e.
lantern) [Footnote: See Note 26]. He looked anxiously around for a few
minutes, and then apparently took his resolution. Leaving his attendant
with Waverley, after motioning to Edward to remain quiet, and giving his
comrade directions in a brief whisper, he retreated, favoured by the
irregularity of the ground, in the same direction and in the same manner
as they had advanced. Edward, turning his head after him, could perceive
him crawling on all fours with the dexterity of an Indian, availing
himself of every bush and inequality to escape observation, and never
passing over the more exposed parts of his track until the sentinel's
back was turned from him. At length he reached the thickets and underwood
which partly covered the moor in that direction, and probably extended to
the verge of the glen where Waverley had been so long an inhabitant. The
Highlander disappeared, but it was only for a few minutes, for he
suddenly issued forth from a different part of the thicket, and,
advancing boldly upon the open heath as if to invite discovery, he
levelled his piece and fired at the sentinel. A wound in the arm proved a
disagreeable interruption to the poor fellow's meteorological
observations, as well as to the tune of 'Nancy Dawson,' which he was
whistling.
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