'But it will do in this light. Now
for that boat.'
'One minute!' said Ken, 'let's just see what they were guarding.'
He slipped along the trench, Roy after him, and a few yards farther on it
sloped downwards, then widened into a deepish semicircular excavation. In
the middle of this was a great lump of something which, as they came
nearer, resolved itself into a gun of some sort. It was very thick, very
short, it stood on a concrete platform, and its squat muzzle pointed
almost straight up into the air.
'It's a howitzer,' said Ken.
'Rummiest looking howitzer I ever saw,' Roy answered. 'Looks as if it came
out of the Ark.'
'Came out of the Crimea, I expect. They used this kind of thing sixty
years ago. It's a muzzle loader, you see.'
'And shoots real cannon balls,' said Roy, pointing to a pyramid of huge
iron globes, each about fourteen inches in diameter.
'I wonder where the powder is,' said Ken with sudden eagerness.
'What's up now?' demanded Roy.
'I've got it,' said Ken quickly, as he began pulling a tarpaulin off a
pile of canvas bags.
Pages:
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197