name?"

"Ebers, an experienced German soldier."

"I should have suspected his nationality. Let him have command of four
more, and cover the west windows. I shall defend the front myself, as I
have been doing."

"Very well," I answered shortly, for his eyes had remained fixed upon
me all the time he was talking. "Take the positions assigned you, lads,
and do not permit a man from without to put foot on the veranda. If
they once succeed in getting under cover of the porch roof, they will
give us plenty of trouble."

"They have remained remarkably quiet since you came in," interposed the
Major. "Even my men seem to see nothing to shoot at."

"Probably they haven't recovered as yet from our little surprise
party," I said, with a smile of remembrance. "We left a mule out there
who will entertain them for some time, unless they adopt heroic
measures."

The position for defence assigned to my care took me into the dining-
room of the mansion,--a spacious, almost square apartment, containing
three large windows reaching nearly to the floor. The outside blinds
had been closed, but the glass in the panes was mostly broken, and
there were other evidences that the firing had been both heavy and
continuous. I found two soldiers of Brennan's party within, both lying
upon the floor, and peering cautiously through the apertures of the
blinds. They glanced up at us with undisguised amazement.