The long day came to an end at last. None of those who had taken part
in or even witnessed the glorious taking of the Turkish trenches would
ever be likely to forget the experience.
All the wounded had been carried to the temporary hospital. If a vessel
could be summoned by wireless they were to be removed to some other
place, where they might be nursed, and brought back to health without
constant danger of being under fire.
Many of the dead had also been buried. The work in this respect,
proving too stupendous a task for one day, had to be dropped for
another time. Besides, it was really of greater importance that the
safety of the living be looked after than the disposal of those who
were out of the fight for good.
The boys had done all they could to lend a helping hand. On every side
they received words of gratitude and praise. It heartened those valiant
fellows from the antipodes to find American boys standing by them in
this emergency. Small although the circumstance might seem to them, it
meant much, for they chose to feel that they had the moral backing of
the vast majority of Americans in their struggle against the military
ideas formulated by the Teuton ruling families.
And now the sun was setting. It went down like a great glowing ball
of fire, as though in keeping with the terrible work of the day. It
somehow made Jack think of an interesting story he had read in a
paper, concerning a famous battlefield where thousands had fallen, and
telling how, in the following year, the ground was a mass of fire as
innumerable red poppies bloomed. The superstitious peasants declared
that the earth had refused to hold all the blood with which it had been
drenched on that awful day.
Although both Jack and Amos felt somewhat tired after so strenuous
an afternoon, at the same time this was not going to deter them from
trying to reach the camp of the New Zealand troops further up the
shore by a mile and more.
The Colonel had given them his promise, and they believed he was one
who always kept his word, no matter how much he might regret it. They
had seen him at intervals during the rest of the afternoon, but never
to talk to, for he was always hurrying this way and that, personally
seeing that the newly acquired trenches were being put in a state of
defense so that no matter how fiercely the Turks attacked they would be
beaten back.
“I wonder,” ventured Amos, as they watched the big orb dip lower and
lower until its rim was hidden beneath the watery horizon that lay in
the far west, “I wonder now if I’ll be with Frank when the sun peeks up
again tomorrow.”
“There seems to be a pretty good chance that way, I’m ready to admit,”
Jack told him. “In fact, it strikes me we must by this time be pretty
near the end of the long trail. First we missed connections with him in
Belgium; then came that chase through the French war trenches; and at
last the trip to the Dardanelles. Believe me, you’re going to lay hands
on Frank this time, anyway, Amos. You need something like that to put
new heart in you.”
“Well, as a rule I’m not so easily discouraged, Jack, and you know it;
but again and again I’ve been cheated out of even getting a glimpse of
my brother, and it wears on a fellow, you see.”
“Change the subject, and you’ll feel better,” his chum advised. “For
instance, do you think you could eat any supper? It looks to me as if
we would soon be called to join the Colonel and two of his officers
yonder.”
“Evidently he means to keep Headquarters down here yet a while,”
speculated Amos.
“Well, as yet they’re not so sure they can hold the advanced line. They
fully expect to be attacked between now and morning, when there’ll be
some more terrible work going on; only this time it must be up to the
Turks to do the attacking.”
“Then, you mark my words for it, they’ll suffer an awful loss, Jack.”
“I agree with you,” said the other quickly. “Like the Germans, they
believe in massed formations when making assaults. In these modern days
of quick-firers that is a risky thing to do. It may carry everything
before it like a football rush does, but at a frightful cost.”
Presently the call to supper reached the boys in the shape of a message
from the Colonel. He greeted both with a pleasant smile, and asked that
they make themselves at home at the rude camp table where his meals
were served.
The conversation for a while ran upon the stirring events of the day,
and the listening boys learned how the plan of campaign had been
rigidly adhered to from beginning to end. Evidently the Colonel fully
believed victory would have been their portion even though the daring
air pilot had refrained from attacking the enemy with his bombs, and
creating the first decided feeling of apprehension among the enemy. At
the same time he frankly acknowledged the material assistance his men
had received from this work on the part of the aeroplane man.
“If he was your brother, Amos, give him my compliments when you meet
him, and thank him heartily for my Territorial tigers. He helped us not
a little by scattering the enemy at just that critical moment. His work
was as dashing as anything I ever struck; and it’s plain to be seen
such a birdman is a brother to be proud of.”
Those were pleasant words to Amos. They seemed to repay him for all he
had gone through with on that awful day. Frank was his brother, and
he would much sooner hear him praised than listen to any amount of
commendation for himself.
It was not until after the two officers had left the table to hurry
to their positions so as to be in the harness for the night that the
Colonel referred in the least degree to the contemplated expedition of
the two American lads.
“I suppose you have made all your arrangements with Arturus before now,
boys,” the Colonel remarked presently.
Jack explained to him what they had done, and after hearing all about
it the Colonel shook his head.
“I’m more than half sorry now I promised to let you make the attempt,”
he told them. “The dangers will be multiplied after the defeat the
Turks have suffered today. They come down in places to the very shore,
and you are apt to run upon some of them at any time. I’m afraid they
will be feeling unusually ugly after the way my boys handled them.”
“But there seems to be no other way for me to get to the upper camp,
Colonel,” remarked Amos eagerly.
“I’m sorry to say there isn’t at present, since we have no boat; and
I understand just how anxious you must be to learn the truth. So I
suppose I’ll have to salve my conscience by saying there’s no help for
it. But I sincerely hope nothing may befall you on the road.”
The heartiness of his words, as well as his manner, convinced Jack that
the Colonel felt more than a passing interest in their welfare. Perhaps
the fact that Jack seemed to remind him of his own son, thousands of
miles away from there, had more or less to do with that circumstance,
though not everything.
They continued to chat as they sat there. When Jack began to see that
the mind of their host was evidently turning toward his own affairs,
of which he had enough to worry over, to be sure, he concluded that it
might be well for himself and Amos to say good-bye.
“Here’s wishing you every good thing that your hearts long for,” said
the Colonel, as he squeezed their hands at parting. “I hope you find
your brother, Frank, and take him home with you to that old father who
longs so to see him once more. I also deplore the necessity for his
going, because he will be sorely missed here where every good man is
needed.”
The boys would often think of the valiant Colonel. Should they return
in safety to their native shores he had given them his home address
where they could, if they chose, learn what his fate turned out to be.
He spoke of the uncertain future with the grim look of a brave man,
and said the chances were his life would have to be laid down, like
countless others, for the cause they fought to win.
Jack had already glimpsed the young Greek, Arturus, who seemed to be
hovering near by as though waiting for them to leave the hospitable
board of the commanding officer. Presently they were joined by the
intended guide. Jack, looking him over again, saw no reason to alter
the former good opinion he had held of Arturus. He would prove loyal
through everything, and they could place the utmost reliance on his
honesty as well as his courage.
“It is yet too soon to start,” he told them; “much safer that we wait
until another hour has passed. Then it may be we will stand a better
chance of passing through without meeting any Turks who have come down
near the water for some purpose.”
Accordingly they all sat down and talked. Jack was not sorry of a
chance to pick up some information concerning the route the Greek
expected to take them over. Besides, he believed that, with a little
encouragement, Arturus might tell them about some of the desperate
undertakings in which, with Captain Zenos, he had been engaged in times
past.
So the minutes glided on until finally the Greek announced it was time
for them to be moving. The boys were soon ready, and the three of them
glided out of the camp, no one offering the least objection, for the
sentries had all been informed about their contemplated perilous trip
to the upper camp.
Up to the time of their departure no sound from above proclaimed that
the Turks in augmented numbers had come back to try and recover their
lost trenches.