Kidnapped: Chapters 16–24

by Robert Louis Stevenson
After young orphan David Balfour discovers he may be the true heir to his uncle's estate, he is kidnapped and swept up in the struggle of Scottish highlanders against the English. Read the adventure story here.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–15, Chapters 16–24, Chapters 25–30

Here are links to our lists for other works by Robert Louis Stevenson: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Treasure Island
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. lament
    express grief verbally
    Yet nearer, and there began to come to our ears a great sound of mourning, the people on board and those on the shore crying and lamenting one to another so as to pierce the heart.
  2. emigrant
    someone who leaves one country to settle in another
    Thereupon Neil sheered off; and the chief singer in our boat struck into a melancholy air, which was presently taken up both by the emigrants and their friends upon the beach, so that it sounded from all sides like a lament for the dying.
  3. vile
    causing or able to cause nausea
    The inn at Kinlochaline was the most beggarly vile place that ever pigs were styed in, full of smoke, vermin, and silent Highlanders.
  4. glower
    look angry or sullen as if to signal disapproval
    He might be glowering at the two of us out of yon whin-bush, and I wouldnae wonder!
  5. scanty
    lacking in extent or quantity
    Before we went to bed he offered me sixpence to help me on my way, out of a scanty store he kept in the turf wall of his house; at which excess of goodness I knew not what to do.
  6. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    The first was a great, red-headed gentleman, of an imperious and flushed face, who carried his hat in his hand and fanned himself, for he was in a breathing heat.
  7. portmanteau
    a large travelling bag made of stiff leather
    This servant had a good-sized portmanteau strapped on his horse, and a net of lemons (to brew punch with) hanging at the saddle-bow; as was often enough the custom with luxurious travellers in that part of the country.
  8. civility
    formal or perfunctory politeness
    He gave me no salutation; indeed it was no time for civilities; only "Come!" says he, and set off running along the side of the mountain towards Balaehulish; and I, like a sheep, to follow him.
  9. uncanny
    suggesting the operation of supernatural influences
    Of all deaths, I would truly like least to die by the gallows; and the picture of that uncanny instrument came into my head with extraordinary clearness (as I had once seen it engraved at the top of a pedlar's ballad) and took away my appetite for courts of justice.
  10. harrowing
    causing extreme distress
    For there were still two men lying impotent in their bunks; and these, seeing the water pour in and thinking the ship had foundered, began to cry out aloud, and that with such harrowing cries that all who were on deck tumbled one after another into the skiff and fell to their oars.
  11. crestfallen
    brought low in spirit
    But I thought he seemed crestfallen; indeed, he was clutching at every straw, and all the time, I dare say, saw the faces of his hereditary foes on the bench, and in the jury-box, and the gallows in the background.
  12. consternation
    sudden shock or dismay that causes confusion
    In the others, as well as I could make out (standing back at a distance and hearing a strange tongue), the news was received with more of consternation than surprise.
  13. confluence
    a place where things merge or flow together
    Lower down, the infantry continued; but as the stream was suddenly swelled by the confluence of a considerable burn, they were more widely set, and only watched the fords and stepping-stones.
  14. vigilance
    alert attentiveness
    The soldiers, having searched this side of the valley after a fashion, and being perhaps somewhat sleepy with the sultriness of the afternoon, had now laid by much of their vigilance, and stood dozing at their posts or only kept a look-out along the banks of the river
  15. intricate
    having many complexly arranged elements; elaborate
    The way was very intricate, lying up the steep sides of mountains and along the brows of cliffs
  16. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
    Seemingly he was well pleased, and he must certainly have judged us out of ear-shot of all our enemies; for throughout the rest of our night-march he beguiled the way with whistling of many tunes, warlike, merry, plaintive; reel tunes that made the foot go faster
  17. complicity
    guilt as a confederate in a crime or offense
    He gave us the news of the country; that it was alive with red-coats; that arms were being found, and poor folk brought in trouble daily; and that James and some of his servants were already clapped in prison at Fort William, under strong suspicion of complicity.
  18. chattel
    personal property, as opposed to real estate
    Lastly, the bouman took himself off by one way; and Alan I (getting our chattels together) struck into another to resume our flight.
  19. mettle
    the courage to carry on
    "There are whiles," said he, "when ye are altogether too canny and Whiggish to be company for a gentleman like me; but there come other whiles when ye show yoursel' a mettle spark; and it's then, David, that I love ye like a brother."
  20. reproach
    a mild rebuke or criticism
    When I waked Alan, he glanced first at the soldiers, then at the mark and the position of the sun, and knitted his brows with a sudden, quick look, both ugly and anxious, which was all the reproach I had of him.
  21. unbearable
    incapable of being put up with
    The aching and faintness of my body, the labouring of my heart, the soreness of my hands, and the smarting of my throat and eyes in the continual smoke of dust and ashes, had soon grown to be so unbearable that I would gladly have given up.
  22. ado
    a great deal of fuss, concern, or commotion
    Not that ever I looked at him, for I had enough ado to keep my feet; but because it is plain he must have been as stupid with weariness as myself, and looked as little where we were going, or we should not have walked into an ambush like blind men.
  23. labyrinth
    complex system of paths in which it is easy to get lost
    and the next moment, two of the gillies had me by the arms, and I began to be carried forward with great swiftness (or so it appeared to me, although I dare say it was slowly enough in truth), through a labyrinth of dreary glens and hollows and into the heart of that dismal mountain of Ben Alder.
  24. barricade
    a barrier to impede the advance of an enemy
    The trunks of several trees had been wattled across, the intervals strengthened with stakes, and the ground behind this barricade levelled up with earth to make the floor.
  25. sequester
    set apart from others
    To be sure, there might have been a purpose in his questions; for though he was thus sequestered, and like the other landed gentlemen of Scotland, stripped by the late Act of Parliament of legal powers, he still exercised a patriarchal justice in his clan.
  26. proscribe
    command against
    Altogether, I had a fair chance to see some of the inner workings of a Highland clan; and this with a proscribed, fugitive chief; his country conquered; the troops riding upon all sides in quest of him, sometimes within a mile of where he lay; and when the least of the ragged fellows whom he rated and threatened, could have made a fortune by betraying him.
  27. scruples
    motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles
    And indeed it must be owned that both my scruples and the words in which I declared them, smacked somewhat of the Covenanter, and were little in their place among wild Highland Jacobites.
  28. venison
    meat from a deer used as food
    What with the brandy and the venison, a strange heaviness had come over me; and I had scarce lain down upon the bed before I fell into a kind of trance, in which I continued almost the whole time of our stay in the Cage.
  29. abiding
    unceasing
    yet I was conscious of no particular nightmare, only of a general, black, abiding horror--a horror of the place I was in, and the bed I lay in, and the plaids on the wall, and the voices, and the fire, and myself.
  30. hindrance
    something immaterial that interferes with action or progress
    It's not to be supposed that I would be any hindrance to gentlemen in your situation; that would be a singular thing!" cries he, and began to pull gold out of his pocket with a mighty red face.
  31. trudge
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    Wheedling my money from me while I lay half-conscious was scarce better than theft; and yet here he was trudging by my side, without a penny to his name, and by what I could see, quite blithe to sponge upon the money he had driven me to beg.
  32. lineage
    the kinship relation between an individual and progenitors
    He objected that by turning to the east, we should come almost at once among the Athole Stewarts, a race of his own name and lineage, although following a different chief, and come besides by a far easier and swifter way to the place whither we were bound.
  33. incessantly
    without interruption
    By day, we lay and slept in the drenching heather; by night, incessantly clambered upon break-neck hills and among rude crags.
  34. spate
    a sudden forceful flow
    In this steady rain the springs of the mountain were broken up; every glen gushed water like a cistern; every stream was in high spate, and had filled and overflowed its channel.
  35. forbear
    refrain from doing
    "O man, let's say no more about it!" said I. "We're neither one of us to mend the other—that's the truth! We must just bear and forbear, man Alan. O, but my stitch is sore!
Created on Wed Jun 18 17:24:33 EDT 2014 (updated Thu Sep 20 12:36:30 EDT 2018)

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