s service.
From this fellow they learned that some time after Waverley had gone from
the headquarters of the regiment, a pedlar, called Ruthven, Rufnn, or
Rivane, known among the soldiers by the name of Wily Will, had made
frequent visits to the town of Dundee. He appeared to possess plenty of
money, sold his commodities very cheap, seemed always willing to treat
his friends at the ale-house, and easily ingratiated himself with many of
Waverley's troop, particularly Sergeant Houghton and one Tims, also a
non-commissioned officer. To these he unfolded, in Waverley's name, a
plan for leaving the regiment and joining him in the Highlands, where
report said the clans had already taken arms in great numbers. The men,
who had been educated as Jacobites, so far as they had any opinion at
all, and who knew their landlord, Sir Everard, had always been supposed
to hold such tenets, easily fell into the snare. That Waverley was at a
distance in the Highlands was received as a sufficient excuse for
transmitting his letters through the medium of the pedlar; and the sight
of his well-known seal seemed to authenticate the negotiations in his
name, where writing might have been dangerous. The cabal, however, began
to take air, from the premature mutinous language of those concerned.
Wily Will justified his appellative; for, after suspicion arose, he was
seen no more. When the 'Gazette' appeared in which Waverley was
superseded, great part of his troop broke out into actual mutiny, but
were surrounded and disarmed by the rest of the regiment In consequence
of the sentence of a court-martial, Houghton and Tims were condemned to
be shot, but afterwards permitted to cast lots for life. Houghton, the
survivor, showed much penitence, being convinced, from the rebukes and
explanations of Colonel Gardiner, that he had really engaged in a very
heinous crime. It is remarkable that, as soon as the poor fellow was
satisfied of this, he became also convinced that the instigator had acted
without authority from Edward, saying, 'If it was dishonourable and
against Old England, the squire could know nought about it; he never did,
or thought to do, anything dishonourable, no more didn't Sir Everard, nor
none of them afore him, and in that belief he would live and die that
Ruffin had done it all of his own head.'

The strength of conviction with which he expressed himself upon this
subject, as well as his assurances that the letters intended for Waverley