Part 13 (1/2)
”Thanks,” Dave grinned ”But it was all luck And I was scared stiff
Thank goodness those Messerschuys were such punk shots Noipe some more off, and we'll”
Dave cut off the rest short and spun around A squad of Belgian infantryacross the field toward thelistened in the sun, and the cries of wildfrom their lips The truth hit Dave in the flick of an eye Those Belgians took them for twoover to get vengeance for what those Stuka dive bo to the soldiers threw his rifle up to his shoulder and fired The bullet cut past Dave's face so close he could almost feel its heat He leaped in front of Freddy as still wiping his face and flung up both hands
”Don't shoot, don't shoot!” he yelled in French ”We're not Gerland! Don't shoot! _Vive les Allies!_”
The Belgian soldiers rushed up to him and leveled their rifles at his sto lot, but they had been made that way by the fury of war hurled down on them for the last seventy-two hours or more Their eyes were bloodshot, and their faces were caked with dried blood and dirt Their beards were sodden s Their rifles were the only clean thing about them
One of them with corporal chevrons on his tattered tunic sleeve stepped forward until the tip of his wicked looking bayonet ithin an inch of Dave's neck
”You are Boches!” he shouted and nodded at the wrecked plane ”We saw you dive down on us Well, you will not dive again We shall”
”Wait, wait!” Dave shouted in wild alarlish, and I'm an American We have just escaped froet to Allied Headquarters at once We have valuable inforian corporal hesitated and looked puzzled Hissounds in their throats and shuffled forward a bit Dave opened his mouth to explain solish boy suddenly stepped forward and a stream of words poured from his thin lips He had lived many years on the Continent and he kne to deal with either the French or the Belgians
”Listen to er heads!” he ranted at them ”My friend speaks the truth We have just escaped from Germany, and we have i officer at once, do you hear? Do we look like Germans? Of course not! Where are your heads, your brains?
Have you not seen us risk our lives trying to reach this side of the lines? Take us to your co officer He may even reco officer or I shall make a personal complaint to the Commander in Chief of British Army Staff, General Caldwell Attention, at once! Take us to your co officer, _now!_”
Grins slowly appeared on the faces of the battle wearied Belgian soldiers The corporal chuckled and lowered his bayonet from Dave's throat
”The little one spits fire when he speaks,” he murmured and nodded his head ”No, I do not believe now that you are Germans But you had a very lucky escape, my two little ones We do not feel very pleased today Nor e be happy for a long time to come, I am afraid It looks bad, very bad Come! I will take you to my Lieutenant”
”It looks bad?” Freddy asked quickly ”Can't you hold theian corporal shrugged and wiped his tired eyes with a dirt and runted ”I do not know We hear very little except the guns and those cursed boians And we cannot stop theuns, or the tanks And planes? Where are all our planes? Look at the sky! It is filled with nothing but Boche planes Yes, my little one, it looks very bad But we are not afraid to die No!”
The soldier shrugged again, then nodded with his head and started trudging back across the field, trailing his rifle as though it weighed a ton instead of a few pounds or so Freddy and Dave dropped into step with the others and went along nobody spoke nobody but the bombs and the shells but a fewcloser Dave leaned toward Freddy
”Boy, can you dish out their language!” he breathed ”But I don't bla terrible It's a wonder they didn't shoot and ask questions afterward”
”Yes,” Freddy said in a dull voice ”I wonder where the French and the British are? I hope they can get here in time”
Dave didn't attempt to answer the question He suddenly felt very tired, and old His strength had been sapped to the liht The picture of those Ger across the Albert Canal and virtually beating the Belgians right down into the ground was still clear as crystal in his brain It was like abut a picket fence in the way to stop it
At the far end of the field the Belgians turned left on a winding narrow dirt road They went down this for some fifty yards or so, then left the road and entered soian troops were frantically building uplight field pieces into place to bear on the winding dirt road The corporal stopped before a young lieutenant and saluted smartly Dave and Freddy stopped and waited while the corporal spoke to the officer
In a moment or so the lieutenant came over and stared at them both out of bleak, dead tired eyes
”What is all this?” he de as he had the language down perfect The young English a brief account of their h into Belgiuian officer listened in silence, and when Freddy finished he took a round
”Where were sos you saw on that , and silish youth pointed out various points on the ian nodded his head froot quickly to his feet