observed with some surprise that even Fergus, notwithstanding his
knowledge and education, seemed to fall in with the superstitious ideas
of his countrymen, either because he deemed it impolitic to affect
scepticism on a matter of general belief, or more probably because, ike
most men who do not think deeply or accurately on such subjects, he had
in his mind a reserve of superstition which balanced the freedom of his
expressions and practice upon other occasions. Waverley made no
commentary, therefore, on the manner of the treatment, but rewarded the
professor of medicine with a liberality beyond the utmost conception of
his wildest hopes. He uttered on the occasion so many incoherent
blessings in Gaelic and English that Mac-Ivor, rather scandalised at the
excess of his acknowledgments, cut them short by exclaiming, Ceud mile
mhalloich ort! i.e. 'A hundred thousand curses on you!' and so pushed the
helper of men out of the cabin.

After Waverley was left alone, the exhaustion of pain and fatigue--for
the whole day's exercise had been severe--threw him into a profound, but
yet a feverish sleep, which he chiefly owed to an opiate draught
administered by the old Highlander from some decoction of herbs in his
pharmacopoeia.

Early the next morning, the purpose of their meeting being over, and
their sports damped by the untoward accident, in which Fergus and all his
friends expressed the greatest sympathy, it became a question how to
dispose of the disabled sportsman. This was settled by Mac-Ivor, who had
a litter prepared, of 'birch and hazel-grey,'

[FOOTNOTE:
On the morrow they made their biers
Of birch and hazel grey. Chevy Chase.]
which was borne by his people with such caution and dexterity as renders
it not improbable that they may have been the ancestors of some of those
sturdy Gael who have now the happiness to transport the belles of
Edinburgh in their sedan-chairs to ten routs in one evening. When Edward
was elevated upon their shoulders he could not help being gratified with
the romantic effect produced by the breaking up of this sylvan camp.
[Footnote: See Note 25.]

The various tribes assembled, each at the pibroch of their native clan,
and each headed by their patriarchal ruler. Some, who had already begun
to retire, were seen winding up the hills, or descending the passes which
led to the scene of action, the sound of their bagpipes dying upon the
ear. Others made still a moving picture upon the