“Come on, Jack, let’s shove along so as to be ready to jump in when we’re given the word.”
“Afraid we may be left, are you, Amos? But it’s just as well to be ready, and then no blame for the delay can be put on our shoulders.”
Another shot came from the Turkish battery on the slope of the hill. Perhaps by now the enemy had caught a glimpse of the gray destroyer through the little wisps of sea fog that were floating past. At any rate, the shell fell much closer than that first one had, a fact Amos viewed with more or less displeasure.
“They’re sure getting the range, Jack. If they keep on improving that way, by the time the fourth shell comes along it’s going to splash water over us, if nothing worse.”
“But before then we’ll be in the small boat, and pulling as fast as anything for the shore,” he was told; for Jack could always find a way to dissipate those depressing fears that assailed his comrade.
In fact, even before the destroyer had fully stopped moving the rowboat was dropped overboard, and a couple of men sprang into it. The same officer who had taken the boys from the battleship motioned them to follow suit, which they did without the loss of a second, after which he took his place in the stern and the boat started.
Jack and his companion were seated in the bow. They had an uninterrupted view of the land, and could see everything that went on in that quarter.
Amos hoped the Turks might have lost sight of them by now, what with the sea fog, and the fact that the dawn was only coming on. He dreaded the possibility of being made a target for one of those terrible quick-firers that could rattle off the shots like hail beating on a tin roof.
As he sat there he was staring as hard as he could up beyond the little bluff back of the scanty beach. Glimpses of the distant hillside where the enemy lay in ambush could be caught; and since those in hiding were doubtless able to see as well on their part, the boy wondered whether their feeling of security might not turn out to be short-lived.
He knew they must take what came, since there was no way of “ducking” so as to avoid the shower of missiles. Again came that startling flash of fire far up the hillside. Amos involuntarily drew his head in just as if that could do him any good. Jack, on the other hand, turned to glance back at the destroyer, for he felt it reasonable to believe the Turks would be more likely to spend their precious ammunition trying to sink a war vessel, than in smashing so small an object as a mail rowboat with just five occupants.