its massy and gloomy walls gave her terrible ideas of imprisonment and suffering: yet, as she advanced, some degree of hope mingled with her terror; for, though this was certainly the residence of montoni, it was possibly, also, that of valancourt, and she could not approach a place, where he might be, without experiencing somewhat of the joy of hope.
they continued to wind along the valley, and, soon after, she saw again the old walls and moon-lit towers, rising over the woods: the strong rays enabled her, also, to perceive the ravages, which the siege had made,--with the broken walls, and shattered battlements, for they were now at the foot of the steep, on which udolpho stood.
massy fragments had rolled down among the woods, through which the travellers now began to ascend, and there mingled with the loose earth, and pieces of rock they had brought with them.the woods, too, had suffered much from the batteries above, for here the enemy had endeavoured to screen themselves from the fire of the ramparts.
many noble trees were levelled with the ground, and others, to a wide extent, were entirely stripped of their upper branches.'we had better dismount,' said ugo, 'and lead the mules up the hill, or we shall get into some of the holes, which the balls have left.here are plenty of them.give me the torch,' continued ugo, after they had dismounted, 'and take care you don't stumble over any thing, that lies in your way, for the ground is not yet cleared of the enemy.'
'how!' exclaimed emily, 'are any of the enemy here, then?'
'nay, i don't know for that, now,' he replied, 'but when i came away i saw one or two of them lying under the trees.'
as they proceeded, the torch threw a gloomy light upon the ground, and far among the recesses of the woods, and emily feared to look forward, lest some object of horror should meet her eye.the path was often strewn with broken heads of arrows, and with shattered remains of armour, such as at that period was mingled with the lighter dress of the soldiers.'bring the light hither,' said bertrand, 'i have stumbled over something, that rattles loud enough.'