CHAPTER I. RAVENDALF — A MORTAL STROKE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 333, 12 January 1889, Page 4

CHAPTER I. RAVENDALF — A MORTAL STROKE .

A great many years ago — long before the days of the Stuarts — on one of the most beautiful and grandly romantic spots in a Highland shire of Scotland, stood Rn\ endale (Jastle, ono of the largest and strongest and best - appointed baronial residences in the realm. It faced towards the southOn the west, its waters lapping the base of Hs massiva wall, lay Loch Liburnc ; on the north, the foot of its craggy slope affording foundation for the wall on that side, arose the towering crest of Ben Alpine, one of the highest mountains in that mountainous region ; while south and east, stretching away to the far-off hills that bounded the vast domain in that direction, lay a territory as fair, as fruitful and as beautifully diversified as landlord or husbandman, or even Nature's most ardent admirer, could wish to see. And here, too, with many of its parks and gardens sloping down to the shore of the lake, was a large and populous village, which, like the castle, took its name fiom tha great baron upon >vhora the broad lands had been originally bestowed by Constantino 1., in the latter part of the ninth century. The baron in question — he of Constantiue's time— was Lord Godfrey Ravendale, who had made himself famous bv his courage and prowess in battle against the ineursive Danes ; and who, immediately after entering upon his baronial possessions, commenced the erection of the castle and the planting of his town — a work which succeeding barons had nobly completed. The lake was ten miles long, varying from one to three miles in width. The castle was situated near its extreme northern end, its bound in that direction being a bold and precipitous spur of the mountain. South from the village its eastern shore was flanked its entire length by outlying farms of the estate. Remembering other farms — many of them — stretched away in other directions, we are enabled to form a conception, somewhere near the reality, of the extent of the domain and of the wealth of its loid. Further, with regard to the lake we will say, fiom its western shore arose a range of densely-wooded hills, also the property of the Lord of Ravendale, where game was abundant. A few words in this place let us say about the castle itself. It had been projected by one of the most renowned warriors of his day, and the plans fully conceived and recorded before a scone of the foundation had been taken from its native quarry. Further, at the time of its inception not only were the warlike, marauding Danes continually threatening the land, but there were ceitaiii Highland chiefs, famed in arms, with large and well-appointed following?, who lived almost entirely by plunder ; and to such so fair a domain as was thac of llavendale was sure to be a great temptation. Consequently, Lord Godfrey hid planned to make his castle nearly as impi'egnablc as possible. The outer walls weie high and thick, with the lake and the mountain serving as a barrier on two sides, the other two being protected by a deep, broad moat. Bold, strong bastions were throw n out at the augles, from which, on the lakeside, at the northwest and southwest corners, arose two broad, high towers, that towards the south commanding from its battlements a view of all the country round about. This was called Edgar's Tower, because a Baron Edgar, of the time of Macbeth, had added veiy much to its height. The outer wall enclosed an area, very nearly square, six acres in extent. Within this enclosure all the buildings were of stone. Theie weie barracks capable of accommodating two thousand men, with stable room for five hundred horses. The principal donjon or keep was a lai ge, ca&teilated structure, with lofty battlements and turrets, situated close against the mountain side. Its three other sides were protected by a second wall, very nearly as high and strong as the first. This second wall enclosed an inner court fully an acre in extent. Its main gate was defended by a portcullis and barbican, the battlements of the latter affording space for two hundred men. Thus, should an enemy gain access within the outer wall, the garrison would have still another strong position ; and should this second wall be carried by storm or otherwise, there yet remained the f-trongest defence of all — the donjon itself — large enough to afioi'd comfortable room for the garrison, and so sfci-ong as to be well-nigh impregnable, with not a scrap of woodwork exposed to offer fuel for the torch of the incendiary. However, no enemy had ever yet gained forcible entrance inside the outer wall, though more than one numerous and well-armed force had made the attempt. The village had been once swooped down upon and sacked. It had been done by a freebooting chicf — Thorbert Ernswolf by name— while the lord of the manor, with most of his retainers, had been absent, engaged in battle against the Danes. When Baron Ravendale earne home and learned what had been done, he gathered his battlescarred retainers and his youthful heroes and set forth upon the track of the marauder. His purpose was to give a lesson that should not be forgotten ; for the raid of the freebooter had been most wanton and cruel. Not only had he robbed the poor widow of her sole support, but he had been guilty of deeds almost too black and heartless to tell. When the Lord of Ravendale returned from his expedition of repiisa!, he brought back with him the property of which his people had been despoiled, and he had lett of Clan Ernswolf but the name ! Bertrand, Baron Ravendale, the present lord of the fief, lay upon a bed from which he was well assured he was never to arise again in life. He wag nob, all things considered, an old man — onlj, three-score. This, to some, would havo b>en old age, bub with him, who had never known sickness, and whose life had been temperate and earnest, it might have beeu tr-jy called his prime. We approach his bedside as the a n ia sinking beyond the lakeside hills, as- the close of a pleasant day of the latter j ar fc o£ summer, and a companion visitor wjjh us is the old family physician. The baroj has been lying there upon the outside dt the clothing, his head and shoulders propped up by many pillows, since his sorrowing servants had borne him from the mountain, half an hour before. 1b was a grand old chamber in tho southwestern angle of the keep, with three largo embrasures looking out upon the lake It was quite spacious, with a vaulted ceiling ; Boft rugs coyered bho atone floor j its old

oaken furniture was both imposing and comfortable, and, altogether, it was a fay more cheerful apartment in aspect than one would expect to find within the solid old fortress. The large, heavily-canopied bed stood with its beacl against the northern wall, with one of the glazed embrasures on its right-hand side. The principal door of entrance was in the southern wall, directly opposite the foot of the bed ; beyond this door, on the outside, was a broad passago, the far side of which was tho southern wall of the koep, and there, of course, were other entrances. Turning to the loft as we come- from tho chamber, wo arrive at the head of the main stairway, loading to tho hall bolow ; t while on turning to the light wo have but a few stops to go before reaching a door that gives entrance to Edgar's Tower. One other ito-n wo will nobico hero, as we shall have occasion to vit.it it more than once before our si ory is told. Wo allude to a large oaken cabinet or secretaire — a quaint old a flair, full ot all sorts of odd nooks and corners and recesses, standing within the baron's chamber against the ea-tern wall, and very nearly to the lefthand side of the bed. For many months — ay, for more than two years — a band of merciless robbers had infested the country round about, having their lair, 01 headquarters, tomowhero amid the cavernous fastnesses of Ben Alpine. They appeared inclined to spare the estato of Ravondalo, and its tenants, fearing, it may be, the wrath of its warlike master : or, as some thought more probable, hoping thus to win hi& favour and protection. But, bo that as it may, Ravendale had been in a measure exempt from their ravage*. They had become a terror, however, to the surrounding country for many leagues, Peaceful and prosperous hamlets weie set upon and sacked : extensive and wealthy granges were despoiled ; and at certain seasons, when the brigands were on the war-path, scarcely a mile of tho king'sthoroughfaies ot ITighlandshire were safe to the honest traveller. The very fact that Lord Ravendale had been to so great an extent exempt from the spoliations of the freebooters, made him all the more eager and determined to capture them ; and he had made many attempts in that direction. It was a marvel, even to himse-f, that he could not succeed. By moans to him unknown the robbers appeared to have warning of his every plan against them ; and, hence, the moot he had ever been able to do had been to pursue them to a mountain fastness, where they were safe from any earthly pow er to dislodge or overcome them ; or, as it had happened more than once, — at the moment when the stout old baron believed full sure he had them, safe and fast, in a cul-ttc-^ac from which they could not slip away, the whole outlaw band, chief and all, had suddenly and unaccountably disappeared, — melted away — amid the hoary crags and weird passes of the mountain, as if by magic ! In the earlier part of this same day on which we enter the baron's chamber, with the old physician by our side, he had pursued the robbers to a wild pass on the southern slope of the mountain, where they had disappeared from sight as though tho earth had opened and swallowed them up ; and at the end of an hour's fruitless search he had started to retrace his steps down the craggy height. He had reached a point not a hundred yards from the leai ■ wall of his castle — the frail against the mountain, — when two of his hounds, that i had broken loose and followed his track, suddenly scented something beyond a I thick tangle of vine and shrub on his left hand — a mass of wild wood that had found root in a deep, broad cleft, or chasm, of tho native rock. The baron had known, for years, that such a fcliickefc was there : and that the cleft wa3 theie, — but he had no\cr had the curiosity to examine it. Now, however, when his intelligent dogs had made so furious an onoet — teaiinir through the dense thicket light madly — he started to force his way through after them, calling upon those of his men who were in sight to follow him. While he was struijgrlino in the vicious embrace of the almost impenetrable tangle, ho heard from his dogs a &eiies of shaip, angiy yelps and snaps, followed by a gapping wai, ahno=t human. With nil his might ho struggled on, paying no attention to torn gaiments, or lacciatod flesh, and at length came in sight of a deep, cavernous cleft in the rock, down which a number ot men were in the act ©f disappearing, while three ol tho robber gang stood upon the veige of tho ab)-^, as though to cover the letrcat : 'md tit their feet lay the two do^& — dead — their heads nearly ecvcicd from their bodies. Of the three men who thus, stood before him— they all wore crape over their faces — the baron recognised in the toiemo.st the robber chief. TFe knew him wellknew him by his general appearance, and more especially by the eagle's feather in his bonnet. 'Back ! back !' the freebooter shouted, at the same time raising his huge claymorealoft s Bertrand of Ravendale, you come to your fate if you come a 5-tep nearer ! Beware !' The warning was as empty air to tho brave old baron. Sounding aloud his battle cry, he rushed on. The man befuie him — the chief — stepped quickly aside, and another ot the lobbers, who had been hidden by a projecting spur of a rock, sprang out behind the venturesome foeman and drove a keen dagger into his back. At the same instant Ravendale's foot caught a tangle of vine, and he fell forward, prone upon his face ; and when his followers, a few minutes later, reached the spot they found him alone, lying as he had fallen, with his head pillowed noon the lifeless bod3 r of on-e of the dogs. The robbers had disappeared, leaving bohind no trace save the &anguinary work of their hands. Only three of the baron's men had been within reach of his voice when he had called upon them to follow him; so only these three had gained the spot where he lay. When the iirst beheld him prostrate they thought he had accidentally fallen ; and not until they had raised him to a sitting posture, and were about to lift him to his feet, did they learn the truth. When they had taken him by the arms, and were lifting him iij that manner, he cried out in quick, sharp pain, and his confused senses became clear. He remembered that he had received a smart blow on the back, and he told his helpers he be- I lieved he had been hurt. They at once tore away the clothing, and very .soon found the wound. It was directly between the shoulder-blades, a little on one side ; had bled but very little, and did not appear to be of an alarming character. To his eager henchmen, when they asked him how he had received the wound, tho baron simply said he had como upon three of the robbers, upon the verge of the cleft in the rock, and, as he had been upon the point of engaging them, a fourth had sprung out from his lurking-placo, behind him, and struck him in tho back. He remembered, however — and so told them—that the catching of his foot in a loop of a *tout vine had been the chief cauee of his filing. Ho urged them to help him home as\quickly as possible, and call the phyiician. He did not like the feeling of the hurt in his back. The'* distance to the castle was not far, yet the Vaird was so weak, and the pain in being lifted by the arms so exaruciating,

that his bearers were obliged bo procure a litter on which to carry him. And thus they bore him homo, aud to his chamber ; and ore long thereafter the old physician from the village — Dr. Heiman Griffith —was in attendance : and with him we enter upon the scene. The doctor and the baron were of the same ago, and had been earnest and sincere frionds from early childhood. The Xorrnor drew near the bod with a cheery smile, never dreaming that; he was lo find clangor. Tho messenger who had called him had told him bho baron had fallen on the mountain ; and, further, he had come to regard tho old warrior as one onbirely exempt from mortal harm at the hand of man. 'O, dear Doctor ! do you think papa is badly hurt ?' The man ot medicine turned and looked upon the speaker — Lady Blanche — the daughter and only child of tho baron. She was ninotocn years of ago, tall aud queenly, with a faco as fair and beautiful as the sun ocr shone upon. Her hair was light brown in colour : her oyes purely and exquisitely blue ; the most eloquent eyes, the old doctor had often declared, that ever wore made. One thing is sure : Thoy were loving oyes, and lo\ablo; thoy could bo ver> stern and severe on occasion ; but they were more used to tenderness aud kindly sympathy. Her fathor had been at times hard upon her tender, loving heart, and at times, too, ho had been unjust ; yet she loved him with all the strength of hor naturo, and would have given her life for him willingly had tho sacrifice been called for. ' Pooh ! pooh ! — a fall amongst the rocks cannot have done much damago to his frame. Don't you worry, my Lady BrightEyes. Well well, Bertrand !' turning to the suiFeror, and takincr his wrist. • What in tho world have you— Eh !' Something in tho character of the pulse, over which ho had pressed tho end of hi.* fingers, had startled him. Tho smilo disappeared from his faco, giving place to a serious look, as ho muttered, half to himself : ' Bles° mo ! here's; something serious ! Can it bo an injury to the spine? 1' faith ! 1 hope not. Hove ! you, Duff! help me to turn the master.' Tho man thus addicted, who had come into tho chamber shortly before the arrival of dlio doctor, and had been standing near the foot of the bed, groaning and wiping his eyes, was of middle age — perhaps forty short, and stout, his features coarso and homely, his thick, crinkly hair of a dingy yellow colour, with a pair of light-grey eyes, bright and restless. Altogether he was a queer-looking man. Some thought him a fool ; some believed him tiue and honest ; while some there were who did nob hesitate to declare him a treacherous hypocrite. His name was Duff Murtagh, and tho service which ho rendered the baron, as well as the manner in which it was lenderod, more nearly resembled that of a cringing clog than it did that of an intelligent man. Murtagh, notwithstanding his clumsy, semi-idiotic look, was very deft and delicate in his manipulations about tho person of his injured master, and it was plainly to bo seen that the master trusted him. * Let Duff do it ! Let Duff do it ! He knows me better than anyone else,' wailed the sufferer, as the doctor laid hold upon his ■ shoulder to assist in turning him. He was soon turned, with his back up, and the doctor drew down tho collar of the shirt, and looked at the wound. A single Jook, and his next movement was to take out his pocket-knife, open a sharp blade, and with it slit open the back of the shirt, from the neck band to the waist. That laid the magnificent back entirely bare, and, despite the ugly-looking wound between the shoulderblades, he could not resist tho impulse to givo one brief moment to an admiring survey of the muscular giandeur before him. Never before had he seen such massiveness in the thew and sinew of a human body. By and oy he laid his finger upon the cut - for a cut it surely was. A simple line of daik red, not more than three - quarters of an inch in length, surronnded by a cincture of a dull purplish hue. But voiy iow drops of blood had exuded 'What i.- it, Doctor: Blanche asked, breathlessly. She had aoen his colour change, and had masked a sudden contraction of the brows, with n spasmodic compression of the lips. Griffith did not speak. He called for a sponge, and having washed away the bit of crusted blood from the wound, he gently inserted the point of a slender sih er probe. Again the anxious daughter spoke, and again the doctor neglected to niiswei. fie laid aside the probe, and brought fiom hit case a pair of forceps, the |awb of which he slightTy opened, and then slipped tho open points, down into tho cut ; then lie shut them hard upon the object he had found, and drew slightly — drew moie smartly — upon it ; but did not start it. With a low, deep moan of pain, the baron himself demanded to know what was the matter. { What i& it, Griffith, that givos me such exquisite torture when you touch it ? Out with it, man ! What is it ?' Instead of replying to tho baron, the doctor turned to Blanche, and offered to lead her from the room. She turnod, and looked into his face with indignant surprise. She was a=; tall as he was— very nearly — and her look was regal. 'Doctor Griffith! Would you have me leave him — my father — to the care of menials ? Your words may give me pain, but they cannot make me a coward. What have you found ?' c Dear Blanche,' the leech finally said, regarding her with wondering admiration, ' your fathor's hours are numbered ! The wretch who killed him loft the blade of his dagger, broken off at the haft, and deeply buried, in the most vital part of his body !'