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The swarthy man answered to the name of Ballantrae; he of the dreamy eyes was sometimes called Balmile, and sometimes MY LORD, or MY LORD GLADSMUIR; but when the title was given him, he seemed to put it by as if in jesting, not without bitterness. The mistral blew in the city.
In the past-mastership of the finest Scotch novels, "Kidnapped" and its sequel "David Balfour," "The Master of Ballantrae" and the beautiful torso, "Weir of Hermiston," we get the psychologic romance, which means a shift of interest; character comes first, story is secondary to it.
They found Honolulu very beautiful. Taking a house at Waikiki, a short distance from town, they settled down to finish The Master of Ballantrae. In these surroundings, which seemed to them ultra-civilized after their experiences in the Marquesas and the Societies, they were able to enjoy a little family life.
Stevenson assigns to Mackellar the task of narrating "The Master of Ballantrae": but when the Master disappears and Mackellar remains at home with Mr. Henry, it is necessary for the author to invent a second personage, the Chevalier de Burke, to tell the story of the Master's wanderings.
Up went his hands over his head I know not whether with the pain or to ward himself; and the next moment he doubled forward in the mud. Ballantrae was already over the ankles; but he plucked himself out, and came back to me, where I stood with my knees smiting one another. "The devil take you, Francis!" says he. "I believe you are a half-hearted fellow, after all.
'At last, here you are! he cried in French. 'I thought I was to miss you altogether. The Scotsmen rose, and Ballantrae, after the first greetings, laid his hand on his companion's shoulder. 'My lord, said he, 'allow me to present to you one of my best friends and one of our best soldiers, the Lord Viscount Gladsmuir. The two bowed with the elaborate elegance of the period.
The thing went by acclamation, Ballantrae was made quartermaster, the rum was put in his charge, laws were passed in imitation of those of a pirate by the name of Roberts, and the last proposal was to make an end of Teach. But Ballantrae was afraid of a more efficient captain, who might be a counterweight to himself, and he opposed this stoutly.
Throughout his fiction this chemic union of fact and the higher fact that is of the imagination marks his work. The smell of the heather is in our nostrils as we watch Allan's flight, and looking on at the fight in the round-house, there is a physical impression of the stuffiness of the place; you smell as well as see it. Or for quite another key, take the night duel in "The Master of Ballantrae."
And he stamped his foot at him with such a sudden smartness that Teach fairly ran for it to the companion. "And now, mates," says Ballantrae, "a word with you. I don't know if you are gentlemen of fortune for the fun of the thing, but I am not. I want to make money, and get ashore again, and spend it like a man. And on one thing my mind is made up: I will not hang if I can help it.
Henry turned to me; not to speak, only to sign with his finger; but that was enough, and I went down again for the Colonel. When we returned, these three were in much the same position I same left them in; I believe no word had passed. "My Lord Durrisdeer, no doubt?" says the Colonel, bowing, and my lord bowed in answer. "And this," continues the Colonel, "should be the Master of Ballantrae?"
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