II
The sky was clear, the air calm--an ideal day for airmen. In a fewminutes they passed over the rocky and precipitous line of the coast andpursued their flight inland. Hunter, closely scanning the countrybeneath through his glasses, presently exclaimed, "A gun!" and shortlyafterwards, "A battery!" The guns were cleverly concealed fromobservation from the sea, behind a cliff, marked by a clump of the densebrushwood that flourishes on the shores of the Gulf of Saros. Hunterexpected a shot or two from the gunners, but they made no sign, probablyunwilling to reveal their position to the warships in the bay. Theywere saving their shot for more serious work than firing at seaplanes.
Northward they saw a river flowing east and west. Passing over avillage--Kiskapan, according to the map--they crossed the river almostat right angles with its course, and beyond a range of low hillsdiscovered their objective about five miles away. They had travelledsome thirty-five miles by dead reckoning, which corresponded with theestimated distance from the cruiser.
Before they obtained a full view of Keshan itself they perceivedevidences of a considerable concentration of troops. At several pointsaround the town there were extensive encampments. Clouds of dust to thenorth, east, and north-east betrayed the movements of troops or convoys.And when they were still about two miles from the town they heard thefamiliar rattle of machine-guns and the long crackle of rifle fire. Butthey were too high up to feel any anxiety, and while Burton wheeledround and round in an extensive circle, Hunter busily plotted out on hismap the positions of the camps, and made notes of the directions of themovements, the estimated number of the battalions, and the nature oftheir arms.
After a while Burton began gradually to drop, in order to give Hunter achance of recognising gun emplacements. At about two thousand feet theenemy opened fire. White and creamy puffs of shrapnel floated and spreadin the air. A shell burst some distance beneath them, another abovethem, and soon the machine was cleaving its way through a thin cloud ofpungent smoke. It appeared that at least six guns were at work.
"Better get out of this," shouted Hunter. "I've got about enoughinformation."
"We'll go a little farther north," replied Burton, "to see if anyreinforcements are coming up towards Keshan."
"All right, but go a bit higher; I heard two or three smacks on theplanes just now."
Rising a little higher, Burton swept round to the north. In a minute ortwo Hunter was able to see that the hill track from Rodosto was chokedwith transport of all kinds. Right and left, every possible route fromConstantinople and Adrianople was equally congested. It was clear thata vast army was being concentrated within striking distance ofGallipoli, and on the flank of any force moving eastward from Enos orany other point of disembarkation.
Burton then headed west towards the Maritza, intending to return by wayof Enos and discover, if possible, what force the Turks had availablefor the defence of that place. They were passing somewhat to the northof Keshan, to keep out of the way of the batteries, when Hunter suddenlycaught sight of an object like a large bird low down in the sky on theirleft hand. A few moments' scrutiny through his glasses confirmed thesuspicions which had seized him on the instant.
"An aviatik, coming our way," he called.
"Won't catch us," responded Burton with a smile.
"Stay and fight it?"
"It's tempting, but we mustn't. It won't do to run risks when our job'sto collect information."
Hunter acquiesced with a sigh. Burton shifted his course a point or twoto the west, so as to run nearly parallel with the enemy's aeroplane.
A moment or two later he gave a start of alarm.
"What's the matter?" asked Hunter.
"Afraid there's a leak. The petrol gauge is falling faster than itought. They must have knocked a hole in the tank. See if you can findit."
Hunter twisted in his seat, bent over, and began to examine the tank.
"Can't find any leak," he said presently. "If there's one, it's out ofreach. How's the gauge?"
"At this rate we shall be done in another ten minutes."
"Whew! How much farther to go?"
"At least twenty miles, perhaps more. I wish we had come straight.There's absolutely no chance of getting back before the petrol givesout. Where's the enemy?"
"Still on our port side, going strong. It looks as if she means tochase us, thinking we're running away. We shall have to fight now,shan't we?"
"Yes. We're bound to come down in a few minutes, and if we don't tackleher at once it's all up with us. How far is she off?"
"About a couple of miles, I think, and about the same height. Hercourse is between us and Enos, worse luck!"
"Wish we had a machine-gun! I'll come round; take a shot when we'rewithin range, and for goodness' sake cripple her."
He brought the seaplane round in an easy curve, at the same timeclimbing to get above the enemy. His eye was all the time on therapidly falling gauge. The aviatik held on its course for a little,then wheeled to the south-west, as if to cut the seaplane off. It wasclear that the enemy airmen had no wish to avoid a fight.
Burton's wheeling movement had now made his course almost due east, sothat the two machines were rushing obliquely towards each other at therate of about a hundred miles an hour. When they crossed, Burton wasslightly ahead of the enemy, and, to his surprise, somewhat lower. Atalmost the same moment Hunter and the enemy's observer opened fire withtheir rifles, but each was handicapped by the fact that he was firingfrom right to left, and no damage seemed to have been done on eitherside. As soon as Burton had passed the enemy, he banked his machine andwheeled to the left, climbing as rapidly as possible to make good thedeficiency in height. The aviatik also made a spiral movement to theleft, with the result that in a few seconds the machines were once moreconverging on each other. This time, however, Burton was slightly tothe rear of the enemy, and when their tracks crossed, he shot up behindit on its left. The aviatik, a second or two too late, made a desperateeffort to edge away eastward, but the movement only brought the twoplanes closer together.
"We can't stick it another minute," gasped Burton.
Hunter did not reply. He had dropped his rifle and seized his automaticpistol. The machines were at point-blank range. Hunter fired. Theenemy's observer screwed himself round in his seat to reply. Aiming atthe pilot, Hunter sent a stream of bullets from his pistol. The pilotfell forward. For a moment the aeroplane rocked and seemed on the pointof capsizing. Then the observer seized the controls, and, with arecklessness that bespoke inexperience or want of skill, began aperilously steep volplane.
An aerial somersault]
Hunter looked down. The machine was rapidly dropping towards the edgeof the lake a little to the east of the Maritza River. Suddenly, whileyet some distance from the ground, the aviatik's descent was averted,possibly by an air pocket over the lake. For a moment it seemed poisedwithout motion, then it turned a somersault. The observer fell out, anddropped into the lake at the same instant as the machine crashed on tothe bank.
Meanwhile Burton had circled round. His tank was nearly empty. He musteither come down or fall down. There was no sign of life in the wreckedaeroplane; the observer had disappeared in the water; no one was insight. Swinging round again Burton adjusted his elevator so as todescend on the lake, and in a few seconds the seaplane was resting onthe surface within thirty yards of the spot where the aviatik lay, amangled heap, on the bank.