I go on a message from a young ensign in the keep, to one of the Scottish damsels in yonder tower.

Delay me, and his vengeance will fall upon us all." "Good luck to you, my lad!" was their answer, and, with a lightened step, he hastened toward the tower.
Not deeming it safe to seek an interview with any of the earl's family, he crept along the base of the structure, and across the works, till he reached the high wall that blocks up egress from the north.

He found this formidable curtain constructed of fragments of rock, and for the convenience of the guard, a sloping platform from within led to the top of the wall.

On the other side it was perpendicular.

A solitary sentinel stood there; and how to pass him was Edwin's next device.