ng accuracy. Stark and some of his men were at the top
of the hill, having been the rear guard of the company. They poured
a steady, deadly fire into the bushes which concealed the foe;
whilst their comrades, running from tree to tree, fell back upon
them, and forming on the hilltop, repulsed again and again, with
stubborn gallantry, the assault of a foe which they knew must
outnumber them by four or five to one.

But the face of Rogers was still set and stern.

"They will try to outflank us next, and get round to the rear," he
said between his teeth to Stark. "Stark, you must pick some of our
best men, and stop that movement if it occurs. If they get us
between two fires, we are all dead men!"

"Fritz, you will be my lieutenant," said Stark, as he looked about
him and chose his company. Fritz was at his side in a moment. "We
are in as evil a chance as ever men were yet," he added, "but I
think we shall live to tell the tale by the warm fireside at home.
I have been in tight fixes before this, and have won through
somehow. I trust our gallant Rogers will not fall. That would carry
confusion to our ranks."

Shoulder to shoulder stood Fritz and Stark, warily watching the
movements of the foe. They saw them creeping round the base of the
hill--saw it by the movement of the brushwood rather than by
anything else; for their foes were used to bush craft, too.

"If anything should go amiss with me today, friend John," said
Fritz, as he loaded his piece, looking sternly down into the hollow
beneath, "give my love to Susanna, and tell her that her name will
be on my lips and my heart in the hour of death."

"Talk not of death, man, but of victory!" cried Stark, whose
indomitable cheerfulness never forsook him. "Yet I will remember
and give the message to my pretty cousin--for I know that women
live on words like these--if the blow has to fall. But never think
of that!"

"I do not," answered Fritz; "I hope to come forth safe and sound.
But were it otherwise--"

"Fire!" cried Stark, breaking suddenly into the commander; and a
sharp, deadly volley blazed forth from the guns of his contingent.

It was plain that the enemy had not expected this flank movement to
be observed. Cries of dismay and pain rang through the forest. They
broke cover and ran back towards the main body, followed by another
well-directed volley from the brave Stark and his men.

Round the spot where Rogers and the main body of the Rangers stood
the