The engines were stopped, guns were manned,
and the powerful searchlights made ready for use if required. The tows,
which up to this time had followed astern, were ordered to advance to
the shore. The battleships took up positions somewhat further out on
either flank, for to them was assigned the duty of supporting the attack
with their guns as soon as light allowed.
Very slowly the snakes of boats steamed past the battleships, the
gunwales almost flush with the water, so crowded were they with khaki
figures. Then each lot edged in toward one another so as to reach the
beach four cables apart. So anxious were we on board the battleships
that it seemed as if the loads were too heavy for the pinnaces, or that
some mysterious power was holding them back, and that they would never
reach the shore before daybreak and thus lose the chance of a surprise.
The distance between the battleships and the boats did not seem to
diminish, but only for the reason that we steamed very slowly in after
them until the water gradually shallowed. Every eye and every glass was
fixed on that grim-looking line of hills in our front, so shapeless, yet
so menacing, in the gloom.
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