The Rajah's Fortress — page 179: what you’re looking at

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

168 THE RAJAH’S FORTRESS. “Good,” shouted McGore. ‘ That shot pasted somebody.” He would have hurried off and reloaded the can- non, but Bolton stopped him. ‘Tt’s no use firing again, Mike. You can’t hit them in the darkness. That was only a chance shot.” “ What are we going to do, then?” asked Mike. ‘Nothing at present,’ was the brief reply, and in fact Bolton was nonplused himself. His fight- ing experience had been very little. He was a brave man and a good shot, but his prowess had been displayed chiefly in hunting wild animals, and now when he found himself in his present position, he was really at a loss to know just how to defend the Castle. It was a difficult place to hold with such a small force. Forbes realized this perfectly, for he regarded himself in duty bound to conduct operations and. give Bolton the benefit of what little military ex- perience he possessed. Bolton was evidently wait- ing for him to devise some plan. ‘“ How much water still remains in the lake?” he asked. McGore climbed the stockade and dropped down to the rocky ledge outside. “ Tt’s nearly out, sir,” he shouted up in a moment. * We'll be surrounded by dry land in a few min- utes.” It was just as Forbes had feared. Over the COLUM 1OOO SS co