on outside, and Phil, who was on the
watch, saw the Cossacks emerge from the farmhouse.

Then they separated, and in couples searched every corner of the house
and its surroundings.

"This looks a likely kind of place," said one of them, approaching the
shed in which Phil and Tony were hidden. "Come, Petroff, we will enter
it together. I would not for the wealth of the Czar undertake the
search alone, for these English fools, though unarmed, are capable of
killing us. See how our unlucky comrade was damaged by a blow from one
of their fists. He says he remembers only thrusting at them with his
lance, and then a flash in his eyes as of a thousand stars. Truly they
are brutes who learn to strike down men with their clenched hand alone."

"What is the good of entering there?" his companion answered surlily.
"Can you not see, fool, that the door is pinned outside? There is no
other entrance but the trap-door, so how can they be there, unless,
indeed, they possess wings? For I know the ladder is within the
farmhouse. Still, we will search the place, and then can honestly say
that we have used every endeavour."

A grating sound accompanied by loud creaking followed this as both doors
were thrown wide-open to afford a better light.

Crouching close between the seats of their refuge, the two comrades
waited breathlessly, stick in hand, and with fast-beating hearts, while
the two Cossacks searched every corner of the dwelling.

"They are not here, as I said," a voice cried from the loft. "This
trap-door is bolted on the inside, and the big doors on the outside. It
is clear that our trouble is for nothing. Still," he added, having
scrambled down by means of the niches, "were I escaping from our enemies
this is the place I should choose, and that carriage over there is the
roost I should take possession of. From its size it should form most
comfortable quarters;" and as if to prove the truth of this, he crept
between the carts, and, turning the handle, attempted to open the door.

"Hang on for your life, Tony," whispered Phil, who had overheard all
that passed. "This fellow is trying to pull the door open."

Both at once clung to it, Phil grasping the handle inside, while Tony
dug his fingers into the window slits and pulled with all his strength.

"Bah!" muttered the Cossack, disappointed in his attempt. "What is the
use of a carriage with a door that does not open?" and, turning away, he
and his companion