“Nay, good forester,” said Assueton, “I doubt thee not; but, [[141]]by our Lady, this seemeth to me to be a marvellous uncouth path.”
“T’other, indeed, is better, Sir Knight,” said the forester; “but bad as this may be, ’twill haine us a good hour’s time of travel.”
Assueton was satisfied with this explanation, and the ground getting more level as they advanced, he soon discovered that they were crossing a wild ridge of moorland, and hoped that the impediments to a speedier progress would be fewer. But the way seemed, if possible, to be even more puzzling and difficult than ever. They wound round in one direction, and then went zig-zag to the opposite point of the compass; then they wormed their way through bogs and mosses—then stretched away Heaven knew whither, and then, making a little detour, they (as it seemed to Assueton) returned again in a line nearly parallel to that which they had just pursued. Hours appeared to glide away in this wearisome and endless maze, and Assueton’s impatience became excessive.
“Good forester,” said he, “methinks we are never to get out of this enchanted labyrinth.”
“Nay, Sir Knight,” replied the forester, “’tis an enchanted labyrinth in good soberness; for, verily, full many a goodly steed hath been ygraven in the flows that surround us. There be quaking bogs here that would swallow a good-sized tower. Nay, halt thee, Sir Knight, thou must of needscost turn thee this gate again.”
“By St. Cuthbert,” said Assueton, “meseems it a miracle that thou shouldst have memory to help thee to thread the intricacies of so puzzling a path, maugre the darkness that yet prevails.”
“’Tis indeed mirk as a coal mine,” said the forester, “but I look for the moon anon.”
After better than half-an-hour more of such travelling as we have described, they at length wound down a very precipitous hill, where their necks were in considerable peril, and found themselves again in the glen, and by the side of its stream. As well as Assueton could guess, they had now travelled fully three or four hours, the greater part of which time they had spent on the high ground. The state of their horses, too, bore out his calculation, for they showed symptoms of great exhaustion, from this so large addition to the previous severe journey. They pushed them on, however, as fast as the nature of the ground would admit, the glen presenting the same variety of woods, glades, and thickets, as it had formerly done. [[142]]
At length they came to a place where the hills approached on each side, and the glen narrowed to a wild gorge, where all passage was denied below, except for the stream, and they were consequently again compelled to ascend the abrupt banks by a diagonal path. But they had no sooner gained the summit than the moon arose, and threw its silver light full over the scene into which they were about to advance. Above the gorge, the valley was split into two distinct glens, or rather deep ravines, each pouring out its stream, and these, uniting together, formed that which they had so long traced upwards. Above the point of their union arose a green-headed eminence, swelling from among the rich woods that everywhere clothed it, and all the other lower parts of the space within their view. The round top of the eminence was crowned with a rude Border Tower; and the whole was backed, a good way behind, by a semi-circular range of hilly ridges. The moonlight shone powerfully on the building, the keep of which seemed to be of no great size, but very strong in itself; and the outworks, consisting of massive walls defended here and there by round towers, showed that it was a stronghold where determined men might make a powerful resistance.
“Yonder is the peel of Burnstower,” said the forester, pointing to it; “thou must ford the stream there below, under the hill whereon it stands, and so make thy way up through the woods by a narrow path, that will lead thee to the yett. I shall yet go with thee as far as the ford, to show thee the right gate through the water; but I must then bid thee farewell, nor canst thou lack mine aid any longer.”