The Rajah's Fortress — page 84: what you’re looking at

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

THE RAJAH’S FORTRESS. 77 remnant of his band from the burning building. The enemy now filled up the square, surging to and fro with wild shouts. Only one avenue of escape lay open, and that was a long, narrow street, running at right angles to the square, at the end of which rose the sloping side of a mountain. Bleeding from a dozen wounds, black and grimy with powder, his cap gone, his uniform stained and ragged, the intrepid colonel sprang to the head of his men with waving sword and led them down the narrow thoroughfare. The foe at once fell furiously on their rear, and with such energy and in such numbers that the two guns actually fell into their hands, the gun- ners being compelled to abandon them to save their lives. A shout of triumph burst from a thousand throats at this unexpected victory, and a general rush was made from all sides. The situation was now critical in the ex- treme. The colonel perceived too late the trap he had entered. Behind were a thousand yelling demons, and now of a sudden the street in front was choked up by a swarming mass, who had circled around, while more dacoits appeared on the very housetops along the way. The men were jammed helplessly between the walls, wounded, horses, and all. Then from both ends of the street came a rat COLUM 1OOO SS co