Part 22 (2/2)

”And one some place else,”

Freddy murmured and pulled a bar of chocolate from his pocket ”At least no boreed Then with a stiff grin, ”And it's a cinch that none are going to hit us, either, while those Gerot away I guess they did, though, or we'd hear fighting right now Gee! Can you beat it?”

”Beat what?” Freddy asked through a mouthful of crunched chocolate bar

”What's the , and maybe it isn't so funny,” Dave said ”We sort of started all this business behind the Gerain I sure hope we don't end it that way! Wonder how long we'll have to wait? Until it's dark, I guess”

Freddy didn't answer He crawled up the stones and peered through the crack again When he came down his dust and dirt smeared face looked most unhappy

”Until it's dark, at least,” he said with a sad shake of his head ”And uns into position in back of the railroad station Yes, I' to stay here a bit, too”

”Well, when it gets dark we get out of here,” Dave said griuns”

”You bet,” Freddy said and fell silent

As though their silence was a signal to the gunners above, the earth and the sky once un muzzles belched out their sheets of flame and steel-cladfar off to the east To get away fro as much as possible, the two boys crawled far back into the wall cave and tried to make themselves comfortable

Seconds clicked by to add up to minutes, and minutes ticked by to add up to an hour Then eventually it o hours, then three, then four And still the guns hammered and snarled and pounded away at their distant objectives It seeh it would never end Try as they did to steel theainst the perpetual thunder, and the constant shaking and heaving of the earth under theht there with them every second of the time Their eardrums ached, and seemed ready to snap apart They tore off little pieces of their shi+rts and used thes to stuff in their ears That helped so, barking thunder allit died down considerably And when the shadows of night started creeping up it ceased altogether The two boys crawled forward and up the boh the crack between the stones The hopes that had been born in theuns stopped see hooked onto the tractors Nor were the swar lines of ons were being rolled forward, and flare lights were being set about all over the place Even as Dave and Freddy crouched there watching with sinking spirits two flare lights sputtered into being directly above their heads With sudden terror gripping their hearts they scuttled back deep into their hiding place

”No soap, I guess,” Dave said bitterly ”We'd stick out like a couple of sore thumbs What do you think, Freddy?”

”The salish youth said unhappily ”We'd be fools to budge an inch I most certainly e had blankets These are the hardest rocks I ever felt”

”You said it,” Dave muttered and ran his hand over the hard surface that was unquestionably going to serve as his bed for another night of terror ”Maybe, though, they'll pull out before dawn Or , for sure”

If the Gods of war heard Dave Dawson's words they lee, for they kne false his hopes were The Gerht Nor did they leave in theboain And for another whole day the boys huddled together in their hiding place and struggled with every bit of their will power to stop frouns

Then, suddenly, when there was still an hour of daylight left, the guns went silent for keeps, and instead there were all kinds of sounds of feverish activity Harsh orders flew thick and fast Men shouted and cursed Tractor engines roared into life Truck transport gears weresound, and as the boys watched through their look-out crack they saw the Ger toward the southwest Neither of them spoke until the last truck had passed out of view And by then it was pitch dark, save for a shi+low to the east and to the south

”Boy, I thought it would never happen!” Dave said in a shaky voice

”Co before others arrive here Which way do you think we'd better head?”

”The railroad track, I think,” Freddy said after a moment of silence

”It must have been blown all to bits by those Stukas, or else there would have been a train coh, they headed down the road to the southwest”

”Check,” Dave said ”And that track is supposed to lead to Dunkirk

Gosh, I hope the British are still there”