Amos immediately clapped the glasses to his own eyes. He ranged them along the limited field of vision allowed them from below. Everywhere it seemed as though men were wrestling furiously with one another, dealing wicked blows, and struggling like mad for the mastery.
It was very evident that with these dauntless Territorials on the one side, and the fanatical Turks, fearless of death, on the other, these gullies and hillsides marking the topography of the Gallipoli Peninsula would prove to be a veritable shambles before the end came, no matter which won out eventually.
Amos somehow proved to have the stronger nerves in this crisis. It may have been that his natural curiosity forced him to keep on looking, even though from time to time he was compelled to emit exclamations indicative of horror, amazement, or wildly enthusiastic admiration.
They could see that in places the ground was fairly covered with those who had already fallen. In the midst of this scene other men still battled, now slipping down, only to scramble erect again, and go on with the mad struggle.
In one section the assailants seemed to have carried their point, for they were climbing over the rude trenches and the barricades which the Turks had thrown up to protect themselves from the fire of the enemy below. If the warships shelled the camp they doubtless had holes into which they were wont to crawl as rabbits might seek their burrows in a storm.
So far it was anybody’s fight. Honors seemed even, with the Turks holding their own at one end of the line, and the Territorials pushing them badly at the other. A little thing might suffice to win the day, Jack believed.
“I’m only worried for fear reinforcements get there for the Turks,” Amos was saying as he kept the glasses glued to his eyes, being under the impression that if Jack wished to have them again he would ask.
“But you can make up your mind, Amos, that all our men have not been allowed to get into the fight at the start. The Colonel is too wise for that. There must be a reserve force that can be hurled forward when the proper time comes.”
“Then I wish it was right now!” cried the other, “because it would stampede the Turks. They’re just ready to give up, I bet you, if they saw another force coming up the hill on the run. Why doesn’t the Colonel see that, Jack? Oh! he’s letting a golden opportunity get past him, I’m telling you!”
“Trust him to know what he is doing, Amos. A soldier has to learn tactics in battle as well as on the drill ground. I warrant you our friend the Colonel has a card up his sleeve, and will show it when the right time comes. I’ve got an idea there’s a little of the Napoleon in him, or is it the spirit of Wellington?”