Alistair Maclean - Guns Of Navarone - bzelbublive.info

green-lichened walls of the cave or dripped directly on to the half-frozen gravelly slush on the floor of the cave. Withno through ventilation and no escape for the water accumulating at the sides of the shelter, the whole place was dankand airless and terribly chill."Maybe he'll be hospitalised sooner than you think," Mallory said dryly. "How's his leg?""Worse." Miller was blunt. "A helluva sight worse. I've just chucked in another handful of suipha and tied thingsup again. That's all I can do, boss, and it's just a waste of time anyway. . . . What was that crack about a hospital?" headded suspiciously."That was no crack," Mallory said soberly, "but one of the more unpleasant facts of life. There's a German searchparty heading this way. They mean business. They'll find us, all right."Miller swore. "That's handy, that's just wonderful," he said bitterly. "How far away, boss?""An hour, maybe a little more.""And what are we goin' to do with Junior, here? Leave him? It's his only chance, I reckon.""Stevens comes with us." There was a flat finality in Mallory's voice. Miller looked at him for a long time in silence:his face was very cold."Stevens comes with us," Miller repeated. "We drag him along with us until he's dead--that won't take long--andthen we leave him in the snow. Just like that, Huh?""Just like that, Dusty." Absently Mallory brushed some snow off his clothes, and looked up again at Miller."Stevens knows too much. The Germans will have guessed why we're on the island, but they don't know how wepropose to get inside the fortress--and they don't know when the Navy's coming through. But Stevens does. They'llmake him talk. Scopolamine will make anyone taik.""Scopolamine! On a dying man?" Miller was openly incredulous."Why not? I'd do the same myself. If you were the German commandant and you knew that your big guns and halfthe men in your fortress were liable to be blown to hell any moment, you'd do the same."Miller looked at him, grinned wryly, shook his head."Me and my--""I know. You and your big mouth." Mallory smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. "I don't like it one little bitmore than you do, Dusty." He turned away and crossed to the other side of the cave. "How are you feeling, Chief?""Not too bad, sir." Casey Brown was only just awake, numbed and shivering in sodden clothes. "Anythingwrong?""Plenty," Mallory assured him. "Search party moving this way. We'll have to pull out inside half an hour." Helooked at his watch. "Just on four o'clock. Do you think you could raise Cairo on the set?""Lord only knows," Brown said frankly. He rose stiffly to his feet. "The radio didn't get just the best of treatmentyesterday. I'll have a go.""Thanks, Chief. See that your aerial doesn't stick up above the sides of the gully." Mallory turned to leave the cave,but halted abruptly at the sight of Andrea squatting on a boulder just beside the entrance. His head bent inconcentration, the big Greek had just finished screwing telescopic sights on to the barrel of his 7.92 mm. Mauser andwas now deftly wrapping a sleeping-bag lining round its barrel and butt until the entire rifle was wrapped in a whitecocoon.Mallory watched him in silence. Andrea glanced up at him, smiled, rose to his feet and reached out for his rucksack.Within thirty seconds he was clad from head to toe in his mountain camouflage suit, was drawing tight thepurse-strings of his snowhood and easing his feet into the rucked elastic anklets of his canvas boots. Then he pickedup the Mauser and smiled slightly."I thought I might be taking a little walk, Captain," he said apologetically. "With your permission, of course."Mallory nodded his head several times in slow recollection."You said I was worrying about nothing," he murmured. "I should have known. You might have told me, Andrea."But the protest was automatic, without significance. Mallory felt neither anger nor even annoyance at this tacitarrogation of his authority. The habit of command died hard in Andrea: on such occasions as he ostensibly soughtapproval for or consulted about a proposed course of action it was generally as a matter of courtesy and to giveinformation as to his intentions. Instead of resentment, Mallory could feel only an overwhelming relief and gratitude tothe smiling giant who towered above him: he had talked casually to Miller about driving Stevens till he died and thenabandoning him, talked with an indifference that masked a mind sombre with bitterness at what he must do, but evenso he had not known how depressed, bow sick at heart this decision had left him until he knew it was no longernecessary."I am sorry." Andrea was half-contrite, half-smiling. "I should have told you. I thought you understood. . . . It is thebest thing to do, yes?""It is the only thing to do," Mallory said frankly: "You're going to draw them off up the saddle?""There is no other way. With their skis they would overtake me in minutes if I went down into the valley. I cannotcome back, of course, until it is dark. You will be here?""Some of us will." Mallory glanced across the shelter where a waking Stevens was trying to sit up, heels of hispalms screwing into his exhausted eyes. "We must have food and fuel, Andrea," he said softly. "I am going down intothe valley to-night.""Of course, of course. We must do what we can." Andrea's face was grave, his voice only a murmur. "As long aswe can. He is only a boy, a child almost. . . . Perhaps it will not be long." He pulled back the curtain, looked out at theevening sky. "I will be back by seven o'clock."Page 42