CHAPTER V.
ALEXIS IN BATTLE.
Both lads laughed heartily.
"You'll learn before many days," said Hal, "and I am not as sure as Iwas about it."
"Nor I," agreed Chester.
The three made their way back to their posts, where Alexis immediatelyinsisted on donning his new red necktie. Marquis, who had been leftbehind while the three friends made a tour of the city, greeted themwith joyful barks. He had made friends with the big Cossack, and thelatter had taken quite a fancy to the dog.
Hardly had the three retired to their positions, when an air ofexcitement throughout the troops became apparent. There was bustle andsome slight confusion and shouted commands. A moment later and a body of5,000 Cossacks, armed and spurred, stood beside their horses, ready tomount and ride at the command.
"Where do you suppose we are going?" asked Hal of Chester.
"Haven't any idea," was the reply, "but it looks as though there was alittle fighting to be done."
"That's what!" exclaimed Alexis, who stood beside the two lads. "Now youshall see how we handle the Germans."
"Mount!" came the command.
As one man, the troop sprang to the saddle.
"Forward!" came the next order, and the Cossacks started forward at agallop.
Good riders themselves, Hal and Chester could not but envy the ridingprowess of their companions. Accounted among the best riders in theworld, the Cossacks who now dashed forward hurled themselves toward theenemy with reckless abandon. Their lances held high in one hand, eachbrandished a large revolver in his other. The bridles lay across thehorses' necks, the riders guiding their mounts by the pressure of theirknees.
And so they swept forward, dashing swiftly over the few miles of openground toward the spot where the Germans were known to be entrenched.
The enemy greeted them with a hail of bullets, but they faltered not.Men fell and horses dropped, but there was no hesitation among thoseleft.
Now a bugle sounded, and they dashed on with greater ferocity thanbefore.
Squadrons of German cavalry issued forth to meet them. They crashed witha terrible shock. The impact was terrific, and horses and riders on bothsides reeled back.
But the Cossacks were the first to recover, and they spurred theirhorses into the thick of the enemy. The sweep of their lances and thefire from their automatics were deadly. There was no pause in theRussian attack.
Cutting and slashing, the squadron to which Hal, Chester and Alexis wereattached was soon in the midst of the foe. Not unused to suchencounters, the lads nevertheless found themselves hard put to keeptheir seats and ward off the blows of their foes.
But with each moment they gained confidence, and finally were fightingwith the best of them. Hal caught a descending lance on his upraisedsword, and raising his revolver took a snap shot at his opponent. Thelatter threw his arms high, and toppled from his horse. Chester, by aquick move, escaped a revolver shot aimed at him by a German officer,and the lad's own weapon spoke sharply. His aim was true, and the Germandropped.
Now the Germans began to give ground. It was impossible to stand in theface of the terrible Cossack charge. The Russians pressed the retreatingfoe closely.
But now new forces of Germans dashed forward to drive back the Cossacks,or at least to protect the retreat of their companions.
The Cossacks dashed into these fresh troops with the same abandon theyhad first charged. But this time the result was different. Tired by thefurious work, they were thrown back by the German reenforcements, and inspite of heroic efforts, were forced to retire slowly.
Flushed with this success, the Germans pressed on. The fighting was manto man, horse to horse, and hand to hand. Not for once had Alexis leftthe side of the two lads and none of the three had so far been injured,although men dropped on all sides of them.
Suddenly there came a command from Colonel Bluekoff.
"Charge!" he cried.
Immediately the squadron to which the lads were attached hurled itselfforward once more, right into the thickest of the fray, in the face ofoverwhelming numbers. They dashed forward with the fury of madmen,shouting and yelling as they charged.
For a moment the Germans gave back, so terrible was the charge of thismere handful of Cossacks, but for a moment only; then they came onagain. From all sides they bore down on the squadron, now completely cutoff from the main body of troops, seeking to annihilate them.
There was no order to surrender from the German commander, nor would onehave been heeded for the matter of that. At a quick command, theCossacks formed a little square, back to back, and awaited the attack ofthe enemy.
It came upon the instant. Upon the Russian horsemen the Germans hurledthemselves bravely, cutting and shooting as they came on. The Cossacksgave blow for blow, and in spite of the fierce charge, maintained theirunbroken front, though men fell here and there. Unable to pierce thisline of steel, the Germans drew off.
Given this little breathing space, Hal and Chester, standing side byside, took in the scene about them. Of the little troop of Cossacksthere remained now possibly a hundred men. Their support, the lads couldsee, desperately engaged elsewhere, would be unable to come to theirassistance. It was up to them to fight it out alone.
Colonel Bluekoff was down, having been pierced a few moments before by aGerman bullet. Among these few men there were, besides Alexis, but twominor officers unharmed. At that moment Alexis himself took command.
His sword raised aloft, he turned flashing eyes upon his men.
"Will we surrender?" he shouted, and answered his own question: "No!"
A wild cheer from his men was the reply. The huge Cossack turned to thetwo lads.
"We will fight till the last," he said calmly. "Are you with us?"
"We are," said Hal simply.
"You bet!" Chester agreed.
"Good!" exclaimed Alexis.
He turned once more toward the enemy, who, it was evident, werepreparing for another attack upon the little band. The latter stoodquietly, awaiting the charge; and in a moment it came.
Urging their horses on at a gallop, the Germans came rapidly forward.There was the clash of steel on steel as the enemy hurled themselvesupon three sides of the little square simultaneously. Russians andGermans dropped together, fighting till the last.
But the odds against them were too great. Dense masses of the Germansswooped down upon them, engulfing them, overpowering them. Hal, engagedwith a big German officer, had just succeeded in parrying a thrust ofthe other's sword, when someone from behind struck him a heavy blow overthe head. The lad fell from his horse without a sound.
Chester, seeing his friend fall, fought his way toward Hal. He was justabout to leap from his horse by his chum's side, when a tall Germantrooper brought the flat of his sword down on the lad's head. Chesteralso went hurtling to the ground.
And now Alexis, with a few remaining men, was left to fight the enemyalone. His sword whirling around his head in great sweeps, and an emptyrevolver clutched tightly in his left hand; his teeth bared in a snarland his eyes flashing angrily, this great Cossack stood off his foes.
Four men sprang upon him at once. Putting spurs to his horse, the giantdashed in between them. Two he cut down with lightning-like slashes ofhis sword, and a third he disposed of by hurling his empty revolversquarely into his face. The sword of the fourth pierced him through theleft arm, but before the German could regain his balance after thisthrust, Alexis' sweeping sword had laid him low also.
The giant Cossack was now the last of his troop in condition to fight.Suddenly his horse staggered, and went to its knees. With a quick move,Alexis freed himself and leaped from the saddle just as the animal,dying from a pistol wound in its head, toppled to the ground.
Alexis leaped up lightly and turned again to face his foes.
A German officer urged his horse forward, seeking to ride him down. Asthe horse approached, Alexis fell on one knee, and the horse, pierced byhis sword, fell to the ground. The o
fficer leaped from the animal'sback, but before he could bring his revolver to bear upon Alexis, thelatter had pierced him through with a thrust of his sword.
A dozen of the enemy sprang upon him. With his sword sweeping around hishead, seeming to make a circle of fire, the great Cossack held them atbay. One ventured to spring at him, and without even stopping the whirlof his weapon, Alexis dropped him at his feet.
More Germans sprang to the attack--ten, twenty, thirty of them.Hopelessly outnumbered, and believing that the end was near, Alexis gaveup his defensive tactics and leaped into the very midst of his foes. Fora moment they gave way before him, then closed in again like a pack ofhungry wolves. Here and there the giant's sword darted out and mendropped beneath its thrust.
Cutting and thrusting with his dripping sword, and striking out with hisnaked fist, Alexis fought on. A sword pierced him through the shoulder,but the man who had aimed the thrust paid the penalty with his life. Twomen closed in, and as the Cossack struck out at the one on his left withhis fist, the second German seized his sword arm.
With a roar like that of an angry bull, Alexis gave a mighty wrench, andthe sword came free. At the same moment he felt a sting in his rightarm. A bullet had struck him. The giant scarcely felt his wounds,although he was bleeding now in a dozen places. Before him, the groundwas full of dark swaying faces. His sword found another human sheath,and being unable to withdraw it quickly enough to meet another of hisfoes, he left it there and turned upon his enemies with his bare hands.
He snatched a revolver from the ground, and not taking time to aim,dashed it into the face of the nearest man, and then dashed forward,hitting out with his naked fists.
Vaguely he noticed the sameness of the faces about him. A short wiry mansprang at him, and with a broken sword, stabbed him in the leftshoulder. Alexis caught him by the throat with his right hand, and theman gave a choking screech as he lifted him clear off the ground.
As he did so, someone behind him struck him a heavy blow on the headwith the butt of a revolver. With a last furious effort he turned uponhis foes, and dashed the man he held by the throat full into theirfaces; fell forward upon the body and, with a great sob, he shudderedand lay still.
And there, on the battlefield on the plains of Poland, lay the bodies ofthe two American lads and, a short distance away, that of Alexis, thegiant Cossack, their friend.
Boy Allies with the Cossacks; Or, A Wild Dash over the Carpathians Page 5