Leaving Charlton for a moment he slipped into the bedroom to consult the Baron, but before he had a chance to put up his suggestion he was struck by something peculiar about the atmosphere of the room. It was not the close fogginess in which Hans Foldar and his wife usually slept. Since the window of this room. too, had been smashed to atoms by the Nazis' ballets. It was something else. Gregory sniffed quickly twice then he knew. It was the faint smell of wood smoke.
Von Lutz was almost indistinguishable in the darkness but his voice came from near the window.
"How does it go with you?"
"We're still all right. But what are they up to now? Can you smell anything here?"
The Baron drew a long, deep breath through his nostrils and, exhaling it, suddenly exclaimed: "Himmel, ja! I haf not notice it before but it comes from the window. I can smell smoke."
"That's it. I had a hope just now that they'd sent to Dornitz for reinforcements and we might stand a chance of breaking through while their numbers were reduced;. but my first hunch that they were planning something pretty nasty for us was right. They've been collecting wood all this time and now they've fired the place."
As he ceased speaking a faint hissing and crackling caught their ears, proving him to be right. The Nazis had piled up all the loose wood they could find against, the blank wall at the bedroom end of the cottage and the bonfire was just beginning to get well alight.
The smell of smoke grew stronger; soon great puffs of it were drifting in through the broken window and the crackling of the flames increased to a low roar. Gregory put his hand on the far wall of the bedroom and withdrew it quickly; the timbers were already scorching to the touch.
There was nothing they could do about it nothing whatever. They could not get at the blaze to attempt to put it out, while it was still small, and once the flames ad eaten their way through the wall it would have much too strong a hold for them to get it under. Even the possibility of delaying its action by throwing buckets of water from the kitchen tank against the threatened wall was denied to them since they were compelled to crawl about the floor; not daring to stand upright in case the Nazis started shooting, again through the shattered windows.
Von Lutz began to cough from the acrid smoke which was now filling the room, so Gregory called to him and they both returned to the kitchen. Freddie looked up quickly from where he was kneeling behind the barricade. "They've fired the place, haven't they? There's been a strong smell of smoke for some minutes."
Gregory nodded and the airman went on: "Well, what are we going to do? Break out or stay here to be roasted alive?"
"Break out," said von Lutz; "but not yet not till the flames haf goat hold. They will gif us light to see by so we can shoot more of these swine’s before we ourselves are shot."
"That cuts both ways," Gregory replied promptly. "The brighter the light the easier it will be for them to pick us off from a distance as we come out."
Although his argument for an immediate sortie was sound they still hesitated, knowing that once they were outside with their backs against the flames they would make a perfect target for the sub machine guns of their enemies. It was a foregone conclusion that within two minutes of crossing the threshold they would all be dead.
The voice of the flames had swollen to a sudden roar and, now that it had properly caught, the old wooden cottage was going up like tinder. Von Lutz stepped across the narrow passage and opened the door of the bedroom. A great cloud of smoke billowed out, choking and half blinding him. The far wall was now a solid sheet of flame. Curtains, bedding and draperies had also caught, making glowing red patches in the blackish murk. He hastily thrust the door to again, brushed his hand over his watering eyes and gasped:
"We haf another few moments only at the most. Let us go now to die like brave men."
Gregory picked up his shot gun then he smiled at Charlton. "Sorry I let you in for this; Freddie."
Charlton smiled back. "I might just as well die riddled with bullets on the ground as in a plane; and that would have been my end for certain if this filthy war is going on for long."
Frau Foldar was still seated in the corner where Freddie had put her, well out of danger from shots coming through the windows. During the fight she had remained there, wide eyed, terrified, unspeaking, seeming hardly to understand what was going on. Glancing towards her he said to the others:
"We can't leave her here, although I am afraid having to lug her along with us puts paid to any chance we might have had of getting through by a sudden dash."
"I'll take her," said Gregory and von Lutz simultaneously, but the Baron added:
"This my affair is. She is one of my peoples. Go, please both of you. Good luck! Make no delay it is an order,"
Gregory did not argue. He knew that whoever led the way would make the target for the first burst of the Nazis' fire, whereas whoever took the old peasant woman would be screened behind the leaders of the party; so if it could be considered that there was a chance of any of them getting through at all the odds were about even.
Their eyes were smarting from the smoke that now filled the kitchen. The heat was stifling and the fierce crackling of burning wood much nearer now showed that the flames had advanced from the bedroom and were already devouring the partition wall beside which they stood.
"Let's go," said Gregory, and they moved out into the tiny corridor which gave out on to the back door. As he lifted his hand to pull back the heavy wooden bolt a fresh burst of shooting suddenly broke out behind the house. Pausing with his hand outstretched he exclaimed: "What the devil's that?"
They listened for a moment but no bullets thudded into the woodwork of the cottage so the Nazis were not now firing at it. What then, they all wondered, could this fresh shooting mean?
"It is Hans! " cried von Lutz, his eyes showing joy and excitement. "I know him forty years. When the Nazis first surprise us and he runs away I am as much ashamed as if I haf run away myself. But I was unjust. Now all is clear. Hans has the gout sense. He knows we cannot hold out here. He rushes his fellow woodmen to get and they are now the enemy from the rear attacking."
Gregory hesitated no longer. Pulling back the bolt he wrenched open the door and yelled: "Come on, them Now's the time to give him a hand; we'll save our necks yet."
He dashed from the cottage, the others hard on his heels; Von Lutz and Charlton each grabbing Frau Foldar by an arm to support her as they ran. No hail of shots came at them; the Nazis were now fully engaged with the woodmen who had attacked them in the rear. Spurts of flame stabbed the darkness of the woods from half a dozen different directions and the night echoed to the roar of explosions as automatics and shot guns were pitted against each other.
Tae glare from the burning cottage lit the scene for some distance but threw up great black shadows here and there so that the ground looked broken and uneven. When Gregory had covered twenty yards he could see vague figures moving among the trees. A splash of flame came from the weapon of the nearest; it was one of the Nazis who had suddenly turned and seen the fugitives rushing from the blazing building. His bullet might have ended Gregory's career had he not at that second tripped and gone crashing headlong over the body of another Nazi who had been shot down earlier in the attack.
For a few moments utter confusion reigned. `von Lutz pistolled the man who had fired at Gregory but others had turned their weapons upon the escaping party. As they crouched together beside Gregory, who was struggling to get back his breath, bullets whistled overhead and scores of pellets from the woodmen's shot guns rattled on the dry branches and the leaves of the undergrowth. Someone was wailing piteously further in among the trees; a sharp cry told of another who had been hit. The S.S. officer was shouting to his troopers, now caught between two fires, as Gregory, the Baron and Charlton again came into action. Von Lutz was yelling to Hans so that his men should not shoot at them by mistake in the semi darkness. Then Hans's voice came in the near distance and next moment, crying: "Don't shoot? Don't shoot! " he came blundering through the trees towards them.