The word I had come so far to speak should not remain unspoken through my weakness, neither must I allow truth to be brought to shame because of the fears of the messenger.
So I mounted the turret1 stairs slowly, the great voice sounding out more and more clearly as I advanced. It came in soughs and bursts, alternating with lown intervals2 filled with indistinct mutterings. Then again a great volley of cursing would shake the house, and in the afterclap of silence I could hear the waesome yammer of my lady’s supplication3 beneath me outside the tower.
But within, save for the raging of the{311} stormy voice, there was an uncanny silence. The dust lay thick where it had been left untouched for days by any hand of domestic. I glanced within the great oaken chamber4 where formerly5 I had spoken to Mary Gordon. It was void and empty. A broken glass of carven Venetian workmanship and various colours lay in fragments by the window. A stone jar with the great bung of Spanish cork6 stood on the floor. There was a crimson7 sop8 of spilled wine on the table of white scoured9 wood. The table-cloth of rich Spanish stuff wrought10 with arabesques11 had been tossed into the corner. A window was broken, and there were stains on the jagged edges, as if some one had thrust his hand through the glass to his own hurt.
Nothing moved in the room, but in the thwart12 sunbeams the motes13 danced, and the unstable14 shadows of the trees without flecked the floor.
All the more because of this unwholesome quiet in the great house of Earlstoun, it was very dismaying to listen to the roll and thunder of the voice up there, speaking on and on to itself in the regions above.
But I had come at much cost to do my duty,{312} and this I could not depart from. So I began to mount the last stairs, which were of wood, and exceedingly narrow and precipitous.
Then for the first time I could hear clearly the words of the possessed15:
“Cast into deepest hell, Lord, if any power is left in Thee, the whole Presbytery of Kirkcudbright! Set thy dogs upon them, O Satan, Prince of Evil, for they have worked ill-will and mischief16 upon earth. Specially17 and particularly gie Andrew Cameron his paiks! Rub the fiery18 brimstone flame onto his bones, like salt into a new-killed swine. Scowder him with irons heated white hot. Tear his inward parts with twice-barbed fishing hooks. Gie William Boyd his bellyful of curses. Turn him as often on thy roasting-spit as he has turned his coat on the earth. Frighten wee Telfair wi’ the uncanniest o’ a’ thy deils’ imps19. And as for the rest of them may they burn back and front, ingate and outgate, hide, hair, and harrigals, till there is nocht left o’ them but a wee pluff o’ ash, that I could hold like snuff between my fingers and thumb and blaw away like the white head o’ the dandelion.”
He came to an end for lack of breath, and I could hear him stir restlessly, thinking, perhaps,{313} that he had omitted some of the Presbytery who were needful of a yet fuller and more decorated cursing.
I called up to him.
“Alexander Gordon, I have come to speak with you.”
“Who are you that dares giff-gaff with Alexander Gordon this day?”
“I am Quintin MacClellan, minister of the Gospel in Balmaghie, a friend to Alexander Gordon and all his house.”
“Get you gone, Quintin MacClellan, while ye may. I have no desire for fellowship with you. You are also of the crew of hell—the black corbies that cry ‘Glonk! Glonk!’ over the carcase of puir perishing Scotland.”
“Hearken, Alexander Gordon,” said I, from the ladder’s foot, “I have been your friend. I have sat at your table. A word is given me to speak to you, and speak it I will.”
“And I also have a gun here that has a message rammed20 down its thrapple. I warn ye clear and fair, if ye trouble me at all with any of your clavers, ye shall get that message frae the black jaws21 of Bell-mouthed Mirren.”
And as I looked up the wooden ladder which led into the dim garret above me, I saw peeping{314} through the angle of the square trap-door above me the wicked snout of the musket22—while behind, narrowed to a slit23, glinted, through a red mist of beard and hair, the eye of Sandy Gordon.
“Ye may shoot me if ye will, Alexander,” said I; “I am a man unarmed, defenceless, and so stand fully24 within your danger. But listen first to that which I have to say.
“You are a great man, laird of Earlstoun. Ye have come through much and seen many peoples and heard many tongues. Ye have been harried25 by the Malignants, prisoned by the King’s men, and now the Presbytery have taken a turn at you, even as they did at me, and for the same reason.
“You were ever my friend, Earlstoun, and William Boyd mine enemy. Therefore he was glad to take up a lying report against you that are my comrade; for such is his nature. Can the sow help her foulness26, the crow his colour? Forbye, ye have given some room to the enemy to speak reproachfully. You, an elder of the Hill-folk, have collogued in the place of drinking with the enemies of our cause. They laid a snare27 for your feet, and like a simple fool ye fell therein. So much I know. But the darker{315} sin that they witness against you—what say ye to that?”
“It is false as the lies that are spewed up from the vent28 of Hell!” cried the voice from the trap-door above, now hoarse29 and trembling. I had touched him to the quick.
“Who are they that witness this thing against you?”
He was silent for a little, and then he burst out upon me afresh.
“Who are you that have entered into mine own house of Earlstoun to threat and catechise me? Is Alexander Gordon a bairn to be harried by bairns that were kicking in swaddling clouts30 and buttock-hippens when he was at the head of the Seven Thousand? And who may you be? A deposed31 minister, a college jackdaw whom the other daws have warned from off the steeple. I will not kill you, Quintin MacClellan, but I bid you instantly evade32 and depart, for the spirit has bidden me fire a shot at the place where ye stand!”
“Ye may fire your piece and slay33 your friend on the threshold of your house, an’ it please you, laird of Earlstoun,” cried I, “but ye shall never say that he was a man unfaithful, a man afraid of the face of men!”{316}
“Stand from under, I say!”
Nevertheless I did not move, for there had grown up a stubbornness within me as there had done when the Presbytery set themselves to vex34 me.
Then there befell what seemed to be a mighty35 clap of thunder. A blast of windy heat spat36 in my face; something tore at the roots of my hair; fire singed37 my brow, and the reek38 of sulphur rose stifling39 in my nostrils40.
The demon-possessed had fired upon me. For a moment I knew not whether I was stricken or no, for there grew a pain hot as fire at my head. But I stood where I was till in a little the smoke began to lazily clear through the trap-door into the garret.
I put my hand to my head and felt that my brow was wet and gluey. Then I thought that I was surely sped, for I knew that men stricken in the brain by musket shot ofttimes for a moment scarce feel their wound. I understood not till later the reason of my escape, which was that the balls of Earlstoun’s fusil had no time to spread, but passed as one through my thick hair, snatching at it and tearing the scalp as they passed.
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1
turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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2
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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3
supplication
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| n.恳求，祈愿，哀求 | |
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4
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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5
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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6
cork
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| n.软木，软木塞 | |
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7
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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8
sop
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| n.湿透的东西，懦夫；v.浸，泡，浸湿 | |
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9
scoured
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| 走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮 | |
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10
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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11
arabesques
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| n.阿拉伯式花饰( arabesque的名词复数 )；错综图饰；阿拉伯图案；阿拉贝斯克芭蕾舞姿（独脚站立，手前伸，另一脚一手向后伸） | |
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12
thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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13
motes
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| n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点 | |
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14
unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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15
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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16
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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17
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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18
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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19
imps
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| n.（故事中的）小恶魔( imp的名词复数 )；小魔鬼；小淘气；顽童 | |
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20
rammed
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| v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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21
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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22
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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23
slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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24
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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25
harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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26
foulness
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| n. 纠缠, 卑鄙 | |
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27
snare
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| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
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28
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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29
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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30
clouts
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| n.猛打( clout的名词复数 )；敲打；（尤指政治上的）影响；（用手或硬物的）击v.（尤指用手）猛击，重打( clout的第三人称单数 ) | |
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31
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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32
evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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33
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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34
vex
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| vt.使烦恼，使苦恼 | |
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35
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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36
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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37
singed
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| v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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38
reek
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| v.发出臭气；n.恶臭 | |
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39
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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40
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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