oth hands and brought it
down with all his force on the link between Roy's handcuffs.

More by chance than skill the blow fell absolutely true, and the steel,
either flawed or over-tempered, snapped.

Roy gave a cry of delight, and snatching the hammer from Ken took up the
chisel and set to work on his bonds. His powerful hands made short work of
the link, and within less than three minutes from the time the man in the
plane had dropped the tools, they were both free.

With a deep sigh of relief, Roy sprang to his feet. 'We're our own men
again, Ken. Come on.' He leaped lightly over the wall and raced away
towards the trees. Ken followed.

They had no food, no weapons, they were miles from their own people, in
the heart of the enemy country. Yet, for all that, there were not at that
moment two lighter hearts in the whole of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

CHAPTER XII

ABOVE THE NARROWS

An intermittent thunder of guns had been growing heavier for the past
hour. Now, as the two fugitives crouched on the eastern side of a steeply
sloping hill, they were so near that they could distinctly see the flashes
from the muzzles through the darkness of the night.

'That's either Fort Degetman or Kilid Bahr,' said Ken in a low voice. 'Ah,
there are two. The right-hand one--the one to the south--is Kilid Bahr.'

"Then we're opposite the Narrows," Roy answered breathlessly.

"Just so," said Ken, but though he spoke quietly enough, he, too, felt a
thrill. For five long hours they had been pushing east, or rather
south-eastwards. They had crossed the main road leading to Great Maidos,
they had had hairbreadth escapes sufficient to last most folk for a
lifetime, and now at a little after one in the morning, they had crossed
the whole peninsula, and were facing the famous Narrows, with their double
cordon of forts on both sides of the Straits, the nut which for so many
weeks all the Powers of the British and French combined had been engaged
in trying to crack.

[Illustration: "That's either Fort Degetman or Kalis Bahr."]

Opposite, a few scattered lights showed where lay the town of Chanak on
the Asiatic side of the Narrows. From forts along that coast also, there
now and then darted a spit of flame, while half a minute or so later the
dull roar of the report would reverberate through the night.

"We've gone east," said Roy slowly. "We've done what that chap in the
plane told us to do. But I'm hanged if I can see how we'r