The leader was only a non-commissioned officer—a troop sergeant—and he appeared to be at a loss what to do. He was consulting with the two men who had ridden up first, and all three were gesticulating freely as they pointed to different parts of the house and yard.
The longer they debated, and the more time they wasted, the better for us. If they would only let the afternoon steal away and twilight come, we could in the last resource make a sally, have a brush at close quarters, and then trust to our horses to save us.
“Zoiloff, I have a plan,” I said, as an idea struck me. “That man has made a fool’s mistake. Every horse there is in full view, and can be picked off easily. Let our first volleys, when it comes to firing, be for the horses. Before the men even guess our intention, every horse will be killed or disabled, and not only will the men be unable to follow us, but prevented from riding for help.”
“Good!” he cried. “We’ll have every man at these two windows, and each man shall pick out his own target. A couple of rounds well aimed and the thing’s done. But someone must keep a lookout at the back.”
“Nathalie will do that,” said Spernow eagerly; and he went at once to ask her, while the men were brought into the room and their orders given to them. We waited, watching closely for the commencement of hostilities.
“They don’t like the look of things,” whispered Zoiloff, smiling grimly, “and don’t know what to do or how to start. Ah, now they’ve settled something,” he added as the leader came towards the house, knocked at the door, and called in a loud voice for it to be opened.
No answer was given, of course, and after he had repeated his summons he called:
“If the door is not opened we shall break it in.”
Getting no reply, he returned to his men, and sent four of them round to the back of the house. Then one of the men called his attention to something at the side of the yard, and eight of them went and picked up a heavy balk of timber lying there.
“They’re going to use it as a battering-ram,” said Zoiloff. “We must stop that.”