Freaks on the Fells | Page 5

Robert Michael Ballantyne
made by her
father and brothers in regard to the scenery. There also came forth from
the interior of the coach a large, red-faced angry woman, who dragged
after her a little girl of about eight, who might be described as a modest
sunbeam, and a little boy of about five, who resembled nothing short of
an imp incarnate. When they were all out, the entire family and
household of Mr Sudberry stood in the centre of that lovely Highland
pass, and the coach, which was a special one hired for the occasion,
drove slowly up the ascent.
What the various members of the family said in the extravagance of
their excited feelings on this occasion we do not intend to reveal. It has
been said that the day was doubtful: in the south the sky was red with
the refulgent beams of the setting sun, which gleamed on the mountain
peaks and glowed on the purple heather. Towards the north dark leaden

clouds obscured the heavens, and presaged stormy weather. A few
large drops began to fall as they reached the crest of the road, and
opened up a view of the enclosed valley or amphitheatre which lay
beyond, with a winding river, a dark overshadowed loch, and a noble
background of hills. In the far distance a white house was seen
embedded in the blue mountains.
"Yonder's ta hoose," said the driver, as the party overtook the coach,
and resumed their places--the males on the top and the females inside.
"Oh, my dear! look! look!" cried Mr Sudberry, leaning over the side of
the coach; "there is our house--the white house--our Highland home!"
At this moment a growl of distant thunder was heard. It was followed
by a scream from Mrs Sudberry, and a cry of--
"You'd better send Jacky inside, my dear."
"Ah, he may as well remain where he is," replied Mr Sudberry, whose
imperfect hearing led him to suppose that his spouse had said, "Jacky's
inside, my dear!" whereas the real truth was that the boy was neither
out nor inside.
Master Jacky, be it known, had a remarkably strong will of his own.
During the journey he preferred an outside seat in all weathers. By dint
of much coaxing, his mother had induced him to get in beside her for
one stage; but he had made himself so insufferably disagreeable, that
the good lady was thereafter much more disposed to let him have his
own way. When the coach stopped, as we have described, Jacky got out,
and roundly asserted that he would never get in again.
When the attention of the party was occupied with the gorgeous
scenery at the extremity of the pass, Jacky, under a sudden impulse of
wickedness, crept stealthily into the copse that lined the road, intending
to give his parents a fright. In less than five minutes these parents were
galloping away at the rate of ten miles an hour, each happy in the belief
that the sweet boy was with the other.

Somewhat surprised at the prolonged and deathlike silence that reigned
around him, Jacky returned to the road, where he actually gasped with
horror on finding himself the solitary tenant of an apparently
uninhabited wilderness. Sitting down on a stone, he shut his eyes,
opened wide his mouth, and roared vehemently.
At the end of about five minutes he ventured to re-open his eyes. His
face instantly assumed an expression of abject terror, and the roar was
intensified into a piercing shriek when he beheld a fierce little black
cow staring at him within a yard of his face.
A drove of shaggy Highland cattle had come suddenly round a turn in
the pass while Jacky's eyes had been shut. They now filed slowly and
steadily past the transfixed boy, as if they were a regiment and he a
reviewing general. Each animal as it came up, stopped, stared for a few
seconds, and passed slowly on with its head down, as if saddened by
the sight of such a melancholy spectacle.
There were upwards of a hundred animals in the drove; the prolonged
and maddening agony which Jacky endured may therefore be
conceived but cannot be described.
Last of all came the drover, a kilted, plaided, and bonneted Highlander,
quite as shaggy as the roughest of his cattle, and rather fiercer in aspect.
He was not so in reality however, for, on coming to the place where the
poor boy sat, he stopped and stared as his predecessors had done.
"Fat is she doin' there?" said he.
Jacky paused, and gazed for one moment in mute surprise, then
resumed his roar with shut eyes and with tenfold vigour.
As it was evident that any farther attempt at conversation must prove
fruitless, the drover took Jacky in his
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