nstein, seeing at the corner
nearest them a square tower, next a machicolated curtain of wall, and a
larger square tower almost as high as the first hanging over the
precipice that descended to the Rhine. Inside this impregnable enclosure
rose the great bulk of the Castle itself, and near at hand the massive
square keep, with an octagonal turret on the southeast corner, the top
of which was the highest point of the stronghold, although a round tower
rising directly over the Rhine was not much lower.

Roland, advancing through the trees, but motioning his men to remain
where they were, peered across to the battlements and down at the
entrance gate.

Baron von Hohenfels sat so secure in his elevated robber's nest, which
he deemed invincible--and, indeed, the cliff on which it stood, nearly a
hundred yards high, made it so if approached from the Rhine--that he
kept only one man on watch, and this sentinel was stationed on the
elevated platform of the round tower. Roland saw him yawn wearily as he
leaned against his tall lance, and was glad to learn that even one man
kept guard, for at first he feared that all within the Castle were
asleep, the round tower, until Roland had shifted his position to the
north, being blotted out by the nearer square donjon keep. Now
satisfied, he signaled his men to sit down, which they did. He himself
took up a position behind a tree, where, unseen, he could watch the man
with the lance.

So indolent was the sentry that Roland began to fear the barge would
pass by unnoticed. Not for months had any sailing craft appeared on the
river, and doubtless the warden regarded his office as both useless and
wearisome. Brighter and brighter became the eastern sky, and at last a
tinge of red appeared above the hills across the silent Rhine. Suddenly
the guardian straightened up, then, shading his eyes with his right
hand, he leaned over the battlements, peering to the south. A moment
later the stillness was rent by a lusty shout, and the man disappeared
as if he had fallen through a trap-door. Presently the notes of a bugle
echoed within the walls, followed by clashes of armor and the buzzing
sound of men, as though a wasp's nest had been disturbed. Half a dozen
came into sight on top of the various towers and battlements, glanced at
the river, and vanished as hastily as the sentinel had done.

At last the gates came ponderously open, and the first three men to
emerge were on horseback, one of them h