lock of
the Hellespont, rusty and dusty with centuries of disuse. Grant us, O
Lord, tenacity to turn it; determination to turn it, till through that
open door _Queen Elizabeth_ of England sails East for the Golden Horn!
When in far off ages men discuss over vintages ripened in Mars the black
superstitions and bloody mindedness of the Georgian savages, still they
will have to drain a glass to the memory of the soldiers and sailormen
who fought here.

CHAPTER VI

MAKING GOOD

_27th April, 1915. Getting on for midnight. H.M.S. "Queen Elizabeth."_
All sorts of questions and answers. At 2 a.m. got a signal from Admiral
Guepratte, "Situation at Kum Kale excellent, but d'Amade gave orders to
re-embark. It has begun. Much regret it is not in my power to stop it."

Well, so do I regret it. With just one more Brigade at our backs we
would have taken Yeni Shahr and kept our grip on Kum Kale; helping along
the Fleet; countering the big guns from Asia. But, there it is; as
things are I was right, and beggars can't be choosers. The French are
now free to land direct at Sedd-el-Bahr, or "V," instead of round by
"W."

During the small hours I wrote a second cable to K. telling him
Hunter-Weston could not attack Achi Baba yesterday as his troops were
worn out and some of his Battalions had lost a quarter of their
effectives: also that we were already short of ammunition. Also that
"Sedd-el-Bahr was a dreadful place to carry by open assault, being a
labyrinth of rocks, galleries, ruins and entanglements." "With all the
devoted help of the Navy, it has taken us a day's hard fighting to make
good our footing. Achi Baba Hill, only a cannon shot distant, will be
attacked to-morrow, the 28th."

After shipping ammunition for her big guns the _Q.E._ sailed at 7 a.m.
for Gaba Tepe where we found Birdwood's base, the beach, being very
severely shelled. The fire seemed to drop from half the points of the
compass towards that one small strip of sand, so marvellously well
defiladed by nature that nine-tenths of the shot fell harmlessly into
the sea. The Turkish gunners had to chance hitting something by lobbing
shrapnel over the main cliff or one of the two arm-like promontories
which embraced the little cove,--and usually they didn't! Yet even so
the beach was hardly a seaside health resort and it was a comfort to see
squads of these young soldiers marching to and fro and handling packing
cases with no more sign of emotion than rail