On the slope of the hill, not fifty yards from where Doe was lying, I had halted my men and was making them sit down, when a voice out of the darkness asked:
"Who's that?"
My heart bounded with fright. A sense of the eerie was upon me, and for a second I thought it was Doe's voice.
"D Company," I called hollowly, "10th East Cheshires."
"Ah, good!" repeated the voice, which was Monty's. And he stepped out of the night, giving me another nasty turn, for it was like some unexpected presence coming from the darkest corner of a room. He sat down beside me, and began to talk.
"The moon is due up about midnight. They want to get us off before moonrise, so that the Turk may not shell us by its light. His aviators are expected to try night-flying."
"Oh!" said I. I was thinking of other things.
"But they've been shelling us pretty effectively in the dark. Asiatic Annie is very busy troubling the beaches."
"Oh?" I said again.
And at that moment a flash illuminated the eastern sky like lightning.