Ardenvohr,accordingly,rose high above him,when he came upon the deck of the galley.It was a gloomy square tower,of considerable size and great height,situated upon a headland projecting into the salt-water lake,or arm of the sea,which they had entered on the preceding evening.A wall,with flanking towers at each angle,surrounded the castle to landward;but,towards the lake,it was built so near the brink of the precipice as only to leave room for a battery of seven guns,designed to protect the fortress from any insult from that side,although situated too high to be of any effectual use according to the modern system of warfare.
The eastern sun,rising behind the old tower,flung its shadow far on the lake,darkening the deck of the galley,on which Captain Dalgetty now walked,waiting with some impatience the signal to land.Sir Duncan Campbell,as he was informed by his attendants,was already within the walls of the castle;but no one encouraged the Captain's proposal of following him ashore,until,as they stated,they should receive the direct permission or order of the Knight of Ardenvohr.
In a short time afterwards the mandate arrived,while a boat,with a piper in the bow,bearing the Knight of Ardenvohr's crest in silver upon his left arm,and playing with all his might the family march,entitled "The Campbells are coming,"approached to conduct the envoy of Montrose to the castle of Ardenvohr.The distance between the galley and the beach was so short as scarce to require the assistance of the eight sturdy rowers,in bonnets,short coats,and trews,whose efforts sent the boat to the little creek in which they usually landed,before one could have conceived that it had left the side of the birling.Two of the boatmen,in spite of Dalgetty's resistance,horsed the Captain on the back of a third Highlander,and,wading through the surf with him,landed him high and dry upon the beach beneath the castle rock.In the face of this rock there appeared something like the entrance of a low-browed cavern,towards which the assistants were preparing to hurry our friend Dalgetty,when,shaking himself loose from them with some difficulty,he insisted upon seeing Gustavus safely landed before he proceeded one step farther.The Highlanders could not comprehend what he meant,until one who had picked up a little English,or rather Lowland Scotch,exclaimed,"Houts!it's a'about her horse,ta useless baste."Farther remonstrance on the part of Captain Dalgetty was interrupted by the appearance of Sir Duncan Campbell himself,from the mouth of the cavern which we have described,for the purpose of inviting Captain Dalgetty to accept of the hospitality of Ardenvohr,pledging his honour,at the same time,that Gustavus should be treated as became the hero from whom he derived his name,not to mention the important person to whom he now belonged.Notwithstanding this satisfactory guarantee,Captain Dalgetty would still have hesitated,such was his anxiety to witness the fate of his companion Gustavus,had not two Highlanders seized him by the arms,two more pushed him on behind,while a fifth exclaimed,"Hout awa wi'the daft Sassenach!does she no hear the Laird bidding her up to her ain castle,wi'her special voice,and isna that very mickle honour for the like o'her?"
Thus impelled,Captain Dalgetty could only for a short space keep a reverted eye towards the galley in which he had left the partner of his military toils.In a few minutes afterwards he found himself involved in the total darkness of a staircase,which,entering from the low-browed cavern we have mentioned,winded upwards through the entrails of the living rock.
"The cursed Highland salvages!"muttered the Captain,half aloud;"what is to become of me,if Gustavus,the namesake of the invincible Lion of the Protestant League,should be lamed among their untenty hands!"
"Have no fear of that,"said the voice of Sir Duncan,who was nearer to him than he imagined;"my men are accustomed to handle horses,both in embarking and dressing them,and you will soon see Gustavus as safe as when you last dismounted from his back,"
Captain Dalgetty knew the world too well to offer any farther remonstrance,whatever uneasiness he might suppress within his own bosom.A step or two higher up the stair showed light and a door,and an iron-grated wicket led him out upon a gallery cut in the open face of the rock,extending a space of about six or eight yards,until he reached a second door,where the path re-entered the rock,and which was also defended by an iron portcullis."An admirable traverse,"observed the Captain;"and if commanded by a field-piece,or even a few muskets,quite sufficient to ensure the place against a storming party."
