hen mounted upon one of the horses, a
change which the fatigue of the night and his recent illness rendered
exceedingly acceptable. His portmanteau was placed on another pony,
Duncan mounted a third, and they set forward at a round pace, accompanied
by their escort. No other incident marked the course of that night's
journey, and at the dawn of morning they attained the banks of a rapid
river. The country around was at once fertile and romantic. Steep banks
of wood were broken by corn-fields, which this year presented an abundant
harvest, already in a great measure cut down.

On the opposite bank of the river, and partly surrounded by a winding of
its stream, stood a large and massive castle, the half-ruined turrets of
which were already glittering in the first rays of the sun. [Footnote:
See Note 27.] It was in form an oblong square, of size sufficient to
contain a large court in the centre. The towers at each angle of the
square rose higher than the walls of the building, and were in their turn
surmounted by turrets, differing in height and irregular in shape. Upon
one of these a sentinel watched, whose bonnet and plaid, streaming in the
wind, declared him to be a Highlander, as a broad white ensign, which
floated from another tower, announced that the garrison was held by the
insurgent adherents of the House of Stuart.

Passing hastily through a small and mean town, where their appearance
excited neither surprise nor curiosity in the few peasants whom the
labours of the harvest began to summon from their repose, the party
crossed an ancient and narrow bridge of several arches, and, turning to
the left up an avenue of huge old sycamores, Waverley found himself in
front of the gloomy yet picturesque structure which he had admired at a
distance. A huge iron-grated door, which formed the exterior defence of
the gateway, was already thrown back to receive them; and a second,
heavily constructed of oak and studded thickly with iron nails, being
next opened, admitted them into the interior court-yard. A gentleman,
dressed in the Highland garb and having a white cockade in his bonnet,
assisted Waverley to dismount from his horse, and with much courtesy bid
him welcome to the castle.

The governor, for so we must term him, having conducted Waverley to a
half-ruinous apartment, where, however, there was a small camp-bed, and
having offered him any refreshment which he desired, was then about to
leave him.

'Will you not ad