[155] Of this eagerness, Capt. Bean, the Australian correspondent, gives an example: “‘Is there any room up there?’ I heard a man in the trench ask of those who were crouching under the parapet. One of the men on the fire-step looked down. ‘I dare say we could make room for one,’ he said. ‘Shift along, you blokes—we can squeeze in a little one.’ The man in the trench was clearly relieved. ‘I want to get up here along with Jim,’ he said. ‘Him and me are mates.’”—See the Australian newspapers, October 17, 1915.
[156] As to these seventy prisoners (who were caught and disarmed in one tunnel) and the Turkish wounded, Major-General Walker, commanding the division, and my old schoolfellow at Shrewsbury, told me shortly afterwards as we stood on the spot that, until they could be brought safely across the open, they were carefully placed lying down in line under the shelter of that white loopholed parapet as the most secure place the Australians could find for their comfort.
[157] Australia in Arms, p. 238.
[158] Captain C. E. W. Bean, in the Australian papers, October 4, 1915.
[159] Captain C. E. W. Bean’s account in Australian papers of October 4, 1915. Phillip Schuler (Australia in Arms, p. 241) says his words were: “Men, you have ten minutes to live,” and “Three minutes, men.” But this is an unlikely utterance from so good an officer.
[160] Captain C. E. W. Bean in the Australian papers of November 2, 1915.
[161] The arrangement of these forces is given in Sir Ian’s dispatch.
[162] Captain Bean, Australian papers, October 14, 1915.
[163] See “From Quinn’s to Rhododendron,” in the Chronicles of the N.Z.E.F., August 8, 1917.
[164] It was either on this position or upon a neighbouring knoll known as Destroyer Hill that the following peculiar event occurred, as narrated by Captain Bean (Australian papers, October 25, 1915): “The Otago Battalion, which was clearing out the small trenches ahead of it as its head wormed up the Chailak Ravine, swung up the slopes of this hill. The battalion had just reached the shelf below the Table Top, and was pushing up its line for the final rush over the hill when there arose a strange uproar on the top above them. There was the sound of the piling of arms, followed by vociferous cheering and wild rounds of applause and hand-clapping. It was the Turks on the top of the hill who had decided to surrender, and who did not want any mistake to be made as to their intention.” The Otagos alone are said to have taken 250 prisoners that night (Australia in Arms, p. 253).