"Ah! we have it. Here, Michel, dig out this place with your bayonet!"
Michel obeyed, though without the smallest idea of what was to be done, and soon a hole of about a square foot was discovered.
"Now," said Simon, triumphantly, "I defy the Cossacks to pass this point!"
He laid on the ground a box that he had been carrying over his shoulder with great care.
"I have ten pounds of powder here!"
He proceeded to place this box in the hole, which it entirely filled. Then he produced a long wick, one end of which he inserted in the box. Then he nearly closed the box, leaving it only sufficiently open for the wick to burn easily.
"If our guns fail us," said Simon, grimly, "this will soon settle the matter!"
At this moment, from out of the woods on the side of the road sprang a man, shouting:
"Save me! Save me!"