The Rajah's Fortress — page 170: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE RAJAH'S FORTRESS. 159 outcry had ceased long ago, leaving the little valley in perfect quiet. They were half amile or more from the tunnel’s mouth now and were well up the mountain slope. More than once the Chinaman stopped and looked around him, as though he had lost his bearings. Finally he grasped a tall, ghostly pine tree with dead limbs, and whitened trunk, and at sight of this his face lit up and he turned off to the right into a thicker and more tangled part of the jungle. Stooping low and keeping their eyes open for snakes, all followed his footsteps closely. The Chinaman stopped before an obstructing mass of rock, and pulling aside a clump of bushes that grew on the face of it, a narrow opening was revealed, with a dim reflection of light inthe dis- tance. Topee plunged right into the darkness with- out an instant’s hesitation. Guy supposed this to be the cavern, but he soon saw his mistake, for after slipping down over the coarse stones the passage turned upward, and in a moment they emerged into the open air again. On all sides were high rocks forming a circular apartment as it were, with the sky for a roof and soft turf for the floor. It was a natural little fort- ress Guy saw ata glance, and admirably adapted for defense if such an occasion of need ever pre- sented itself. With every appearance of satisfaction the China- man strode across the hollow to the opposite side, COLUM 1OOO SS co