"What do you want?" he asked angrily. "Am I to have no peace? It is
scarcely an hour since you roused me in search of some of your beggarly
prisoners who have escaped. Am I to be disturbed like this because you
do not keep a careful watch?"

"Gently, old man, gently," a rough fellow with a rasping voice answered.
"We are but doing the duty of our country and our master, and you had
better keep a civil and obliging tongue in your head. We know of farms
very near at hand that are farms no longer. Don't we, my comrades?" he
asked with a brutal laugh. "They were burnt--by accident, perhaps--and
their owner hangs to the nearest tree outside. Perchance--wretched
man--of his own act, and perchance, my surly friend, because he was
indiscreet."

"What do you want, then?" asked the farmer in a more civil tone,
evidently overawed by the black and lowering looks of the Cossacks, and
by the covert threats which their spokesman had uttered.

"Something good and of your beat, my friend, for we are hungry; and
after that we will search the farm once more."

"Very well, come in if you will. Here, wife," he shouted, "prepare a
meal for these good fellows."

"What's all the noise about," asked Tony impatiently, tugging at Phil's
arm.

Then when he had learnt he grumbled. "Something to eat. That's what
they're after now, is it? Young 'un, the very mention of a meal makes
me as hollow as the drum of our Grenadier band. Just keep an eye upon
them till they are out of the way, and then we'll fall to ourselves.
We've only bread and water, but I feel like tackling anything."

A little later the Cossacks had entered the house, leaving their ponies
outside, unsaddled, and tied by the halter to a long rope attached to a
ring in the door-post. A plentiful supply of corn had been given them,
and while their masters were busy with knife and fork, they ate it
hungrily, and having finished it, promptly drooped their heads and fell
asleep, for the Cossack pony, though hardy and full of strength, is a
long-suffering animal, and never knows how soon he may be called upon
for work. Therefore, having been on the move most of the night, one and
all took immediate advantage of the moment's respite given them. As for
Phil and Tony, stretching their legs and bunching a thick layer of hay
beneath them, they set to work on the bread they had saved, and enjoyed
their meal in spite of its being so simple.

An hour later there was a commoti