About
noon
Waverley was rather surprised that Fergus had not mentioned this ulterior destination when they set out upon the hunting-party ; but his situation did not admit of many interrogatories . The greater part of the clansmen went forward under the guidance of old Ballenkeiroch and Evan Dhu Maccombich , apparently in high spirits . A few remained for the purpose of escorting the Chieftain , who walked by the side of Edward 's litter , and attended him with the most affectionate assiduity . About noon , after a journey which the nature of the conveyance , the pain of his bruises , and the roughness of the way , rendered inexpressibly painful , Waverley was hospitably received into the house of a gentleman related to Fergus , who had prepared for him every accommodation which the simple habits of living , then universal in the Highlands , put in his power . In this person , an old man about seventy , Edward admired a relic of primitive simplicity . He wore no dress but what his estate afforded . The cloth was the fleece of his own sheep , woven by his own servants , and stained into tartan by the dyes produced from the herbs and lichens of the hills around him .