Jack, however, saw a tiny glow. The night air, too, came from that very quarter, showing how the odor of tobacco smoke had been carried to them.
“Lie low in case he fires at us, and let me challenge him,” he told the others.
His voice must have faintly reached the unseen sentry, for there came a quick hail, and they plainly heard the click of a gun-lock.
“Who’s there?” demanded an imperative voice.
“Don’t fire! We are friends!” called out Jack, lying behind a rock, for it was not at all certain what the sentry might do.
“Where did you come from?” asked the other, suspiciously, as though he imagined this might after all be some clever trick played by German officers, and intended for his undoing.
“From the lower camp, and with word for your commander,” Jack went on to say. “So be kind enough to summon help and have us conducted before him. There is need of haste, too, because right now the Turks are closing in around you, and mean to spring a surprise attack.”
Apparently this startling information aroused the sentry, for he gave some sort of signal, and immediately afterward the tramp of feet announced the coming of several others.
The boys could hear them talking together. Then another voice, invested with more or less authority, reached them.
“How many of you are there out there?” came the question.