With a loud shout he rushed upon the six who had attacked them. Right and left flew his huge fists, striking out blindly. One man toppled to the ground. A stabbing wrist was caught in the Cossack’s great hand, and thrown twisting through the air. And at the same time Alexis called to Hal and Chester:
“Now you shall see how Alexis can fight!”
But Hal and Chester had no mind to let Alexis fight the whole crowd of assailants. They sprang to his aid.
Alexis drove his right fist, with tremendous power behind it, right into the face of the second man, and the latter went down to rise no more for some time to come.
Hal, with a sudden spring, clinched with one of the assailants, and the two went tumbling to the ground. Chester and another of the enemy were also rolling on the ground.
Alexis reached one huge hand and grasped another of the foe by the back of the neck, and lifted him, kicking and struggling, from his feet. The last man turned to flee, but he had reckoned without the giant Cossack.
Still holding one man by the scruff of the neck, the Cossack took a step forward and, with his free hand, grasped the last man by the back of the neck also. Then, holding one in either hand, he walked calmly to where Hal and his opponent were engaged.
Hal was uppermost, and Alexis, seizing a chance when the lad’s head was out of the way, dashed the man he held in his left hand, headfirst, against the head of the enemy on the ground. There was a crunch, and both men lay still.
Then, with his other victim in his left hand, Alexis walked over to where Chester and his opponent were rolling about, and performed a similar operation. Then he lent each lad a hand in getting to his feet, after which he turned and surveyed the field of battle.
“Six!” he said briefly. “That’s enough for one day. Come on! Let’s get away from here before some officer comes along and sees us.”