not too cowardly to come to our help," thought Dallas.

Four shots were fired now in quick succession, as if the enemy were
anxious to bring matters to an end, and Abel whispered, "Try it directly
they fire again."

"Yes," said Dallas; and directly after Abel heard the handle of the
galvanised iron bucket chink softly.

Then came two more shots, and in an instant Dallas dashed the bucket
against the door with all his might, uttered a heavy groan, and was
silent.

The firing outside ceased now, showing that the ruse had been
successful; and the two young men held their breath as they listened for
the nearer approach of the enemy, which they felt sure must now be
imminent; but they listened a long time in vain.

At last, though, the crackling of the snow outside, as from the pressure
of a heavy foot, warned them that their time was coming, and they lay
ready with the muzzles of their pieces ready to direct at door or
window, as the necessity might arise, and their revolvers on the floor
by their knees.

Which was it to be--door or window? They would have given years of
their lives to know at which to aim, and they felt now what guesswork it
must be.

"They'll come to the window, I hope," thought Dallas; "and if they do I
won't fire till I am sure of winging one of them."

But though they waited, no such opportunity seemed likely to come, for
there was not a sound at the front after they heard the soft crackling
of the snow.

All at once, when the horrible suspense seemed greater than they could
bear, and Dallas felt that he must spring to his feet, rush to the door,
and begin firing at random, it seemed to both that an icy hand had
grasped each of them by the throat.

It was another exemplification of the aphorism that it is the unexpected
which always happens. For all at once, after a long period of perfect
silence, there was a peculiar grating sound at the back of the hut
instead of at the front, and for a few moments both the defenders of the
place were puzzled.

Then, as the sound was repeated, they realised what it was. There were
several pieces of thickish pine-trunk lying outside in the snow, pieces
that had been cut to form uprights for the rough shedding over their
shaft. These pieces were very rough and jagged with the remains of the
boughs which had been lopped off, so that they would be as easy to
climb--almost--as a ladder. Two of these had been softly placed so that
they lay along the slo