The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-12-18

I
presence of him who was indeed destined to decide
: his fate Dugald Roy, or Dhu Rhu, tradition
calls him, still in the prime of life of ilOrid
complexion, as his name denotes, tall, muscular and
active, brave rather than reckless, and though a
man of deep feelings and of violent passions when
they were once aroused, he was not easily moved
TO wrath, or blinded by excitement. Beside him
was his son Evan, STRIPPING Of scarce eighteen
years, bearing in his eye much Of Lias's gentle
, | spirit blent with the courage of his race With
such tempers there was little for the wanderer to
fear. Dugald smiled as he looked on the pale but
handsome youth who stood before him. " All,
Munro of Calcairn - said he at last. Well, be
1t so! That you have fought with my clansmen,
or that your own clan serve the Hanoveran, is
nothing now to Dugald Cameron. He only sees in
You the wounded stranger, whose life should be
safe in his hands LOchie himself to seek it. !"
Strong well nigh as the tie of blood is the bond of
protection thus given and received, and the few
days during which the officer rested beneath the
shelter Of the rebels roof, tended kindly as though
his nearest relatives around him, did as much
as months of cordial intercourse to unite in private
friendship those who might afterwards meet foe
men in the field and to link their hearts toge Their,
between whom any chance working of that terri
bic curse, civil war, might rear up an insupera-
| Bile barrier. Though, so far the attachment of
! Munro and Lilias were concerned, those hours of
! quietude snatched from the strife and turmoil of
that troublous period had but to deepen and
strengthen feelings which sprung up even in few
minutes of their strange meeting, when the strong
man and gallant soldier owed his life to the gentle
and timid girl. And so, loving and beloved, they
| plighted vows Of eternal truth, and dreamed-as
! lovers have done ever since the world was young,
and will do until It's race be ended-Of future light
| and sunshine, when the thunder-clouds now lower
! ing over them should all have passed away. Do
they never dream that the storm will burst above
! their heads!
AT length those days of rest and peace, and fairy
visions, feeted by; last looks were looked and last
tarewells were breathed and they who had been
lettering upon its shady banks were launched again
upon the stream of life, to struggle as they might
with the wild currents Of strife and circumstance
which there awaited them. A faithful gillie guided
Monro by night beyond the line of danger, and on
the morrow Dugald and his son went forth with |
Loehlel, and between seven and eight hundred of
the devoted Camerons, to join the descendant Of |
their ancient kings, and witness the unfurling in |
Glen Flnnan of that fatal standard which was to |
lead thousands on to death, and fan the embers of
war into blaze, from hill to hill, throughout the
country of their birth.
Many months passed on-months Of intrigue and |
bloOdshed of fierce anxiety, wild hope and, in the
end, as wild despair. And in all this time the
lovers were left to conjecture each others fate for
but rare and scanty intelligence could travel be-
tween the royal and the rebel armies. 1t was not
until CullOden's hard-fought field was lost and
won, and the insane expectations of Charles Ed
ward were scattered like withered leaves before
the autumn blast, that sure tidings Of Munro
reached Llias in the knowledge that near the close
of the action he had saved her brother Evans
life and in the brief and hurried message Whispered
In the youths ear, amid the confusion and din of |
the conflict, where Highlander raised his hand
against Highlander, and kinsmen shed each others
blood.
Again months passed on-fre and sword, and
death, had still been busy in the land blood and
tears had stained the earth, and the cry arose to
heaven OF those whose punishment greater
than their crimes Sorrow sat by many desolate
hearth, and the halls of festivty were deserted and
In ruins; while the dark copse, the rocky fortress,
and the oneliest retreat within the silent gen were
the abodes alike ofthe chieftan and the kern. The
shadow of night was on Loeb Arkaig, and its dark
waves were tossing wildly beneath the fierce gusts
which rushed forth from ont the gens and from
every space between the lofty hills around its head
Loudly they moaned around the burial land of the
Camerons of Lochiel. 1t came rushing across the
troubled waters laden with a melancholy wall, as |
though the spirits of the dead were amenting the
unhappy fate Of their descendant. Clouds hung
low upon the mountain tops, and few swiftly in
dense masses over the sky, thunder pealed, and
lightning blaZed across the heavens as they had | ,
been transiently fire, and heavy torrents Of rain
pouring down, sent a hundred rivulets-Which but .
yesterday were nOt-dancing through the dells | ,
while and anon the moonbeams bursting {
through the rack cast gloomy light athwart the | /
scene, then shrunk if affrighted, from the con-
vused bosom Of the lake wherein they had been
wont to rest. And dsmally, too, howled the blast
along the shore, bidding the strong trees groan and
the weaker bend beneath It's breath, and bearing
that, weary and blinded by the driving rain his
horse sometimes refused to struggle EDWARDS Il '
was wild night, but In unison with the fortunes q
Of the region which it darkened. So thought 7
Munro of Culcarn, as he dismounted, and wrap 4
ping his cloak close around him. led his trembling
and reluctant steed over the rugged and slippery
ground He passed by Dugald Rows deserted I
house-some English officers in search of Charles r
Edward, who long lay hid among the neighboring Ii
hills had been its latest occupants; and now no n
light shone from the easements, no human being O
dared to harbor within the walls where Culcarn | Y
had spent SO many hours of pure and blessed hap Il
plness. 1t was not the first desolate homestead a
which the officer had seen since MONDAY and he | =
sighed to think of the sad changes which SO brief
period had wrought in his native land, and of all -
the evils which his misguided countrymen had z
drawn upon themselves. 4
Some distance further up the loch, he paused at Il
the foot of rugged hill, and, tieng his horse TO a
tree prepared to scale it. 1t was no easy task for
any one, amid the whir and roaring of the tempest
and Highlander though he was, and used from his n
childhood to climb tall rocks and dizzy heights, ii
Munro had more than once nearly stumbled, where ii
TO lose his footing would have cast him headlong h
to its base. On the very summit of this mountain &
was hollow, as though giants hand had cut y
wedge out of the rock few hardy pines grew Z
along the sides of the cleft internngling their +
branches overhead, and yelling from stranger eyes
the very existence of any cavity. Within Dugad Il
Cameron had built rude hut, as a secure asylum n
in time of need, and. though now shrouded in mist
and cE0uds and as it seemed, raised into the region
where the spirits of the storm were working their
wild will, right glad were he and his to own its a
shelter bright fire burned at the farther end of :
the hut, before which an old woman covered down \
to enjoy the heat, and mutter in low voice some 3
tale Of her past life into the open ear Of the boy II
who was mendng his brogues beside her. Llias a
sat near the entrance with large hound rest
ing his head upon her knee and looking up in her +
lace as though he would trace her wandering !,
thoughts; while, alive only to the present, Evan 4
was Furnishing his broadsword, and Dugald stood i
with folded arms, watching his employment and =
thinking, 1t might be, of the many scenes in which 4
hat weapon had borne part e
Suddenly the hound raised his ears. and Tilias n
started. 9 There is some one near she whispered.
See, old Gruim lays down his head again % q
her brother, rising. If any one, it is
friend'' I