in no hurry to declare myself. With her father, at this season, she visited Wauchope ; and what should David do, the first evening we were gathered together, but relate a story he had heard that day of some conventicle, near at hand, being sur prised and scattered by a troop of Dalzell's dragoons, and the captives inarched off to certain death.

The two elders, who were of a like mind concerning the troubles, looked at each other and kept silence ; but the girl listened with eagerness, and broke out quite fiercely the moment my cousin was done. ' It is a shame that such things should happen !' she cried. ' Surely it is time for the country to rise, if men cannot listen to the Word without being ridden down and shot, their houses harried, women torn from their bairns and carried away to the Tolbooth in Edinburgh, and old men and children ill-used alike ! Oh ! if I were a man, do you think I could sit quietly at home while all this was going on ? Do you think I should not venture all to strike one blow for the cause V I thought — with what truth 'twere hard to say — that she addressed herself particularly to me, as is probable enough, indeed, on account of my suspected malignancy ; but my sole idea was that I had seldom seen her look more beautiful.

That she was a strict Presbyterian I had known, but is until then I was unaware of the depth of her conviction and her courage of expression ; and so, astounded as I was by her vehement anger, I knew not what to think of her out burst. David, of course, smiled in her face with the heartiest approval; and my father, somewhat disconcerted by the turn of the conversation, hastened to break in upon it. ' Then the soldiers are in this country at last V he re marked, for we had seen little of them so far. 'Yes,' replied David; adding, with some bitterness, 'and we 're sure to have our fill of them before long. Noncon formity, as they call it, is strong hereabouts. There are fines to be levied, we may take it — ay, and lives to be lost — before we see the last of them ! ' ' And our lads are none of the gentlest,' Sir Nigel made answer. ' 'Tis a black prospect, David, but Well, nephew, we '11 hope for the best.' No more was said, but I carried with me to my chamber that night thoughts that hitherto had been strangers to my mind.

Within twenty-four hours David's dismal prognostic was in a fair way of being fulfilled. First, in the morning, a troop of dragoons arrived at the village and there quartered themselves, and from the minister we heard that inquiries had already been set afoot anent the more notorious of the recusants. Later in the day we had a visit from their com mander, one Cornet Langdale, a young officer of most agreeable manners and address ; and learning from him that his stay was likely to be of some duration, we had no alternative but to offer him the hospitality of the Tower. This he accepted, and — his politics apart — I must admit that we were the merrier of his company. It had also its dangers. For in those days, and especially in the southern Lowlands of Scotland, one was allowed but little latitude in matters of religion ; if you were not a Covenanter — and that of the most extreme sect — it followed as a matter of course that you were a Prelatist.

For high spirited and honourable men, wishing to stand aloof, there was no neutrality. Sooner or later, by the insults or menaces of one party, they were driven into the opposite camp. Already, at Wauchope, we had heard from outspoken retainers vague comments on our inaction, and prophecies of the grave fate in store for us in another world if we deserted the Cause of the Righteous ; I myself, on one occasion, had been compelled to chastise a man for his presumption in thus speaking of the Elphinstones. Now, however, the situation was like to change. At home, day by day, we had in Cornet Langdale the presence of a preacher of The holy text of pike and gun, one of those who, in the words of the ingenious Samuel Butler — though assuredly he applied them not to the cornet's party — would Decide all controversies by Infallible artillery ; And prove their doctrine orthodox By apostolic blows and knocks.

Then, in his absence, we had David arguing and plotting in the service of the malcontents, aided in some degree by Anne Cochrane. My father, the head of the house, was for neither ; and even as to myself, events that had happened and were happening daily had somewhat shaken me. Every where the soldiers outraged all that the people held most sacred ; life and liberty alike were at the mercy of the meanest trooper; and to our remonstrances the cornet had one reply : ' If you disobey the Government, you must bear the consequences.' All that the miserable victims could do was to suffer in patience or, as a final resource, to flee to the moors, there to be hunted down and shot. And suffer they did, upheld by their religion, until it was no longer possible ; and then — retaliation, the prison, and the scaffold.

Chapter II. The Rising Of The Hill-men, Aily

throughout the late autumn and early winter of this year, did the soldiers of the king become more overbearing and insolent, and daily did the temper of the people grow worse. No longer did we ask ourselves how it would end, for well we knew that only one ending was possible. At last the blow fell. Driven desperate by the tyranny of Sir James Turner — an officer bred in the school of Dalzell, and worthy of his master — the hill-folk of Galloway and Dumfries rose in arms and made him prisoner ; and, unfurling again the blue banner of the Covenant, set out upon their march to Edinburgh. The first news of the revolt was brought to us by a trooper. We were at dinner in the great hall ; according to our Scots custom, the outer gate was closed and locked ; and Langdale was entertaining us with an account of life at the great university of Oxford, at which he had sojourned for some years.

Suddenly his story was broken in upon by the loud noise of knocking and shouting without ; and, when the gate had been opened, we heard somebody demanding to see the cornet. He rose at once. ' I trust you will pardon me leaving you for a minute, sir,' said he, bowing to my father, ' but I 'm afraid this man's business cannot wait, else he had scarcely been so eager to disturb an officer at dinner.' He was absent for a considerable time, and when he returned he said nothing, but sat in thoughtful silence. The dinner over, he beckoned me outside. 'Take you all in all, Mr Elphinstone, you're less of a malcontent than your relations, if you'll forgive me saying so,' he began ; ' and so I think I can trust you with my news. The Nonconformists of the south have risen, then, and have had the inconceivable folly — to say the least of it — to imprison Colonel Turner and declare his majesty dethroned !

Now, 'tis said they are marching north, with the design of attacking Edinburgh, and it falls to me either to hold this place or to retreat upon the capital. I should like to do you a service in return for your hospitality ; but, as I doubt not you know, Sir Nigel's tenants are as disaffected as his neph well, as the men of Galloway. I believe you 've some sense, and so I warn you fairly that if I find one man of them in communication with the rebels, I '11 show them my power. I speak to you now that you may tell your cousin to keep a quieter tongue : Covenanter though he be, I should little like to see his head ornamenting the Nether bow Port. For myself, I have sent out for further news, and ordered my men to rendezvous within the village ; if a general rising seems probable, I '11 hold the Tower to the last ; and if not, I shall join the colonel as soon as I may.

Meanwhile, not a word of this : the news will spread soon enough of itself.' He was right, for before evening it was common talk in the village, and at the supper-table David told it unto the elders and Anne. By good-fortune Langdale was not present. Sir Nigel frowned and bit his lip, as was his custom when reflecting deeply ; Burnfoot looked at him, as if for guidance ; and Anne glanced now at me and again at David, but opened not her mouth. We also were silent, awaiting the expression of my father's opinion as that of the wisest among us, and the one most fit to deliver a true judgment. At length he spoke. ' This is the saddest news, alike for Scotland and for our faith, that I have heard for many a day. What will be the outcome of it I know not, but there is much to fear. Blood will be shed ; from many a village and landward town the smoke of burning houses will rise to heaven ; bairns will be fatherless ; there will be weeping and wailing in hundreds of homes.

I have known, in my day, what it is to take part in a successful rebellion, and I can guess the issue of an unsuccessful one, such as this is certain to be.' 'Certain to hei' repeated David. 'Surely, sir, Scotland hath not changed so vastly in a quarter of a century, and for the worse, that she cannot repeat the glorious deeds of the Solemn League and Covenant V Sir Nigel drew himself up in his chair with some im patience. 'I should not have imagined,' said he, 'that a nephew of mine was so little acquainted with his country's history. Then, Scotland was at one : now, the Covenanters are but a faction. Then, her armies were commanded by the best soldiers of the age ; by whom are they commanded now 1 — by preachers, I doubt not, and what they did at Dunbar is matter of history. Then, England was divided, and the king had little power : now, she is united, aud Charles is absolute.

That is what I mean, David, when I say that this rising is foredoomed to failure. And, if I have any authority left, not an Elphinstone shall embark in so fool hardy an enterprise. — -To you, Nigel, I look to support me in my commands.' It was seldom he spoke so firmly, but by his tone it was plain that he had considered the matter, and meant to be obeyed. Not sorry to be relieved of the difficulty of deciding for myself, I bowed ; but David, distempered by his repulse, sat biting his lips in deep thought. Then, as the silence was becoming burdensome, Burnfoot remarked that he had been thinking over the news, and had come to the decision to retire to Edinburgh with his daughter until the troubles were over. Neither at Wauchope nor at Burnfoot would he feel quite safe, he said. Anne appeared not to be greatly pleased with the project, but it was warmly commended by Sir Nigel — who, indeed, as I was afterwards informed, had himself suggested it to his friend as the best plan in the event of a disturbance arising. 'Ye see, Nigel,' said the laird to me, in an aside, 'it's no that I wadnae prefer to bide on Gala Water, but there 's Anne to consider.

She 's sic a spitfire, that, if ance she gets among the Covenant lads, it's hard to say if she winnae mount the blue cockade and be for marchin' at their head into Edinburgh. And that, certes ! is a thing that 's no to be thocht o'!' David, in the meantime, was engaged in earnest consultation with my father, and from his countenance I could gather that the elder's advice to him was not of the most pleasant. So I took the first opportunity of permitting him to unbosom himself of his troubles to me ; and then I heard that Sir Nigel had gotten from him his promise that he would do nothing without his consent — neither join the Covenanters nor hold any communication with them. ' If that be all, cousin,' said I, ' I see no necessity for that glum face of thine. David Elphinstone will thank him some day for saving his neck and sparing him to the cause of the Covenant ; besides, he 's head of the house, not to speak of being thine uncle ; and, as such, his commands are equally binding upon both of us.' ' You may be right, Nigel,' he replied, ' but yet it 's hard to dwell within the tents while the hosts of the Lord are doing battle against His enemies and the enemies of the truth.' But, hard as it might be, he kept his bond as became an Elphinstone, and had no more to do with the Galloway rising, in word or deed, than I myself.