ts, though forced into
the field by the arbitrary authority of the chieftains under whom they
hewed wood and drew water, were in general very sparingly fed, ill
dressed, and worse armed. The latter circumstance was indeed owing
chiefly to the general disarming act, which had been carried into effect
ostensibly through the whole Highlands, although most of the chieftains
contrived to elude its influence by retaining the weapons of their own
immediate clansmen, and delivering up those of less value, which they
collected from these inferior satellites. It followed, as a matter of
course, that, as we have already hinted, many of these poor fellows were
brought to the field in a very wretched condition.

From this it happened that, in bodies, the van of which were admirably
well armed in their own fashion, the rear resembled actual banditti. Here
was a pole-axe, there a sword without a scabbard; here a gun without a
lock, there a scythe set straight upon a pole; and some had only their
dirks, and bludgeons or stakes pulled out of hedges. The grim, uncombed,
and wild appearance of these men, most of whom gazed with all the
admiration of ignorance upon the most ordinary productions of domestic
art, created surprise in the Lowlands, but it also created terror. So
little was the condition of the Highlands known at that late period that
the character and appearance of their population, while thus sallying
forth as military adventurers, conveyed to the South-Country Lowlanders
as much surprise as if an invasion of African Negroes or Esquimaux
Indians had issued forth from the northern mountains of their own native
country. It cannot therefore be wondered if Waverley, who had hitherto
judged of the Highlanders generally from the samples which the policy of
Fergus had from time to time exhibited, should have felt damped and
astonished at the daring attempt of a body not then exceeding four
thousand men, and of whom not above half the number, at the utmost, were
armed, to change the fate and alter the dynasty of the British kingdoms.

As he moved along the column, which still remained stationary, an iron
gun, the only piece of artillery possessed by the army which meditated so
important a revolution, was fired as the signal of march. The Chevalier
had expressed a wish to leave this useless piece of ordnance behind him;
but, to his surprise, the Highland chiefs interposed to solicit that it
might accompany their march, pleading the pr