ight have the misfortune to be killed, and chanced to be
curious about Christian burial.' To check or dislodge this party, the
English general detached two guns escorted by a strong party of cavalry.
They approached so near, that Waverley could plainly recognize the
standard of the troop he had formerly commanded, and hear the trumpets
and kettledrums sound the signal of advance, which he had so often
obeyed. He could hear, too, the well-known word given in the
English dialect, by the equally well-distinguished voice of the
commanding-officer, for whom he had once felt so much respect. It was
at that instant, that, looking around him, he saw the wild dress and
appearance of his Highland associates, heard their whispers in an
uncouth and unknown language, looked upon his own dress, so unlike that
which he had worn from his infancy, and wished to awake from what seemed
at the moment a dream, strange, horrible, and unnatural. 'Good God!' he
muttered, 'am I then a traitor to my country, a renegade to my standard,
and a foe, as that poor dying wretch expressed himself, to my native
England?'

Ere he could digest or smother the recollection, the tall military
form of his late commander came full in view, for the purpose of
reconnoitring. 'I can hit him now,' said Callum, cautiously raising his
fusee over the wall under which he lay couched, at scarce sixty yards'
distance.

Edward felt as if he was about to see a parricide committed in his
presence; for the venerable grey hair and striking countenance of the
veteran recalled the almost paternal respect with which his officers
universally regarded him. But ere he could say 'Hold!' an aged
Highlander, who lay beside Callum Beg, stopped his arm. 'Spare your
shot,' said the seer, 'his hour is not yet come. But let him beware of
to-morrow.--I see his winding-sheet high upon his breast.'

Callum, flint to other considerations, was penetrable to superstition.
He turned pale at the words of the TAISHATR, and recovered his piece.
Colonel Gardiner, unconscious of the danger he had escaped, turned his
horse round, and rode slowly back to the front of his regiment.

By this time the regular army had assumed a new line, with one flank
inclined towards the sea, and the other resting upon the village of
Preston; and as similar difficulties occurred in attacking their new
position, Fergus and the rest of the detachment were recalled to their
former post. This alteration created the neces