wound on the face
of it The fort, a square tower of extraordinarily stout masonry, with an
eminent roof, had a sconce with escarpment round it, placed on the very
edge of the summit. Immediately behind Dunchuach is Duntorvil, its twin
peak, that, at less distance than a shout will carry, lifts a hundred
feet higher on the north. The two hills make, indeed, but one, in a
manner of talking, except for this hundred feet of a hollow worn by a
burn lost midway in long sour grasses. It had always been a surprise to
me that Argile's grandfather, when he set the fort on the hill, chose
the lower of the two eminences, contrary to all good guidance of war.
But if he had not full domination on Dunchuach, he had, at any rate,
a fine prospect I think, in all my time, I have never witnessed a more
pleasing scene than ever presents itself in clear weather from the brow
of this peak. Loch Finne--less, as the whim of the fancy might have it,
a loch than a noble river--runs south in a placid band; the Cowal hills
rise high on the left, bare but of heather and gall; in front is the
heart of Argile, green with the forest of Creag Dubh, where the stag
bays in the gloaming. For miles behind the town and castle lies a plain,
flat and rich, growing the most lush crops. The town itself, that one
could almost throw a stone down on, looks like a child's toy. And away
to the north and west are the abundant hills, rising higher and higher,
sprinkled here and there with spots of moor loch.

The fort this night was held by a hundred men of the body called the
Marquis his Halberdiers, a corps of antique heroes whose weapon for
ordinary was a long axe, a pretty instrument on a parade of state, but
small use, even at close quarters, with an enemy. They had skill of
artillery, however, and few of them but had a Highlander's training in
the use of the broadsword. Besides two culverins mounted on the less
precipitous side of the hill--which was the way we came--they had
smaller firearms in galore on the sconce, and many kegs of powder
disposed in a recess or magazine at the base of the tower. To the east
of the tower itself, and within the wall of the fort (where now is but
an old haw-tree), was a governor's house perched on the sheer lip of the
hill, so that, looking out at its window, one could spit farther than a
musket-ball would carry on the level.

We were no sooner in than MacLachlan was scenting round and into this
little house. He came out crest