He looked carefully round. They were in an upland valley. Ahead, the road wound away into the mountains through a narrow defile, a cleft with almost perpendicular sides of scarped rock. "How far to the next station?" he asked the driver of the teléga, who sat listening impassively. "About twenty versts, barin." "That is the place for us, boys," said Palma, with a nod towards the cleft in the rocks. "Couldn't be better," said Blok, with enthusiasm. "We'll halt at this end," said Rimof. "You go on and see if it is better still farther in." They could see the pursuers plainly now, as they bobbed over a distant ridge and disappeared into the hollow. Palma ran back to the tarantas, out of which Hope and Pavlof were peering anxiously. His nod to Pavlof told him what there was to tell. "Go ahead!" to the driver, "and smartly." "Come, my little ones!" chirruped the driver, and the tarantas rolled on into the cleft. "What is it?" asked Hope. "Brigands, the boys say"--so much for the benefit of the driver, who, however, showed no interest in the matter. "They may be after us, they may not. Blok and Rimof are anxious to have a chat with them." He was looking out ahead as he talked, and examining the lie of the land carefully. They shaved an angle of rock with a heavy lurch and turned sharp to the right. Palma leaped out. "That will do!" to the driver. "Stop! Loose your horses and take them round that next loop and wait there." "Yes, barin." "You had better go too, Hope." She hesitated a moment as if with the intention of objecting. Then she turned and went after the horses. "The boys are waiting at the entrance," said Palma. "This is better. We will go for them," and he and Pavlof ran back along the road. Five minutes later the teléga stood alongside the tarantas just inside the sharp turn of the road. The driver stolidly did as he was told and followed his companion round the next loop with his horses. Another five minutes' pulling and hauling and the teléga was in position across the road, jammed tight against the left wall of the cleft and blocking it completely, except a two-foot space between its front and the opposite wall. And the tarantas stood across the road inside it, jammed tight against the right wall and leaving only a similar space between its front and the left-hand wall. The barricade was perfect, thanks to the formation of the cleft. To horsemen it was impossible, and to storm it on foot the attack must come under, among the wheels, or over the top, or must wind in single file through the narrow openings between the vehicles. Palma laughed grimly when it was completed. "If they work through that they'll deserve all they get," he said, and the four men stood expectantly behind their barricade, and waited events. "Take this," said Palma, holding out a revolver to Pavlof. "We can't have the game spoiled by a handful of Cossacks."