e logs. We can force that heavy wooden bed across the
door, and hide behind it. We ought to hold them there as long as our
cartridges last, unless they set the cabin afire. Good God! They have
begun already. Three more blows like that and the door goes down.
Come; it's our only chance."

It was the work of a moment; it had to be. The inner room was so dark
they had to feel their way about blindly, yet those splintering crashes
on the outer door, interspersed by the shouts of the men, spurred both
to hurried effort. Nor was there much to be done. The heavy bed was
thrown upon its side, and hauled and pushed forward until it rested
against the door jambs, the mattress and blankets so caught and held as
to form protection against bullets. Breathless the two sank to their
knees in the darkness behind, their eyes on the brightening daylight of
the room beyond. Already a hole had been stove through the upper panel
of the door, the surrounding wood splintered. Some one fired once
through the jagged opening, and an exultant yell followed from without.

"No firing!" the voice was Mendez's rising sharply above the other
sounds. "I don't want the girl shot, you fools. Take that other log
around to the window. They'll surrender fast enough once we're inside.
Now, another one. Here, five of you swing her!"

Stella touched Cavendish's sleeve.

"Show me how to load, please," she urged feverishly. "I've fired two
shots already."

His gun rested across the rude barricade, and he left it there, seizing
the revolver from her hand.

"You have never handled one before?"

"No; not like this. Oh, I see; you press that spring. I can do that.
You have the belt with the revolver cartridges--fasten it about my
waist; quick! The door is almost down."

"Rest your barrel on the edge of the bed," he muttered, gripping the
shotgun again, "and aim at that door. The instant you see one of those
devils, give it to him."

With a crash the remaining wood gave way, the end of the log, used as a
battering ram, projecting into the room. Over the shattered door, now
held only by one bent hinge, a half dozen forms swarmed inward, the
quick rush blocking their passage.

Cavendish pulled trigger, the deep boom of his shotgun echoed instantly
by the sharper report of the girl's revolver. She fired twice before
the swirling smoke obstructed the view, conscious only that one man had
leaped straight into the air, and another had spra