Ardnamurchan

“ As the steamboat passenger sails northward through the Sound of Mull, he sees straight ahead, and stretching at right angles across his course, a long range of low hills culminating in a finely-shaped mass which seems to rise abruptly from the edge of the sea. The hills are those of Ardnamurchan, and the dominating pile is Ben Hiant, 1729 feet in height, and “green to its top.” Around the base of the mountain and for miles in every direction the land is fair, fertile, and well adapted either for arable or grazing purposes. It comprises the farm of Mingary, and, to-day, is wholly under deer. ”

“ Macdonald was naturally very much exasperated by Kenneth's defiant answer to himself and the repeated insults heaped upon his relative, and through her upon her family. He therefore dispatched his great steward, Maclean, to collect his followers in the Isles, as also to advise and request the aid of his nearest relations on the mainland - the Macdonalds of Moidart and Clan Jan of Ardnamurchan. In a short time they mustered a force between them of about fifteen hundred men - some say three thousand - and arranged with Macdonald to meet him at Contin. ”

“ At Monach, Dec. 27th, a flock of young birds, along with a large flock of Larks, flying about the garden and shores at 1 p.m., wind S., fresh and clear; and again on Jan. 14th, 1881, a great many flocks, mixed old and young, at 10 a.m., flying to and fro between the island and North Uist, apparently being local movements caused by heavy snow in Uist. In 1879, the most northerly record comes from Ardnamurchan, whereas this year, as is usually the case, they are much more general. ”

“ It faces the Island of Coll, and commands a view of the Point of Ardnamurchan, from which it is distant about seven or eight miles. At its base there is a strong tidal channel which has never been known to be dry at the lowest ebb tide. From its highest point the spectre of “Hugh of the Little [Pg 66] Head” is said to cross on horseback to Coll to give warning, as he is wont to do, to any descendants of the house of Lochbuie of their approaching end. Hugh is said to have had his head cut off by a broad sword in one of the clan skirmishes of old times. ”

“ Rushes took place more frequently than with most species noted; thus, Sept. 19th, Oct. 12th to 25th, and Nov. 11th and 17th, may all be characterised as dates of rushes. The most favoured localities were Corsewall and Portpatrick, for frequency of records; and Ardnamurchan Point, Dhuheartach, Portpatrick, and Point of Ayr, for numbers of individuals. Starlings do not seem to have any choice of wind, as far as returns show. We find them migrating with N., W., and S.E. winds in almost equal proportions, with a preference—but very slight—to W. winds. ”

“ In Armenia every family keeps a year’s supply of food on hand. The women had to leave behind all they could not carry.
When it came time for us to go I thought again of the look in that Turk’s face. For the first time I realized just what it would mean to be a captive in one of the harems of the rich Turks whose big houses look down from the hills all about the city. I had heard of the Christian girls forced into haremliks of these houses, but I had never really understood. Lusanne was older. She knew more than I. “If only I could have died with Andranik,” she said. ”

“ Andor was his only brother's only child, and I suppose Pali bácsi [3] was suddenly struck with the idea that he really had no one to leave his hoardings to. He was always a fool and a lout. If Andor had lived it would have been all right. I think Pali bácsi was quite ready to do something really handsome for him. Now that Andor is dead he has no one; and when he dies his money all goes to the government. It is a pity," he added, with a shrug of the shoulders. "If a peasant of Marosfalva had it it would do good to the commune." ”

“ By the Turk, Andranik sent word to Lusanne that he would ride to Harpout, where he knew the German Consul-General, Count Wolf von Wolfskehl, and beg of this powerful German official to intercede for the Armenians of Tchemesh-Gedzak.
Lusanne was much encouraged when she heard Andranik was safe. All afternoon neighboring women, some of them wives of wealthy men, came to our house to look from our windows into the square, hoping to catch a glimpse of their loved ones. The soldiers would not let the women gather near the square, nor communicate with the men. ”

“ With money supplied by the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief he purchased these girls from their Turkish captors for $1. apiece. The Turks, knowing the Russians would liberate these captive Christian girls if they found them, were glad to sell them at this price rather than risk losing them without collecting anything.
General Andranik, the great Armenian leader, who is our national hero, came to see me. For many years General Andranik kept alive the courage of all Armenians. He promised them freedom and constantly endangered his life to keep up the spirits of my people. ”

“ Nearly all these girls and young women were from Van, the largest of the Armenian cities, or from districts near by. Some were from Bitlis, where thousands of my people had been killed in a single hour, only the girls and brides being left alive for the pleasure of the Turks. Some had escaped from Diyarbekir.
All had been directed to the monastery as a refuge by friendly Arabs or Armenian Derders. One by one or in groups of two and three they had applied at the monastery gates just as had Arousiag and I, and the monks had taken them in, disregarding the great danger to themselves. ”

“ When I was well and strong, General Andranik allowed me to help care for hundreds of Armenian children who had been found in the hands of the Turks and Armenian refugees who had succeeded in hiding in the hills and mountains and who now crept in to ask protection of the Russians. I helped, too, to comfort the girls who had been bought out of the harems. ”

“ Now they can afford to wait, and Andor will do it with confidence, he is a man and he is free. He viewed the future as a master views his slave; the future is his to do with what he likes, to mould, to shape in accordance with his will.
The land which must one day be his, and Elsa his already! Andor almost fell to wishing that the train would start quickly—so many seconds would have been lived of those three intervening years. ”

“ But now, while they stood defenceless, the king caused them to be seized and bound. Then, turning aside he sought for some one to put them to death; but he found no man of the Ultonians willing to do so.
Among his followers was a foreigner named Maini of the Rough Hand, whose father and two brothers had fallen in battle by Naisi: and this man undertook to kill the Sons of Usna.
When they were brought forth to their doom, Ardan said:—"I am the youngest: let me be slain first that I may not see the death of my brothers." ”

“ Andor, by dint of fighting and obstinacy, has kept his place in the door of one of the carriages; he sits on the floor, with his feet down on the step below, and refuses to quit his position for anyone. Several lads from the rear have tried to throw him out or to drag him in, but Andor is mightily strong—you cannot move him if he be not so minded.
Elsa, sitting on the step lower down, is resting her elbow on his knee. There is no thought of hiding their love for one another; let the whole village know it, or the whole countryside, they do not care ”

“ The legends of Artasches and Satenik, and of Artavasd, the son of Artasches, belong to the Arsacid period, for Artavasd and Artasches are Armenian kings of the Arsacid dynasty, according to Moses.34 The Alans who, according to the legend, were a neighboring people residing in the mountain region in the vicinity of Georgia, spread themselves over Armenia while Artasches, the Armenian king, collected a great army and forced the Alans to retreat across the river Kur where they pitched camp. ”

“ I chose Hungary for my bride, and my life must be that of a widower."
In the midst of the austere and thoughtful life he led, Andras preserved, nevertheless, a sort of youthful buoyancy. Many men of thirty were less fresh in mind and body than he. He was one of those beings who die, as they have lived, children: even the privations of the hardest kind of an existence can not take away from them that purity and childlike trust which seem to be an integral part of themselves, and which, although they may be betrayed, deceived and treated harshly by life, they never wholly lose ”

“ As for András, as he grew up, life seemed indeed a dreary thing. His father, who never spared himself, knew no mercy for him. Every season of the year was one of incessant toil for the fast-growing lad. He became his father’s overseer, his drudge, his slave, not one single groat did he ever get, to spend in merry-making with the young peasants of his own age in the village inn, not one with which to buy a bit of ribbon, for the girl who had looked coquettishly at him, during Mass on Sunday. ”

“ András, proudly carrying the precious burden, tries to thank them all for their welcome. He is longing to be home again, in the small, lonely house, by the plain, where the proud descendant of a hundred chieftains, awaits her peasant lord, with a smile of infinite love.
And, when he comes home, and places the tiny bundle close to her, when he kneels beside her and folds her tenderly in his arms, when, through a mist of happy tears his eyes tell her, more clearly than words: “I love you, Ilonka!” ”

“ Mechanically, obediently, a tiny white hand was stretched towards him, and András stooped very low, and tremblingly took it in his own. A look of infinite yearning, and tenderness was in his eyes, a look of appeal, infinitely touching and pathetic in the powerful, rugged face; that look but begged for a look, a responsive gaze from those blue eyes, which stared so strangely, so vacantly, as if he, in his humility, his love, his adoration, was far away from her. ”

“ On the morrow Lord Brandoch Daha came to Mivarsh Faz and said, "It is needful that this day we go down from Omprenne Edge. I would for no sake leave thee on the Moruna, but 'tis no walking matter to descend this wall. Art thou a cragsman?"
"I was born," answered he, "in the high valley of Perarshyn by the upper waters of the Beirun in Impland. There boys scarce toddle ere they can climb a rock. This climb affrights me not, nor those mountains. But the land is unknown and terrible, and many loathly ones inhabit it, ghosts and eaters of men. ”

“ In Thariputra, Buddha extolled the transcendent mental attainments, the heroic achievements in the practice of virtue, the fervour and zeal for the propagation of religion, which had ever distinguished the illustrious friend of Maukalan. In Ananda, the searching and keen eye of Buddha discovered excellencies of a less shining and bright hue, but, in point of sterling worth, second to none. Ananda is a matchless pattern of gentleness, amiability, devotedness, and placid religious zeal. He loves all his brethren, and he is, in return, beloved by them all. ”

“ There was no glimpse of valley anywhere. The sky was heavy with the grey lurid clouds of concentrated storm.
"We will eat," said Roldan, briefly; "but not too much."
They tethered the mustangs that the beasts might eat of the abundant grass, and consumed a small quantity of their store. Then they stretched at full length on the ground to rest their weary bodies.
"Let us stay here the night," said Adan, with a cavernous yawn.
"It is hardly darker by night than by day in the forest, but perhaps it is well to rest."
"I am one ache, no more," murmured Adan, and went to sleep. ”

“ It is all very well, András, but you cannot employ every able-bodied man this side of the Tarna. I wish you could, for then my brother would not have to work for the lord of Bideskút, which he does, in fear and trembling, lest the devil should make a pick-a-back of him, every time he stoops down to mow. ”

“ A look so bright that even by that dull lamplight the glow of the cheek, the brilliancy of the eye were visible, flashed over Ardworth's face. He felt at that moment what ambitious man must feel when the object he has seen dimly and afar is placed within his grasp ”

“ Alone upon the vast plain, away from human eyes, András dared to conjure up this vision, and found mad delight in torturing himself with those Fata Morgana-like dreams of great blue eyes, large and wondering, growing soft and misty, moist and tender with responsive passion, of that exquisite tiny mouth, perfumed and chaste, as the petals of a rosebud, of the soft red lips, parting with a smile, preparing for a kiss, of the warmth of her breath, the tears in her eyes, the quickly drawn breath through her delicate nostrils. ”

“ Too soon has the Happy One departed. Too soon is the World’s Light darkened.”
But the great Arhats bore their sorrow calm and self-possessed, saying:
“Transient are all earth’s things. How is it possible they should not be dissolved?”
And all that night did the great Sariputta and Anuruddha spend in high discourse but Ananda wept nor could be comforted.
And in the morning the great Anuruddha addressed the sorrowing Assembly.
“Enough, my brethren. Weep not nor lament. Has not the Blessed One declared to us that it is in the very nature of things near and dear to us that we and they must part? ”

“ It is still more extraordinary that the first account should ever have been believed and published, and still sore extraordinary that it was not corrected by Ohrwalder and Slatin, for when I arrived in Omdurman, in 1887, the real details of the death of Gordon were the theme of conversation whenever his name was mentioned, and there are many eye-witnesses to his death — or were until the battle of Omdurman, who could tell a very different tale. ”