Dave sat next to Ken, but Horan was not with them. He had been ordered into another boat with his company.
Dave put his mouth close to Ken's ear.
'Don't believe there's a Turk in the country,' he muttered. 'Looks to me as peaceful as a picnic'
'Looks are precious deceitful sometimes,' Ken whispered back. 'For all you or I know, that brush is stiff with the enemy.'
'Then why don't they fire at us?'
'A fat lot of good that would be in this light. No, Dave, they know their job as well as we do, and perhaps better. I shall be pleasantly surprised if we're allowed to land without opposition.'
But the boat neared the shore, and still there was no sign from those silent cliffs and thickets. As soon as her bow grated on the shingle, the men were out of her, wading knee deep to the shore. They were as eager as terriers. The only anxiety of their officers was lest they should get out of hand and start before the order to advance was given.
Boat after boat glided up, and men by scores formed up at high tide mark.
'Told you we'd fooled 'em,' whispered Dave. 'This is going to be one o' your bloodless victories.'
The words were hardly out of his mouth before there was a loud hissing sound, and right out of the centre of the precipitous slope facing them something like a gigantic rocket shot high into the air and burst into a brilliant white flame.