A lonely church upon the clifftop beyond it, by affording him some measure of the probable size of this edifice, increased his incredulity.

He looked again, and saw that it was not a castle, though the sun yet seemed to light up tower and battlement quite vividly, but only one isolated rock of vast size and picturesque proportions; upon the crown of which, however, there were certainly walls, and what looked to be broken towers.

"That must be Gethin," said the young man, cheerily.

"I must be at the end of my journey." Unless, indeed, he should take ship, there was not much more opportunity for travel.

Before him stretched in all directions the limitless sea.
So magnificent had been the prospect that, when Richard descended and pursued his trackless way again along the moor, he half doubted whether that fair vision had not been a mere figment of his brain; the more so, since what view there was about him seemed now to contract rather than to expand; the horizon grew more limited; and presently nor sea, nor land, nor even sky was to be seen.