'Well,' said Roy, rising with a sigh, 'it sounds a pretty good scheme. But
I'd give more than sixpence to get out of crawling back up that abominable
gully.

'I'm afraid there's no help for it,' replied Ken, as he started.

Both were tired with their long tramp across country, and they were sadly
in need of food and rest. It was wretchedly disappointing, after they had
at last made the sea, to have to turn back again inland. They were a very
silent pair as they toiled back over the cracked clay and loose stones.

There was worse to come. In the darkness they missed the exact spot where
they had first entered the gully, and when they reached the hill-side
found that they were lost. Neither of them had the least idea of the
whereabouts of the shell hole with the bodies of the two dead Turks.

[Illustration: Our boys bring in a Turkish sniper, who by the ample use of
foliage has turned himself into a sort of Jack-in-the-Green.]

[Illustration: Reinforcements of Turkish artillery and machine gun
batteries to bar the passage of our boys in khaki.]

A good half-hour they wasted in vain search, then Ken dropped behind the
shelter of a small bush.

'It's no use, Roy,' he said desperately. 'I can't find it. We're simply
wasting time.'

Instead of answering, Roy took hold of Ken's arm with a grip that was like
that of a steel vice.

'Hush!' he whispered, and pointed.

Two figures had risen in front, apparently out of the very depths of the
earth. They were not more than twenty paces away.

The boys crouched, breathless. A moment later, two other figures loomed
through the darkness, coming down the slope. They came straight up to the
first two.

'By Eblis, but thou hast not hurried thyself Ali!' said one of the latter,
speaking in Turkish. 'Hassan and I were about to come and seek thee.'

One of the others gave a laugh.

'I am sorry, brother. We slept and no one awaked us. Is all well?'

'All is well. What else should it be? Who but a dog of an unbelieving
German would waste men's time in guarding such a place as this?'

'Of a truth it is foolishness,' said the man named Ali. 'The British are
far enough away, Allah knows.'

'A good watch to thee,' said Hassan in rather a surly tone. Then he and
his companion tramped away uphill, and Ali and the other sank down into
what was evidently a trench.

Hastily Ken translated what he had heard for Roy.

'They are sentries,' he said, 'and I suppose there is some underg