"Rotten luck!" exclaimed d.i.c.k in a whisper. "Let"s try that port-hole and see how the land lies."
The two officers made their way between the sliding carriage of the huge Krupp gun and the armoured wall of the casemate. There was just room enough between the chase of the weapon and the side of the embrasure for the Sub to wriggle. The walls here were not less than fifteen feet in thickness, and since the gun was "run in" there was enough s.p.a.ce between the muzzle and the sill of the embrasure for both officers to observe the scene that lay before them.
Away on their right front was exposed a broad sweep of the Dardanelles, the swiftly-flowing water gleaming like burnished silver in the complex rays of the search-light. Almost immediately opposite were the outlines of Fort Kilid Bahr, backed by rugged hills towering to a height of nearly seven hundred feet.
Southward Fort Chanak reared its grim pile, from which search-lights innumerable swept sea, land, and sky, while fifteen or twenty miles to the southwest the sky was agleam with the flashes of heavy guns, showing that Sedd-ul-Bahr and k.u.m Kale were exchanging a vigorous cannonade with the ships of the Allied fleets.
Here it was that d.i.c.k made an important discovery. Fort Medjidieh was apparently not to be held in the event of a bombardment. It was to be used as a decoy to attract the British and French fire, while at a distance of not less than four hundred yards from the deep moat, rows and rows of deep, narrow, and zigzagged trenches were completed or in the act of being constructed.
Hundreds of Turks were busy, working by lantern-light, in digging themselves in, while the whole system of earthworks literally bristled with machine-guns. At the back of each trench, d.i.c.k noticed, were light canvas screens stretched upon wooden frames, and painted a similar colour to that of the surrounding soil. These screens were ready to be drawn across the trenches on the approach of hostile air-craft, In order that the observers would be unable to locate the position of the defences.
At frequent intervals between the trenches, concrete emplacements for heavy field-guns had been constructed, their fronts and sides being well protected by sand-bags hidden by coa.r.s.e gra.s.s and thorn-bushes.
Already a dozen huge guns were in position, while others were being hauled up by traction-engines to within a few feet of the site, whence they were dragged on to the platforms by dint of abundance of manual labour.
These, apparently, were the reserve line of defence, for farther afield a myriad of men were working like ants on a disturbed ant-heap; but the darkness and the increased distance prevented d.i.c.k from coming to any definite conclusion as to the nature of their toil. Dearly would he have liked to have had his binoculars, and he regretted the hasty decision that led to the discarding of those belonging to Major von Eitelheimer.
Almost beneath the place where he crouched, and between the moat and the sea-front, was a stretch of rocky ground averaging a hundred yards in width. Here the narrow-gauge line reappeared. With methodical craftiness the Turks had refrained from carrying the line across the moat, where it would be exposed to sh.e.l.l-fire. Instead, they had gone to the extreme pains of driving a tunnel underneath the deep ditch, so that the means of transporting the torpedoes to their firing-station were entirely concealed and protected.
Almost at the water"s edge were two torpedo-tubes, around which a party of officers and men in German naval uniforms were busily engaged in making some adjustment to the intricate mechanism.
"Men from the _Goeben_ and _Breslau_, by Jove!" muttered d.i.c.k.
"Wouldn"t I like to send a shot through the war-head of that "tinfish"!
It would tickle those fellows a bit. I"ve half a mind to try."
"What"s the move, sir?" whispered the midshipman, seeing his superior officer place his hand on his revolver holster.
Fortunately the Sub"s calmer councils prevailed. He realized upon second thoughts that with a weapon to which he was not accustomed there was a good chance of a miss. It would be of more service to the British naval and military authorities to be informed of all the preparations for defence that the officers had observed, rather than attempting to destroy at long odds a couple of torpedo-tubes and the torpedo gunners.
It was fairly safe to a.s.sume that these tubes had only recently been placed in position. For one reason, the concrete platforms looked fairly new; for another, d.i.c.k was certain that the torpedoes that had been fired at the _Calder_ during her observation-dash up The Narrows had not been discharged from that position. It showed that, however gallant the dash had been, it was useless unless contingent measures were immediately forthcoming before the Turks could erect new guns and torpedo-firing stations.
All these observations d.i.c.k and his companion made with great rapidity.
A naval training teaches a man to observe and act promptly. Every minute was precious, for by this time the German sergeant-major might have made the discovery of his two unconscious officers.
As a matter of fact, the fellow had gone straight to the room in which "the cursed Englishmen" were supposed to be detained, but finding the door locked, he concluded that Major von Eitelheimer and Second-lieutenant Schwalbe had finished their business with the prisoners, and had gone to their quarters before proceeding on parade.
"We"ll have to get clear of this, Farnworth," declared d.i.c.k. "Are you game for a twenty-foot drop? It"ll mean neck or nothing."
"Or perhaps a broken ankle, sir," added the midshipman. "I saw a pole with a hook at one end a little way along the gallery. I"ll get it."
Farnworth backed through the embrasure and hurried off. Without arousing any suspicion, for the Turkish artillerymen still kept out of sight of the supposed German officers, he removed the pole from its slings. It was about fifteen or eighteen feet in length, and, as the midshipman had stated, was provided with a large steel hook.
With very little difficulty he pa.s.sed it, hook end inwards, to the Sub, who recognized it as being part of the equipment of Turkish fire-brigades. He had seen men using this device on a previous visit to the Near East, when a disastrous fire broke out in the Galata district of the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Whenever a fire showed signs of getting beyond the control of the firemen with their primitive appliances, these poles were employed to pull down adjacent houses and thus limit the conflagration to a certain area.
"Spiffing!" declared d.i.c.k. "Now down you shin, while I keep the hook from slipping."
Extreme caution was necessary, since, twenty feet above them, a pair of search-lights were in full operation. These were a blessing in disguise, for the contrast threw the outer face of the wall and the bottom of the ditch, into deep shadow, although occasionally the projectors were trained so low that the beams played upon the steep slope of the opposite side of the moat.
Allowing Farnworth sufficient time to descend, the Sub agilely followed, notwithstanding the fact that he was enc.u.mbered with the heavy German overcoat.
"What shall we do with this, sir?" whispered the midshipman, giving the pole a slight shake.
"We"ll have to use it to get out of the moat," replied d.i.c.k. "Bear away a little to the right. We stand a better chance of dodging that infernal search-light. I fancy even our borrowed uniforms would not allay suspicion if the Turks spotted us shinning up the wall. Steady!
"Ware barbed wire."
The two officers pulled up only just in time to escape the sharp points of a triple row of entanglements, that in the darkness had escaped their notice. Well it was that they had not attempted to leap from the embrasure, otherwise the momentum would have carried them headlong into the veritable trap.
By mutual aid the two comrades succeeded in crawling through the wire.
The presence of the entanglements was a warning, and they proceeded with even greater caution.
A couple of yards beyond this barrier d.i.c.k"s ankle came in contact with another wire. It was barbless.
"What luck!" muttered the Sub. "If the current had been switched on it would have been all up," for the copper tape was intended to conduct an electric current of sufficient voltage to destroy any living thing that came in contact with it.
Nevertheless they took precautions. It would never do to risk contact with another wire in case it might be charged; so unbuckling his scabbard, which being painted a dull grey did not reflect the light, he wrapped around it several folds of a silk handkerchief which had formerly belonged to Major von Eitelheimer. Holding the insulated scabbard in front of him, d.i.c.k proceeded towards the remote face of the ditch, Farnworth treading in his footsteps.
"Lie down," whispered the Sub hoa.r.s.ely.
Both officers did so, as a giant beam swinging overhead gradually descended till the lower arc struck half-way down the wall against which the fugitives were lying. Had the fugitives attempted to climb a minute earlier, they would have been "picked up" by the dazzling rays.
Suddenly the sharp rattle of musketry, punctuated by the deeper bark-bark of quick-firers, came from the eastern part of Fort Medjidieh. Up swung the troublesome beam until it pointed within ten degrees of the vertical. Other search-lights were likewise trained skywards.
A thousand feet or more in the air glided seven water-planes, looking no bigger than swallows. Detected by the alert Turks, they were subjected to a heavy fire. Sh.e.l.ls seemed to burst perilously close, yet serenely they pursued their course at regular intervals like a flight of wood-pigeons.
An appalling crash, against which the noise of the fusillade paled into insignificance, told that a bomb dropped from the leading sea-plane had landed almost in the centre of the fort. Although, from where they lay, the British officers could form no accurate idea of where it fell, they knew that the powerful missile had pitched not far from the quarters they had involuntarily occupied only a short while ago.
"Blest if I want to be sky-highed by our own sea-planes!" declared d.i.c.k. "Let"s make a bolt for it."
Profiting by the confusion caused by the fall of the bomb, and by the fact that the attention of the Turkish search-light was directed skywards, the two fugitives set the pole in position, engaging the hook in the coping-stone of the wall.
Hand over hand Farnworth climbed to the top, where he threw himself on the sandy soil until the Sub rejoined him. As he did so the second and third bombs dropped almost simultaneously, exploded--one close to a search-light in the wall, the other in the moat; the blast of the detonation sending a shower of stones and dust over the two prostrate figures.
The troops engaged in throwing up earthworks and digging trenches had promptly vanished on hearing the explosion of the first bomb. A few had delayed bolting to their burrows sufficiently long to draw the canvas screens over the deep narrow trenches. Here and there a shot rang out from the earthworks, but for the most part the Turks in that locality were restrained from firing lest the flashes should indicate the position of the trenches.
d.i.c.k led the way, purposely choosing a direction that would take the fugitives towards the mountainous interior. He knew that on their flight being discovered a strict search would be made along the sh.o.r.e; while on the other hand the Turks would not be likely to look for them in the interior. His idea was to make a circuitous detour, and regain the Allies" position in the vicinity of the French troops operating near k.u.m Kale. Already his eyes had marked a gap between the triple rows of trenches where it seemed possible to pa.s.s through the hostile lines.
Suddenly the ground gave way beneath the feet of the two officers.
With futile efforts they grasped at the earth to save themselves, then, encompa.s.sed by a cloud of dust, they dropped headlong into a deep pit.
CHAPTER XI
A Modern Odyssey
Farnworth regained his feet with great agility and a.s.sisted d.i.c.k to rise. Feeling considerably shaken by his unexpected tumble, the Sub was temporarily winded. For the moment he imagined that his ankle had been sprained, and on placing his hand upon that part of his leg he made the discovery that it was bleeding freely.
"By Jove, sir!" whispered the midshipman, "we"ve had a narrow squeak.
Look!"