He tore himself free of my grasp as the besiegers

again launched their battering-ram against the door

with a frightful crash, and his revolver cracked smartly

thrice, as he bent far out with one hand clinging to

the window frame.

His shots were a signal for a sharp reply from one of

the men below, and I felt Bates start, and pulled him

in, the blood streaming from his face.

"It's all right, sir,-all right,-only a cut across my

cheek, sir,"-and another bullet smashed through the

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glass, spurting plaster dust from the wall. A fierce

onslaught below caused a tremendous crash to echo

through the house, and I heard firing on the opposite

side, where the enemy's reserve was waiting.

Bates, with a handkerchief to his face, protested that

he was unhurt.

"Come below; there's nothing to be gained here,"-.

and I ran down to the hall, where Stoddard stood, leaning

upon his club like a Hercules and coolly watching

the door as it leaped and shook under the repeated blows

of the besiegers.

A gun roared again at the side of the house, and I ran

to the library, where Larry had pushed furniture against

all the long windows save one, which he held open. He

stepped out upon the terrace and emptied a revolver at

the men who were now creeping along the edge of the

ravine beneath us. One of them stopped and discharged

a rifle at us with deliberate aim. The ball snapped snow

from the balustrade and screamed away harmlessly.

"Bah, such monkeys!" he muttered. "I believe I've

hit that chap!" One man had fallen and lay howling

in the ravine, his hand to his thigh, while his comrades

paused, demoralized.

"Serves you right, you blackguard!" Larry muttered.

I pulled him in and we jammed a cabinet against the

door.

Meanwhile the blows at the front continued with increasing

violence. Stoddard still stood where I had left

him. Bates was not in sight, but the barking of a revolver

above showed that he had returned to the window

to take vengeance on his enemies.

Stoddard shook his head in deprecation.

"They fired first,-we can't do less than get back at

them," I said, between the blows of the battering-ram.

A panel of the great oak door now splintered in, but

in their fear that we might use the opening as a

loophole, they scampered out into range of Bates' revolver.

In return we heard a rain of small shot on the

upper windows, and a few seconds later Larry shouted

that the flanking party was again at the terrace.

This movement evidently heartened the sheriff, for,

under a fire from Bates, his men rushed up and the log

crashed again into the door, shaking it free of the upper

hinges. The lower fastenings were wrenched loose an

instant later, and the men came tumbling into the hall,

-the sheriff, Morgan and four others I had never seen

before. Simultaneously the flanking party reached the

terrace and were smashing the small panes of the French

windows. We could hear the glass crack and tinkle

above the confusion at the door.




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