"Ruffin! I assure you, Houghton, you have been vilely imposed upon."

66

"I often thought so," said Houghton, "though they showed us your very seal; and so Timms was shot, and I was reduced to the ranks."

"Do not exhaust your strength in speaking," said Edward, "I will get you a surgeon presently."

He saw Mac-Ivor approaching, who was now returning from head-quarters, where he had attended a council of war, and hastened to meet him. "Brave

news!" shouted the chief; "we shall be at it in less than two hours. The Prince has put himself at the head of the advance; and, as he drew his sword, called out, My friends, I have thrown away the scabbard.' Come, Waverley, we move instantly."

"A moment—a moment; this poor prisoner is dying;-where shall I find a surgeon?"

66

Why, where should you? We have none, you know, but two or three French fellows, who, I believe, are little better than garçons apothecaires.'

"But the man will bleed to death."

"Poor fellow! But it will be a thousand men's fate before night; so come along."

"I cannot; I tell you he is son of a tenant of my uncle's."

"Oh, if he's a follower of yours he must be looked to; "I'll send Callum to you; but diaoul !-ceade millia molligheart," continued the impatient chieftain"what made an old soldier, like Bradwardine, send dying men here to cumber us?"

Callum came with his usual alertness, and indeed, Waverley rather gained than lost in the opinion of the Highlanders, by his anxiety about the wounded man. They would not have understood the general philanthropy, which rendered it almost impossible for Waverley to have past any person in such distress; but apprehending that the sufferer was one of his following, they unanimously allowed that Waverley's conduct was that of a kind and considerate chieftain, who

merited the attachment of his people. In about a quarter of an hour poor Humphrey breathed his last, praying his young master, when he returned to Waverley-Honour, to be kind to old Job Houghton and his dame, and conjuring him not to fight with these wild petticoat-men against old England.

When his last breath was drawn, Waverley, who had beheld with sincere sorrow, and no slight tinge of remorse, the final agonies of mortality, now witnessed for the first time, commanded Callum to remove the body into the hut. This the young Highlander performed, not without examining the pockets of the defunct, which, however, he remarked, had been pretty well spunged. He took the cloak, however, and, proceeding with the provident caution of a spaniel hiding a bone, concealed it among some furze, and carefully marked the spot, observing, that if he chanced to return that way, it would be an excellent rokelay for his auld mother, Elspat.

It was by a considerable exertion that they regained their place in the marching column, which was now moving rapidly forward to occupy the high grounds above the village of Tranent, between which and the sea lay the purposed march of the opposite army.

This melancholy interview with his late sergeant forced many unavailing and painful reflections upon Waverley's mind. It was clear, from the confession of the man, that Colonel G's proceedings had been strictly warranted, and even rendered indispensable, by the steps taken in Edward's name to induce the soldiers of his troop to mutiny. The circumstance of the seal, he now, for the first time, recollected, and that he had lost it in the cavern of the robber, Bean Lean. That the artful villain had secured it, and used it as the means of carrying on an intrigue in the regiment for his own purposes, was sufficiently evident; and Edward had now little doubted that in the packet placed in his portmanteau by his daughter, he should find farther light upon his proceedings. In the mean

while, the repeated expostulation of Houghton,-" Ah, squire, why did leave us you

ears.

rung

like a knell in his

"Yes," said he, "I have indeed acted towards you with thoughtless cruelty. I brought you from your paternal fields, and the protection of a generous and kind landlord, and when I had subjected you to all the rigour of military discipline, I shunned to bear my own share of the burden, and wandered from the duties I had undertaken, leaving alike those whom it was my business to protect, and my own reputation, to suffer under the artifices of villany. Oh, indolence and indecision of mind if not in yourselves vices, to how much exquisite misery do you frequently prepare the way!"

CHAPTER VII.

The Eve of Battle.

ALTHOUGH the Highlanders marched on very fast, the sun was declining when they arrived upon the brow of those high grounds which command the open and extensive plain stretching northwards to the sea, on which are situated, but at a considerable distance from each other, the small villages of Seaton and Cockenzie, and the larger one of Preston. The low coast-road to Edinburgh passed through this plain, issuing upon it from the enclosures of Seaton-House, and at the town or village of Preston again entering the defiles of an enclosed country. By this way the English general had chosen to approach the metropolis, both as most commodious for his cavalry, and as being probably of opinion that by doing so, he would meet in front with the Highlanders advancing from Edinburgh in the opposite direction. In this he was mistaken; for the sound judgment of the chevalier, or of those to whose advice he listened, left the direct passage free, but occupied the strong ground by which it was overlooked and commanded.

When the Highlanders reached the heights commanding the plain described, they were immediately formed in array of battle along the brow of the hill. Almost at the same instant, the van of the English appeared issuing from among the trees and enclosures of Seaton, with the purpose of occupying the plain between the high ground and the sea. space which divided the armies being only about half a mile in breadth, Waverley could plainly see the squadrons of dragoons issue, one after another, from the defiles, with their videttes in front, and form upon the plain, with their front opposed to the line of the

The

prince's army. They were followed by a train of pieces, which, when they reached the flank of dragoons, were also brought into line, and po The march was continue against the heights. three or four regiments of infantry marching in column, their fixed bayonets showing like succe hedges of steel, and their arms glancing like light as, at a signal given, they at once wheeled into and were placed into direct opposition to the H landers. A second train of artillery, with anothe giment of horse, closed the long march, and form the left flank of the infantry, the whole line f southwards.

While the English army went through these e tions, the Highlanders showed equal promptitude zeal for battle. As fast as the clans come upo ridge which fronted their enemy, they were fo into line, so that both armies got into complete of battle at the same moment. When this was ac plished, the Highlanders set up a tremendous which was re-echoed by the heights behind them. regulars, who were in high spirits, returned a shout of defiance, and fired one or two of their ca upon an advanced post of the Highlanders. Th ter displayed great earnestness to proceed instant the attack, Evan Dhu urging to Fergus, by way o gument, that "the sider roy was tottering like an upon a staff, and that they had a' the vantage o onset, for even a haggis (God bless her!) could ch down hill."

But the ground through which the mountain must have descended, although not of great ex was impracticable in its character, being not marshy, but intersected with walls of dry stone traversed in its whole length by a very broad deep ditch, circumstances which must have giver musketry of the regulars dreadful advantages. authority of the commanders was therefore interp to curb the impetuosity of the Highlanders, and a few marksmen were sent down the descent to