The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-09-13


and higher, and the white drilling feeces
on the hillside became thicker and thicker.
1t is to be questioned if there is in all tive
Lowlands of Scotland q more elevated piece
| of table land than that lying some ten miles
above Crook, from which spring the foun-
tains Of the three great rivers, the clyde, the
Amman, and the Tweed. The road traversed
by Maclarent and his captors crosses this
obtusely- pyramidal height-for SO it is
shown to be, on great scale, by the descent
OF these rlvers-at q spot called Errick-
StaneBrae.
After the height of the country has been
passed, it proceeds for some way along the
brink of a profoundly green hollow, in
| which the Amman takes it's rise, and which is
usually termed the Devils, but sometimes
also the Marquis of Annandale's, Beef tub,
from some resemblance it bears to that do
mestic utensil, and because the reivers of
the great Border house of Johnston used of
old to conceal their stolen cattle in it. AS
implied by the appellation, the sides of this
hollow are nearly perpendicular all round !;
the bottom being SO deep, that in clear
weather traveller, looking down into it
from the road, sees bullocks diminished to
the size of sheep, and sheep to the magni-
tude of hares. On the present occasion,
however, it was filed to the brim by the
dense fog which pervaded the atmosphere,
peared like the shore of a deep bay of the
sea, to step from which would have been to
plunge into an abyss, and be lost forever.
The soldiers, though the country was to
them entirely new, passed along the high
and perilous road with feelings little i'm
pressed by it. The dreariness and mono
tony of their days march had rendered their
minds dull and inattentive; and instead of
keeping in q close circle round their pri-
soner they struggled along in a line, in
which he was sometimes near the front and
sometimes near the rear. Very different was
tIa nfo1o Of
his having frequently passed this way with
cattle, as many Highland gentlemen of SUI
periOr rank to himself were accustomed to
do, was acquainted with every foot of the
way, and had long meditated particular
design of escape, which he was now to put
into execution.
How great was tho atonishment of the
soldiery when Maclaren, who at one moment
was pacing quietly along in the dreary
march, was the next seen to start, as if
instinct with new life, from their line
towards the edge of the precipice, over
which he plunged head foremost, and was
in a moment lost to sight! To rush after
him was but the work OF an other moment
yet SO quick had been his movements that
he was already absorbed in the sea of
mist which filled the Beef-tub. With his
head firmly clenched between his knees,
and holding his feet in his hands, he had
himself as nearly as possible into a
round form, and allowed himself freely to
roll heels over head down the steep side of
the hollow, the surface of which he knew
presented at this place no distractions ca
pable of injuring him.
In their ignorance of the ground no soldier
burst follow him. The brave lieutenant
could only, as soon as he recovered breath,
exclaim with an oath, "StOp, sir; arrest
you in the kings name" while the soldiers
fired their muskets and random into the
misty gulf, or ran little way round its
Il ;,,t hor Of fSpRiny q Loco
access to the bottom. 1t was all in vain
and after once more gathering they could
only console themselves with the undoubt-
ing assurance that the rascal must have
broken his neck in the descent, and SO
relieved the king Of the duty of Furnishing
his rebellion.
At the moment when the lieutenant ut
tered Ills characteristic exclamation, Neil
Mcalaren could have stopped his career
neither for king nor kaiser. He arrived,
however, at the bottom of the Beef tub
without the slightest injury and on the
ascent of the opposite side with the speed
of one who hears behind him the blood:
hounds bay. When he reached the top.
being well acquainted with the ground,
ire set off at full speed in the direction
of his father-in- laws house, following
but the hillsides, where he was not likely
to be seen by anyone. He took this route
in the hope that, in some of the many
corner holes about the Crook, he might
easily lie concealed until the hue and cry
was blown over. Nor was he wrong.
After the departure of the soldiers with
their visitors, Geordie Black was surprised
by the arrival of prisoners that were
near and dear to him, namely, his daughter
Allie with her infant child. The poor
young creature knew of her husbands cap
ture, and was on her way to Carlisle to beg
his life, or die with him. Her parents per-
suaded, or rather compelled her, to stay for
u night with them, in order to take that rest
of which she stood SO much in need; but it
may be imagined that they could offer her
no other consolation. Consolation, how
ever, was not far off, though they then saw
it not.