Cuthbert asked.

"The walls are standing," he said; "but a breach has been made in them,
and at present it is wholly deserted."

"Do you think," Cuthbert asked, "that if you succeeded in surprising and
defeating the garrison of the castle that you could then regain your own,
and hold it against your enemy?"

"I think that I could," Sir Adelbert said. "The baron's domains are but
little larger than my own. Many of my retainers still live upon the
estate, and would; I am sure, gladly join me, if I were to raise my flag.
The baron, too, is hated by his neighbours, and could I inflict a
crushing blow upon him, methinks it would be so long a time before he
could assemble a force, that I might regain my castle and put it in an
attitude of defence before he could take the field against me."

"If," Cuthbert said, "we could surprise the castle, it might well be that
the baron would fall into your hands, and in that case you might be able
to make your own terms with him. How strong a force is he likely to have
in his castle?"

"Some fifty or sixty men," the knight replied; "for with such a force he
could hold the castle against an attack of ten times their number, and he
could in twelve hours call in his retainers, and raise the garrison to
300 or 400 men."

Blondel warmly assented to Cuthbert's scheme, and it was settled that at
daybreak they should start to view the Castle of Rotherheim. At early
dawn they were in the saddle, and the three rode all day, until towards
sunset they stood on the crest of a hill looking down into the valley of
the Rhine.

The present aspect of that valley affords but a slight idea of its beauty
in those days. The slopes are now clad with vineyards, which, although
picturesque in idea, are really, to look at from a distance, no better
than so many turnip fields. The vines are planted in rows and trained to
short sticks, and as these rows follow the declivities of the hillside,
they are run in all directions, and the whole mountain side, from the
river far up, is cut up into little patches of green lines. In those days
the mountains were clad with forests, which descended nearly to the river
side. Here and there, upon craggy points, were situate the fortalices of
the barons. Little villages nestled in the woods, or stood by the river
bank, and a fairer scene could not be witnessed in Europe.

"That is Rotherheim," the knight said, pointing to a fortress standing on
a crag, which rose high abo