Mac's ears. The Turks
threw bombs steadily, but fortunately only in ones and twos. They were
fairly slow to explode, and, if they landed on the parapet, the troops
crouched in the bottom of the trench, or, if into the trench, they got
out until the explosion and the fumes had cleared away. The enemy was
almost safe from bombing, for grenades which were thrown at him found
no resting-place until far down into the ravine, where their explosion
sounded only as a dull unsatisfactory thud. Sometimes big shells
whirring up from the warships or the heavy land batteries burst short
and caught some of the already too sparse attackers, or brought the
sufferings of the wounded to an end. Mac's line lost men who went
bleeding to the rear. Sometimes their places were taken--more often
they were not.

He wondered vaguely what would happen, but all were too busy with
affairs of immediate importance, and somehow it did not seem to matter
in the least--the outlook was not bright. The Turkish mound on the
left could enfilade the trench at short range when daylight came, the
enemy was in great force in front and was creeping back to the
rear--already a fire-swept zone impossible to cross. Where was that
great force from Suvla Bay? They had landed three miles away at
midnight on Friday and it was now just before dawn on Monday.

The night came in time near to its end. He could not describe it as
having gone quickly, nor yet slowly--it had simply passed. Dawn
brought no particular pleasure, only the transition from the unearthly
phantasmagoria of bitter night fighting to the practical fierce
hand-to-hand struggling of day. The paling sky figured the sky-line
and the Turkish heads in definite silhouette, and many of the large
shrubs of the night where Turks might lurk revealed themselves as small
tufts of grass. Vigilance increased. If rifles did not sweep that
crest continually the old Turk would leave his head and shoulders above
the edge long enough to take aim, instead of blazing away rather at
random.

It was now definitely seen that the Turks had got well round the right
flank during the darkness, in spite of a machine-gun which had been
said to sweep this zone; but of it Mac saw no sign. Some Turks were
creeping through a hollow immediately to the right, and he being the
tallest man at this point directed his attention at the wriggling backs
with some success. One wounded Turk there signalled by waving his
rifle t