In the distance Donal saw Age coming slowly after him, to claw him in his clutch, as the old song says. “Please God,” he thought, “by the time he comes up, I’ll be ready to try a fall with him! O Thou eternally young, the years have no hold on thee; let them have none on thy child. I too shall have life eternal.”
Ere they reached the top of the stair, the man halted and opened a door. Donal entering saw a small room, nearly round, a portion of the circle taken off by the stair. On the opposite side was a window projecting from the wall, whence he could look in three different directions. The wide country lay at his feet. He saw the winding road by which he had ascended, the gate by which he had entered, the meadow with its white stripes through which he had come, and the river flowing down. He followed it with his eyes:—lo, there was the sea, shining in the sun like a diamond shield! It was but the little German Ocean, yet one with the great world-ocean. He turned to his conductor.
“Yes,” said the old man, answering his look, “it’s a glorious sight! When first I looked out there I thought I was in eternity.”
The walls were bare even of plaster; he could have counted the stones in them; but they were dry as a bone.
“You are wondering,” said the old man, “how you are to keep warm in the winter! Look here: you shut this door over the window! See how thick and strong it is! There is your fireplace; and for fuel, there’s plenty below! It is a labour to carry it up, I grant; but if I was you, I would set to o’ nights when nobody was about, and carry till I had a stock laid in!”
“But,” said Donal, “I should fill up my room. I like to be able to move about a little!”
“Ah,” replied the old man, “you don’t know what a space you have up here all to yourself! Come this way.”
Two turns more up the stair, and they came to another door. It opened into wide space: from it Donal stepped on a ledge or bartizan, without any parapet, that ran round the tower, passing above the window of his room. It was well he had a steady brain, for he found the height affect him more than that of a precipice on Glashgar: doubtless he would get used to it, for the old man had stepped out without the smallest hesitation! Round the tower he followed him.
On the other side a few steps rose to a watch-tower—a sort of ornate sentry-box in stone, where one might sit and regard with wide vision the whole country. Avoiding this, another step or two led them to the roof of the castle—of great stone slabs. A broad passage ran between the rise of the roof and a battlemented parapet. By this time they came to a flat roof, on to which they descended by a few steps. Here stood two rough sheds, with nothing in them.
“There’s stowage!” said the old man.