A single turret at one angle,
defended by a door studded with huge iron nails, rose above the
battlement, and gave access to the roof from within, by the spiral
staircase which it enclosed. It seemed to the party that their motions
were watched by some one concealed within this turret; and they were
confirmed in their belief when, through a narrow loophole, a female hand
was seen to wave a handkerchief, as if by way of signal to them. Hobbie
was almost out of his senses with joy and eagerness.
"It was Grace's hand and arm," he said; "I can swear to it amang a
thousand. There is not the like of it on this side of the Lowdens--We'll
have her out, lads, if we should carry off the Tower of Westburnflat
stane by stane."
Earnscliff, though he doubted the possibility of recognising a fair
maiden's hand at such a distance from the eye of the lover, would say
nothing to damp his friend's animated hopes, and it was resolved to
summon the garrison.
The shouts of the party, and the winding of one or two horns, at length
brought to a loophole, which flanked the entrance, the haggard face of
an old woman.
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