to the nearest garrison for a
party of soldiers and a magistrate's warrant; and Rose, as far as she
dared, endeavoured to insinuate the course of paying the arrears of
tribute money to Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr, who, they all knew, could
easily procure restoration of the cattle, if he were properly
propitiated.

None of these proposals met the Baron's approbation. The idea of
composition, direct or implied, was absolutely ignominious; that of
Waverley only showed that he did not understand the state of the country,
and of the political parties which divided it; and, standing matters as
they did with Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr, the Baron would make no
concession to him, were it, he said, 'to procure restitution in integrum
of every stirk and stot that the chief, his forefathers, and his clan,
had stolen since the days of Malcolm Canmore.'

In fact his voice was still for war, and he proposed to send expresses to
Balmawhapple, Killancureit, Tulliellum, and other lairds, who were
exposed to similar depredations, inviting them to join in the pursuit;
'and then, sir, shall these nebulones nequissimi, as Leslaeus calls them,
be brought to the fate of their predecessor Cacus,

"Elisos oculos, et siccum sanguine guttur."'

The Bailie, who by no means relished these warlike counsels, here pulled
forth an immense watch, of the colour, and nearly of the size, of a
pewter warming-pan, and observed it was now past noon, and that the
Caterans had been seen in the pass of Ballybrough soon after sunrise; so
that, before the allied forces could assemble, they and their prey would
be far beyond the reach of the most active pursuit, and sheltered in
those pathless deserts, where it was neither advisable to follow, nor
indeed possible to trace them.

This proposition was undeniable. The council therefore broke up without
coming to any conclusion, as has occurred to councils of more importance;
only it was determined that the Bailie should send his own three milkcows
down to the mains for the use of the Baron's family, and brew small ale,
as a substitute for milk, in his own. To this arrangement, which was
suggested by Saunderson, the Bailie readily assented, both from habitual
deference to the family, and an internal consciousness that his courtesy
would, in some mode or other, be repaid tenfold.

The Baron having also retired to give some necessary directions, Waverley
seized the opportunity to ask, whether this Fergus, w