now he was entering the danger zone, he
experienced no abdominal sinking, such as one might expect under these
circumstances. His mind was relieved; and, with the full joy of life,
he turned with interest towards the steep hills.

Bells clanged below and the engines stopped and reversed, and, with a
seething of water, the destroyer lost way. Out of the darkness loomed
several unwieldy lighters, splendidly admiralled by a slip of a middy.
They came alongside and the men swarmed aboard. The lighters moved
lumberingly beachwards. From above, the firing grew loud, and a
falling bullet wounded a man--the first casualty. Men stood silent, or
spoke in subdued murmurs. The whole thing was weird, yet
beautiful--the still glory of the night, the eerie, echoing rattle from
above, and the flickering lights of the bivouacs.

They grounded at last alongside a stranded barge, crossed it, and,
filing down a plank to the shore, gathered in ragged line along the
beach to await orders. What was expected of them that night, none
knew. A few of the earlier arrivals, not too fully occupied with work
or sleep completely to ignore them, welcomed them warmly, and
immediately launched into long-winded accounts of previous fighting.
With an air of conscious superiority, they gave them hints and advice,
and told vividly of trials, troubles and dangers. All this the
new-comers accepted unchallenged and with deep respect.

The narrow beach, or those parts of it not occupied by great piles of
stores, or limbers and water-carts, was a seething mass of humanity and
mules. Few of the men spoke, beyond a welcoming "How do, cobber," or a
"Glad you've come, mate." They appeared out of the darkness and passed
into it again with an air of steady practical purpose. Ant-like, they
passed in continual streams from barges to stacks of boxes, whose size
rapidly increased.

At length the brigade filed off along the stony beach to the left,
halted frequently, while stray bullets passed with a low whirr overhead
and out to sea; and turned finally up a deep ravine to the right.

On the steep, scrub-covered sides they were ordered to bivouac for the
night. Things were not too comfortable, but that was no cause for
complaint. Mac and Smoky forced themselves under a holly bush,
enveloped themselves in their oil-sheets, and braced their feet against
stems of shrubs to prevent their sliding down the fifty degree slope.
There was no cessation of the firi