CHAPTER XVIII.THE BATTLE FOR THE TRENCHES.
Jack had hardly made this remark when something happened. Neither of the boys could fully decide what the nature of the signal may have been; but they were sure one must have been given by the leader of the attacking Australians, far up on the hillside beyond the brown level, and the deep gullies that cut into the face of the earth here and there.
There seemed to be a salvo of shrill whoops and deeper hurrahs. It was hard to distinguish the cries of the startled Turks from those of the assailants coming on with an impetuous rush from the shelter where they had been lying unseen.
Both boys leaped to their feet as though impelled by hidden springs. Not for anything in the wide world would they want to risk the chance of losing the wonderful spectacle of thatassault, so cleverly planned, and so skillfully carried out. It looked from the start as though the wily Turks had for once been caught napping. The smart tactics of these “Kangaroos” from the other side of the world had been too much for them.
Just as the boys had mentioned, this was one of the days when all true believers of the Prophet fasted, and ever so many times made use of their prayer rugs in order to show their faith in Mahomet and Allah.
It was a day when their duties were apt to hang lightly upon their consciences, and unless attacked they had no heart for fighting. But a Turk has never been known to be a quitter; history has ever reckoned him a cruel man, but never a coward. Consequently at the first sign of an attack the defenders of the rude trenches up there on the hillside flew to their posts, and prepared to sell their lives dearly.
If any of the Allies believed the Turks, being disorganized, and smarting from recent defeats at the hands of the little Balkan States, wouldprove to be an “easy mark,” they soon learned their mistake. It cost them a multitude of men to find this out, as the depleted ranks of their regiments amply proves.
From where Jack and Amos stood they had a pretty fair view of the side of the slope where the fighting was going on. They had selected this position purposely, having been assured that it was as good as could be found.
Amos, quivering with a queer sensation, that may have been a love for excitement, instantly burst forth with expressions of mingled amazement and admiration.
“Oh! did you ever dream anything could be as fierce as that, Jack? Look how in twenty places at once they are fighting at close grips, just like they used to do in the old days before the quick-firers came into play. It’s a case of bayonet against bayonet. And the same thing must be going on along the whole line, even if we can’t see it all!”
“It makes my blood run cold, I tell you!” exclaimed Jack, who was paler than usual, while hehad his jaws set, as though forcing himself to continue looking at the terrible spectacle of men scrambling about up there on that elevation, each fairly wild to do material damage to his sworn foes, though he lost his own life in the undertaking.
“One thing you can bet on,” continued the irrepressible Amos. “This quick rush of the Kangaroos has made all the Turks’ German rapid-fire guns next door to useless. They are all right when the enemy is rushing the fort or the trenches in solid ranks, or even in detached bunches; but when it’s a case of every man for himself they become next door to old junk.”
“They’re not trying to use them that I can see, as far as the open lies,” said Jack, speaking very loud, for the jumble of fierce sounds welling down from the fighting line rendered ordinary conversation impossible.
“Oh! did you see that soldier rush the Turk down with his bayonet?” Amos went on exclaiming, as though finding a vent for his feverish anxieties in thus commenting on the progressof the battle for the trenches. “I was afraid the man above would prove to have the longer reach, but just at the last second the Kangaroo jumped into the air, just like the animal he’s named after does, and came at the Turk from a direction he hadn’t expected. And, Jack, the Turk went down like grass before the scythe.”
Fascinated by the amazing sight, they continued to stand there and use their eyes to the best advantage. Up to this moment Jack had apparently forgotten all about the glasses he carried in a small case, binoculars of the best make, and which had proved a valuable asset on numerous former occasions.
Indeed it was Amos who suddenly reminded him of the fact that he was losing a good opportunity to view some of these sanguinary doings at close quarters; and that while they might cause a cold shudder, still, they were apt to regret it if they allowed the chance to pass by unimproved.
It might have been noticed, however, that Jack did not show any great eagerness about making use of the glasses. Perhaps he would rather haverefrained, only for the urging of his comrade; as they saw the affair without any magnifying it was terrible enough, Jack may have thought.
He looked for a brief time and then gladly handed the binoculars over to his companion. Amos could not help but notice that Jack’s hand shook as with the palsy when he came in contact with it; and this was so unusual with steady-going, self-contained Jack that the other could not help shooting an uneasy look at his face.
“Why, you’re as white as a ghost, old fellow!” he exclaimed in wonder. “Whatever is the matter with you? I don’t remember seeing you like that before in all my life.”
“Look for yourself,” was what Jack told him, drawing a long breath. “Perhaps in time a fellow might get used to such awful sights, but it seems to send a cold shiver to my heart.”
Amos immediately clapped the glasses to his own eyes. He ranged them along the limited field of vision allowed them from below. Everywhere it seemed as though men were wrestling furiouslywith one another, dealing wicked blows, and struggling like mad for the mastery.
It was very evident that with these dauntless Territorials on the one side, and the fanatical Turks, fearless of death, on the other, these gullies and hillsides marking the topography of the Gallipoli Peninsula would prove to be a veritable shambles before the end came, no matter which won out eventually.
Amos somehow proved to have the stronger nerves in this crisis. It may have been that his natural curiosity forced him to keep on looking, even though from time to time he was compelled to emit exclamations indicative of horror, amazement, or wildly enthusiastic admiration.
They could see that in places the ground was fairly covered with those who had already fallen. In the midst of this scene other men still battled, now slipping down, only to scramble erect again, and go on with the mad struggle.
In one section the assailants seemed to have carried their point, for they were climbing over the rude trenches and the barricades which theTurks had thrown up to protect themselves from the fire of the enemy below. If the warships shelled the camp they doubtless had holes into which they were wont to crawl as rabbits might seek their burrows in a storm.
So far it was anybody’s fight. Honors seemed even, with the Turks holding their own at one end of the line, and the Territorials pushing them badly at the other. A little thing might suffice to win the day, Jack believed.
“I’m only worried for fear reinforcements get there for the Turks,” Amos was saying as he kept the glasses glued to his eyes, being under the impression that if Jack wished to have them again he would ask.
“But you can make up your mind, Amos, that all our men have not been allowed to get into the fight at the start. The Colonel is too wise for that. There must be a reserve force that can be hurled forward when the proper time comes.”
“Then I wish it was right now!” cried the other, “because it would stampede the Turks. They’re just ready to give up, I bet you, if theysaw another force coming up the hill on the run. Why doesn’t the Colonel see that, Jack? Oh! he’s letting a golden opportunity get past him, I’m telling you!”
“Trust him to know what he is doing, Amos. A soldier has to learn tactics in battle as well as on the drill ground. I warrant you our friend the Colonel has a card up his sleeve, and will show it when the right time comes. I’ve got an idea there’s a little of the Napoleon in him, or is it the spirit of Wellington?”
“Oh! that’s too bad, utterly too bad!” cried Amos.
“What has happened?” demanded the other, seemingly quite satisfied to have the news filtered to him through the medium of his companion.
“The Turks have been reinforced, Jack! I can see new men jumping into the fight all along the line. Others have gathered back yonder, and seem to be trying to pick our men off at a safe distance. I’m afraid the Colonel waited too long. He might have had them on the run before this;and once a panic strikes in it’s hard to stop a beaten force.”
“Well, these Turks seldom get into a panic,” Jack told him. “They are more likely to fight and die on the spot, satisfied that they are going straight to Paradise.”
“But unless something happens right away it will be much too late to count for our side, Jack!”
“All right! Somethingisgoing to happen before you can say Jack Robinson three times. Look higher up, Amos! There, did you hear a terrible crash? That came from a big bomb. And now you see who threw it, don’t you, Amos?”
“An aeroplane, Jack, soaring right along over the battle front, dipping down low at times, then spinning up again on a slant! See how daringly the pilot guides his machine along. If the Turks can spare the time to look up and fire their guns at him, they cut only holes in the air, for he is going like a whirlwind. There! he is about to drop another of his bombs. I bet you the oldTurks are scattering like chickens when the hawk swoops down over the field.Wow!”
This last exclamation on the part of Amos was drowned by the terrific detonation that signaled the arrival of the death-dealing bomb. The boys saw a cloud of smoke instantly rise. They also noted that in the immediate vicinity the Turks were displaying the wildest confusion.
“There are things, you see, Jack,” Amos was calling triumphantly, “that can strike terror to the heart of even a fanatical Turk. He can get used to meeting cold steel in the shape of bayonets, and even the flash of guns close at hand doesn’tfaze him; but a shell, or a bursting bomb, makes him turn tail and run.”
“It does look that way, Amos,” admitted Jack, still watching the singular train of events that was passing before their eyes as though it might be a panorama on a big screen.
“Oh! if there were only half a dozen of those aeroplanes instead of just the lone one, I believe they’d soon have the victory clinched. The Turks never could stand a rain of bombs fromthe skies, and they’d skedaddle over the brow of the hill like scared deer.”
“Are you looking at the man in the flier, Amos?” asked the other.
“You may be sure I am, Jack, as hard as ever I can.”
“And do you think it can be your brother Frank; because this machine must be the one we heard had landed on the peninsula at the upper camp?”
“I wish I knew; I certainly would give a heap to be sure. Jack, you see he’s got his head all muffled up; and with goggles on even his brother wouldn’t know him in that disguise. But something tells me itmustbe Frank. From all we’ve heard about his dashing work I feel that no other air pilot could take such desperate chances as that fellow does, and carry it through. Frank was known for a bold boy years and years ago. He would stay all night in a house they said was haunted; and Jack, he found out that the noises came from the air whistling through a knot-hole.Nowhis scare held off the Turks. They can’t win!”