Edward, as may well be believed, pledged his word; which he afterwards so amply redeemed, that his memory still lives in these glens by the name of the Friend of the Sons of Ivor.

‘Would to God,’ continued the Chieftain, ’I could bequeath to you my rights to the love and obedience of this primitive and brave race:—­or at least, as I have striven to do, persuade poor Evan to accept of his life upon their terms, and be to you what he has been to me, the kindest,—­the bravest,—­the most devoted—­’

The tears which his own fate could not draw forth, fell fast for that of his foster-brother.

‘But,’ said he, drying them, ’that cannot be.  You cannot be to them Vich Ian Vohr; and these three magic words,’ said he, half smiling, ’are the only Open Sesame to their feelings and sympathies, and poor Evan must attend his foster-brother in death, as he has done through his whole life.’

‘And I am sure,’ said Maccombich, raising himself from the floor, on which, for fear of interrupting their conversation, he had lain so still, that, in the obscurity of the apartment, Edward was not aware of his presence,—­’I am sure Evan never desired or deserved a better end than just to die with his Chieftain.’

‘And now,’ said Fergus, ’while we are upon the subject of clanship—­what think you now of the prediction of the Bodach Glas?’—­Then, before Edward could answer, ’I saw him again last night—­he stood in the slip of moonshine, which fell from that high and narrow window towards my bed.  Why should I fear him, I thought—­to-morrow, long ere this time, I shall be as immaterial as he.  “False Spirit!” I said, “art thou come to close thy walks on earth, and to enjoy thy triumph in the fall of the last descendant of thine enemy?” The spectre seemed to beckon and to smile as he faded from my sight.  What do you think of it?—­I asked the same question of the priest, who is a good and sensible man; he admitted that the Church allowed that such apparitions were possible, but urged me not to permit my mind to dwell upon it, as imagination plays us such strange tricks.  What do you think of it?’

‘Much as your confessor,’ said Waverley, willing to avoid dispute upon such a point at such a moment.  A tap at the door now announced that good man, and Edward retired while he administered to both prisoners the last rites of religion, in the mode which the Church of Rome prescribes.

In about an hour he was re-admitted; soon after, a file of soldiers entered with a blacksmith, who struck the fetters from the legs of the prisoners.

’You see the compliment they pay to our Highland strength and courage—­we have lain chained here like wild beasts, till our legs are cramped into palsy, and when they free us, they send six soldiers with loaded muskets to prevent our taking the castle by storm!’

Edward afterwards learned that these severe precautions had been taken in consequence of a desperate attempt of the prisoners to escape, in which they had very nearly succeeded.