"Now," said Chester, "to your posts. We don't want to be caught unguarded."

All took the places a.s.signed them and examined their weapons. An hour pa.s.sed. Then Chester, peering through the window, exclaimed:

"Here they come!"

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE FIGHT IN THE HOUSE.

"I'm ready for them!" shouted Ivan, from his position behind the broken door.

He stood well back in the darkness, out of sight from beyond the house.

All was quiet and dark within, for with the appearance of the first of the enemy Chester had extinguished the light. The figures of the approaching Bulgarians were plainly visible to Chester and Helen through the windows. Ivan and Colonel Anderson, of course, could not see them, although they would have been visible to the former had he a mind to take a chance and expose himself to their view.

As the men approached, Chester counted them. Then he announced:

"Thirteen, I make them."

"My count, too," agreed Helen from her window.

There was not a tremor in her voice now and she seemed totally unlike the frightened girl Chester had first seen. She held her revolver steadily in her right hand, a pile of ammunition heaped up in the window sill before her.

The men came on briskly, absolutely unaware of the rude welcome that awaited them.

"Let them get close enough so we can't miss, then I'll hold a parley with them," said Chester.

When the men were less than fifty yards from the house, Chester raised his voice and called out sternly in Russian:

"Halt there!"

The Bulgarians halted in their tracks and gazed about in surprise. To the best of their knowledge there could be no one in the house but the girl, and this sudden hail in a male voice made them pause.

"What do you want here?" demanded Chester from his shelter.

There was a hurried consultation among the enemy; then one man called:

"We want to get in."

"You can't get in," returned Chester calmly.

There was a roar of laughter from without.

"Did you hear that?" said one. "He says we can't get in." The man called to Chester: "And who is going to stop us?"

"You'll find there are enough of us here for that purpose," replied the lad evenly. "I warn you we'll shoot the next step forward you take."

Again those without held a consultation and Chester could barely make out the trend of the conversation.

"Perhaps they are too many for us," said one.

"Nonsense," was the reply of another. "He's simply trying to frighten us away. We'll rush the two windows and the doors at the same time. Some of us will get in."

"All right. Whatever you say--"

"Come on then."

The men split up suddenly into four separate bodies and rushed forward.

"Let 'em have it," said Chester quietly.

His revolver spoke at the same moment as did that of Helen and two men stumbled as they ran. One recovered himself instantly and came on, but the other pitched forward to the ground.

Colonel Anderson, at the rear door, remained at his post. There was nothing he could do until the enemy attempted to force the door.

Ivan, however, stepped quickly from his place of concealment and standing erect in the doorway fired point blank at the four men who came dashing toward him. One threw up his hands with a cry and a second muttered a fierce imprecation. Ivan emptied his revolver and then dashed back to safety even as a fusillade was fired at him. The Cossack was untouched.

He smiled grimly to himself.

"Not so bad," he muttered.

He reloaded in haste and again stepped into the open. The men before his post, the three who remained upon their feet, were directly in front of the door and all fired simultaneously as Ivan showed himself. The big Cossack felt a stinging sensation in his left arm, but he did not pause to investigate the wound.

Again he raised his weapon quickly and fired its contents toward his foes. But Ivan's aim was poor--or he had fired without aiming--for not a bullet went home. Again Ivan dodged back just in time.

The men who had advanced toward the two windows had been driven off by Helen and Chester. Two of their number lay on the ground and two of the others were nursing wounded arms. Out of revolver-shot they stopped and discussed the situation.

In the rear, the men who had attacked there were even now knocking at the door with their revolver b.u.t.ts. Chester heard Colonel Anderson's voice:

"Get away from there, or I shall fire through the door."

There came a loud report and Chester believed for a moment the colonel had been as good as his word. But he was soon undeceived.

"They've blown the lock off the door," cried the colonel. "Guess they'll try to rush me now."

"You guard both these windows for a moment," said Chester. "I'll lend Anderson a hand."

He hurried back and arrived just in time to see the door swing inward.

Colonel Anderson, across the room from the door, stood in the shadow, waiting for the first of the enemy to show himself.

The door swung back violently and the men appeared in the opening in a body. Chester and Colonel Anderson fired almost together. Came hoa.r.s.e cries from the attackers and a moment later the doorway was cleared.

Immediately Chester and the colonel hurled their weight against it, closing it again.

"Safe for a minute," said Chester.

He hastened back to where he had left Helen and arrived just in time to see the girl fire her revolver at a figure that dashed toward the house.