Frank Forester: A Story of the Dardanelles

by Herbert Strang

The vessel stopped, then moved slowly backward. The lights appeared again.

"Now I'll tell you my inference," the officer went on. "From your description of the place, lights in the bungalow or the huts could not be seen from the sea. But lights placed somewhere on the cliffs at the end of the channel could be seen as we pass across the mouth, and only then; a movement of a few yards forward or astern will shut them off. I take it, then, that the lights are in fact at the inner end of the channel--and we know why."

"I haven't any doubt of it," said Frank.

"Then go below and get into your own toggery. You may then sleep another hour or two."

About two hours after midnight Frank was again awakened. With the lieutenant-commander, a lieutenant, a warrant-officer, and two sturdy seamen in addition to the boat's crew, he got into the fishing vessel, which cast off and stood in towards the shore. The destroyer steamed away out to sea. The officers were armed with revolvers, the men with rifles.

It was about two hours before dawn when the party landed from the dinghy at the spot on the beach where the matting showed up darkly against the sand. Placing himself at the head, Frank led the way up through the trees, the rest following about a yard apart. They marched in perfect silence; not a word was uttered. Every now and then as they penetrated the dark woodland Frank halted. The officer next to him touched him on the shoulder, the next touched him in turn, and so on along the line until all were accounted for. The necessity of caution made their progress slow, and they took more than an hour to cover ground which Frank alone had traversed in twenty minutes. Then they stopped, and lay down in the wood to await the dawn.

According to Frank's calculation it was about seven miles from their landing-place to the bungalow by the road, possibly a little shorter distance along the cliffs. But they would gain nothing in time by taking the shorter way, owing to the denseness of the woodland. To proceed along the road would almost certainly be fatal, for unfrequented though it was, no one could say that some member of the Turko-German party, or some messenger from a distance, might not happen to pass on an errand, and the sight of eight men in British uniform would give the game away. As soon as a glimmer of daylight filtered through the foliage, therefore, Frank led them on as close to the shore as possible. During their pause they had taken the opportunity to eat some bread and cheese they had brought with them.

"There won't be time for breakfast in the bungalow," murmured Frank with a smile.

The way along the cliffs proved unexpectedly arduous, and it was past midday when they arrived at the outer fence, at a spot not far distant from where Frank had first encountered it. Here the warrant officer went forward, cut the wire in two places, and, when the party had passed through, joined the severed ends in such a way that they could be readily loosened, though only a close examination would discover what had been done. Once more Frank took the lead, following his scarcely distinguishable track of two days before. Leaving the rest of the party among the trees, he went on alone until he reached the live fence, and having enlarged the small excavation through which he had wriggled, he crept to his hiding-place on the bank of the stream to observe what was going on at the bungalow and the pool.

Things were apparently very much as when he left nearly twenty-four hours before. There was one new feature in the scene. A rough country cart stood in front of one of the huts, and two Turks--one of them the victim of German discipline--were unloading it and carrying the stores into the hut. No driver was visible, and Frank remembered that the country people were not allowed to come within the fence. At the gate, then, must be at least one man on guard. A man crossed between the bungalow and the adjacent hut: probably he was cook and servant to the officers. The engine-man sat on an upturned tub, smoking, and exercising his German wit on the labouring Turks. A look-out was perched on his platform in the tree, peering through a telescope. No doubt the officers were in the bungalow, possibly sleeping after a wakeful night. The whole party appeared to consist of eight men--a small force considering the importance of their duties; but Frank reflected that a larger force would have endangered the precious secret they were guarding.