after crossing some
very broken ground came down into a narrow valley, in the centre of which
was the bed of a water-course, now dry.

'That's better,' whispered Ken, as he dropped down into it. 'This ought to
bring us out on the beach.'

The bottom was sun-baked mud and dry stones which, together, formed about
as unpleasant a combination for walking over as could well be imagined,
especially since it was absolutely necessary to move without a sound. Both
were deeply grateful when at last the torrent bed widened, and they heard
the lap of ripples on a beach.

'I feel like those old Greek Johnnies,' said Roy, 'the ones who'd been
wandering for a year over there in Asia, and who chucked their helmets
into the air and yelled when they saw the sea.'

'Well, don't try any tricks of that sort here, old man,' Ken answered
dryly. 'Wait a jiffy. I'm going forward to get a squint at the beach.'

He crept away, bent double, and was gone for so long that Roy began to get
uneasy. But at last he saw Ken stealing back.

'What luck?' he whispered.

'None,' Ken answered in a tone of bitter disappointment.

'What--no boats?'

'Plenty of boats, but there are men behind them. I don't know how many,
but quite a lot. I don't even know whether they are troops. They are
sitting about on the shingle, talking and smoking. Anyhow there are too
many for us to tackle.'

Roy grunted. 'That's bad. But, see here, Ken, we've got to have a boat
some way or other.'

'We're going to,' said Ken fiercely, 'but I'm afraid it means crawling all
the way back up that beastly water-course.'

'Up the water-course?' repeated Roy. 'Great Ghost, there are no boats up
there.'

'It's not boats I'm after in the first place, it's a disguise. See here.
You know I told you there were two dead Turks alongside that shell hole.
My notion is to take their uniforms or just their overcoats, and then walk
boldly down to the beach, and tell the chaps there that we have a despatch
to take across to Ghanak.'

'Put up a bluff,' Roy answered. 'I see. But surely they have a cable
across.'

'They had, but the "Sapphire" cut it. And since it's gone, why I should
fancy the only way of getting messages across is by boat.'

'But what about the password?' suggested Roy.

'We'll have to chance that. There are not likely to be any officers about
on the beach at night. It isn't as if there was any danger of attack here.
They are right under the forts of the Narrows.'