i rushed with strode to the doorway, and for a moment could discern nothing in the intense darkness. but just as i was beginning to hope it might be a false alarm a flash of lightning showed me a man on horseback in the road some twenty yards away. it was hardly probable that he saw us in the same instant; anyhow, we could hear no voice above the raging of the storm. without another moment’s delay we set ourselves to close the door, which hung to its post by a single hinge.
“stay, for heaven’s sake!” strode cried suddenly. “the pistols and cartridges are in the carriage. without them we are dead men.”
in another instant he had forced the door a little way open again and dashed out. it was an anxious twenty seconds for me, but in that time he was back with our second revolvers and the ammunition bags.
“now,” he said, “take the fr?ulein upstairs while i barricade this as well as i can.”
she had heard him, and, as i turned, was already climbing the crazy steps that led to the upper floor.
“it is terrible,” she said, trying, as i could see, to master her agitation, “if all you have done for me is to end in failure.”
“let us hope not,” i replied. “strode may be mistaken. it is hardly conceivable——”
[pg 221]
my words were cut short by a shout and a loud beating on the door. i ran to the window of the front upper room and looked down. the storm was now gradually passing away; the intense darkness was relieved sufficiently for me to be able to make out the forms of several men standing before the house. that they were count furello and his followers there could be now little doubt. how they had tracked and overtaken us so quickly was surprising; but there they were, and we could only be thankful that an accident had given us a shelter in which to stand at bay. had we remained in the carriage a few minutes longer they would have surrounded us and we should not have had a chance.
as i drew back from the window i heard the count’s voice cry:
“come out, you foul englishman, before i fetch and hang you.”
this pleasant invitation had scarcely left his lips when a shot rang out followed by a cry. in the hope that the leader of the gang had been accounted for, i sprang to the window only to hear to my disappointment the same hateful voice giving order to his men to fall back.
“settled one of them, tyrrell!” strode called up to me. “we’ll have some rare sport here.”
i was glad to think our enemies were one the fewer, and i sent a chance shot on my own account after them to hasten their retreat to a respectful distance.
but i could not remain there leaving strode the impossible task of defending all the weak spots in the lower floor.
“you will not be afraid to stay in this room alone, fr?ulein,” i said, with probably more confidence than i felt. “i must back up strode downstairs. between us there is little doubt we can keep [pg 222]these ruffians out and drive them off, but strode cannot do it alone. you will trust us and not fear?”
she shook her head with a little shudder. i had, in the stress of the moment, laid my hand on her shoulder. suddenly, before i could turn to leave her she flung her arms impulsively round my neck and kissed me twice. “darling! my own darling!” she cried, her voice trembling with excitement and fear. “if you are to die for me you shall know that i am grateful, that i love you.”
her cheek was pressed to mine. i whispered back my love in her ear, the love i had known, but had not dared to show. strode called me.
“i must go now,” i said. “if i am to die i have lived my life in this minute.”
we kissed again, as though it were the last kiss on earth, and i ran down to strode, my head whirling with joy. perhaps to him, who had rather anticipated the situation, my delay in coming to his call was not surprising.
“if you don’t look alive,” he said reproachfully, “we shall be taken and strung up, or whatever your friends’ favourite method may be of getting rid of people who annoy them. i dropped one of the brutes and they have drawn off in consequence. their obvious line now is to attack us on two or more sides, flank and rear; our game is to pick them off one by one till they are not more than two to one. i am only praying for the chance of a pot-shot at that scoundrelly count.”
all the time he was muttering thus to me we were busily examining the ground floor of the cottage and noting its vulnerable points. luckily the place was small and plainly built. a narrow passage ran from the front door to the back, having on its one side simply the outer wall and the staircase, on the [pg 223]other the two lower rooms. as luck would have it, the rusty key was in the door of the front room. this with some little difficulty we were able to lock on the outside; consequently all fear of an entry through the front window was obviated. we had now simply to guard the two entrances and the window of the back room.
so we stood, back to back, a revolver in each hand, grimly waiting the enemy’s next move. there was little doubt that an attempt would be made at the back this time. we could not be certain how many men were with the count; the danger was that a combined rush might be made and a simultaneous entry effected through door and window. from our stand in the doorway of the room we should probably account for at least two of our assailants, but after that numbers would tell at close quarters and our chance would not be worth much.
realizing this, i made a whispered suggestion to strode that we should abandon our present position and hold the staircase against them.
“no,” he answered, “we must keep them out as long as we can. we might hold the upper floor for a week, but once let these devils get into the place and the odds would be on their setting fire to it. they can’t do that from outside, thanks to the rain.”
i saw at once the likelihood of that danger, and what an excellent stroke it would be to end furello’s difficulty. presently strode touched me, and i turned, on the alert.
he only nodded towards the window. something was moving; we could only guess what. strode covered it with his revolver and waited. then he fired. his shot seemed to be the signal for a regular volley which was poured into the room, but without touching us in our cover. “look out!” strode [pg 224]whispered. “they are bound to come now. keep the passage!”
sure enough, as the words were spoken there was a rush from both window and door. we blazed away, each with both weapons, right and left, since anything like deliberate aim was impossible. our fire was returned; then our assailants seemed to fall back, but we could tell nothing clearly. in the midst of my excitement i heard strode ask:
“are you hit?”
“no,” i replied.
“i am,” he said, “but it is not much. we can’t hold this; the fun’s all right but too risky for the girl. we must take to the upper regions and chance it.”
he was slipping in fresh cartridges as he spoke. “now,” he said, “bang away, and make a rush for it. once up the stairs we are safe.”
through the hanging smoke in the passage nothing could be seen. i sent a shot through it and made a spring for the stairs. strode was on my heels; our fire was not returned, and we gained comparative safety. as we reached the landing we saw asta rush back to the room in terror, locking the door.
“it is all right, fr?ulein,” i cried. “we are both safe so far.”
at my voice the door was unfastened, and my love stood before me.
“thank heaven!” she said. “i have been nearly mad with fear. i felt sure all must be over with you both. it is terrible that you should go through all this for me.”
“asta!” i whispered reproachfully. “it is only for you we fear, dearest.”
strode had evidently heard her. “we like it,” he observed with a pre-occupied cheeriness, for he [pg 225]was hanging over the rails of the staircase keeping a sharp look-out. “it suits me exactly. if only we could get you, fr?ulein, away snugly, it might go on till this time to-morrow, eh, tyrrell?”
i went to him. “your wound, strode?”
“hush, don’t bother about it,” he answered. “it is only a graze on the shoulder. now, what are these devils about?” he muttered, “i can’t see them, can you?”
neither could i, so i went back to reconnoitre from the windows. at the back of the house, in what had been once the garden, a movement was perceptible. men were stirring, but so cautiously that nothing more was to be made out. i told strode of this, and he suggested my sending a shot or two at them.
“it can’t do any harm, with our stock of cartridges, and you might bring one of the brutes down, the count for choice, if that isn’t too much to hope for.”
i returned to the window and promptly acted on this advice. my second shot i had reason to think took effect, for something like a smothered cry reached my ears. then the count’s voice gave an order, upon which, so far as i could see, four men made a stealthy rush towards the house.
“look out!” i called to strode. “they are upon us!”
he sprang back to the top of the stairs as i joined him. for some seconds we heard nothing; then a slight noise, a foot accidentally striking against some object, gave warning that the enemy was near. strode waited a little, then cautiously leaned forward and sent down a shot. it was returned.
“blaze away, man! they are on the stairs,” he cried; and we did blaze away into the unseen.
a dead silence followed. peering round into the darkness we waited for the next move. then [pg 226]we heard men stirring beneath. the slight noise of stealthy movement went on for some time; occasionally we could detect a whisper, that was all. suddenly there came a glimmer of light, but it showed us nothing. instead of dying away as i expected, it increased, and then we knew what we feared was about to happen.
“are they firing the place?”
a crackle of burning wood gave the answer; the light increased and spread. the danger now was critical.
“we can’t stand this,” i said. “the old place will burn like matchwood. we must make a rush for it.”
strode muttered something between his teeth—a not very flattering comment on count furello and his methods.
“if we hadn’t to think of her,” he said, jerking his head towards the room with the closed door, “we could sally out and meet these beasts, taking our chance. but with her we can’t. stay here, while i go and see what i can do. nonsense! i’m the man to take the risk, not you.” for i had begun to hold him back and demur.
he threw me off and crept down the stairs. he stayed looking over the rail for a while, then came back to me.
“i think,” he said, “with fair luck i can put the fire out. there’s not much alight, and our friends seem to have drawn off to see the fun. one chap is lying dead down there, so what with the others we’ve peppered there can’t be many left. anyway, if i come across them there will be at least one fewer, if next moment is my last. i’m no good, so don’t bother about me. think of the girl; it is our duty to get her out of this at any cost.”
[pg 227]
so saying, he stole down again. at the bottom of the staircase he stayed a moment, then, darting forward, disappeared from my sight. next i heard a banging, as though he were trying to beat out the flames; then two pistol shots in rapid succession, followed by a laugh of exultation from strode. doubtful whether this should betoken good luck or bad, i called down to know if he was all right.
“very much all right!” was the cheering answer. “i guess we’re safe now.”
on that i ventured to leave my post, and ran down to him. he was kicking and stamping out the remains of the nearly extinguished fire. the old wood-work had been set alight in several places, and the door was half consumed.
“i don’t fancy the herr graf will trouble us much more to-night,” he laughed. “pity i missed him, though. anyhow i put a bullet through some tender part of that other scoundrel’s anatomy, if howling goes for anything. i say! our pot-shots have gone home much better than we could have hoped. strikes me we’ve tucked up most of them.”
“our luck——” i began, when, crack! a bullet whistled between us and went through the partition wall with a sharp plug.
“whew! that was handy!” strode laughed, as by a common impulse we dropped on our hands and knees below the line of fire. “look to the passage,” he whispered; “don’t let them cut us off.”
i crept to the door and sent a couple of haphazard shots out into the night. strode crawled to the window and fired. then, detecting no sign of the enemy, it occurred to me that i ought to keep an eye on the floor above. scarcely had the thought passed through my mind when i heard a cry, the [pg 228]door of the upstairs room flung open, and asta calling me. i rushed up, meeting her on the stairs, and on into the room.
“they are climbing to the window,” she said, as i passed.
the room was empty. i ran to the window and looked out. no one was to be seen; it was now pitch dark again. in the pauses of the wind i fancied i could hear a movement in the shrubs between the house and the road. i did not hesitate to send a shot in that direction. as the report died away, a laugh followed and a voice called out with startling unexpectedness.
“well aimed, herr engl?nder!”
it was furello. i made no reply, but waited. then out of the darkness came the vile voice again.
“herr tyrrell! herr tyrrell!” it cried.
“good-evening, count!” i replied mockingly.
“good-night, herr tyrrell,” he returned. “my compliments. you are a clever fellow, for an englishman. but you will need to be much cleverer when next we meet. so look to yourself and make the most of the few hours of life we leave you. auf wiedersehen!”
the metallic voice had rung out so that not a word escaped me. then the wind dying fitfully away let me hear the sound of retreating hoofs, and i knew that for the time we were safe. i turned to find asta standing behind me.
“victory! the attack is repulsed and the siege raised,” i cried exultingly.
her animated face showed that she had caught something of my confident spirit. but now that the immediate danger was past she was more reserved, and my respect bade me be content with simply the token of love and gratitude that her eyes gave me. it was not for me to profit by a [pg 229]moment of exaltation, when life and death trembling in the balance had hurried an avowal to lips which a few seconds might have closed for ever.
i half expected to see that strode had followed me; as he did not appear i shouted to him, but to my surprise got no answer. in alarm i ran down, to find him stretched insensible on the floor where i had left him.
