The Huron Signal, 1883-07-06, Page 60
THE HURON SIGNAL, FRIDAY t JULY 6, 1883.
FIRE AND SWORD:
• STORY OF THE MA$SACRR OF
OLZNCOS.
CIlAPTIR XXV.
TNR at•etlaw LION Ova eraaTLRD—
rnt woad of DBASE >ATlnt•SD.
as if to akar sway the lingering •ieieni
and you may think foie possessed of •
spirit, but I diatinotjy her now the
sound of musketry down the Olen.
" Peace, Allister, peace t" whispered
Malcolm, the tire of expectation in his
eyes. "We are watched in turn ; I
saw this moment • shadow darken the
window," and grasping the naked blade
of .his dirk, he crept on all fours towards
the door, and thrusting it quickly aside,
he sprang suddenly across the interven-
ing space and °unfrontd—the Red
Hughie.
"Wretch !" uxolsimd Malcolm, sung
with sudden passion, " take that, and
sleep to -night on the snow," and ooinci-
deat with the strong words, the uplifted
dirk gleamed whiter than the falling
snowflakes for a brief mursent, and was
*wilily buried the next instant in the
apostate's heart.
A wild, strange crp of pain cut with
piercing edge the thin oold air, and ere
the crowd of watchershad well risen from
their faces round the fire, the stalwart
young Highlander had dragged his just
victim across the threshold u an evi-
dence of their danger. and of his justifi-
ostion of the fatal act.'
" The Red Heghie !" they had only
time to conjointly exclaim when the half-
closed door was thrust violently up, and
the narsow threshold blocked with
wrathful faces and gleaming levelled
bayonets.
The small group of Clansmen --only
some si; or seven in number—were
blanched with a sudden astonishment
at the sudden appearance of the red -
costs, and grasped blindly at dirk and
claymore as if by instinct rather tbaii
pret.,ncerted design, realizing (or the
moment that all hope of escape ..r suc-
cessful defence wail thus iti overwhelm-
ing measure cut away.
"Fire '•' cried the voice,of Sergeant
Barber from behind his men, and quick
on the order, a doze:, snots riddled the
back wall of the small apartments, and
dropped iu their passage five c.f the seven
clansmen, !cavil's( Malcolm arid young
l: told Macdonald alone on their feet.
" Follow me," cried Mrlcolm, and
swinging hie claymore around his head
he nude s rush at the crowd of rod -costs
bloeking the doorway, who fell back on
approach, and striking down severs! who
attempted to oppose hits he fled across
the tat gruttttd at the back of the
village and was presently sheltered by
the rough crags of the adjacent hill foot
from the shots of the pursuing soldiery.
Penins/ to recover his breath and be-
wildered senses for s moment, he looked
back towards the dimly -shadowed vil-
lage, and was aware that he stood un -
pursued and alone.
Ronald Macdonald was no where to
seen. it ltad fared less fortunate with
him Ia making to follow up Malcolm's
death -strewn passage a shot had pierced
his right arm, and theupliftd claymore,
edged with death, had dropped useless at
his feet. Thus rendered defenceless, a
desperate ingenuity bad Dome to his aid,
and tearing with his left hand his plaid
from his shoulders, he threw it across
the faces and pointed muskets of the
soldiers, and in the confusion of the mo-
ment, leapt lightly put them, and swift
as a young stag fled down the main pass
of the glen, his passage stained with the
blood which was flowing from his wound-
ed right ann.
Of all this Malcolm of course knew
nothing. In the intense oxciteinent of
the thrilling moment he was only aware
of his own existence, and the presence
of his opposing enemies.
Momentarily, and while he yet paused
from further flight, he heard the voices
of the soldiery sounding in the hollow
below. They were ayproaching hint
stealthily, he could hear, and a sho;
which whistled past him and rang on a
massive boulder a few yardsbeyond him,
clearly announced his discovery.
One by ono in a close line they came
scrambling up towards him, slid were
presently visible to the eye.
He counted them--one—two—three—
four—five—and so on to the ninth roan.
They were loading and firing is suc-
cession se they came on. To face nine
armed men with a single broad sword
was to court instant death. As much he
knew, and he resolved only to throw
away his life int defence of. Helen Came-
ron if that was jeopardised and tho op-
portunity should chance to ocour.
"Shoot down the d.,g' pop hitn, men!
A Ruins* for the musket that drop' hint'
After him, men'" These were the mai-
ice-breathing words which reached the
The work •d slaughter which had been
begun at the foot of the Glen in the
.M of a sew Morn, and seder the
cover ut darkn°'r, was not eonaned to
that spot alone, but by preoonoerted ar-
raegsmeat progressed simultaneotaly
throughout the entire district of the
Maedo.nalds, wherever a cluster of clans -
1/111011'S huts needed together in the hol-
lows of the great Glen.
Tabu* up the dropped thread of our
aaerstive we return in thischaptet• to the
uplying village of Auohenaion.
is being made aware of the murder of
Allister Macdonald'• domestic, and the
warning words he had muttered with
au expiring breath, Malcolm and young
Ronald Macdonald, brother of the vil-
lage tacksman, had jointly resolved that
they would abide till daybreak antiwar.
tacksman's Tool, and if aught unusual
•ocurr.d arouse the clansmen of the vil-
lage to the defence of their lives and
homes.
The Sergeant's party had marched
down the north western dope of the
Glen, and as Auchenaion lay between
that and the humble farm at the Crags—
where r. much that was dear to his heart
was enshrine 1 under an humble roof of
turf—Malcolm Macdonald was happy in
the thought ..f !::•r-'.'utt3 from injury
or insult at the hands of Sergeant Bar-
ber's rude soldiery. The Crags could
not be reached in the ordinary way with-
out tirst crossing his path, and woe be
on the head ..f the red -coat who might
stealthily seek a location there. Aawift
fursuing'f.ot, a strong arm and a keen
blade would settle eternal accounts with
him ere I 's dastard minion was. n.:conn-
plished. This resolve Malcolm had men-
tally attested a score of times that fatal
morning, and he and high heaven were
a.o:te c'nr.ious of the s.mngth and in-
tensity of his determination.
"Goa !" he exclaimed within, his mind
•as the dark 1, >isibility oft and again took
possession of hint, "but for one justifi-
able chance of grappling the dastard
Sergeant on the threshold of Helen
Cameron's door. The just sword of Re-
tribution and not of ignoble R.,• enge
would then pierce his plotting, c ward
heart." • But whether that eatisf.., tion
sea y.•t to be his let the suoceedinz in-
eit;nta of our atm/ disclose.
hisantime the tacksman and his bro-
ther R. _odd, and one or two more of the
prominent village clansmen rat around a
glowing fire of peat under the tacksman's
sheltering roof. Malcolm was also by
preference one of the watching party, as
stated, and wild and startling were the
stories • f legend, feud and foray eat
shared in by the clan, or related of their
daring forefathers, which 0i -cleated
round that picturesque F -e of burning
peat.
Stories of the personal prowess of
DI'Ian and his followers dur'•ug the late
Jacobite wa-s of Dundee, under whose
banners the Macdonald* had conspicu-
u;•113 .0 k •d and marched, were vaunt-
; •gly repeated and dwelt on ; and such
stories were amply interfused with thrt
supernatural clement whkch 'a never
absent from the supers•itious mind of
the true Celt. The,,urn of the cunver_
$*tion naturally took color front the cir-
cumatancns of their immediate surrouud-
tegs. The snows and winds of wiater
were above and around them, and the
Glen and its'enants were in the power
of s hostile and suspected soldiery, who,
under tht guise of friendship, trencher -
c ugly thirsted for their blood.
\Vith incre:sivg fury, the maniac blast
threw itscif against the closed doth and
windoe of the apartment wherein they
sheltered themselves, turd then, defeated
of its puri.ose of ingress, fled shrieking
down the mountain hollows of the (.len.
Ever and anon, the watchers, startled
out , f the. sense of security for the mo-
ment, listen to the moaning blast out-
side, and one of the party going to the
door would hook narrowly around the
plass lest the soldiers might, perchance,
return on them nnawarea.
" God in heaven '" exclaimed the
tacksnian, rrrtntuing from an ohservatir.n
n tde outside the door,"1 saw the wraith
of Mian a mc•ment ago fall bleeding tin
tl:e shuddering snot."
As if stricken by one impulse tht, en -
t ro group of watchers sprang to their
feet with a .tuest'oning look of horror on
their fang, but the next moment as if
recollecting their senses, they one by ono
resumed their seats around the glowing
fi-e of peat.
'• A friend's wraith seen before day-
break is death to that friend," solemnly
remarked one of the group,
wlimb they all knew or at least believed.
" But surely, added the speaker, "your
eyes mislead you 1 (addressing tho tacks -
a truism
man
ratite beyond the village, k. fouud
f rther progress is that direction praoti-
catly retarded W the great sasses of
snow which were drifted iuto the VI -
lows, and lay piled up against the jut-
ting escarpments which everywhere
abounded.
Free of further pursuit, los thoughts
onus more reverted to the fair object of
his heart's leve, and it resolved to in-
stantly NegriM 1V Ql'tges. as the face
of death or empltae at the heals of the
13ergeant's party. Freedom, with Helen
Cameron's life or virtue impeo'1Nd, was
the bitterest bondage he could think of.
He would first Ovist her to swaps
from the Glen, and afterwards return to
the Chiei. aide, Liverco.. As much he
mentally resolved, unooneeiosa that
while he yet concluded so, the slaugh-
tered body of M'Ian was laying prostrate
and silent in death nn the floor of bis
own private bed -ruses.
Acting on the resolve, he at once be-
gan retracing his steps for a portion of
the way, and, reaching • comparatively
flat and level pieoe of ground, he then
made a neo.' eery detour to avoid detec-
tion by the soldiery, whose muskets
were intermittently awakening the 'rail-
ing and crying echoes of the Glen.
That the work of destruction was pro-
gressing apace the repeated snap of the
fatal muskets only too well assured
him.
Strung to intensest emotion, he plung-
ed energetically and recklessly forward,
sometimes stumbling over •snow -shroud •
ei ridge of low rooh, and anon sinking
nearly waist -deep into the heart of some
snow -filled scaur.
In making his escape he fled in a di-
rection entirely opposite to the L.o.lityof
the crags ; and, retracing his steps, as he
was now doing, he at length stood op-
posite the tacksanan's house, situated as
it WWI at the nether end of the rilltge
of Auchenaion. The considerable de-
tour which he had made, however, kept
hint -bear cf the Sergeant's party.
The snow storm had at length almost
ceased, and, the atmosphere havir g been
Speedily hluwu clear by this high, e.•Id
winds, ha was Oslo to see a considerable
distance ahead.
Lighted torches, be saw, were' being
handled by the red -costa, and a thrill of ; several of ILO red -coats appiynwg lighted
Lurches to such of toe slaws. a's huts as
yet remained unscathed, the ',steamier
of the party occupying themselves by
"picking off' such stragglers as chanced
'to unguardedly psis within reach of their
muskets.
At an eagle of the nod 1diarvint sud-
denly found himself in the presence of
two rid -ca , who had seized .et a youth
and were delibeatety loading to shout
him. The young Madonald vtead for
his life, but the prayer for mercy we.
only answered by a brutal laugh.
The backs of the soldiers were turned
towards Malcolm, so that he could see
without risk of being seen.
The terror-stricken youth was speedily
placed ata distance if some ten paces,
and, blindfolded, was awaiting the fatal
shot.
In another moment and while themus-
ket was levelled to shoot him, an aveng-
ing sword flashed between the red -costs
and their victim, and with lightning
stroke nest 13' severed the arms which up-
held the musket ready to tire.
An iratant after, lifalcohn had bound-
ed forward and t„ru the handkerchief
from the eyes of the shivering youth and
half dregged'him front the spot, urging
him, to fly and follow hint to the hills.
A cry of alarm broke from the remain-
ing redcoats, which was heard and an-
swered by others lying ill ambush
around, and ere the fugitives lied well
cleaned the spot half a score of muskets
were levelled after them,.
With the first discharge the poor youth
fell, pierced through the back of tl.e
head witb * deadly bullet.
Stopping in hu flight Jlalcolm t.to aped
down to assist the dying youth, who had
only strength left . to cry—"Save your-
self, Malcolm ! I am gone !” when the
life left him in s heavy sigh.
Letting the head of the murdered
youth lie once more back on the stained
snows, Meb:nim sprung to his feta, and
casting a glance behind him, he maw that
his pursuers hal gained on him for the
moment, and were already closing in un
him in a semi -cordon line (rent two op-
posite sides. His blood was on tire and
he almost hailed the chance of death
such a way-, so grasping his long clay-
more with a firmer clutch, he swung it
aloft, and rushed determinedly- forward
in the face of the odds which barred his
escape.
Luau's path. That sacred burden would
be gently but euiokle dropped, ►ud the
nest moment • sharp ery od swing would
tell that the dirt had dose ilia righ-
teous work well. Yonder • filial son
carried an aged burden on his strong
back, whose feeble glimmering Ilght of
life would that LA morning, dente ap
preaching daybreak Woke, go out as •
rush light struck by the chill sharp wands
of the snow -clad hills.
&sense of stteb pity and even wooer,
horror Malcolm was witness to on leav-
ing the Crags and hurriedly d.eoendiag
on Rb main road through the Ol.s.
Burning with s pasaiouate ardour to
avenge so much cruelty and blood, be
crossed the road and attempted to in•
duos some of the escaping Meodonalds 1.
turn about with him. sad, claymore in
hand, die avenged by their own outraged
doorsteps.
It was a useless effort, I:o,wet•er. His
words fell unheeded oa the -era of the
panic-stricken Highlander.' thus flying
unarmed from the veogeaiem of "fife
and sword" along with their wives and
children, who frantically besought them
to day and oontines Ill assist and pro-
tect them. .
Everywhere throughout the length of
the Glen the cries of the viotiess alter-
nated with the sharp crack of musketry,
and Malcolm was soon made aware of
the extent of Olealyoaf s and Lindsay's
bloody work at the village.. of Inttwriat-
gen and Inverc.e. The Chief et the
Sept had been ruthlessly slain i* his own
homestead, and his outraged spirit had
ascended to Ood amid t •• + u•,ke oaf the
burning hamlet. of the lil.•u.
P. *seised by a •,.s.. .d fooling,
which was pur.00seless, ease in one in-
tention of in some way being able to
confront the rufllsn Bergead, at whom
door he kid the etiwne of Helen Came-
ron'. death; Maleuhn once mere retrac-
ed the path Lading back to Auehena•
ion.
His own father, he afterward* came to
knew, was one of the Bot shin of the
victims, and the smoke of his burning
homestead, along with those of the lead-
ing villagers, already titled to the upper
reaches of the Glen.
Approaching the village he could see
horrorieized him as the 000victloa llash-
ei In upon his mind that the savage s l-
d.ery, their fierce appetit r whetted to
madness by the sight of o'ood, were de-
liberately firing the deserted huts of the
hamlet, the inmates having either escap-
ed to the fastnesses of the mountains, or
been shot down on their own hearths.
His path, coursing along the hill foot,
gave him ample observation of the road
beneath him, and the scene presented
was heart-rending in the extreme. The
main passage of the Glen, south-east of
the clachan, was thronged with. the help-
less families of clansmen, who were mak-
their escape from a sharp sad sudden
death at the hands ,f the sevale sol_'i-
ery to face a slow, wretched, and linger-
ing extermination on the exposed paths
of the wintry halls.
. The small farm of the Crags in the
foreground at last' With a bounding
step he sped towards it, and with horror-
stricken eyes and fast beating heart he
saw the dark outlines of two human bod-
ies lying across the threshold of the
door half drifted over with snow.
With an involuntary cry of agony nn
his blanched lips he rushed up to thein,
and, merciful heavens' the butchered
bodies were those of Uncle Sandy and
Helen Cameron'
Tks boiius were only partially chrtbed
The honest old crafter had been dragged
from his bed, end sln.t thn,agh the head
at his own dor step, with the arms of
his loving and baoved niece twined
around his wick. She had fallen with
him, pierced through the left shoulder
with a cruel bullet anal her loving arms
still unconsciously clasped his bloodied
neck.
Paralysed by a sorry toodeepfortears,
Malcolm dropped on his knees beside the
bleeding victims, and imprinting one
burning kiss on the maiden's pallid lips,
in which his whole soul was impacted he
registered on the spot, and while yet on
his knees, a terrible oath to avenge their
deaths on the wretch by whose orders,
he was certain, the old crofter and his
fair neice had been brutally massacred,
Another moment, and he had gently
lifted the maiden's inanimate form in
his strong arms and placed it in a bed
within the warns kitchen of the house,
placing the surd body of the old crofter
(slotwg; side of it. Nobody was within or
solitary fugitire u he turned to escape she nt the house, the two domestics hav•
the bullets of the retl•o•Mts, and the i..g tied on the first alarm of the red -
voice he full well 'new to 1* that of his
rival and mortal enemy --Sergeant Har-
per. But the cowardly knave, true to
his savage instincts. kept well and safely
in the rear, and was all but hid from
sight by the intervening space.
The soldiers were at his heels and now
almost within reach of him, but h;s fami•
liarity with the locality gave him an im-
mense advantage over his pertinent, and
within a few minutes ho had entirely dis-
tanced tie red -coats, who, finding their
prey gone, returned At Berber's order to
personally.) Like thoughts, like cornpletsthS work of slaughter among
raises. you know. Tacksman." I the remaining clansmen of the claehan.
" Tee : hat, hole. that was a true Malcolm's route had lain in the diree-.
man drawing his dimers across his eyes ready mover;ing on the base of the 111 would date to singly cross the clans -
Emerging from the cover of the house,
he once more stood in view of the
wretched families of the Glen flying mist -
wards from the wrath of t:re;r heartless
murderers. Here a mother with a child
in her arms, and several children Hal-
ing on by her skits, fled shrieking from
the side et her murdered husband, whops
hsswblood was fast empting itself to
death oR the stained snows Thele e
steong-bodied young clansmen, with his
bare dirk grasped between his teeth, and
his *invalid wife, ',nipped in a blanket,
in his arms, was straggling heroically
through the clogged Pathway of snows.
sight rejoined the bewildered tacks- ti m ..f the adjacent hill foot, and al And woe be to the reebles@ red -cwt who
r.. 1:r, rovrteratt l
Beeswax and snit will Make rusty Nat
irons as smooth as glass
SMOKE
TWIN -NAVY
THE 11111,10 Fr. PLUG
ARRIVALS
G & SUMMER
t�, �►� f �, Irish & Cii T!
HTTGH ID u innOM'_
+rte
l
TO THE FAIIVERS OF I COUNTY OF 11110
OFTN'tLQ$N,—By re" seat .,1 4 :,. • rat ..t..'r ••1 the yeomen of the County
we have decided to manufacture
iXtittILPINCIP b c" 1 N C e acLA.L7$IINT
n connectives with our Plow buate:-w. f..r the sear 1883, which for, material and
workuunehip will to second to e. t e. 11. t ..t itis a }.sur orders for rspp�� ,r mow-
er unfit you ase Lhasa man ufamet wt he v+. We will attend all the •prfag fairs in
County, which will gine the farnu•,s .:,...t ,.g.l..auoitl 1 , inspect our machines.
We will warrant our tereeteaes t.• ro t► &...! r • rl . s sr y other made. We will al-
so hove a number of good
"L A INT -13 - rt. J L L E RS,
for •lt?i71►rl•.1 trt•l',
COOKING :3TO r B
always on hard, ani will lei sold c.t-,a ..,o ...b, o • be ezob►nted for wood.
parse old iron. EEGMILLER & CO.
(l..derich Foundry.
C sat►
ABRAHAM SMZTH
CALLS ATTE.NTIJ\ 1u This: IOLI.QNiNO :
CLOTHING, i-�r .• ••, LTM►'R.
kN gar Pi:
rtt;: LATEST DEMON817t
t?A FINE ASSORTMENT
WIN ENLLL+8 r., 1•_I E . � . I.1 RN I SH i N G GOODS.
HATS, twALL TI1 LATEST ST1 LE$.
AND EV1ER(l•�/t1111ia
MALL PATTERNS. ltADU • F�T 4l AkA\TI•F.it CR NO PALYCLOTHS
LV HS
NEW (3-00 DS, NEW PR13ES.
CHEAP FOR. C'i38,
Seeds, Seeds, Seeds.
S.A_AtEs MC_NTg2R,
T 73 E t3 E E ID t3 DdA N_
Wishes to hank the public for past patronage and would inform them that he has now on
hand the
LARGEST AND - BEST STOOK
FIELD AND ChilaIDEN SEEDS
from the Atoat•Teilable Amts in Ontario, whish 1'. is prepared to reit at • price as low as any
other reliable house. Amongst the specialties in potatoes are the "New Blush,"'•Farly Sur
rise." "Beauty of Hebron," hand "Late Rose " The sere success to farmin and gardenia!' W.
�y eeed. Ask tor
eotieRed.u=ourrsaddnp1.edkeptcon•t•ntl entlsale. best varieties. AI.McecAIR,th tt Seetlessee. 11
Sarnia Agricultural Implement Manufacturing Company,
I I 7\4 7 '1- f 1.
MANUFACTURERS OF
Reapers, Mowers, Binders & Threshers
See the Dominion
IdI%-24:
Andreas at Onee
e
Separator before you purchase. The Easiest Running, Simplest
and most durable inachir,e in the market.
A€4_F:�rt'w WANTED.
Car ° R 3- .A. ROt3t3,
General Agent, (ioderich
Art Designs iu Will Papers.
Now is the time, it you erlah one or two etre room. et home to ere hurlers room paper
He has over
20,000 Rolls of the Latest Designs
Beautiful talon, and at pnresleas than rery much inferior ere ds. Call snit see -them they
are the host wine in town. and nose he sold.
The Lilicsi Siniog Bazaar Palms aid kliktos,
At BVTZ,ER's