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Show '. . I . I C ;rr:.'-' i:::f ty -it'r.v :i c - ; ty lloizlLglt.-. j The tjrnir? arrows had been a di-j v :"t, as me books on tactifa ssr, .. - -:-v.i- attention, of the Lttle ' " cf defenders and occupy it com-I- '7 on the down stream aide, while sniper attacking farty crept up tinker tin-ker corer of darkness and boarded fr-'-a above. But for' the fact that the w - eld. General, fearing the trick, t . i -pt a guard stationed at that aide, the ruse might iiave succeeded perfectly. per-fectly. The boat, as we have seen, was . iwnr.j diagonally across a sort of channel, chan-nel, her aoee and stern being imbedded in eand banks.. -The Chinese, eoming down etream. in three rowboata, struck her at either end and Bear the middle, their evident intention bijg to spread . the Russians out as much as possible. At-this moment a frayed and worn old moon floated up, out of .the Siberian , forest. Hardy saw, by its' light, a wide expanse of water, dimly shining between ghostly forests; he aaw several . Mocoliaa heads, covered, with round black caps, looking over the side of the boat; be saw Julius Smolders whirl a heavy oak pole Jn the air and'bring it down on one ol these beads with terriie force; he saw one of the BourUts cleave another head so com. pletely that r one-half stood -erect , for " V a-second, while the ther fell over thj victim's shoulder, as -the Bouriat wrenehed at his sword, which was ira- ; bedded in the rail; he saw "a'gigahtie ' Manchurian, , with a- long two-handed r rword, leap , aboard,- to be thrust - -through by a bayonet lunge just as -his :", feet struck the deck. . v ? All this the American took in '.with . " (one glance of the eye. Just aa the moon rose above the woods. . There were-four of ihm crew, besides Bonriats are primitive f ;hters who do not think ff tho'.:: wr.ca rronght to cloe quarters. Lor; r:.;ano3 chareei with such des ily skill that the boarders leaped over the"i, lack into the water, wa-ter, Jivirr tTo cf thir cumber dead, the other Eri-atis followed their comrades, com-rades, with tee exception of one, who was bayoneted in the back just aa he Jumped; the ri2e barrel, striking the rail, made a fulcrum of it, so that the weapon wis wrenched, from the owner's own-er's hands. , , The Bussians now used , their guns, shooting at the ten or twelve Chinese-who Chinese-who were scampering-over - the sand bars;-but they were ordinary,' shots, and of all this fusillade, not one bullet took effect. The General soon stopped them, . evidently not wishing - them - to waste their ammunition. And now all was silence again, save for the rippling, plashing and whispering of the mighty Amur, as it rushed on between its dark forests, in the light of the waning moon:- A dead body; swept past " the stern of the boat by the current, rolled over "the . sand bar 'and floated down stream, and-the American, as it caught his' eye, shuddered and thought of the citizens of Aigun, and the thousands of Chinese who had been driven into the same river, by the. Cossacks. How many gruesome -tales could the Amnr tell, eonld - its whisperings be understood; under-stood; how often have its waters been dyed with blood; what a ghastly, procession pro-cession of corpses has it earned seaward On Its bosom I. . Now that the fltht waa over.' Hardy Experienced Ex-perienced a feelina of revulalon.- as he looked at tha corpses lyta about the deck In all the abandon of violent death.' The slaughter had been necaaery. the defense had been raj lan t. but hew aa dlsft-UKted and alckened by the physical reeulta of lu He waa horrified to find that he waa staad-ln staad-ln In blood, which, he noticed, fairly cov. - v-the captain ail armed with rifles to which bayonets had been affixed bv the General's order. Add to these 6m ul-. ul-. ders, the General "himself, Hardy and three Bouri&ta, and the defending par-. par-. ty 'consisted ef eleven members. Brave Stenka Pugacheff of the erew had gone : . down the river for help, and the attack .ad. been ; delivered "so suddenly that 1 "r was no. time; to call .Bomanoff. Yo was sleeping below..-Indeed, it is -Coubtful if.' at thatmoment of extreme '.. excitement, anybody thought of him.. The Chinese "were "receiving a mur--v- derooa-'and unlooked-for reception, but ' they were tot. to' be easily beaten off. ' Several of them gained the . deck and began to swing -their, clumsy, two handed hand-ed swords, and. the clash of steel oa - - tteel ...raofc . ut and gavage. grants, narls 'and cries of rage. - The Cossack 1 erew-pnd-the- Bonriats"' fought - like devils, leaping and darting about with , ' the agility of wildcats and' handling n ."'their more modern weapons with mur- derous dexterity and skill. ' -' A man sever knows -what sort of man he is till a supreme trial comes lo him. - " The American found himself cooL His faculties were all -at a state of ex-tremeat' ex-tremeat' tcaaion,v-wlta- ithe- result that ' 'be could see and hear better, think fast' , .cr and decide' more quiekly than in ordinary or-dinary momenta. He took his revolver .' from-nis pocket and ran lightly toward a Maneburias who was -nst throwing one leg over the rail. - He fired at the bead of the man who fell back into 5 the. water -with a" loud splaah. dropping his sword on the deck. Another leaped over the rail almost-at his side, and swinging. his great steel blade high in -the air. chopped at Hardy's head. The -latter threw up his rife and received the r blowr oa- the barrel. The' impact -'..brought him to his knees, but as he . sank, he shot hi assailant beneath the chin, -killing him instantly. . ' 'At . this moment a blazing, arrow . passed -ever him and stuck in one of the cotton-staffed pillow that had been .used as a barricade. Hardy snatched .'the' pillow and tkrew it overboard sndv ran to the down stream side of the boa. The attack of the boarders had -not lasted in 'all over four or five min-. min-. utea, and yet in that, time several of the wading party had approaehed eon- siderably nearer. The moon gave suffi-. suffi-. ' cient light for him to see the sights of . h;'i rifle now and the. dark forms ef the ,- 'uineee made conspie'tions marks ia the f teaming water. . This waa not over two . Ljr three inches deep on the . sand in , which the prow of the boat was imbed-'. imbed-'. . ded, and two of the Chinese were run-Bing run-Bing close in. Hardy, killed them both ' with hi rifle and then began to shoot ' -deliberately at those who were farther away,-with such effect that he put the '- entire party to flight ere Ve ten remaining remain-ing shots in his weapon were exhausted. : He turned to' re-enter the melee just '. in time to see Boris Romanoff burst ,i ' raging on deck.' wrench a two-handed sword from -the fingers of a dead Chi-- Chi-- . nese and ply-it with as mueh ease and akilfaa though it were the lightest of " . rapiers. 4-The attackers were "gaining . -ground.' Enough ef . them laa eome - .. over. the aide to defend a portion, of the ' . rail, over-which others were rapidly ' scrambling, while several of their nnra-ber nnra-ber were keeping the defending party .-'' to busy that they-could not use their guns to shoot them-down; which, in- - deed, they would not .have been likely . '" to do. in any ease, as Cossacks and ered the deck and waa running Into the scuppers. He was glad when the crew began be-gan to seise the bodlels by cues and feet and cast them oerboard. There were eicht of them on board, besides one that hung limply ever the rail. The Russians were laughing gaily now,', and they counted "Odeen. tvah, tra!" (One. two three!) as they swung the dead bodies with a will before pitching them. They struck In the water with tremendous - splashes. And now a thing happened that made Hardy glad that he had not taken Boris Romanoff's hand. One of the Chinese was not dead, but had been stunned by a blow on the head with a pole. He eat up and looked about htm. dased. .when Romanoff kicked him In the face, knocking him backward, and snatching a gun from one of the Bourlats, pinned the man writhing to the deck. So firmly waa the steel blade Imbedded in the planking, that the combined com-bined efforts of two men were needed to pull It out again. V The fight was over." There was no further fur-ther danger of the Chinese returning to the attack that night, if at all. They had been taught a terrible lesson, though with considerable coet It must be confessed, to .the defenders. ' One of the Bourlata was dead, cleft deeply at the base of the neck from a blow with a two-handled word, while Smuldera wee wounded In the head by a gash that caused the blood to flow over hie cheek.. His clothing1 was copiously stained. Romanoff, It waa found, too. had received a thrust In the leg. of which he made - light, but which was bleeding profusely. The General ordered him below. While the men were washing down the decks. Hardy went Into the passage leading lead-ing to the cabins. He wished to reload his rifle, and possibly get a .little sleep. He wondered bow the Princess had fared during these terrible moments of uproar up-roar and carnage. Her cabin door waa open and he saw her within, comforting her maid and Smuldera' Julia, both of whom were In hysterics. The two girls, clasped In each other's arms, were lying on a berth, with a blanket drawn over their head a, sobbing and praying. "We have driven them off, Madame," announced Hardy. "I think there Is no further cause of apprehension at present." The Princess, leaning over the. girls pulled the blanket from their heads, and made tbem understand that the enemy had fled.' They aat up. disheveled, tear-stained, tear-stained, white a ghosts, and. both -beinr Catholics. Vean to cross them serves and mutter tbsmke to the Virgin. The Ro-manovna Ro-manovna advanced to Hardy and offered him her band. ' "I had no fears of the result." ahe said simply, "with such heroes on board." Her face was pale, but It flushed and her eyea flashed es she cried: "Oh. why am I not a man. that I might have helped you?" "You have helped us a thousand times more by. giving us such a cause to fight for." replied Hardy earnestly. "You are good . at making pretty speeches to women." said a sneering voice behind Mm. "I must tell her Highness High-ness of the effect which they produced In Japan." Hardy turned and beheld Boris Romanoff Ro-manoff towering In the passage behind blm. "But he Is wounded, my brave Berts!" cried the Princess,-ee Romanoff entered the room, limping painfully. As the Princess Prin-cess sprang anxiously to her cousin's side and assisted htm to - a couch. Hardy turned away and went te his cabin. She had not been able te understand her cousin's remark, reflected Hardy, a he had made It In Engliah. "But the man Is perfectly unprincipled." unprin-cipled." he soliloquised, "and will be sure to prejudice her against me. But what difference does It make? At Stryetensk I become a storekeeper, and she remains a princess. And. no doubt, ahe admires this Romanoff; perhaps she hae enough of the savage In her own nature to admire such aets as the stabbing of that wounded Chinese. And she will no doubt nurse him. How did Romanoff manage to get wounded, anyway, and I escape' scot-free? scot-free? Am I to be dogged by ill luck all my life?" (To Be Continued.) . |