Ancient Tales: Hell's Bridge

ANCIENT TALES. HELL'S BRIDGE. A deadly feud subsisted, almost from time immemorial, between the families of M'Pherson, of Bendearg, and Grant, of Cairn, and was handed down 'unimpaired' even > to the close of the last century. In earlier times the warlike chiefs of these names found frequent opportunities of testifying their mutual animosity; and few inheritors of the fatal quarrel left the world without having moistened it with the blood of their hereditary enemies. But in our own day the progress of civilization, which had reached even these wild countries the heart of the North Highlands—although it could not extinguish entirely the transmitted spirit of revenge, at least kept it within safe bounds, and the feuds of M'Pherson and Grant threatened, in the course of another generation, to die entirely away; or at least to exist only in some vexatious law suit, fostered by the petty jealousies of two men of hostile tempers and contiguous property. It was not, however, without some ebullitions of ancient fierceness that the flame which had burned for so many centuries seemed about to expire. Once, at a meeting of the country gentlemen, a question of privilege arising, Bendearg took occasion to throw out some taunts aimed at his hereditary foe, which the fiery Grant immediately received as the signal of defiance, and a challenge was the consequence. The sheriff of the county, however, having received intimation of the affair, put both parties under arrest; till at length, by the persuasions of their friends—not friends by blood—and the representations of the magistrates, they shook hands, and

ANCIENT TALES. 35 each pledged his honour to forget—at least never again to remember in speech or action, the ancient feud of his family. This occurrence at the time was the object of much interest in the 'country side;' the rather that it seemed to give the lie to the prophecies, of which many a highland family has an ample stock in its traditionary chronicles, and which expressly predicted that the enmity of Cairn and Bendearg should only be quenched in blood, and on this seemingly cross-grained circumstance some of the young men who had begun to be tainted with the heresies of the lowlands, were seen to shake their heads as the)^ reflected on the tales and the faith of their ancestors; but the gray-haired seers shook theirs still more wisely, and answered with the motto of a noble house— bide my time.' There is a narrow pass between two mountains in the neighborhood of Bendearg, well known to the traveler who adventures into these wilds in quest of the savage sublimities of nature. At a little distance it has the appearance of an immense artificial bridge thrown over a wide chasm; but on a nearer approach, is seen to be a wall of nature's own masonry, formed of vast and rugged bodies of solid rock piled on each other, as if in the giant sport of the architect. Its sides are in some places covered with trees of considerable size; and the passenger who has a head steady enough to look down the precipice, may see the eyries of birds of prey beneath his feet. The path across it is so narrow, that it will not admit of two persons passing along-side; and indeed none but natives, accustomed to the scene from infancy, would attempt the dangerous route at all, though it saves a circuit of three miles. Yet it sometimes happens that two travelers meet in the middle, owing to the curve formed by the pass preventing a view across from either side; and when this is the case, one is obliged to lie down while the other crawls over his body. One day, shortly after the incident above mentioned, a highlander was walking fearlessly down the pass, sometimes bending over to watch the flight of the wild birds that built below, and sometimes detaching a fragment from the top, to see it dashed against the uneven sides, and bounding from rock to rock, its sound echoing the while like a human voice,

36 IMPROVEMENT ERA. and dying in faint and hollow murmurs at the bottom. When the highlander had gained the loftiest part of the arch, he observed another person coming leisurely from the opposite side, and being himself of the patrician order, called out to him to lie down; the individual, however, disregarded the command, and the highlanders met face to face on the summit. They were Cairn and Bendearg; the two hereditary enemies, who would have gloried to have met in mortal strife on a hill side, turned deadly pale at this fatal recontre. 'I was first at the top,' said Bendearg, 'and called out first; lie down that I may pass over in peace.' 'When the Grant prostrates himself before M'Pherson,' answered the other, 'it must be with a sword driven through his body.' 'Turn back then,' said Bendearg, 'and repass as you came.' 'Go back yourself if you like it, I will not be the first to turn before a M'Pherson. ' This was their short conference, and the result exactly as each had anticipated. They then threw their bonnets over the precipice, and advanced with a slow and cautious pace toward each other;—they were both unarmed. Stretching their limbs like men preparing for a desperate struggle, they planted their feet firmly on the ground, compressed their lips, knit their dark brows, and fixing fierce and watchful eyes on each other, stood there prepared for the onset. They both grappled at the same moment; but being of equal strength, were unable, for some time, to shift each other's position, —standing, as if fixed to the rock, with suppressed breath and muscles strained 'to the top of their bent,' like statutes carved out of the solid stone. At length M'Pherson suddenly removing his right foot, so as to give him greater purchase, stooped his body and bent his enemy with him by main strength, till they both leaned over the precipice, looking downward into the terrible abyss. The contest was as .yet doubtful, for Grant had placed his foot firmly on an elevation, at the brink, and had equal command of his enemy; but at this moment M'Pherson sunk slowly and firmly on his knee, and while Grant suddenly started back, stooping to take the supposed advantage, whirled him over his head into the gulf. M'Pherson himself fell backwards, his bodyjianging partly over the rock,—a fragment gave way

ANCIENT TALES. 37 beneath him, and he sank further, till catching with a desperate effort at the solid stone above, he regained his footing. There was a pause of deathlike stillness, and the bold heart of M'Pherson felt sick and faint. At length, as if compelled unwillingly by some mysterious feeling, he looked down over the precipice. Grant had caught with a deathlike grip by a rugged point of a rock—his enemy was yet almost within his reach! his face was turned upward, and there was in it terror and despair, but he uttered no word or cry. The next moment he loosed his hold; and the next his brains were dashed out before the eyes of his hereditary foe;—the mangled body disappeared among the trees, and its last heavy and hollow sound arose from the bottom. M'Pherson returned home an altered man. He purchased a commission in the army, and fell bravely in the wars of the Peninsula. The Gaelic name of the place where this tragedy was acted signifies "Hell's Bridge."