As the men approached, Chester counted them. Then he announced:
"Thirteen, I make them."
"My count, too," agreed Helen from her window.
There was not a tremor in her voice now and she seemed totally unlike the frightened girl Chester had first seen. She held her revolver steadily in her right hand, a pile of ammunition heaped up in the window sill before her.
The men came on briskly, absolutely unaware of the rude welcome that awaited them.
"Let them get close enough so we can't miss, then I'll hold a parley with them," said Chester.
When the men were less than fifty yards from the house, Chester raised his voice and called out sternly in Russian:
"Halt there!"
The Bulgarians halted in their tracks and gazed about in surprise. To the best of their knowledge there could be no one in the house but the girl, and this sudden hail in a male voice made them pause.
"What do you want here?" demanded Chester from his shelter.