Ronald Morton | Page 6

as my guide on shore."

Chapter Two.

Lunnasting Castle--The Stranger Ship--Sandy Redland, The
Factor--Archy Eagleshay--Miss Wardhill's Visitors--The
Disappearance of the Heir.
Lunnasting Castle stood on a high rocky promontory, washed by the
ocean on the south and east, and by a voe which ran up some way
inland on the west. It was a somewhat extensive building; but though of
a castellated style of architecture it was not really a fortress further than
the naturally inaccessible nature of the ground on which it stood made
it so. It stood on the site, and was formed partly of such materials as
time had left of an old castle of the earls or ancient Udal lords of
Shetland, and had been very much increased in size, and ornamented,
as well as rendered a more commodious habitation by the present
owner, Sir Marcus Wardhill. The dwelling-house consisted but of two
stories, and standing, as it did, elevated some way above the sea,
looked lower than it really was. It was surrounded on the north, east,
and west, by a high castellated wall, flanked with towers, which, if not
capable of keeping out a mortal enemy, served the purpose for which it
was built,--to guard the mansion from the assaults of the wintry blasts
of the icy ocean. In front, on the south side, that the inhabitants might
enjoy the sea view, and that the warm rays of the sun might be admitted,
the wall sunk down to the height of a mere ornamental parapet, the
round towers at either end giving it some right to claim the title
bestowed on it; especially as on the summit of either tower Sir Marcus
had mounted a couple of long six-pounders, capable of considerably
annoying any hostile vessel of a size at all likely to venture near that
part of a coast so full of dangers that no large ship would willingly
approach it. The muzzles of some smaller guns appeared through the
embrasure of the parapet wall, which was also flanked by a buttress, or
rather a circular outwork at either end at the foot of the towers, where
pivot guns were placed, so that the one on the west could fire directly
up the voe or gulf, and served to flank the western wall. The two
principal front towers were connected with the dwelling-house, and had
small chambers in them, one above the other, which had been fitted up
as sitting-rooms or dormitories.
In a deep window recess, in the highest chamber of the western tower

of Lunnasting Castle, sat Miss Wardhill, Sir Marcus Wardhill's eldest
child. Although the window matched in appearance the others in that
and the opposite tower, which were mere high, narrow, glazed
loop-holes, by an ingenious contrivance a huge stone was made to turn
on an iron axle, and by pressing a spring, it slid in sufficiently to allow
the inmate of the room to gaze out conveniently on the surrounding
scene.
Few scenes, to a romantic temperament, could have been more
attractive. The subdued twilight of that northern clime reigned over the
face of nature, softening and mellowing all objects, but in no way
obscuring them. The light was not so bright as that of the day, and yet it
partook in no way of the characteristics of night. It was more like the
warm light of the dawn of a summer day in the south, just before the
sun rises up from below the horizon in refulgent glory. The water near
the land was perfectly smooth, though a breeze could be seen rippling
the surface in the offing, the ripple being increased probably by the
strong current which nearly at all times sets one way or the other round
the islands.
Before the castle, on the right, rose the rocky heights and green
swelling undulations of the mainland--the Noup of Nesting Kirkbuster,
Brough and Moul of Eswick, while the highlands above Lerwick, and
the heights of Brassy and Noss, appeared blue and indistinct in the far
distance.
To the east, several green islands, or rather islets, known as Grief
Skerries, Rumble, Eastling, and other equally euphonious names, ran
out of the dark-blue ocean. The last-named being a mile and a half in
length, formed with the main island, along the shore of which it ran
parallel, and from which it was little more than a quarter of a mile
distant, a sound of some extent, where vessels in all but north-easterly
winds could ride safely at anchor. Even in these winds the force of the
sea was considerably broken by the small island or holm of Isbuster,
which lay in the very centre of the northern entrance.
Looking eastward, and north from the towers of Lunnasting, the view
extended nearly up the Sound, and commanded the whole island