‘Do you think the submarine could have picked him up, sir?’

’Not a chance of it.  She went under the very moment she had fired her torpedo.  If she had not, the destroyers would have got her.’

‘I ought to have got Kemp, sir,’ said Ken, rather ruefully.

‘You did your best, Carrington,’ the other answered kindly.  ’And you are to be congratulated that Kemp did not get you.’

Ken went back to join his friends forward, and answer a score of questions as to the struggle in the bathroom.  By the remarks of his companions who had, one and all, lost everything they possessed, except what they stood up in, it was clear that Kemp, if still alive, would stand a pretty thin chance should any of these lusty Australians set eyes on him again.

There was no shore leave.  No orders were out yet, but the rumour was everywhere that they were to sail that very day.

Presently a tug came alongside with fresh provisions.  She also brought a quantity of rifles and ammunition to replace those lost in the sunken ‘Cardigan Castle.’  Spare uniforms, overcoats, and other kit were also put aboard, and shared up among the shipwrecked troops.

‘The old country’s waked up this time,’ said Dave to Ken, as he tried the sights of a new rifle.  ’There’s stuff ashore here for an army corps, they tell me.  It’s no slouch of a job to fit us all out fresh in a few hours.  They’d never have done it in the Boer War.’

’My dear chap, the Boer War was child’s play compared with this.  Willy has set the whole world ablaze.  All the same, I agree with you that England is getting her eyes open at last.  But it’s a pity the people at home didn’t realise first off that forcing the Dardanelles was almost as important as keeping the Germans out of Calais.  If they’d sent us here two months ago instead of fooling round trying to get warships through the Straits, the job would have been done by now.  As it is, they’ve given the Turks a chance to fortify all the landing places, and I’ll bet they’ve done it too.’

‘What sort of landing places are they?’ asked Dave.

’Just beaches—­little bays with cliffs behind them.  And the cliffs are covered with scrub, and so are the hills inland.  Ideal ground for the defence, and rotten to attack.’

‘You talk as if you’d been there?’

The speaker was a big, good-looking young New Zealander, with a face burnt almost saddle colour by wind and sun.  His dark blue eyes gleamed with a merry, devil-may-care expression which took Ken’s fancy at once.

‘Yes, I’ve been there,’ Ken answered modestly, and was at once surrounded by a crowd all eager for any information he could give.  Luckily for him, at that very minute some one shouted.

‘We’re off, boys.  There’s the signal to weigh anchor.’

Instantly all was excitement; the cable began to clank home, smoke poured from the funnels, and in a very short time the whole fleet of transports was moving in a long line out of the harbour, escorted by a bevy of busy, black destroyers.