“Why do you say that, Amos?” demanded Jack, quickly.
“Oh! because our reinforcements have arrived,” replied the other, exultantly. “Look further down the hill and you’ll see them leaping forward like tigers. They act as if wild to get in the scrap; and when they do it’s all over with Mr. Turk on this day. They have made up their minds to take those trenches and they’ve just got to do it, that’s all.”
Jack had felt all the thrills that such a picture is apt to bring in its train when the heart beats in full sympathy for one or the other of the combatants. He had tried his best to keep from taking sides, but found it impossible, when he believed that the principles for which the Allies were fighting were the same as those of the big republic across the sea.
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It was easily possible for him to see the new line of the Kangaroos bounding impetuously up the side of the slope; binoculars were not needed to disclose their furious rush. The sunlight gleaming on their set bayonets caused them to glitter as though set with diamonds; but, alas! they would not always remain so bright.
Jack watched with his heart beating much faster than its wont. He wondered if, when those new men reached the fighting line, they would carry all before them. The loud cries of Amos broke in upon his figuring.
“I can see German officers up there, Jack, as sure as anything!” he exclaimed. “Oh! I know them from their uniforms, and the way they act. They are even beating some of the poor Turks to make them fight harder. Oh! what d’ye think, one of them actually shot a fellow who may have been running away. That shows the Germans are the masters here.”
Jack was glad he had not seen what his chum was describing so vividly. There were enough terrible things to be discovered without that.
[224]
By now the newcomers had struck the line. Their rush was fully as impetuous as any football squad had ever used to carry things before it. Indeed, doubtless many of those fighters from the other side of the world were used to the tactics of the gridiron, and could apply their knowledge of formations to good advantage, even on the field of battle.
The influence of the supporting column was immediately felt. Where the Kangaroos had begun to waver their line was stiffened. Men who had felt themselves almost at the point of succumbing received a new stimulus, and with fresh shouts once more threw themselves upon the staggering foe.
The coming of the lone aeroplane had in a measure discounted the addition to the ranks of the Turks. They evidently knew they could expect no other reinforcements, and the fact gave them the sensation of having to face defeat.
More furiously than ever did the Allies charge them. They would not be denied the victory they could now see looming up close at hand.
[225]
“Jack, they’re giving way, I do believe!” shouted Amos.
“Do you mean the Turks?” asked the other.
“Sure I do. You don’t think for a minute I hope that those brave Australians would fall back as long as one of them could stand. Yes, there goes a bunch of the enemy. They bowled one of those German officers off his feet when he tried to stop them. I hope he’s captured, that’s what I do. And, Jack, all along the line there’s a sign of giving way. Hurrah! I really believe the game is won!”
“Hold on, don’t shout too soon, Amos,” warned the more cautious Jack, though for that matter he himself had hard work to hold in. “They may counter-attack, you know. When you hear the Kangaroos yelling like mad you may believe the victory is safe, but not yet, not yet.”
Nevertheless hardly a minute more passed than Jack himself was obliged to admit that it looked as though others besides Amos believed the end of the fierce engagement had come; for loud and
[226]
 victorious whoops reached their ears from all along the line.
These were echoed back by those who, from one cause or another, had been kept in camp, and not permitted to assist in cleaning out the enemy trenches. Amos raised his strong young voice, and gave numerous examples of what he could do in the way of adding to the din.
Outside of a football field after a close and exciting game Jack believed he had never before heard such a racket. The brave fellows up on the hill, who had thrown the Turks out of their trenches by bayonet thrusts, and close in-and-out fighting, waved their hats, and let their lungs have full play.
“Why, would you believe it, Jack!” cried Amos, when he finally stopped his loud cheering and became rational again, “I can see many of the wounded fellows on the ground trying to wave their hats, and I guess they’re yelling too. But not all of the down-and-outs are doing it, I’m sorry to say. Lots of them lie there as still as
[227]
 anything; and I’m afraid the taking of the trenches has cost a stiff price.”
Jack sighed.
“That’s always the case, Amos,” he went on to say. “You must be willing to pay the toll if you want anything worth while. And the better the prize is the greater the price. When those chaps from Australia want anything they will never stop till they get it, as long as there are any of them left.”
It could now be seen that those above were not stopping to rejoice over their victory. They knew the Turks were likely to come back as soon as they could meet with reinforcements, and some other German officers again took charge.
The rapid-fire guns that had been captured with the trenches were immediately turned, and placed so as to pour a hail of missiles on their late owners should the battle be renewed. Others of the same species were to be seen being taken up the hill, having been kept somewhere below in order to cover the retreat in case such a catastrophe befell the Allies.
[228]
“It was all splendidly planned, Jack,” said Amos. “I give the Colonel credit for having a long head. Still, the result might not have come just as easily as it did were it not for Frank—well, whoever the brave pilot of that aeroplane may turn out to be.”
“He certainly did help a whole lot,” admitted Jack. “Let’s hope he proves to be your brother; also that he settles down on Gallipoli tonight instead of flying across to that Greek island where the rest of the pilots have their headquarters.”
“Oh! I guess he will stick here,” Amos hastened to say, as though the wish were father to the thought. “Especially after he’s been able to do such great stunts for the Kangaroos.”
“I suppose now they will be pushing their line further, if they can only hold those trenches up on the hill,” Jack suggested.
“And so this is going to be the way the peninsula will be won in the end, if it ever is won?” Amos questioned, as though he found it hard work to believe all those massive battleships, capable
[229]
 of throwing tons and tons of mighty shells, were unable to force a passage through the Dardanelles.
“That has to be left to the future to decide,” Jack told him. “There’s a big ‘if’ connected with everything undertaken these days. You can’t tell what a week will bring on, with these Balkan States hanging in the balance. If they could only settle their differences, and join the Allies, it would mean the beginning of the end.”
“Someone is calling to us, Jack, and I believe they mean that lunch is all ready to s............