IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 115 



into his hands it would have become a picturesque 

 ruin again in a very few years. 



The only part of the whole thing in thorough 

 repair is the keep. There not a pane of glass was 

 broken. When we first pitched our tents we 

 utilized this building for our baggage and stores, 

 and eventually, having swept and garnished it, we 

 lived there entirely. The reason for this will 

 appear hereafter. The room was some thirty feet 

 long by eighteen wide, and was lighted by six 

 field-gun embrasures and eight loopholes. Along 

 each side ran wooden "guard beds" (as we call 

 them in our service), which were useful for stowing 

 odds and ends on. Outside a rough cook-house 

 was in good order, and the sanitary arrangements 

 were perfect. In fact, the only thing that we had 

 to regret in this camp was the sea-bathing, which 

 of course was out of the question, and the river- 

 water is a rich peat colour. So we had to fall 

 back for the first time on the collapsible india- 

 rubber tub we had brought with us, and which so 

 far we had considered a useless incumbrance. 



This, then, was another queer camp — in a 

 border fortress. I may as well explain here that 

 Fort Opus does not, as one might naturally 

 suppose, take its name from this fort, which is 

 known as Gradina. This name, as explained 

 before in reference to Morter, means "ancient 

 city," and is applied to any Eoman ruin. 



