A shout from the guides aroused their attention, after which, in a few

minutes, one of the Count's servants returned with intelligence, that a

path was found, and they immediately hastened to join the guides, when

they all ascended a little winding way cut in the rock among thickets

of dwarf wood, and, after much toil and some danger, reached the summit,

where several ruined towers, surrounded by a massy wall, rose to their

view, partially illumined by the moon-light. The space around the

building was silent, and apparently forsaken, but the Count was

cautious; 'Step softly,' said he, in a low voice, 'while we reconnoitre

the edifice.' Having proceeded silently along for some paces, they stopped at a

gate, whose portals were terrible even in ruins, and, after a moment's

hesitation, passed on to the court of entrance, but paused again at the

head of a terrace, which, branching from it, ran along the brow of a

precipice.

Over this, rose the main body of the edifice, which was now

seen to be, not a watch-tower, but one of those ancient fortresses,

that, from age and neglect, had fallen to decay. Many parts of it,

however, appeared to be still entire; it was built of grey stone, in

the heavy Saxon-gothic style, with enormous round towers, buttresses of

proportionable strength, and the arch of the large gate, which seemed

to open into the hall of the fabric, was round, as was that of a window

above.

The air of solemnity, which must so strongly have characterized

the pile even in the days of its early strength, was now considerably

heightened by its shattered battlements and half-demolished walls, and

by the huge masses of ruin, scattered in its wide area, now silent and

grass grown. In this court of entrance stood the gigantic remains of an

oak, that seemed to have flourished and decayed with the building, which

it still appeared frowningly to protect by the few remaining branches,

leafless and moss-grown, that crowned its trunk, and whose wide extent

told how enormous the tree had been in a former age. This fortress was

evidently once of great strength, and, from its situation on a point of

rock, impending over a deep glen, had been of great power to annoy, as

well as to resist; the Count, therefore, as he stood surveying it, was

somewhat surprised, that it had been suffered, ancient as it was, to

sink into ruins, and its present lonely and deserted air excited in

his breast emotions of melancholy awe.

While he indulged, for a moment,

these emotions, he thought he heard a sound of remote voices steal upon

the stillness, from within the building, the front of which he again

surveyed with scrutinizing eyes, but yet no light was visible. He now

determined to walk round the fort, to that remote part of it, whence he

thought the voices had arisen, that he might examine whether any light

could be discerned there, before he ventured to knock at the gate; for

this purpose, he entered upon the terrace, where the remains of cannon

were yet apparent in the thick walls, but he had not proceeded many

paces, when his steps were suddenly arrested by the loud barking of a

dog within, and which he fancied to be the same, whose voice had been

the means of bringing the travellers thither. It now appeared certain,

that the place was inhabited, and the Count returned to consult again

with St. Foix, whether he should try to obtain admittance, for its wild

aspect had somewhat shaken his former resolution; but, after a

second consultation, he submitted to the considerations, which before

determined him, and which were strengthened by the discovery of the dog,

that guarded the fort, as well as by the stillness that pervaded it.




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