Before it grew too dark to see properly, they both inspected all the boat's gear to make certain that nothing was out of its place. Down in the cabin the Orphan found some green leaves—cabbage leaves.
"Heave them overboard," he said. "Whatever are they doing down here?"
"I thought they were for you, sir. An old stoker brought 'em down; told me to hand 'em over to you, very carefully, and he brought this box too." He picked up a small wooden box about a foot square, with a lot of holes bored in the top and the sides; and the Orphan burst out laughing, for he knew he would find "Kaiser Bill" inside it.
"That's 'Kaiser Bill'," he said, as he raised the lid and saw the tortoise lying there. "He brings good luck. He came in our boat when the Lancashire Fusiliers landed, so I suppose old Fletcher thinks he ought to take a hand in this job as well—the funny old man!"
"He's a rum-looking beast for a mascot, isn't he!" Marchant grinned, holding up "Kaiser Bill" with his legs sprawling beneath his shell, and his head peeping slyly out as though he knew all about everything.
The Orphan put him and his box down below the water-line, where no bullets could reach him.
A nearly full moon rose and gave sufficient light to avoid any other craft on their way across, and in a little over an hour and a half they had almost reached the nets outside Suvla.
The Orphan slipped his tow-rope, and so did Bubbles, and both of them steamed round to a little pier which had been constructed on the north side of Suvla Point—a pier called Saunders Pier.
They reported themselves to the naval Pier-master; and the Orphan, leaving his two big boats—a launch and pinnace—alongside this pier, towed the other two—two cutters—along the left-flank coast, and anchored them close inshore. Their crews knew the countersign and password, and if any men hailed them properly from shore, they were ordered to pull in and take them off.
For the next three hours the Orphan was employed taking off officers and their baggage from "'A' West", going in through the gap between the sunken Fieramosca and Pina, and steaming out again, dodging empty motor-lighters being warped in through the gap, and full motor-lighters being warped out. He took them to the Redbreast, lying out near the nets, and then returned to Saunders Pier and found his two big boats loaded with rifles and baggage of all sorts.