library yonder. Could not two of your men assist him to her? She would
do more to hasten his recovery than any one."

"Certainly," was the instant response. "Haines, you and McDonald get
the officer out of the front room; carry him in there where the ladies
are, and then rejoin us."

His face darkened as the men designated departed on their errand.

"I really require all the force I possess," he said doubtfully. "It
seems impossible to dislodge those rascals back yonder. What we need is
a field howitzer."

"I have been wondering at the firing; pretty lively, isn't it? Have
some of those fellows made a stand?"

"Yes; quite a crowd of them have succeeded in barricading themselves in
the kitchen, and it is so arranged as to prove an exceedingly awkward
place to attack. We have had three men hit already, in spite of every
precaution, and I am seeking now to discover some means of forcing
their position from the hall. Their leader appears to be a bullet-
headed Dutchman about as easy to manage as a mule."

The words aroused me to a possibility.

"A Dutchman, you say? and in the kitchen? Have you had sight of the
fellow?"

"Merely a glimpse, and that over a rifle-barrel. He has a round, dull
face, with a big flat nose."