"We are going to reconnoitre, Osgod, and may be an hour away. As we shall
not leave the forest there is no danger, and even were we seen we can climb
the hill again as fast as any Welshman can follow us. Do you keep an eye on
the castle, but do not stir until we return even if you hear shouts. I have
no doubt that we shall be able to rejoin you, and it is most important that
even if they do make us out they should have no reason for supposing that
there is any force behind us." After half an hour's walking Beorn and Wulf
found themselves at the edge of the wood in the valley.
"There is the road, you see," Wulf exclaimed. "It goes straight up that
gradual slope to the bottom of the rock, then it makes two zigzags to the
edge of that point that juts out a little, whence there is a bridge thrown
across a gap to the point where there is a turret. I can't see it beyond
that. I should think they must have driven a tunnel from there right up
into the castle, for you see there are fifty feet of perpendicular rock
above that turret. In case of attack, of course, they would cut away the
bridge, and it would be next to impossible to throw another across. They
could overwhelm any force attempting it with stones from above, besides
sweeping the zigzag road below."
Beorn agreed that the place was absolutely impregnable on that side, and
that it could only be attacked from the hillside, and by carrying the walls
in succession.
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