I reached the bog, and was about to venture upon its black surface, and to pick my way amongst its innumerable holes, yawning horribly, and half filled with water black as soot, when it suddenly occurred to me that there was a road to the south, by following which I might find a more convenient route to the object of my wishes.

The event justified my expectations, for, after following the road for some three miles, seemingly in the direction of the Devil's Mountain, I suddenly beheld the castle on my left.
I diverged from the road, and, crossing two or three fields, came to a small grassy plain, in the midst of which stood the castle.

About a gun-shot to the south was a small village, which had, probably, in ancient days, sprung up beneath its protection.

A kind of awe came over me as I approached the old building.

The sun no longer shone upon it, and it looked so grim, so desolate and solitary; and here was I, in that wild country, alone with that grim building before me.