indulge in when about to attack, seemed already to have passed
beyond them. Suddenly, however, a puff of wind blew the mist away in
long trailing flakes, and the central column appeared, marching at a
rapid pace, and already within thirty yards of the outpost. Almost at
the same moment the lateral columns came into sight, but separated by a
little wider interval.

"Fire!" cried Phil in a loud voice.

Instantly a rattling volley was poured into the dense masses of men, who
came to an abrupt halt, while confusion and alarm spread through their
ranks. Then officers rushed to the front, sword in hand, and called
upon them to charge.

Flash! Another volley was poured into the struggling ranks, and men
were seen to drop on either side.

Bending down so that the scrub just concealed them, Phil and his men
rapidly reloaded, and had emptied their rifles again before the mist
fell once more and hid the enemy from sight.

"Load again," cried Phil. "Now, are you ready? Then follow me to the
right. We will change our position before these fellows recover
sufficiently to open fire."

Running through the dense growth of bushes, the outpost-party soon took
up a new position in front of one of the other columns, where, spreading
out so as to pour their volleys into all three columns, they waited
again for the command to fire.

Meanwhile shouts and oaths came in a perfect storm from the Russians,
and their hiss of excitement rose to deafening pitch.

Then the mist was suddenly rent asunder by a flash of flame which ran
along their front, and a hail of bullets was poured into the bushes
where Phil and his party had lain not a minute before, sending a shower
of twigs and leaves pattering to the ground, and striking the boulders
with a series of sharp thuds, which told that but for the fortunate
change of position, the outpost-party would have been decimated.

"Now we'll give them another taste," said Phil aloud. "Then we'll
retire some fifty yards and wait for them again."

The movement proved even more successful than he could have hoped, for,
bewildered by the mist, and fearful that they had stumbled upon a strong
force of the Allies, the Russians still stood rooted to the spot, while
the bullets tore remorselessly through their crowded ranks, doing awful
execution at such close quarters. Standing in front of them, officers
waved their swords gallantly and called upon them to advance, but,
stricken by the fire and in