hing space, Hal and Chester, standing side by
side, took in the scene about them. Of the little troop of Cossacks
there remained now possibly a hundred men. Their support, the lads could
see, desperately engaged elsewhere, would be unable to come to their
assistance. It was up to them to fight it out alone.

Colonel Bluekoff was down, having been pierced a few moments before by a
German bullet. Among these few men there were, besides Alexis, but two
minor officers unharmed. At that moment Alexis himself took command.

His sword raised aloft, he turned flashing eyes upon his men.

"Will we surrender?" he shouted, and answered his own question: "No!"

A wild cheer from his men was the reply. The huge Cossack turned to the
two lads.

"We will fight till the last," he said calmly. "Are you with us?"

"We are," said Hal simply.

"You bet!" Chester agreed.

"Good!" exclaimed Alexis.

He turned once more toward the enemy, who, it was evident, were
preparing for another attack upon the little band. The latter stood
quietly, awaiting the charge; and in a moment it came.

Urging their horses on at a gallop, the Germans came rapidly forward.
There was the clash of steel on steel as the enemy hurled themselves
upon three sides of the little square simultaneously. Russians and
Germans dropped together, fighting till the last.

But the odds against them were too great. Dense masses of the Germans
swooped down upon them, engulfing them, overpowering them. Hal, engaged
with a big German officer, had just succeeded in parrying a thrust of
the other's sword, when someone from behind struck him a heavy blow over
the head. The lad fell from his horse without a sound.

Chester, seeing his friend fall, fought his way toward Hal. He was just
about to leap from his horse by his chum's side, when a tall German
trooper brought the flat of his sword down on the lad's head. Chester
also went hurtling to the ground.

And now Alexis, with a few remaining men, was left to fight the enemy
alone. His sword whirling around his head in great sweeps, and an empty
revolver clutched tightly in his left hand; his teeth bared in a snarl
and his eyes flashing angrily, this great Cossack stood off his foes.

Four men sprang upon him at once. Putting spurs to his horse, the giant
dashed in between them. Two he cut down with lightning-like slashes of
his sword, and a third he disposed of by hurling his empty revolver
squarely into his face. The sw