her and
grasped the hand she had stretched out.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE NIGHT-STRUGGLE

The dark figure, which seized Czipra's hand so suddenly, stared with a
blood-thirsty grin into his victim's face, whose every limb shuddered
with terror at her assailant.

"What do you want?" panted the girl in a choking, scarcely audible
voice.

"What do I want?" he hissed in answer. "I want to cut your gander's
throat, you goose! Do you want a nightingale?"

Then he whistled a shrill whistle.

His mates leaped out suddenly from their ambush at the sound of the
whistle.

At that moment Czipra recovered her self control in sheer despair: she
suddenly tore her hand from the robber's grasp, and in three bounds,
like a terrified deer, reached the threshold of the door she had left
open.

But the wolf had followed in her tracks and reached her at the door. The
girl had no time to close it in his face.

"Don't whine!" hissed Kandur, seizing the girl's arm with one hand, with
the other attempting to close her mouth.

But terror had made Czipra frantic: tearing down the robber's hand from
her mouth, she pushed him back from the door, and with shrill cries
awoke the echoes of the night.

"Lorand, help! Robbers!"

"Silence, you dog, or I'll stab you!" thundered the robber, pointing a
knife at the girl's breast.

The knife did not frighten Czipra: as she struggled unceasingly and
desperately with the robber, she cried "Lorand! Lorand! Murder! Help!"

"Damn you!" exclaimed the robber thrusting his knife into the maiden's
bosom.

Czipra suddenly seized the knife with her two hands.

At that moment Lorand appeared beside her.

At the first cry he had rushed from his room and, unarmed, hastened to
Czipra's aid.

The girl was still struggling with the robber, holding him back, by
sheer force, from entering the door.

Lorand sprang towards her, and dealt the intruder such a blow with his
fist in the face, that two of his teeth were broken.

Two shots rang out, followed by a heavy fall and a cry of cursing.

Topandy had fired from the window and one of the four robbers fell on
his face mortally wounded, while another, badly hit, floundered and
collapsed near the corridor.

The two shots, the noise behind his back, and the unexpected blow
confused Kandur; he retreated from the door, leaving his knife in
Czipra's hand.

Lorand quickly utilized this opportunity to close the door, fasten the
chain, and draw the bol