Soon the turn round to the side of
the mountain was made, and the road became a mere track worn out on
the turf on the hillside, with an abyss beneath, close to the edge of
which the mule, of course, walked.
When she ventured to look again, she perceived that the ravine was
like an enormous crack open on the mountain-side, and that the stream
that formed the Debateable Ford flowed down the bottom of it. The
ravine itself went probably all the way up the mountain, growing
shallower as it ascended higher; but here, where Christina beheld it,
it was extremely deep, and savagely desolate and bare. She now saw
that the Eagle's Ladder was a succession of bare gigantic terraces of
rock, of which the opposite side of the ravine was composed, and on
one of which stood the castle. It was no small mystery to her how it
had ever been built, or how she was ever to get there. She saw in
the opening of the ravine the green meadows and woods far below; and,
when her father pointed out to her the Debateable Ford, apparently
much nearer to the castle than they themselves were at present, she
asked why they had so far overpassed the castle, and come by this
circuitous course.
Pages:
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78