"Lively now!" he added. "They were expecting ammunition, and we shall have visitors in pretty short order."
"My word, here they are already," muttered Dave Burney. "Half a dozen of "em."
Ken looked up quickly. A number of figures were just visible, coming along the ridge to the right.
"There are more than half a dozen," he whispered sharply. "More like double that number. And that looks like an officer with them."
"We"d best make ourselves scarce," suggested Dave quietly.
"Too late for that," answered Ken. "They"re bound to see us. Besides, if they find the pit empty they"ll only put fresh men here, and all the work will be to do again."
"Let"s tackle "em then," said Roy Horan recklessly.
"Odds are too long," replied Ken. He paused a moment, and glanced round.
"I"ve an idea," he said swiftly. "I believe we can fool them. Quick! Take the coats off the dead men, and put them on. Their fezzes, too. In this light they"ll never know the difference."
"But if they talk to us?" objected Roy.
"Then I"ll talk back. I know the language."
As he spoke, Ken was swiftly stripping one of the dead Turks of his overcoat. The others did the same, and within an incredibly short time all three were wearing dead men"s clothes. The coats sat oddly on their long frames, but fortunately there was as yet very little light, and in the gray gloom they presented a tolerable resemblance to the late tenants of the rifle pit.
They had hardly completed the change when the officer who was leading the party reached the edge of the pit.
"Why are you not firing?" he demanded, and by his harsh guttural voice Ken knew him at once for a German.
"We are out of ammunition," he answered readily.
"Schweine Hund! Do you not know enough to say "Sir" to an officer when he addresses you?"
"Your pardon, sir," said Ken gruffly. "The light is so bad, and my eyes sting with the powder smoke."
"They will sting worse if you do not mend your manners," retorted the German brutally.
Ken, boiling inwardly, had yet wisdom enough to hang his head and make no reply.
"How many are there of you in the pit?" continued the officer.
"Only three, sir," Ken answered.
"You will retire to higher ground and construct a new pit. This position is required for a mitrailleuse. You understand, blockhead?"
"Yes, sir."
The officer turned to the men behind him.
"Bring up the gun," he ordered.
"Come on," said Ken to Dave in the lowest possible whisper. He climbed quietly out of the hollow as he spoke, and the two others followed.
"Up the hill there--by those bushes," said the German curtly. "And be sharp. Ammunition will be brought you. Understand, your work is to command the beach and prevent supplies being brought to those dogs in the trenches."
"So that"s the little game, is it?" said Roy, as the three gained the shelter of a patch of scrub out of sight of the German. "A quick firer to enfilade the trench, and snipers for the beach. Say, Carrington, can"t we do anything to put the hat on that Prussian Johnny"s scheme?"
"We"ve got to," Ken answered quickly. "Once they get that quick-firer posted, it"s all up with our lads down below. They"ll rake the trench from end to end."
"Let"s wait till it"s in place, and rush it," suggested Horan recklessly.
"We ought to be able to wipe out the gun crew before they n.o.bble us."
"What"s the use of that?" retorted Ken. "It"s the gun itself we want to wreck--not the crew. They can easily get a score of men to work the Q.-F., but it would take some time to get another gun. Jove, if I only had just one stick of dynamite."
[Ill.u.s.tration: ""How many are there of you in the pit?""]
"But they had no dynamite, and the outlook seemed extremely gloomy. Worst of all, it was rapidly getting light, and although a mist hung over the sea and the sh.o.r.e, this would no doubt melt away as soon as the sun was well up.
Shots came from a patch of scrub behind and above them, whistling over their heads, and evidently directed at the boats which were bringing ammunition and reinforcements from the ships.
Ken crouched lower, and as he did so some bulky object in the pocket of the Turkish overcoat which he was wearing made itself felt. He slipped his hand in and drew out a black metal globe, about the size of a cricket ball. It had a length of dark cord-like stuff projecting from a hole in it.
It was all he could do to repress a yell of delight.
"What luck!" he muttered. "Oh, I say, what luck!"
"What the mischief have you got there?" inquired Dave. "What is it?"
"A bomb. One of the German hand grenades. Quick! See if there are any in your pockets?"
Hastily the others thrust their hands into their pockets and each hand came back with a similar bomb.
"That settles it," said Ken happily. "Two for the men, and one for the gun. We"ve got "em now--got "em on toast."
As he spoke he crept out of the bush, and took a cautious peep in the direction of the rifle pit.
"They"re just setting the gun up," he muttered. "And the German beggar has gone back the way he came. So far as I can see, there are not more than four or five men with the gun."
"That"s all right," said Roy Horan in a tone of considerable satisfaction.
"What do we do, Carrington--just wallop these grenades in on top of "em?"
"No, they"re not percussion--worse luck! We"ve got to light the fuses before we chuck them. That"s awkward for two reasons. They may see our matches, and then we"ve got to be pretty nippy about using them. If we"re not, it"s we who"ll get the bust up--not the Turks."
"Sounds, interesting," remarked Roy coolly. "See here, Carrington, the best thing, so far as I can see, is for us to slip down to our old place, right under the parapet of the pit. That"s our only chance of getting to close quarters."
"A frontal attack," put in Dave. "What price our heads if they start shooting off the gun?"
"They probably won"t start until they have light enough to see where they"re shooting," returned Ken. "Horan"s notion is all right. Come on."
"But mind you," he whispered urgently, "we must keep one bomb for the gun.
You"d best throw yours first, Horan, and as soon as it"s gone off, let "em have it with your pistol. Then, if there are any of "em left, you whack yours in, Dave."