After exchanging a word or two with his domestics,the younger gentleman replied,"I should be glad,sir,to have some conversation with you upon so interesting a question,and should be proud if I can determine you in favour of the cause I have myself espoused.I ride this evening to a friend's house not three miles distant,whither,if you choose to accompany me,you shall have good quarters for the night,and free permission to take your own road in the morning,if you then feel no inclination to join with us."
"Whose word am I to take for this?"answered the cautious soldier--"A man must know his guarantee,or he may fall into an ambuscade."
"I am called,"answered the younger stranger,"the Earl of Menteith,and,I trust,you will receive my honour as a sufficient security."
"A worthy nobleman,"answered the soldier,"whose parole is not to be doubted."With one motion he replaced his musketoon at his back,and with another made his military salute to the young nobleman,and continuing to talk as he rode forward to join him --"And,I trust,"said he,"my own assurance,that I will be BON CAMARADO to your lordship in peace or in peril,during the time we shall abide together,will not be altogether vilipended in these doubtful times,when,as they say,a man's head is safer in a steel-cap than in a marble palace."
"I assure you,sir,"said Lord Menteith,"that to judge from your appearance,I most highly value the advantage of your escort;
but,I trust,we shall have no occasion for any exercise of valour,as I expect to conduct you to good and friendly quarters."
"Good quarters,my lord,"replied the soldier,"are always acceptable,and are only to be postponed to good pay or good booty,--not to mention the honour of a cavalier,or the needful points of commanded duty.And truly,my lord,your noble proffer is not the less welcome,in that I knew not preceesely this night where I and my poor companion"(patting his horse)"were to find lodgments."
"May I be permitted to ask,then,"said Lord Menteith,"to whom I have the good fortune to stand quarter-master?"
"Truly,my lord,"said the trooper,"my name is Dalgetty--Dugald Dalgetty,Ritt-master Dugald Dalgetty of Drumthwacket,at your honourable service to command.It is a name you may have seen in GALLO BELGICUS,the SWEDISH INTELLIGENCER,or,if you read High Dutch,in the FLIEGENDEN MERCOEUR of Leipsic.My father,my lord,having by unthrifty courses reduced a fair patrimony to a nonentity,I had no better shift,when I was eighteen years auld,than to carry the learning whilk I had acquired at the Mareschal-College of Aberdeen,my gentle bluid and designation of Drumthwacket,together with a pair of stalwarth arms,and legs conform,to the German wars,there to push my way as a cavalier of fortune.My lord,my legs and arms stood me in more stead than either my gentle kin or my book-lear,and I found myself trailing a pike as a private gentleman under old Sir Ludovick Leslie,where I learned the rules of service so tightly,that I will not forget them in a hurry.Sir,I have been made to stand guard eight hours,being from twelve at noon to eight o'clock of the night,at the palace,armed with back and breast,head-piece and bracelets,being iron to the teeth,in a bitter frost,and the ice was as hard as ever was flint;and all for stopping an instant to speak to my landlady,when I should have gone to roll-call."
"And,doubtless,sir,"replied Lord Menteith,"you have gone through some hot service,as well as this same cold duty you talk of?"
"Surely,my lord,it doth not become me to speak;but he that hath seen the fields of Leipsic and of Lutzen,may be said to have seen pitched battles.And one who hath witnessed the intaking of Frankfort,and Spanheim,and Nuremberg,and so forth,should know somewhat about leaguers,storms,onslaughts and outfalls."
"But your merit,sir,and experience,were doubtless followed by promotion?"
"It came slow,my lord,dooms slow,"replied Dalgetty;"but as my Scottish countrymen,the fathers of the war,and the raisers of those valorous Scottish regiments that were the dread of Germany,began to fall pretty thick,what with pestilence and what with the sword,why we,their children,succeeded to their inheritance.Sir,I was six years first private gentleman of the company,and three years lance speisade;disdaining to receive a halberd,as unbecoming my birth.Wherefore I was ultimately promoted to be a fahndragger,as the High Dutch call it (which signifies an ancient),in the King's Leif Regiment of Black-Horse,and thereafter I arose to be lieutenant and ritt-master,under that invincible monarch,the bulwark of the Protestant faith,the Lion of the North,the terror of Austria,Gustavus the Victorious."
"And yet,if I understand you,Captain Dalgetty,--I think that rank corresponds with your foreign title of ritt-master--"
"The same grade preceesely,"answered Dalgetty;"ritt-master signifying literally file-leader."
"I was observing,"continued Lord Menteith,"that,if I understood you right,you had left the service of this great Prince."
