The baying of the dogs was soon added to the chorus, which grew ever louder and more loud.At length the advanced parties of the deer began to show themselves; and as the stragglers came bounding down the pass by two or three at a time, the Chiefs showed their skill by distinguishing the fattest deer, and their dexterity in bringing them down with their guns.Fergus exhibited remarkable address, and Edward was also so fortunate as to attract the notice and applause of the sportsmen.
But now the main body of the deer appeared at the head of the glen, compelled into a very narrow compass, and presenting such a formidable phalanx, that their antlers appeared at a distance, over the ridge of the steep pass, like a leafless grove.
Their number was very great, and from a desperate stand which they made, with the tallest of the red-deer stags arranged in front, in a sort of battle array, gazing on the group which barred their passage down the glen, the more experienced sportsmen began to augur danger.The work of destruction, however, now commenced on all sides.Dogs and hunters were at work, and muskets and fusees resounded from every quarter.
The deer, driven to desperation, made at length a fearful charge right upon the spot where the more distinguished sportsmen had taken their stand.The word was given in Gaelic to fling themselves upon their faces; but Waverley, on whose English ears the signal was lost, had almost fallen a sacrifice to his ignorance of the ancient language in which it was communicated.
Fergus, observing his danger, sprung up and pulled him with violence to the ground, just as the whole herd broke down upon them.The tide being absolutely irresistible, and wounds from a stag's horn highly dangerous,<*> the activity of the Chieftain * The thrust from the tynes, or branches, of the stag's horns, was accounted * far more dangerous than those of the boar's tusk:---*
* If thou be hurt with horn of stag, it brings thee to thy bier, * But barber's hand shall boar's hurt heal; thereof have thou no fear.
may be considered, on this occasion, as having saved his guest's life.He detained him with a firm grasp until the whole herd of deer had fairly run over them.Waverley then attempted to rise, but found that he had suffered several very severe contusions;and, upon a further examination, discovered that he had sprained his ankle violently.
This checked the mirth of the meeting, although the Highlanders, accustomed to such incidents, and prepared for them, had suffered no harm themselves.A wigwam was erected almost in an instant, where Edward was deposited on a couch of heather.The surgeon, or he who assumed the office, appeared to unite the characters of a leech and a conjuror.He was an old smoke-dried Highlander, wearing a venerable grey beard, and having for his sole garment a tartan frock, the skirts of which descended to the knee; and, being undivided in front, made the vestment serve at once for doublet and breeches.<*>
* This garb, which resembled the dress often put on children in Scotland, * called a polorde (_i.e._ polonaise), is a very ancient modification of the Highland * garb.It was, in fact, the hauberk or shirt of mail, only composed of * cloth instead of rings of armour.
He observed great ceremony in approaching Edward; and though our hero was writhing with pain, would not proceed to any operation which might assuage it until he had perambulated his couch three times, moving from east to west, according to the course of the sun.This, which was called making the _deasil,_<*> both the leech and the assistants seemed to consider as * Old Highlanders will still make the _deasil_ around those whom they * wish well to.To go round a person in the opposite direction, or _wither-shins_* (German _wider-shins_), is unlucky, and a sort of incantation.
a matter of the last importance to the accomplishment of a cure; and Waverley, whom pain rendered incapable of expostulation, and who indeed saw no chance of its being attended to, submitted in silence.
After this ceremony was duly performed, the old Esculapius let his patient blood with a cupping-glass with great dexterity, and proceeded, muttering all the while to himself in Gaelic, to boil on the fire certain herbs, with which he compounded an embrocation.He then fomented the parts which had sustained injury, never failing to murmur prayers or spells, which of the two Waverley could not distinguish, as his ear only caught the words _Gasper-Melchior-Balthazar-max-prax-fax,_ and similar gibberish.
The fomentation had a speedy effect in alleviating the pain and swelling, which our hero imputed to the virtue of the herbs, or the effect of the chaffing, but which was by the bystanders unanimously ascribed to the spells with which the operation had been accompanied.Edward was given to understand, that not one of the ingredients had been gathered except during the full moon, and that the herbalist had, while collecting them, uniformly recited a charm, which in English ran thus Hail to thee, thou holy herb, That sprung on holy ground!
All in the Mount Olivet First wert thou found:
Thou art boot for many a bruise, And healest many a wound;In our Lady's blessed name, I take thee from the ground.<*>
* This metrical spell, or something very like it, is preserved by Reginald * Scott, in his work on Witchcraft.