Now they were almost to the trees and it seemed that they must find shelter there.  This would mean that it would be a hard task for the Montenegrins to dislodge them.  They were less than a hundred yards away when there came a fresh, terrible rumble and roar.

A Montenegrin masked battery had opened with its rapid-firers.  Men dropped in great heaps, but the others came on.

The Austrian officer in command, realizing that he was in a trap, took the one chance left him.  With what men he had, cut off from his infantry support as he was, he must either capture that masked battery, die or surrender.  The only support he had now was from his own artillery, and a moment later that, too, became silent, for the masked Montenegrin battery could not be shelled without imminent risk of shooting down Austrian as well as Montenegrin.

On came the Austrians in a desperate and spectacular charge.  Of the number that had sallied forth from the Austrian trench, less than half remained when they came to the edge of the little woods.  These few hurled themselves forward with the utmost bravery and abandon, and for a moment it seemed that they might reach the guns, which Hal and Chester, from the eminence, could see.

But at that moment four squadrons of Montenegrin cavalry, fresh and eager for the fray, were hurled forward.  They dashed out with a yell, and the two forces met just beyond the fringe of trees.

There was a terrific shock as they came together and in a moment all was confusion.  Men cursed, slashed, stabbed and discharged revolvers at each other, while the horses of the opposing forces fought as well as their riders.

The Montenegrin battery had now become silent, for to have fired would have been to endanger the life of friend as well as foe.  The horsemen struggled desperately, hand-to-hand.

But the force of the Austrian charge had been spent.  The few who remained fought bravely, but they were no match for the fresher and more powerful Montenegrin horsemen, among the best fighters in the whole world.

Slowly the Austrians were forced back.  Then they gave ground faster and faster, until finally those who were left turned their horses and fled back toward their own lines.  For perhaps a hundred yards the Montenegrins pursued, then, at the call of a bugle, they halted and turned back.

A moment later the rapid-firers broke loose again, cutting great holes in the ranks of the fleeing Austrians.  The latter retreated even faster than they had charged, but by the time they reached the shelter of their own lines their number had been thinned by fully three-fourths.

All the way across the field dead and wounded strewed the ground.  The successful Montenegrins paused for a moment and cheered wildly; then they took stock of their own dead and wounded, for they had not escaped scot-free.  The hand-to-hand struggle, though brief, had been severe while it lasted, and the Austrians fought hard and well.  The Montenegrin losses, though comparatively light, had been severe.