Amos made sure to obtain a good grip on something as he stood on his tip-toes, and opened his mouth in the bargain, after the most approved method of lessening the coming shock. His ears were stuffed with cotton, and it had been necessary for Jack to fairly shout in order to be heard by his companion.
Then came the terrific crash. They knew that strong glasses were instantly brought into use to learn what sort of success the gunners had obtained. Doubtless those especially deputized for the work watched a certain aeroplane to learn from the signals whether the shell had fallen in the enemy fort, or dropped short. Getting the range in this fashion while at a distance of several miles from the unseen target was the modern method of sea fighting.
Those in the artfully concealed forts and batteries could easily see their floating targets, and rain shells upon them. That the vessels were not hit more frequently was caused by their being constantly in motion, for there were expert German gunners behind those shore guns doing most of the work. Had it been left entirely to the Turks the battle fleet would have made short work with the defenses of the famous Dardanelles.
Again and again did the Thunderer take her turn to hurl a monster shell at the Turkish forts. It was plainly the object of this morning assault to do as much damage as possible, while the sweepers kept busily at work catching such of the dangerous mines as came within their reach.
Much of the lower five miles of the waterway had already been well cleared of these perils, so that the big battleships could move along without incurring extraordinary danger of being blown up.
In the midst of all this confusion and racket there suddenly came a crash of a distinctly different nature, and both boys felt the concussion of air. As they instinctively shrank back appalled, they realized that a shell had actually struck and exploded aboard the battleship!
CHAPTER IX.
THE BATTLE IN THE STRAITS.
There was a dreadful silence aboard the battleship following the explosion of that Turkish shell. Both the boys had been knocked down by the concussion. They sat up, looking rather stupid, and Amos was rubbing the back of his head as though it had come in for a smart blow when it struck the metal deck.
Jack looked him over anxiously.