He too was a merciful man, and, moreover, was loyal in
heart to the King, and had fought in Montrose's first rising; and he
undertook to guide my brother safely across Scotland and obtain his
passage in one of the vessels that traded between Leith and
Amsterdam. Happily Eustace always had a tongue that could readily
catch the trick of dialects, and this excellent pedlar guarded him
like his own brother, and took care to help him through all pressing
and perplexing circumstances. Providentially, it was the height of
summer, and the days were at their longest and warmest, or I know not
how he could have gone through it at all; but at last he safely
reached Leith, passing through Edinburgh with a pack on his back the
very day that the Marquis of Huntly was executed. He was safely
embarked on board at Dutch lugger, making large engagement of
payment, which were accepted when he was known to have estates in
France as well as in England; and thus he landed at Amsterdam, and
made his way to the Hague, where all was in full preparation for the
King's expedition to Scotland on the invitation of the nation.
So undaunted was my dear brother's spirit that, though he was
manifestly very ill from the effects of exposure and fatigue, and of
a rough voyage in a wretched vessel, he insisted that he should
recover in a few days, and would have embarked at once with the King
had not absolute orders to the contrary, on his duty as a subject,
been laid upon him.
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