Frank Forester: A Story of the Dardanelles

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XX

  FISHING

  With the morning light the men were set to consolidate the position.Frank's barricade was strengthened; the gully was parapeted and wired;everything possible was done to improve the defensive capacity of thenatural trench which marked the summit of the Australian advance, andwhich its occupants were to hold for a month without being able to pushfarther.

  On the day after the fight, Frank was sent down to the beach by themajor to report himself to the colonel, who at once employed him in hisproper duties of interpreting for the Turkish prisoners.

  "You'd rather be doing something else, I dare say, after that brilliantlittle defence of yours," said the colonel; "but interpreters arescarce, and you can't be spared."

  During the next few days Frank learnt by degrees many details of thewonderful feat accomplished by the allied army. In the first place hediscovered that the landing-place of the Australians, a little north ofGaba Tepe, was almost immediately below his old haunt on Sari Bair, andthe guns he had heard firing above during that unforgettable day wereevidently the battery which he had seen hauled up the hill. He heardtoo how at Beach Y, to the south, the King's Own Scottish Borderers andpart of the Naval Division had gained the top of the cliffs with ease,covered by the guns of three cruisers in the bay; and how, still farthersouthward, the Royal Fusiliers, landing from the _Implacable_, had madegood their footing without a single casualty. On the broader sands atBeach W the Lancashire Fusiliers had at first failed against the wireentanglements almost at the water's edge, and the innumerable snipersand machine guns concealed in the hollow between the cliffs. At BeachV, the Dublin Fusiliers, almost annihilated as they attempted to forcethree lines of wire and a labyrinth of trenches, had taken cover under ahigh sandbank that stretched along the shore, where they were joined bysuch of the Munster Fusiliers and the Hampshires as survived theterrible fire which burst on them when they rowed in from the collier inwhose side a door had been cut for their exit. At Beach S the SouthWales Borderers had scaled the cliffs without much difficulty; and theFrench had successfully effected their diversion on the opposite shoreof the channel at Kum Kale.

  These were the doings of the memorable Sunday. On Monday theAustralians, supported by the guns of the fleet, withstood a violentcounter-attack that lasted two hours, and finally drove off the Turks atthe point of the bayonet. Elsewhere along the shore, except at Beach Y,which had been abandoned, the invaders held their own, and during thefollowing days the work of consolidation made rapid progress. Thesappers threw out piers on which stores and ammunition were unloadedfrom lighters under incessant shrapnel fire. Engineers cut roads up thecliffs to facilitate the transport and the passage of the ambulanceparties that were continually going up and down. The wounded wereconveyed to the ships as rapidly as possible. Day and night the workwent on, amid the deafening roar of big guns and the unceasing rain ofbullets.

  During the month of May little further progress was made. The way wasblocked by the hill of Achi Baba, crowned by a strong redoubt, andseamed with trenches extending on all sides in terraces one aboveanother. Against these strong fortifications no general advance waspossible.

  Meanwhile German submarines had commenced their activity in theDardanelles and the AEgean Sea. They failed to interfere with thesupplies for the army, but they torpedoed three large warships, the_Goliath_, the _Triumph_, and the _Majestic_, and put a temporary checkon the close co-operation of the fleet. Their successes were in somemeasure balanced by the feats of British submarines, which ran theblockade of mines, penetrated as far as Constantinople, and sent severalTurkish transports to the bottom.

  One evening, just after the _Majestic_ had been sunk, Frank was smokingan after-dinner cigarette with his colonel outside the mess-tent. Theconversation turning on submarines, Frank mentioned the incident of thebroken case on the quay at Panderma, when he had noticed the periscopeof a submarine disclosed by the breach. He did not dwell upon it, andthe colonel only remarked that the activity of the German submarines hadevidently been long premeditated.

  Two mornings later, Frank was summoned to the colonel, with whom hefound a naval captain.

  "Good morning, Forester," said the colonel. "I have been telling myfriend Captain Roberts some of your queer experiences before you settleddown as a humdrum interpreter. He is rather interested."

  "I am indeed," said the captain. "After what you have gone through,interpreting must be dull work--duller than mine, for it's not veryexciting to fire at long range without much chance of getting one back."

  "It's not very exhilarating, certainly," replied Frank. "The prisonershaven't much to tell. They don't like their German officers, andhaven't an idea what they are fighting for. Fighting is their job, and_Kismet_ covers it all.... You haven't been hit from Sari Bair, then?"

  "No, though their shells drop pretty close sometimes. Our sea-planeshaven't managed to locate that battery. I understand you didn'tactually see the guns emplaced."

  "No, after I toppled one over I made off. You see, things were gettingpretty hot just then."

  "Naturally. Well, you seem to have been able to take good care ofyourself in very ticklish situations; but perhaps after all your presentwork is a relief after so much excitement. A man can have his fill ofadventures, I suppose."

  "I confess things weren't altogether pleasant, sometimes, though theyhad their bright side."

  Frank smiled at his recollections of the major of artillery whoseclothes he had commandeered, and of the boastful Abdi gurgling in thesea. At the same time, struck by a peculiar intentness in the captain'smanner, he asked himself, "What is he driving at, I wonder?"

  "Yes, of course there are two sides to everything," the captain went on."Sometimes the bright side is eclipsed by the dark--according to thestate of one's liver, perhaps. Your liver doesn't trouble you much, Ifancy."

  Frank looked at the broad, jolly face smiling enigmatically at him.

  "Is there anything you wish me to do?" he asked bluntly butrespectfully.

  The two elder officers exchanged a glance.

  "Well, since you put it like that--yes, there is," said the captain."But it's a matter entirely for yourself. If you feel any hesitation,we shan't think any less of you if you don't entertain the idea. I mayas well say at once it's a dangerous job, not at all in the ordinaryrisk of warfare; but the colonel had told me of your work on the cliffyonder, and for a mere interpreter, you know, you appear rather torelish risks that are not quite ordinary."

  "You don't think much of risks when you've got anything going," saidFrank. "Anyhow, if I can be of use--what's the nature of the job?"

  "It's just as I expected," interposed the colonel, rising. "I'll leaveyou two to talk it over. Come and tell me what you arrange, Forester.You'll find me somewhere in the neighbourhood."

  Next morning Frank's absence evoked enquiries among the junior officers.The colonel was appealed to.

  "Forester? Oh, he's off for a few days on special service."

  "Interpreting, sir?" asked one.

  "He'll have opportunities of airing his Turkish," said the colonel.

  His manner discouraged further questioning. The others saw that he meantto say no more. One of them, however, presently asked whether Foresterwas likely to be away long.

  "I can't say." He tugged his moustache reflectively. "Our little jobhere is not exactly a soft one, but I wouldn't be in Forester's bootsjust now for a peerage."