By three o'clock she entered the submarine-net "gate" at Kephalo; and when the sun rose next morning it shot up from behind Achi Baba, and once again they heard the distant booming of guns.
Kephalo, at the corner of Imbros Island nearest to the Peninsula, is a narrow harbour with high hills on one side and a narrow spit of land on the other. It is entirely open to the north-east—the quarter from which the worst of the winter gales blow—so three ships, including the big Oruba, had been sunk across it, higher up, to give protection to the little piers built there, and to the picket-boats, motor-lighters, and ordinary lighters which worked round them.
Kephalo had become the advanced base of Anzac and Suvla, ten and twelve miles away respectively, and it was absolutely necessary that troops and stores should be able to be landed or embarked at all times. Here, too, were the aerodromes which "Cuthbert" and his brothers so delighted to bomb. One of these was stationed on the low spit of ground; and the Orphan, who had the knack of making friends with everyone, and the knack of generally being in the right place at the right moment, managed one afternoon to be taken "up" in a reconnoitring aeroplane. He and Bubbles had strolled along to the aerodrome, wandered round until someone invited them to tea in the "mess"; and whilst in the middle of it, the "Flying Officer" on duty received an urgent signal: "Hostile submarine reported off Gaba Tepe, steering S.W.; please send aeroplane reconnaissance to search".
"Confounded nuisance!" exclaimed the Flying Officer. "I wanted to write some letters; the mail goes to-morrow morning. Well, you chaps can tell a submarine from a shark, I suppose; which of you would like to come along and spot old Fritz?"
They both grinned with delight; but Bubbles carried too much weight—at least a stone and a half more than the Orphan—so the Orphan was chosen.
The emergency aeroplane—a biplane—rested on its wheels outside the sheds. They walked across to it.
"Climb in!" said the Flying Officer. "No, you won't want a coat; stick on this cap and goggles—pull the flap down over your ears—and get in as you are; we shan't be away more than an hour. Sit down behind; I've altered the control gear—can work it from the front seat."
The Orphan had never been in an aeroplane before, and tingled with excitement. He sat down and winked at the disappointed Bubbles whilst his new friend climbed up in front of him and began to play about with levers and switches. "If you do see Fritz, signal with your hand—bang me on the back—it's no good shouting: I shan't be able to hear you."
The blades began whizzing round as the engine buzzed; men gave the machine a shove and a push; the blades went so fast that they only made a mist in front of the Orphan's eyes; the ground dropped away, and he shouted to Bubbles to wait for him—though it wasn't much use shouting, because of the noise of the engines.
Up they went, passing over the Swiftsure, the Achates, and the other ships in the harbour, and out beyond the line of submarine-net buoys.