Part 24 (1/2)

”Jeepers, jeepers!” Dave finally broke the silence ”You and that Belgian sergeant are just beginners coosh!+ I know darn well he s, instead of around them Gee, Freddy! Look at those flames! No wonder you could see the up in srabbed his arm as he pointed with his other hand ”There on the beach It's the British ar out in the water to the boats! It et in any closer Gee, Dave, _gee!_”

Dave couldn't speak as he stared at the sight The words were all too choked up inside of him to come out The whole beach was practically covered with row after row of British and French soldiers They stood in long columns of ten and twelve h up on the beach far out into the shalloater In so on wheels had been driven out into the water and parked side by side, parked hub to hub and planks laid across the tops of them to form a makeshi+ft pier that could reach out into deeper water But there were only a few of such piers Most of the colu out into the water until it came up to their chests, and even up to their necks

And out there looking weird and grotesque in the glow of the burning Channel port were boats of every conceivable description There were row boats, and yachts Fishi+ng smacks and pleasure yawls Coastal vessels and ferry boats Motor boats and canoes Barges and British destroyers

Anything and everything that could float had been brought over to help in the evacuation No, it wasn't the British Navy taking the British Ar men

Dave and Freddy stood rooted in their tracks staring wide eyed at the historic event that will live forever in the minds of men Their eyes soaked up the scene, and their ears soaked up the congloh, practically all of the sounds ca of signal horns, the purr and the roar of engines, and the shouts of the appointed and of the self-made skippers and crews of the fantastic rescue fleet The troops hardly made any sound at all Perhaps they were too tired Perhaps the roar of battle still ringing in their ears ues Or perhaps they were content just to follow the next man ahead and pray silently that they would be taken aboard soht and the Stukas arrived once again But the real reason for their strange silence, probably, was becausetheir turn, and dodging Stuka bo shells And after such an ordeal they were too stunned to know or even care about talking Each had a single, all ied and sloshed toward it, nu on about theh it isn't real!” Dave heard hi so you knoas just made up Gosh, there's thousands of theot away already? And”

The last froze on Dave's lips At thatand sullen roar of the fla the city there caht wind in the trees, only it wasn't It was a sound that chilled the blood of every 's Stukas and Heinkels and Messersch second Dave and Freddy heard it, and then it was drowned out by the roans and curses that welled up from the throats of those thousands of soldiers on the beach

Yet as Dave stared at them, unable to move, he saw that not a h they were on a parade ground instead of on a beach streith their own dead Rifles and portable htening heavens, but no ed vultures under Goering's co down out of the sky Their noise drowned out all other noises, including the noise of the guns that greeted the the roof right off the top of the world It wasn't a screa wail Nor was it a continual thunderous roar It was just a sound that had never been heard before, and, perhaps, will never be heard again A hty collection of all sounds in the whole world blended into one hty inferno of noise

As Dave and Freddy stood transfixed it didn't so much as even occur to either of them to run for soround was one great e and red flame a couple of hundred yards away fro, but they couldn't even hear the sound Another fountain of fla, but no individual sound of the boreat raging ball of red fire It tore their eyes upward in time to see a Heinkel boulfed by that fla down to hit the water off-shore and disappear as though by ic

It was then, and then only they realized that not all of the planes overhead were German It was then they saw British Hurricanes, and Spitfires, and Defiants slash down out of the dawn sky in groups of three and pounce upon the German planes in a relentless, furious attack that set the wildly at the top of their voices The Royal Air Force The RAF, the saviors of Dunkirk! Outnu heart, in spirit, and in real flying ability that there wasn't even any rooainst five Gerainst fifty! What did it allant troops to be evacuated back ho's vultures with orders to shoot down the British troops like cattle Never! Never in all God's world as long as there was an RAF plane left, and an RAF pilot alive to fly it!

Suddenly Dave becaht arhtly with one hand and pounding it with his other fist The light of a lish youth's eyes When he had Dave's attention he stopped pounding and pointed to the left and beyond a short line of bomb blasted wharves

”Look, look, Dave!” came his shrill scream faintly ”Look off that first wharf There's a et in close, but a Messerschmitt ca to get up And there's the Messerschainst those rocks, and sot to reach that boat before it hits the rocks Look! The Messerschot him this time!”

As Freddy screa slinky looking power boat, but it wasn't even slinking along, now

The lone figure had fallen across the engine hood, and a diving Messersch tide was carrying the craft broadside toward soed rocks that stuck up out of the water not two hundred yards away

Dave was looking at it And then suddenly he realized that his feet were pounding across the beach That he was racing e And that Freddy Farmer was close at his heels

CHAPTER NINETEEN

_The White Cliffs!_

By the time they reached the water they had stripped off their hospital jackets, torn free their water canteens, and flung them away Shoulder to shoulder they splashed out as far as they could, then dived in They broke surface together and struck out for the helpless craft being carried toward its doohty battle of the air Bombs fell close and when one struck the water and went off, a thousand fists seeainst their chests Behind thelow turned the waters through which they swam to the color of blood And there ahead of thehly polished brown log drifting on the crest of a shi+s, and his ar ounce of his strength to lift up and cut down into the water again But he fought back the aches, and the pains, and the gnawing fatigue And so did Freddy Farmer there by his side They kept their eyes fixed on that drifting motorboat and they didn't take theside it and hooking an ar and gulping for air Then at an unspoken signal they each shi+fted their grip to the s each side from stem to stern, and hauled themselves into the boat

Not even then did they speak a word, for words were unnecessary, now

There was a job to do, and a job to be done fast The rocks weren'twater froine hood, lifted up the ently to the deck At the saht up an oar and rushed toward the bow to fend off the craft should it reach the rocks

Lifting the engine hood Dave took one look inside and gulped with relief Messerschine