eavy. As it was the
Turkish shells destroyed most of the barley in the vicinity without doing
any material damage to our guns or horses.

After about an hour's steady firing, on the same lines as the strophe and
anti-strophe of a Greek chorus--noise and damage about equal, that is--the
excitement began in real earnest. The guns were limbered up and we advanced
out of the barley fields and galloped under heavy fire across a sandy
stretch to a position right in the open. We had a lively half-minute
unlimbering the guns. One team advancing into line struck a patch of heavy
soil which caused the pace sensibly to decrease. They were lucky, for a
shell had previously burst in the exact spot where the gun was unlimbered a
second or two later, which would certainly have obliterated the entire team
had it not been for that providential patch of heavy ground. Another shell
passed underneath an ammunition-waggon, ploughed a deep furrow in the earth
and--failed to explode! There were very few "duds," however. The red
flashes from the Turkish guns were distinctly visible, and every few
seconds their shells exploded in a long line about ten yards in front of
our position.

Our responses must have been very much to the point, for the shelling from
one quarter diminished appreciably after one particularly heavy burst of
firing from our guns, and soon ceased altogether. By way of retaliation the
batteries immediately in front of us redoubled their fire and spouts of
earth shot into the air all round the guns. So hot did it become that once
the horses were called up to bring the battery out of action; it was
impossible to approach within a hundred yards, however--indeed, as soon as
the teams appeared out of the nullah in which the waggon-line had been
placed the Turks instantly turned their guns on to them and shelled them
out of sight again.

But now another battery came up on our right, and the two, by accurate and
steady shooting, gradually wore down the opposition; one by one the red
flashes disappeared and the spouts of earth diminished in number. Finally
there was a lull; the Turks had had enough for the time being.

This of course was only on a very small portion of the front, and only
affected the movements of our particular brigade, who were heavily engaged
on their own account. On our left the advance was making little progress.
The Turks had fortified every ridge to the last degree and refused to be
dislodged from even the