When Hal reached the trees, uninjured, he turned to speak to Chester. What was his amazement and dismay to find that Chester was not there. At that moment Alexis and Stephan dashed into the shelter. Hal glanced back over the distance they had come.
There lay Chester, in the open field. He had been struck down by a German bullet, and even now the enemy, with a triumphant cry, was charging down upon him. With a cry, Hal leaped forward, but the iron hand of Alexis stayed him.
“You stay here,” said the giant. “I’ll get him!”
Discarding his rifle, he dashed forward in the very face of the onrushing foe. Chester’s life hung in the balance!
CHAPTER XI.
TWO TO THE RESCUE.
As friend and foe alike bore down on him, Hal saw Chester raise himself. He got to his knees, struggled to his feet, staggered, and then fell back again.
The Germans rushing toward the lad numbered twenty–Hal counted them. They were approaching the prostrate form of the lad as rapidly as they could, afoot. But Alexis was nearer, and it was evident that he would reach the lad first.
The giant Cossack covered the intervening space with long bounds, going at a speed of which Hal had not deemed him capable.
And now, as he came close to Chester, a second form bounded after him. There was a flash of a hairy body as Marquis leaped forward and set out after Alexis. He came up with the latter before he reached Chester, and they came to the lad’s body together.