ken their pace till they had run nearly two miles, when they
abated their extreme rapidity, but continued still to walk very fast,
relieving each other occasionally.

Our hero now endeavoured to address them, but was only answered with 'Cha
n'eil Beurl agam' i.e. 'I have no English,' being, as Waverley well knew,
the constant reply of a Highlander when he either does not understand or
does not choose to reply to an Englishman or Lowlander. He then mentioned
the name of Vich lan Vohr, concluding that he was indebted to his
friendship for his rescue from the clutches of Gifted Gilfillan, but
neither did this produce any mark of recognition from his escort.

The twilight had given place to moonshine when the party halted upon the
brink of a precipitous glen, which, as partly enlightened by the
moonbeams, seemed full of trees and tangled brushwood. Two of the
Highlanders dived into it by a small foot-path, as if to explore its
recesses, and one of them returning in a few minutes, said something to
his companions, who instantly raised their burden and bore him, with
great attention and care, down the narrow and abrupt descent.
Notwithstanding their precautions, however, Waverley's person came more
than once into contact, rudely enough, with the projecting stumps and
branches which overhung the pathway.

At the bottom of the descent, and, as it seemed, by the side of a brook
(for Waverley heard the rushing of a considerable body of water, although
its stream was invisible in the darkness), the party again stopped before
a small and rudely-constructed hovel. The door was open, and the inside
of the premises appeared as uncomfortable and rude as its situation and
exterior foreboded. There was no appearance of a floor of any kind; the
roof seemed rent in several places; the walls were composed of loose
stones and turf, and the thatch of branches of trees. The fire was in the
centre, and filled the whole wigwam with smoke, which escaped as much
through the door as by means of a circular aperture in the roof. An old
Highland sibyl, the only inhabitant of this forlorn mansion, appeared
busy in the preparation of some food. By the light which the fire
afforded Waverley could discover that his attendants were not of the clan
of Ivor, for Fergus was particularly strict in requiring from his
followers that they should wear the tartan striped in the mode peculiar
to their race; a mark of distinction anciently general through the
Highl