 Robertson.67
    Mr. Morton had been alarmed by the discharge of the pistol, and the
increasing hubbub around the smithy. His first attention, after he had directed
the bystanders to detain Waverley, but to abstain from injuring him, was turned
to the body of Mucklewrath, over which his wife, in a revulsion of feeling, was
weeping, howling, and tearing her elf-locks, in a state little short of
distraction. On raising up the smith, the first discovery was, that he was
alive; and the next, that he was likely to live as long as if he had never heard
the report of a pistol in his life. He had made a narrow escape, however; the
bullet had grazed his head, and stunned him for a moment or two, which trance
terror and confusion of spirit had prolonged somewhat longer. He now arose to
demand vengeance on the person of Waverley, and with difficulty acquiesced in
the proposal of Mr. Morton, that he should be carried before the Laird, as a
justice of peace, and placed at his disposal. The rest of the assistants
unanimously agreed to the measure recommended; even Mrs. Mucklewrath, who had
begun to recover from her hysterics, whimpered forth, »She wadna say naething
against what the minister proposed; he was e'en ower gude for his trade, and she
hoped to see him wi' a dainty decent bishop's gown on his back; a comelier sight
than your Geneva cloaks and bands, I wis.«
    All controversy being thus laid aside, Waverley, escorted by the whole
inhabitants of the village who were not bed-ridden, was conducted to the house
of Cairnvreckan, which was about half a mile distant.
 

                             Chapter Thirty-First.

                                An Examination.

Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, an elderly gentleman, who had spent his youth in
the military service, received Mr. Morton with great kindness, and our hero with
civility, which the equivocal circumstances wherein Edward was placed rendered
constrained and distant.
    The nature of the smith's hurt was inquired into, and as the actual injury
was likely to prove trifling, and the circumstances in which it was received
rendered the infliction, on Edward's part, a natural act of self-defence, the
Major conceived he might dismiss that matter, on Waverley's depositing in his
hands a small sum for the benefit of the wounded person.
    »I could wish, sir,« continued the Major, »that my duty terminated here; but
it is necessary that we should have some further inquiry into the cause of your
journey
