The Siberians, however, had suffered heavily, and, all unknowing that their foes were almost out of cartridges, refused to charge again.
The faint light strengthened. The mist began to rise. Soon it would be full daylight. The miners braced themselves for what they feared might be the last shock.
Jim, bleeding from two slight wounds, held his men well together.
There came a babble of voices and then a movement behind the barricade.
The Americans stiffened.
Suddenly, a sharp shot resounded across the water, followed by a second report, evidently from a gun of different calibre.
The Siberians clambered from behind their barricade and fled.
At almost the same instant, Otto, Clem, and Anton were seen to emerge from the wireless cabin, running down the hill and shouting. The boy had his arm in a bloody sling. So far as could be seen, the others were not hurt.
Jim scrambled to the edge of the gravel-pit and looked to sea.
There, her guns trained on the filibustering cruiser Mir, the Stars and Stripes flying at her stern, lay the U. S. Revenue Cutter Bear, summoned by the wireless messages of Anton, sent while the roof over his head was being rent by shell.