The Rajah's Fortress — page 177: what you’re looking at

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

166 THE RAJAH’S FORTRESS. Fully convinced that there was no danger of an attack that night, Bolton and Forbes went inside, and lighting their pipes, tried to settle down to a quiet evening. It wasa failure. The very atmos- phere seemed depressing, and the tobacco, instead of soothing, only made them more nervous. They tried to read, but finally threw down their books in despair. “It’s no use,” said Bolton, “I feel as though something was going to happen.” ‘“ Those are Just my sensations exactly,” rejoined Forbes, with a yawn. ‘Shall we go outside? Anything is better than staying in here.” ‘Yes, here’s a rifle for you,” said Bolton, hand- ing one to his guest and taking another off the hooks for himself. They filled all their pockets with shells and hur- ried into the outer court. McGore met them half way. ‘Come here,” he said in a whisper, leading the way to the lower end of the island. They cautiously mounted the platform and looked down the valley. The darkness was intense. Sky and mountain blended in one black sheet, pierced with a few faint- ly glimmering stars that made a feeble reflection on the surface of the lake. “T heard a noise a minute ago,” whispered Mc- Gore. “Just listen now an’ be quiet.” Sure enough, in a moment or two a dull, heavy COLUM 1OOO SS co