His portmanteau was placed on another pony,
Duncan mounted a third, and they set forward at a round pace, accompanied
by their escort. No other incident marked the course of that night's
journey, and at the dawn of morning they attained the banks of a rapid
river. The country around was at once fertile and romantic. Steep banks
of wood were broken by corn-fields, which this year presented an abundant
harvest, already in a great measure cut down.
On the opposite bank of the river, and partly surrounded by a winding of
its stream, stood a large and massive castle, the half-ruined turrets of
which were already glittering in the first rays of the sun. [Footnote:
See Note 27.] It was in form an oblong square, of size sufficient to
contain a large court in the centre. The towers at each angle of the
square rose higher than the walls of the building, and were in their turn
surmounted by turrets, differing in height and irregular in shape. Upon
one of these a sentinel watched, whose bonnet and plaid, streaming in the
wind, declared him to be a Highlander, as a broad white ensign, which
floated from another tower, announced that the garrison was held by the
insurgent adherents of the House of Stuart.
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