And then they heaped up the mortar and rock to the top of the
second storey, but above that they let the timbers show, except
where they filled in plaster between the curving trunks: and the
ages blackened the timber in amongst the white plaster; but not a
storm that blew in all the years that came, nor the moss of so
many Springs, ever rotted away those beams that the forest had
given and on which the bowmen had laboured so long ago. But the
castle weathered the ages and reached our days, worn, battered
even, by its journey through the long and sometimes troubled
years, but splendid with the traffic that it had with history in
many gorgeous periods. Here Valdar the Excellent came once in his
youth. And Charles the Magnificent stayed a night in this castle
when on a pilgrimage to a holy place of the South.
It was here that Peter the Arrogant in his cups gave Africa, one
Spring night, to his sister's son. What grandeurs this castle has
seen! What chronicles could be writ of it! But not these
chronicles, for they draw near their close, and they have yet to
tell how the castle was built. Others shall tell what banners flew
from all four of its towers, adding a splendour to the wind, and
for what cause they flew. I have yet to tell of their building.
The second storey was roofed, and Castle Rodriguez still rose one
layer day by day, with a hauling at pulleys and the work of a
hundred men: and all the while the park swept farther into the
forest.
Pages:
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274