excited considerable indignation on the part of Hawtry. The boat was
heavy, and their progress, in consequence, very slow. They calculated
that they must have twenty-five miles to row, as the point at which
they were captured was, Hawtry had judged by the sound of the gun,
fully fifteen miles distant from it, and they had walked another ten
before arriving at the brigands' encampment.
All night they rowed, until the moon sank, this being, as they were
aware, about three o'clock. They then lay down in the boat for a nap,
and when they awoke it was daylight. They found that the wind had got
up, and was blowing steadily off shore, and that they were now distant
some five miles from land, the Rock of Gibraltar rising steeply from
the sea some ten miles from them in a straight line.
Hawtry at once set the sail again, and the boat was soon slipping fast
through the water.
"What a nuisance!" Hawtry said. "The wind is hauling farther round,
and we shall not make into the Rock this tack. This tub of a boat
makes no end of leeway. We shall have to make right across towards the
African shore, and then tack back again."
They were, as Hawtry anticipated, fully three miles to leeward of
Europa Point, as they passed the Rock. The wind was now blowing
strongly from the west.
"Upon my word," Hawtry said, "I question whether we shall ever be able
to make the Rock in this beast of a boat. She won't sail anywhere near
the wind, and makes awful leeway. Hurrah! there's a big steamer coming
out. We will hail her."
Hawtry now steered the boat till he had placed her as near as possible
in the line which the steamer was pursuing, and then lowered the sail,
and waited for her to come up.
When she came within a quarter of a mile the sail was again hoisted,
and Hawtry so steered the boat that for a moment Jack thought he would
put her under the bows of the steamer. This, however, had the effect
which Hawtry had intended, of drawing attention to them.
The steamer passed within thirty feet of them. Hawtry lowered the
sail, and standing up, shouted,--
"Throw us a rope!"
A number of persons had been attracted to the side, and one of the
officers, seeing two young midshipmen in the boat, at once threw a
rope to them, while the officer on duty ordered the engines to be
stopped. In another two minutes the boat was hauled alongside. The two
lads scrambled up the rope, the boat was cast adrift, and the steamer
was again ploughing her way eastward.
The boys found that they were on board the transport "Ripon," having
the Coldstream Guards on board, the first detachment of the army on
its way east.
Considerable excitement was caused by the sudden and unexpected
boarding of the ship by the two young officers, and great curiosity
was expressed as to how they had got into such a position. As Hawtry
said, however, that they had been twenty-four hours without food, they
were at once taken to the saloon, where breakfast was on the point of
being served. No questions were put to them until they had satisfied
their hunger; then they told the story of their adventures, which
caused quite an excitement among the officers.
The "Ripon" had sailed from Southampton docks on the 23d of February,
in company with the "Manilla" and "Orinoco."
The next four days passed pleasantly, the boys being made a good deal
of by the officers of the Coldstream Guards, but they were not sorry
when, on Saturday evening, the lights of Malta were seen, and soon
after midnight they dropped anchor in Valetta Harbor. The next morning
they were delighted at seeing the "Falcon" lying a few cables' length
distant, and, bidding good-bye to their new friends, they hailed a
shore boat, and were soon alongside the "Falcon." The first lieutenant
was on deck.
"Young gentlemen," he said sternly, "you have committed a very serious
offence, and are liable to be tried by court-martial for having
deserted your ship. I expected better things of you both. Go below
immediately, and consider yourselves under arrest. I shall report your
coming on board to the captain."
The boys saluted without a word, and went below to the midshipmen's
berth where the tale of their adventures was soon related to their
comrades, who were at first inclined to believe that the whole story
was an invention got up to screen themselves for breaking leave.
However, they soon saw that the boys were in earnest, and the truth of
the story as to their being picked up at sea by the "Ripon" could, of
course, at once be tested.
Presently they were summoned to the captain's cabin, and there Hawtry
again recited the story.
The captain told them that they had erred greatly in going away in
such a reckless manner, without taking proper precautions to secure
their return before gun-fire. But he said they had already been
punished so severely for their thoughtlessness that he should overlook
the offence, and that he complimented them on the courage and coolness
they had displayed in extricating themselves from the dangerous
position into which they had fallen.
He then invited them to breakfast, at which meal the first lieutenant
was also present, and here they gave much fuller details of their
escape than Hawtry had done in his first narration of it.
At ten o'clock, when the boys were below, they heard a loud cheering,
and found that the "Orinoco," with the Grenadiers, had just come into
harbor, and were being cheered by their comrades on board the "Ripon"
and by the blue jackets of the men-of-war.
All through the day the harbor was alive with boats. Before nightfall
the Coldstreams were all ashore, and by Monday evening the last of the
Grenadiers had also disembarked.
CHAPTER IV.
GALLIPOLI
Every day brought fresh troops to Malta, until the brigade of Guards
and eleven regiments of infantry of the line were gathered there. The
streets of Valetta were like a fair, crowded with soldiery chattering
with the vendors of oranges, dates, olives, and apples. Cigars, too,
are nowhere cheaper than in Malta, and as, unfortunately, spirits were
equally low in price, the British soldier, small as was his daily rate
of pay, found but little difficulty in intoxicating himself.
In a few days the French began to put in an appearance, and the crowd
in the streets was even more lively and picturesque than before. All
this time the great topic of discussion was whether matters would or
would not come to the arbitration of war.
During their stay Jack Archer and his comrades enjoyed themselves
heartily, but it was by no means all play. The sailors had an immense
deal to do in moving stores, preparing fittings, and getting matters
ready for the forward despatch of the troops, should war be finally
decided upon.
A month after the arrival at Malta, the doubt was put an end to, for
upon the 28th of March war was formally declared, and on the 29th the
French sailed for Gallipoli, followed, the next day, by Sir George
Brown with the advance party of the light division.
The same day the "Falcon" steamed out of harbor, and, although the
stay at Malta had been enjoyed, all hands were delighted at the
advance towards the scene of future action.
Gallipoli stands near the upper end of the Dardanelles, and is an
important military position.
"It looks a nice little town," Delafield said, on returning after his
first visit in the captain's gig, to his comrades. "But I can't say
much for it when you see it at close quarters. One got tired of Malta,
but Malta was a paradise to this place. The confusion seems to be
tremendous. But those jolly old Turks are sitting at their doors,
smoking like so many old owls, and do not seem to interest themselves
in the slightest."
"And did you see any lovely houris?" Simmonds asked, laughing.
"That I did not," Delafield said. "I saw some bundles looking like
rolls of dirty white sheets ready for the wash, with a pair of big,
yellow shoes underneath them, and I believe that they were women. I
did not see any of their faces. I didn't want to, for I'm sure no
decently pretty woman would allow herself to be made such an object as
that."
The same work of unloading and transporting goods to the shore, which
had gone on at Malta, was continued here. Every day fresh troops
arrived, English and French, and the whole of the undulating plain
round Gallipoli was dotted with their camps. By the end of the month
22,000 French and some 10,000 English were gathered there.
After the day's work was done, the midshipmen often got leave ashore,
and enjoyed the scene of bustle and confusion which reigned there.
Enormous numbers of pack animals and bullock-carts were at work, and
even at this early period of the campaign the immense superiority of
the French arrangements over the English was manifest. This was but
natural, as the French, like other European nations, had been in the
habit in time of peace of regarding the army as a machine which might
be required for war, and had therefore kept the commissariat,
transport, and other arrangements in a state of efficiency. In
England, upon the other hand, the army had been entirely neglected,
and had been made the subject of miserable, petty economy in all its
branches, and the consequence was that war found us wholly unprepared,
except that we possessed an army of seasoned soldiers such as, in the
nature of things under the new regulations, England will never see
again.
On going ashore the midshipmen would sometimes ramble away to the
camp, sometimes stroll through the town, and amuse themselves by
chaffing the grave Turkish shopkeepers, by watching the English and
French soldiers staggering along with drunken gravity, sometimes with
their arms round each other's necks, or by kissing their hands airily
to the veiled figures, of whom they got dim glimpses through the
closely-latticed windows. The upper part of the town was inhabited
principally by Greeks, whose sympathies were, for the most part, with
the Russians, and who were as quarrelsome and turbulent as the Turks
were placid and good-natured.
One evening Hawtry and Jack had obtained leave to be out later than
usual, as they had been asked to dine with some of the officers of the
Coldstreams whom they had met on board the "Ripon." The meal was a
rough one, for the country had been completely eaten up by this
immense accession of strangers. Still, the caterer had succeeded in
procuring some tough fowls in addition to the ration beef, and as
these were washed down by champagne, there was no reason to grumble.
The boys spent a merry evening, and started at half-past ten for the
town. This was already quiet, and for the most part asleep, when they
reached it. A few officers, who had been dining with the various
generals who had their headquarters there, or with friends on board
ship, were the sole people in the streets, although from some of the
closed windows of the drinking-shops in the Greek quarter came sounds
of singing and noise, for every one was earning high wages, and the
place was full of Maltese, Alexandrians, Smyrniotes, and, indeed, the
riff-raff of all the Mediterranean cities, who had flocked to the
scene of action to make money as petty traders, hucksters,
camp-followers, mule-drivers, or commissariat-laborers.
As they were passing through a dark and silent street they suddenly
heard a sound of shouting and the clash of weapons, the fall of heavy
bodies, and the tramping of feet. Then a window was dashed open, a
voice shouted, "Help!" and then the strife continued as before.
"Come on, Archer," Hawtry exclaimed. "There are some of our fellows in
a row with these Greeks."
The door was fastened, but the boys burst in a window next to it,
leapt into the room, groped their way to the door, and then finding
the stairs, hurried up. On the landing a dim oil light was burning,
but it needed no light to indicate the room in which the struggle was
still proceeding. The door stood ajar, and the boys, with drawn dirks,
dashed into the room.
It was a large one. In the centre was a table on which were strewn
several packs of cards; some chairs lay on the ground; the oil from an
overturned lamp was forming a great black stain on the green
table-cloth. In the corner by the window, three officers with drawn
swords, were defending themselves against the attacks of some twenty
Greeks, armed with knives. In the confusion, none had noticed the
entry of the boys.
"Pick up a chair, Jack," Hawtry said, recoiling from the idea of
rushing with his dirk upon unprepared men.
The two lads each seized one of the strong, but light, chairs
scattered on the floor, and, with a sudden hurrah, flung themselves
upon the Greeks. Two or three of these were knocked down and the rest,
taken by surprise by the sudden attack, recoiled, and the boys were
speedily by the side of the assailed officers.
The Greeks drew back, but seeing how slight was the reinforcement,
again advanced to the attack. Three of their number lay upon the
ground, and several of the others were bleeding freely. Upon the other
hand, one of the officers leant against the wall, badly wounded, while
both of the others had received nasty cuts. They would, before this,
have been overpowered, had they not hastily pulled a small table and a
chair or two, so as to form a sort of barricade, across the angle, and
so prevented the Greeks from closing upon them. One of the officers
was an Englishman, the others were French. All were quite young men.
There was scarcely time for the exchange of a word before the Greeks
were upon them again.
The boys had again drawn their dirks, but these formed but a poor
weapon against the chairs with which several of the Greeks, seeing the
inferiority of their knives, had now armed themselves. Hawtry received
a crashing blow on the head which sent him staggering back against the
