“I think we can find a safer place than that,” he remarked. “Just as like as not some Turkish spies have had a look-in at this camp, and marked the position of the General’s headquarters. If they have any guns along they’ll be apt to hurl3 a few shells around here, and it wouldn’t pay us to take the chances.”
“Whew! I never thought of that,” admitted Amos, always ready to agree with his chum.
Wandering around the almost deserted4 camp, they presently selected a location where they might see something of what was going on. They could easily understand that the position taken
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by the Territorials5 had been made as impregnable as the conditions allowed. No doubt there were trenches6 and barricades7 behind which the troops could work their many rapid-fire guns, and their repeating rifles as well. Being born marksmen, they would take frightful8 toll9 of the Turks when they advanced to the attack in their customary solid formations, urged on by German officers, who from the rear would threaten to sabre or shoot anyone daring to turn back.
All seemed silent save for the sound of the sea fretting10 along the shore. Amos could hardly believe that right then and there hundreds upon hundreds of Allied11 troops were getting in position to man the defences of the camp; and that some thousands of ferocious12 Mussulman fighters were creeping along not so very far away with the avowed13 intention of rushing the works after the manner of reckless fighters, careless of their lives.
Amos had not forgotten the main reason for his being there in the camp of the gallant14 New Zealanders. As he sat there and glanced this
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way and that, trying to make things out in the uncertain light, he was wondering just where the little level plateau lay from which the bold aviator16 took his flights, and landed again after he had sufficiently17 harassed18 the enemy.
It surely was somewhere close by, for unless well within the lines he could never have come and gone with safety. A thousand thoughts were racing19 through the agitated20 mind of Amos Turner, though the main theme lay in his fervent21 hope that here at last he might meet the brother for whom he had been searching so long.
He believed he would know the best or the worst by the time day dawned once more. If Frank was there they must inevitably22 meet; the General had promised to do anything that lay in his power to help. If again doomed23 to disappointment the shock would prove most cruel.
Amos and Jack occasionally exchanged a few sentences, but for the most part they lay there on the ground, simply waiting to see what would happen.
An hour, perhaps two of them, had passed
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since the boys reached camp. Indeed, Amos had actually dozed24 several times, so that he was utterly25 unable to keep track of time. He scanned the heavens and believed it must be getting well on toward midnight. Would the Turks attack soon, or had they for some reason given up the plan? Amos even wondered whether the General might not believe they had been mistaken in their warning, and accordingly act less cordially toward the boys.
It was while he was ruefully contemplating26 some such dire27 possibility as this that the first shot was fired some little distance away. Instantly a transformation28 that was certainly wonderful took place. Several searchlights flashed into being, and criss-crossed in a hasty manner as the manipulators sought to show up the advancing enemy.
“They’ve got everything fixed29, you see!” Jack exclaimed, as both of them jumped to their feet in their eagerness to see all they could.
Loud shouts were now heard. They evidently sprang from the advancing Turks, filled with
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fanatical zeal15, and determined30 to sweep everything before them, as they had undoubtedly31 been assured by their German officers could be easily done.
Amos held his breath. He knew what was bound to follow, and the thought of the hail storm of missiles that would presently be hurled32 upon the attacking party filled him with dismay; for he had seen the terrible results of such work at close quarters before then, and would never forget it as long as he lived.
That first shot must have been fired by some advanced vidette, who, satisfied with having thus given the alarm, had hastily retreated along lines previously33 laid out for his guidance.
You have often heard the sudden, sharp crash of thunder immediately after a most brilliant flash of lightning—well, to Jack’s mind that was about what the sudden discharge of a gun close by sounded like, it came with such startling abruptness34.
Immediately afterwards other sounds chimed in—the whirring rattle35 of quick-firers, the volleys
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of those in the trenches, and the stentorious shouts of the excited men from the other side of the world who were filled with the enthusiasm of battle.
The advancing Turks also made themselves heard, for they shouted at the top of their voices, even as red Indians had been wont36 to whoop37 when attacking some log cabin in an Ohio clearing, or a wagon-train on its way across the plains.
The clamor grew in volume. The Turks were firing as they came on, though those they sought to slay38 were doubly screened both by darkness and the barricades behind which they stood or crouched39, each man acting40 mostly on his own initiative. The searchlights were destined41 to turn the scales of battle against the charging Turks, Jack imagined. Those powerful streams of light playing along the enemy’s lines betrayed their every move, and afforded the Allies a splendid opportunity to spray their columns with the fluid of death that leaped from the muzzles42 of those quick-firers.
Nor was this all.
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In the midst of the terrible noise there came a dull boom from out on the water. Some battleship must be there in the darkness, possibly the same one that had so lately destroyed the hidden battery on the shore below. The men aboard knew to a fraction just what the distance was, and that brilliant light showed them where to land a shell.
Jack heard a peculiar43 sound that may have been caused by the passage of the monster shell overhead. Then came one of those terrible shocks, and they could see the flash as the explosion took place.
It struck him as nothing short of miraculous44 how those experts aboard the battleship could drop their shells exactly where they chose, with darkness around them; but that was just what happened, for the monster exploded in the very midst of the charging Turks, and must have created a panic among those who survived.
Having seen some of the craters45 dug by the shells hurled from the famous forty-two-centimetre guns of the Germans along the fighting
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line in Belgium and France, Jack could easily imagine what a pit had followed the crash, swallowing scores of the Turks. But the dismay among the attacking troops was but momentary46. They had been primed for a victory, and were not to be cheated so easily. Once more they were coming on, a surging mob, with the rain from the pulsating47 quick-firers cutting swathes through their ranks.
If you have ever watched a farmer swinging his scythe48, or the mowing49 machine pushing through the wheat or oats, you can have a pretty good idea of how men fall in windrows when a bevy50 of those modern guns are in action. Those who manipulate them constantly change the position of the weapons so that the discharge might be compared to the result when anyone handles a hose to sprinkle the lawn or the family garden. Some have even likened it to the machine for whitewashing51 or painting great buildings like those erected52 for Expositions; only instead of the pure white the result of this spraying is red.
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Both Amos and Jack stood there watching most anxiously. Those shouts were so insistent53, and the clamor so dreadful that they could be easily pardoned for feeling more or less nervousness. If, after all, the Turks swept irresistibly54 forward and carried the trenches of the Territorials, what the result might be no one could more than guess.
Both lads felt that they had much at stake in the success or failure of the valiant55 defence being put up by the men from the eastern seas. They tried their best to gauge56 the rise or fall of the tide of battle from the awful sounds that came to their ears; but it was all such a mixture of shouts, jumbled57 orders, cries of pain or savage58 triumph, that this was found to be impossible.
Again the battleship off the coast sent another shell ashore59. This landed in the rear of the Turks, for they were now so close to the trenches that the British naval60 gunners did not dare take the chances of harming their own allies. The effect of the bursting shell was bound to dampen the enthusiasm of the already despairing Turks,
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Jack felt confident, and that counted for something.
Listening he presently decided61 in his own mind that the ferocious cries of the assailants seemed somewhat subdued62. This might spring from the fact that so many had already gone down under that merciless spraying process. It was also possible that those who were left had become disheartened, and were by degrees giving it up.
When this suspicion grew stronger in his mind, Jack felt a thrill of relief. Then, after all, it was not going to be a massacre63 of the Kiwis; they were not to be thrown into the sea, as the Turks had openly boasted they would do when they got ready to attend to their case. In fact, the shoe seemed on the other foot.
Losses would have been incurred64 by the Territorials, to be sure, for they had been subjected to a hot fire at close quarters, besides having many of the onrushing Turks meet them in a bayonet charge; but the trenches had been held against all opposition65. Doubtless, too, the enemy had received a severe lesson from this rough handling.
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They would be more careful after this night how they attacked the men from New Zealand. If ever they tried to rush those trenches again, it must be in overwhelming numbers, so that they might carry their point through the sheer exhaustion66 of the defenders67.
“It’s all over but the shouting, I guess, Jack!” cried Amos, when the noise began to rapidly subside68, though the terrible searchlights continued to flash back and forth69, picking out small detachments of the retreating Turks upon whom the exultant70 gunners could turn their “hoppers,” as some of them called the rapid-fire guns.
“And the camp is saved in the bargain, though we have still to find out at what cost,” replied Jack, himself greatly pleased with the handy fashion in which these fighting units of Territorials had carried themselves under fire.
Although they could hardly expect another attack that night, still one of those searchlights would undoubtedly be kept busy covering the ground above. Meanwhile the wounded must be looked after, for there were many casualties on
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the side of the Allies, the Turks fighting for the trenches until many of them were literally71 thrown out on the point of the bayonet.
“Here’s where we can make ourselves useful again, Amos,” suggested Jack. Although greatly wearied after all they had gone through with since dawn, the boys could not rest easy when there was need of their services.
Accordingly they sought out the first officer they could find, and asked to be assigned the task of helping72 to bring in the wounded, stating that they had only too willingly shouldered their share of the burden in the other camp, after the glorious fight by which the Australians had extended their holding on the shore. And, of course, the officer gladly gave them permission to use a stretcher, for as most of the troops were still holding the trenches there was need of all the help they could secure.
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1
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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territorials
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| n.（常大写）地方自卫队士兵( territorial的名词复数 ) | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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barricades
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| 路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 ) | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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fretting
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| n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的 | |
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allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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13
avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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14
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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aviator
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| n.飞行家，飞行员 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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18
harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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19
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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21
fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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27
dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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28
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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29
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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30
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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32
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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33
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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34
abruptness
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| n. 突然，唐突 | |
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35
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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36
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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37
whoop
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| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
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38
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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39
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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41
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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42
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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43
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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44
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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45
craters
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| n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等 | |
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46
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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47
pulsating
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| adj.搏动的，脉冲的v.有节奏地舒张及收缩( pulsate的现在分词 )；跳动；脉动；受（激情）震动 | |
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48
scythe
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| n. 长柄的大镰刀，战车镰； v. 以大镰刀割 | |
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49
mowing
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| n.割草，一次收割量，牧草地v.刈，割( mow的现在分词 ) | |
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50
bevy
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| n.一群 | |
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51
whitewashing
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的现在分词 )； 喷浆 | |
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52
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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53
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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54
irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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55
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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56
gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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57
jumbled
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| adj.混乱的；杂乱的 | |
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58
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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61
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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62
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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63
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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64
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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68
subside
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| vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降 | |
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69
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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