He seemed in the highest
spirits, congratulated Waverley on his progress towards recovery, and
finding he was able to sit on horseback, proposed their immediate return
to Glennaquoich. Waverley joyfully acceded, for the form of its fair
mistress had lived in his dreams during all the time of his confinement.
Now he has ridden o'er moor and moss, O'er hill and many a glen,
Fergus, all the while, with his myrmidons, striding stoutly by his side,
or diverging to get a shot at a roe or a heath-cock. Waverley's bosom
beat thick when they approached the old tower of Ian nan Chaistel, and
could distinguish the fair form of its mistress advancing to meet them.
Fergus began immediately, with his usual high spirits, to exclaim, 'Open
your gates, incomparable princess, to the wounded Moor Abindarez, whom
Rodrigo de Narvez, constable of Antiquera, conveys to your castle; or
open them, if you like it better, to the renowned Marquis of Mantua, the
sad attendant of his half-slain friend Baldovinos of the Mountain. Ah,
long rest to thy soul, Cervantes! without quoting thy remnants, how
should I frame my language to befit romantic ears!'
Flora now advanced, and welcoming Waverley with much kindness, expressed
her regret for his accident, of which she had already heard particulars,
and her surprise that her brother should not have taken better care to
put a stranger on his guard against the perils of the sport in which he
engaged him.
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