n. Waverley complied so far with the custom of the
country as to adopt the trews (he could not be reconciled to the kilt),
brogues, and bonnet, as the fittest dress for the exercise in which he
was to be engaged, and which least exposed him to be stared at as a
stranger when they should reach the place of rendezvous. They found on
the spot appointed several powerful Chiefs, to all of whom Waverley was
formally presented, and by all cordially received. Their vassals and
clansmen, a part of whose feudal duty it was to attend on these parties,
appeared in such numbers as amounted to a small army. These active
assistants spread through the country far and near, forming a circle,
technically called the tinchel, which, gradually closing, drove the deer
in herds together towards the glen where the Chiefs and principal
sportsmen lay in wait for them. In the meanwhile these distinguished
personages bivouacked among the flowery heath, wrapped up in their
plaids, a mode of passing a summer's night which Waverley found by no
means unpleasant.

For many hours after sunrise the mountain ridges and passes retained
their ordinary appearance of silence and solitude, and the Chiefs, with
their followers, amused themselves with various pastimes, in which the
joys of the shell, as Ossian has it, were not forgotten. 'Others apart
sate on a hill retired,' probably as deeply engaged in the discussion of
politics and news as Milton's spirits in metaphysical disquisition. At
length signals of the approach of the game were descried and heard.
Distant shouts resounded from valley to valley, as the various parties of
Highlanders, climbing rocks, struggling through copses, wading brooks,
and traversing thickets, approached more and more near to each other, and
compelled the astonished deer, with the other wild animals that fled
before them, into a narrower circuit. Every now and then the report of
muskets was heard, repeated by a thousand echoes. The baying of the dogs
was soon added to the chorus, which grew ever louder and more loud. At
length the advanced parties of the deer began to show themselves; and as
the stragglers came bounding down the pass by two or three at a time, the
Chiefs showed their skill by distinguishing the fattest deer, and their
dexterity in bringing them down with their guns. Fergus exhibited
remarkable address, and Edward was also so fortunate as to attract the
notice and applause of the sportsmen.

But now the main body