The hill-side was thick with scrub and there was no difficulty about getting forward.  They went on steadily, and had travelled about half a mile when they entered a little wood.  Passing through this, they were dismayed to find themselves on the edge of a steep bank about sixty feet high, with the track running at the bottom of it, and, beyond, a wide space of open valley rising again to a hill opposite.

‘This is no use,’ said Roy.  ’We’re bound to be spotted if we try to cross that open.’

‘No, we must keep on this side for the present,’ answered Ken, as he turned back into the trees.

Presently they heard a tramping of feet, and peering through the leaves saw a body of Turkish troops, about a hundred strong, marching stolidly along beneath them.

‘My word, if we only had a maxim!’ muttered Roy, as he stared at the closely-formed column.  ’Couldn’t we make hay of ’em?’

Ken did not answer.  He watched the men pass on until they were out of sight around a curve in the track.  Then he and Roy moved on again.

Round the next bend, they found themselves at the end of the friendly wood, and the ground beyond was a deal more open than seemed healthy.

‘We’ll have to wait until those chaps are well out of the way,’ said Ken, and calmly sat himself down on a big stone, one of many which lay among the tree trunks.

‘Hope they’ll hurry,’ said Roy rather viciously.  ’I’m infernally hungry.  I want to get back to my dinner.’

While Ken rested Roy stood staring out through the tree trunks.

Presently he turned to Ken.  ’Tell you what, Ken, I believe there’s a chance for us now.  There’s another patch of wood less than a quarter of a mile away, and if we watched our chance we might slip across without being spotted.  Beyond it, the ground rises again, with a lot of rocks and scrub.  Plenty of cover at any rate.  What do you think?’

Ken got up and took a long and careful survey.

‘It looks all right,’ he said at last.  ‘I’m game to try it anyhow.’

‘Then the sooner the better.  Those Turks have topped the rise.’

They were on the point of starting when Ken heard a sound which made him seize Roy’s arm.

‘Steady a minute!  There’s something else coming up the track.’

They dropped flat and lay waiting.  Sure enough, there was a low rumble of wheels, and after a few minutes a team of mules came into sight around the left-hand curve, dragging a field-piece, and accompanied by about a dozen Turkish gunners.

‘Just as well we waited,’ whispered Roy.  ’We shouldn’t have stood much show if we’d dropped down under their noses, eh?’

Ken did not answer.  He was staring fixedly at the gun.  His eyes were very bright.

He turned to Roy.

’That’s going to be used to smash our chaps, Roy.  Jove, if we could only stop it!’

‘Stop it?’ repeated Roy in amazement.  ’My dear chap, we haven’t even got our rifles.  They’re lying smashed up at the bottom of the gorge.  The only weapon we’ve got left is this automatic.’