Foxholme Hall Part 17

Next day he set out again on his wanderings, hoping that it was only in his own house that the fairies would haunt him; but no--go where he would they were by him, nor could he tell any story which was not at least three years old. His former admirers, the women, now asked him, jeeringly, for "three-year-old news;" when he was seen coming towards a farm, he was treated almost as a beggar, and was sent to the back door, where he got a piece of oat-cake and a drink of milk, but was never asked into the house. Occasionally the servants asked him why he did not carry a wallet like other "puir bodies;" but Alaister, though often really in want, never would condescend to a wallet. By degrees he became more and more impoverished; he was thin, and had a look of great unhappiness. His hose hung over the heels of his worn shoes, from which the silver buckles had long since disappeared; his second-best kilt was very much the worse for wear, nor had he money to buy a new one; and as to the one he had worn on the night from which his woes dated, it had even beat the thrifty Mrs Mackinnon to get it into tolerable repair again.

In all the country side it had become the common expression, when any old story was told, "Hout! that's Piper's news;" and at last Alaister, feeling that he was despised where he had been respected, and laughed at by those at whom he had laughed, without even having a comfortable house in which to hide himself, for Mrs Mackinnon's tongue was more abusive than ever, determined to retire from the world.

Being in low spirits, of course he chose the most dismal spot he could find; it was a bleak glen, down which the north wind howled in winter, and in summer the sun hardly reached its depths; for the bare rocks were high and near each other, so that it was always cold and damp. But this suited Alaister's frame of mind. One chill day in autumn he crept into a sort of hollow in the rock; there was a constant trickle, trickle, trickle, down the sides of this hole, and the water soaked through blackened patches of liver-wort and moss; the floor was damp and slippery, and on it Alaister sat down to think how very uncomfortable he was, and to abuse the fairies as the cause of all his misfortunes.

It grew colder and colder, and darker and darker, and Alaister began half to repent of his determination to die in a cave, when a flash of light shone into the hollow, and in an instant his old acquaintances, the three Will-of-the-Wisps, were dancing round him in a more frenzied way than ever; now they were up in the roof, now out in the open air, now far back in the darkness where he thought there was only rock. But the cave seemed to become larger every moment, and the water dried up as the Will-of-the-Wisps darted along the sides, and then Alaister saw the well-remembered tod's-tail moss hang where liver-wort had been before, and stag's-horn moss again covered the dark floor. The air felt dry and warm, and a comfortable sleepy peace crept over the heart of the distressed piper; he began to think that, on the whole, it was more enjoyable to be in the fairies' cave than in a hay-loft on a gusty autumn night; and when the glittering band sparkled into their hall he smiled, and offered to play to them again, and soon they were all dancing merrily on the moss, for it was now too cold, even for fairies, to spend the whole night in the woods.

Then came the feast, and this time Alaister was given on acorn cup full of brightest mountain dew; and though he thought it a small allowance for a full-grown man, still he knew that the little creatures had no larger cups; and not to disappoint them or fail in his manners, he nodded to the king, and with a "Here's your very gude health, sir,"

emptied his cup. Immediately he sunk back on the floor and slept, for the dew that had been given him has, it is said, wonderful powers, making mortals forget their homes and former lives, and desire only to be with the fairies.

How long he slept no one can tell; he never more was seen: but on calm summer nights his pipes can be heard droning under ground, or in the sweet birch wood. From their being heard to this day it is supposed that those who enter the service of the fairies become immortal; but no one has ventured to watch the gambols of the "gude fouk," so as to ascertain whether it is Alaister himself who still leads their march, or whether another has succeeded him; indeed, the glen is more shunned than ever, and the cave goes by the name of the Piper's Cave in all that district, while the expression "Piper's news" is known over the whole world.

Story 9--CHAPTER ONE.

STORY NINE--THE GENIUS OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

High up on the side of a lofty mountain, overlooking the wide ocean, several boys were seated together on the moss and lichens which clothed the ground, and were the only vegetable productions of that elevated region. The bright sea sparkled in suns.h.i.+ne, far, far down below their feet, though hidden at times from their sight by the dark clouds which came rolling on, sometimes enveloping them in mist, and at others breaking asunder and floating away far inland towards other ranges of distant hills. High above their heads rose a succession of rugged peaks, black, barren, and fantastic in form, which the foot of man had never trod. The boys on a party of pleasure had climbed up from a town by the sea-side, and had brought with them, in knapsacks and baskets, a supply of provisions, which they now sat down to discuss. The keen pure air, and the exercise they had undergone, sharpened their appet.i.tes and raised their spirits, and they sat laughing and talking, and apparently enjoying themselves to the utmost. Far below their feet sea-fowl were skimming rapidly through the air, wheeling and circling, now descending to the bright water below, and then rising again up into the clear expanse of ether, rejoicing in their freedom. On a crag below them, near where she had built her nest, stood an osprey. With wings expanding she prepared to take her flight; then off with a cry of joy she flew, darting through the atmosphere, away, away, over the ocean, looking down upon the tall s.h.i.+ps which sailed along slow and sluggishly compared to her rapid progress. The boys eagerly watched her till she was lost to sight in the distance.

"Oh, how I wish that I could fly, that I might skim over the world like that sea eagle!" cried one, clapping his hands; "what glorious fun would it not be? I should never consent to walk again. All other amus.e.m.e.nts would be tame and tasteless in comparison. Truly yes, it mast be a fine thing to be able to fly like a bird. To fly!--to fly! Away!--away!"

The speaker as he uttered these words rose and stretched out his arms over the ocean, as if in imagination at all events he was about to spring off from his lofty perch, and to follow the course of the osprey.

His enthusiasm inspired his companions. One after the other exclaimed--

"Yes, indeed, it would be grand to be able to fly. Glorious to mount up into the sky, without having tediously to climb up a hill as we have done to-day; or to plunge down beneath the waves, like those wild fowl; or to skim, as they can, over the crests of the raging seas when storms blow furiously, or to float in suns.h.i.+ne on the calm bosom of the ocean."

"Ay, of all things I would rather be a bird," cried another. "An eagle, a hawk, an albatross; any bird which can fly far and swiftly. That is what I should like,--to fly, to fly, to fly!" Thus one after the other they all expressed themselves.

Suddenly, as they were speaking, a loud cras.h.i.+ng noise was heard, and as, alarmed, they turned their heads, the rocks behind them opened, disclosing a vast and glittering cavern, out of which was seen slowly to advance, a lady, whose garments shone with a dazzling radiance. Her form was commanding, her face beautiful and benignant. The astonished and bewildered boys scarcely dared to gaze at her; but trembling and holding on to each other, they kept their eyes cost on the ground. She spoke, and her voice rea.s.sured them.

"You were all of you just now expressing a wish that you could fly," she said, in a sweet silvery tone. "Why do you thus with to possess a power for which your All-wise Creator has not designed you? Even could you by any means secure wings to your body, of size sufficient to lift you from the ground, your muscular powers are totally inadequate to work them; your senses are not adapted to the existence of a fast-flying bird; your brain would grow dizzy, your eyes dim, you would be unable to draw breath in the upper regions, through which your ambition would induce you to wing your flight; you would speedily destroy all your other senses. Be content with your lot. Still, if you have a good object for your wishes, perhaps under certain limitations they may be granted. Let me hear why you wish to enjoy the power of flying?"

The boys looked at each other, and then up at the face of the lady, and finding nothing in its calm expression to alarm them, one after the other replied, the eldest speaking first:--

"Because I should like to see what people are doing in the world," said he; "what nations are fighting with each other, and how the hostile armies are drawn up. I have read of fine processions, where priests walk with their sacred images, when kings come to be crowned, and when their subjects a.s.semble to do them homage."

"You need not say more," observed the lady, and pointed to another boy.

"I should like to follow all those s.h.i.+ps I see sailing out there," he answered; "I should like to visit the strange lands to which they are going, and to examine the curious things they bring back."

"You can accomplish thus much without flying," answered the lady; and pa.s.sed on to another boy.

"I should like to fly, because it would be so curious to hover about over cities, to look into houses, and to watch what the inmates are doing," said the boy.

The lady shook her head. "Such an employment is utterly unworthy of an intelligent being," she answered; "you would make but an ill use of the power if you possessed it. What have you to urge as a reason for obtaining the power you wish for?" she inquired of a fourth boy.

"Oh! it would be so delightful to feel oneself floating up and down in the air; now rising high, high up like a lark, now skimming along over the smooth sea," he answered, giving expression to his words by the movement of his body.

"You evidently place the gratification of the senses above the employment of the higher powers of your nature. Such is but a bad claim for the possession of a new one."

In this manner the lady questioned several other boys, but she did not appear satisfied with any of their replies. At last she asked a slight and thoughtful boy, who had been sitting a little apart from the rest, why he had wished to possess the power of flying?

"That I may better comprehend the glories of nature, and understand what now appear the mysteries of the universe," he answered quietly, yet promptly; "whence the rains, and mists, and winds come, and whither they go. I would fly far away on the wings of the wind. I would visit distant lands, to observe their conformation, to discover new territories fit for the habitation of man. I would bear messages of comfort and consolation from those in one place to relatives far away.

Oh! if I could fly, I am certain that I should never weary of the work I had to do."

"Well and wisely answered," replied the lady. "I am the Genius of the Atmosphere. The power you ask I cannot give you: but follow me; I may be able to afford you some of the gratification you so laudably desire."

The boy, without hesitation, followed the lady towards the rock from which she had emerged. It closed round him, and he found himself in a cavern of vast size, and glittering with gems of every hue, and of the richest water. The Genius cast on him a smiling look, when she saw that his attention was but little engrossed by these appearances.

"I cannot enable you to fly," she remarked, "but I can render you invisible, and bear you with me whither I go, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. Come, note well what you see. You may never again have the some opportunity of observing the wonders of nature."

As the Genius spoke, the boy found himself borne buoyantly from off the earth. He pa.s.sed close by his companions, who were thoughtlessly laughing and talking as before, and on he rapidly floated, they neither observing him nor the Genius of the Atmosphere.

"Child of Earth, follow me," said the Genius; and the boy floated gently on, till he found himself in a region of perfect calms. Below him, as he looked towards the earth, he saw mountains of snow, and fields of ice glittering gloriously in the slanting rays of the sun.

"We are at the north-pole of the earth," said the Genius; "you desire to know the course of the winds, and how they are created--observe and learn." As she spoke, she shook from her robes a shower of silvery particles, which floated buoyantly in the air. "See, at this point the silvery cloud does not partake of the diurnal motion of the globe, but a slight current of air, scarcely perceptible, is sending it forward. We will follow it towards the southern pole. You can scarcely see the earth, we are so high up. Lower down are currents rus.h.i.+ng towards the pole, which would impede the progress of this silvery cloud."

On, on, on, rapidly the Genius flew. A golden cloud appeared. The two clouds met, but so softly, that there was no commotion. Attracted by the globe, probably, they both descended, slowly followed by the Genius and the boy, till once more the earth appeared in sight, clothed with the palm-tree, the orange, the pomegranate, the vine, and numberless tropical fruits and flowers.

"We have reached a calm region, the tropic of Cancer," said the Genius.

"Now watch the earth. It is turning from west to east, while we move on in the direct line in which we started, so that we appear to be crossing the globe diagonally, and to the inhabitants of the earth that silvery cloud appears to be coming from the north-east, and going to the south-west. That silvery cloud is merely a portion, made visible to your eye, of a great ma.s.s of air, which is continually blowing, and which the inhabitants of the earth, from the facilities it affords their commerce, call the north-east trade-wind. Now see a golden cloud approaching us; that is a ma.s.s of air coming from the southern pole. We are arriving near the Equator. See, the two clouds meet. They have an equal impetus; neither can give way, but, gently and noiselessly pressed together, they rise to a higher stratum of the atmosphere."

On floated the boy and his guide, far up above the globe, still on, in rather a less direct line than before, till again a golden cloud was met, and gently that, and the cloud they followed, descended till the earth was seen once more.

"We have reached the tropic of Capricorn, where these two opposing currents form a calm, almost continuous, except when certain interposing causes break it, and which I may hereafter explain to you." Pa.s.sing out of the calm region, away they floated towards the southern pole.

"Remark," observed the Genius. "The silvery cloud, having been pressed down by that other current from above, has a south-eastern direction given to it, and therefore appears to the people on earth to be coming, not from the north, but from the north-west."

A wide extent of ocean was seen beneath their feet. On they floated.

Then fields of ice and icebergs, and wide extended lands covered with snow, and vast mountains of ice. Once more they moved on, slowly as before.

"We are at the antarctic pole," said the Genius. "See, our cloud of silver meets another of gold, pressing gently." Up, up, they mount.

"Once more we will move towards the tropic of Capricorn, high up above the globe. Now we descend in that calm region; and now close to the earth we are moving on. But see, coming from the southern pole, the globe moves as before, from west to east; and thus this ma.s.s of air, of which our silvery cloud, remember, is but a portion, seems to those on the earth to be coming from the south-east. As this wind is always blowing, and as s.h.i.+ps by getting within its influence are borne easily forward, and it thus facilitates commerce, it is called the south-east trade-wind."

On they went, till again the calms of the equator were reached, or rather, till the air, exhausted by its long course, met another gentle current, and the two pressing together rose upwards, the silvery cloud going on towards the tropic of Cancer, till forced by another current, known by its golden hue, to descend, it went on close to the earth towards the northern pole, where a calm, caused by another gentle current meeting it, was created. Gently pressed up, however, the silvery cloud finally reached the higher region, whence the Genius and the boy had started with it on its long journey.

"Had we started with the golden cloud, or rather with the ma.s.s of air which that cloud represents, from the southern pole, we should have seen precisely the same effects produced," said the Genius. "You now understand what mortals call the theory of the trade-winds. You read in the sacred word of G.o.d, which in his mercy and goodness he gave to men to guide them in their pa.s.sage through life, that, `The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits'

(Eccles. i. 6). Now, boy, you have seen how true and beautiful is that account written by the wise king of Israel." The boy listened attentively. "We will fly back to the equatorial calms," said the Genius; "see what effect the direct rays of the sun have on the earth, or that portion of its surface. They affect the air likewise; heat expands it, and then makes it rise; and it also changes its specific gravity. Cold contracts it, and also changes its specific gravity.

These two causes are unceasingly at work to produce the currents of air whose courses we have been observing. The heat of the sun at the equator expands the air, and thus it rises and flows north and south; having arrived once more at the tropics, owing to the counter current it meets, it descends, as we saw, and flowing along near the earth, receives from it a rotatory motion, which increases as it approaches the pole, where, contracted by the cold, it ma.s.ses into a dense body, and ultimately is whirled upwards, forming an ascending column, when it once more commences its never-ceasing journey."

As they flew towards the mountain whence they set out, the boy expressed his thanks to the Genius; if he did not comprehend all that she had shown him and told him, he knew more about the matter than he had before done. She saw by the expression of his countenance the gratification he had enjoyed. "'Tis well," she continued; "as a drop of water is to the ocean which lies beneath us, so is the knowledge you may obtain in a lifetime to the wonders nature has to reveal. You desire to know more; gladly will I show you more. Whenever you climb up to this rocky height I will meet you, as I have done to-day, and each time unfold new wonders to your view. Ah, you think that I might descend to you, without making you toil up the mountain; but know that knowledge will not come to you; you must exert yourself, you must labour to attain it. You say that you will willingly climb the height. That is well. That is the spirit which ensures success. Return to your companions. They will not have missed you."

Suddenly the boy found himself as he had been before, sitting a little apart from his friends. He was silent and thoughtful as he descended the mountain, resolving to return as soon as possible, to learn from the Genius more of the wondrous mysteries of nature.

Story 10--CHAPTER ONE.

STORY TEN--A TERRIBLE BLANKET.

Well, we were on the continent when I met with my terrible blanket. We were going up one of the pa.s.ses on foot, and somehow I, as I usually do, lagged behind. I, of course, had an Alpine stock in my hand, and I went swinging it away, until at last it struck against a lump of rock overhanging a precipice, so deep that, sailor as I am, I trembled as I looked down. Well, the stick bounded from the granite against my s.h.i.+n, and so I made a vow that the lump of granite should take a run, or my name was not Theophilus.