Certainly! Andrea's round moon face was one vast smirk of satisfaction. We climbed the cliff, as I said-- although the boy in the cave there was badly hurt and silenced the guard. Mallory killed him, Andrea added unblushingly. It was fair fight. We spent most of the night crossing the divide and found this cave before dawn. We were almost dead with hunger and cold. We have been here since.
And nothing has happened since?
On the contrary. Andrea seemed to be enjoying himself hugely, revelling in being the focus of attention. Two people came up to see us. Who they were I do not know they kept their faces hidden all the time nor do I know where they came from.
It is as well that you admitted that, Turzig said grimly. I knew someone had been here. I recognised the stove it belongs to Hauptmann Skoda!
Indeed? Andrea raised his eyebrows in polite surprise. I did not know. Well, they talked for some time and
Did you manage to overhear anything they were talking about? Turzig interrupted. The question came so naturally, so spontaneously, that Mallory held his breath. It was beautifully done. Andrea would walk into it he couldn't help it. But Andrea was a man inspired that night.
Overhear them! Andrea clamped his lips shut in sorely-tried forbearance, gazed heavenwards in exasperated appeal. Lieutenant Turzig, how often must I tell you that I am the interpreter? They could only talk through me. Of course I know what they were talking about. They are going to blow up the big guns in the harbour.
I didn't think they had come here for their health! Turzig said acidly.
Ah, but you don't know that they have the plans of the fortress. You don't know that Kheros is to be invaded on Saturday morning. You don't know that they are in radio contact with Cairo all the time. You don't know that destroyers of the British Navy are coming through the Maidos Straits on Friday night as soon as the big guns have been silenced. You don't know
Enough! Turzig clapped his hands together, his face alight with excitement. The Royal Navy, eh? Wonderful, wonderful! That is what we want to hear. But enough! Keep it for Hauptmann Skoda and the Commandant in the fortress. We must be off. But first one more thing. The explosives where are they?
Andrea's shoulders slumped in dejection. He spread out his arms, palms upward.
Alas, Lieutenant Turzig, I do not know. They took them out and hid them some talk about the cave being too hot. He waved a hand towards the western col, in the diametrically opposite direction to Leri's hut. That way, I think. But I cannot be sure, for they would not tell me. He looked bitterly at Mallory. These Britishens are all the same. They trust nobody.
Heaven only knows that I don't blame them for that! Turzig said feelingly. He looked at Andrea in disgust. More than ever I would like to see you dangling from the highest scaffold in Navarone. But Herr Kommandant in the town is a kindly man and rewards informers. You may yet live to betray some more comrades.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I knew you were fair and just. I promise you, Lieutenant Turzig
Shut up! Turzig said contemptuously. He switched into German. Sergeant, have these men bound. And don't forget the fat one! Later we can untie him, and he can carry the sick man to the post. Leave a man on guard. The rest of you come with me we must find those explosives.
Could we not make one of them tell us, sir? the sergeant ventured.
The only man who would tell us can't. He's already told us all he knows. As for the rest well, I was mistaken about them, Sergeant. He turned to Mallory, inclined his head briefly, spoke in English. An error of judgment, Herr Mallory. We are all very tired. I am almost sorry I struck you. He wheeled abruptly, climbed swiftly up the bank. Two minutes later only a solitary soldier was left on guard.
For the tenth time Mallory shifted his position uncomfortably, strained at the cord that bound his hands together behind his back, for the tenth time recognised the futility of both these actions. No matter how he twisted and turned, the wet snow soaked icily through his clothes until he was chilled to the bone and shaking continually with the cold; and the man who had tied these knots had known his job all too well. Mallory wondered irritably if Turzig and his men meant to spend all night searching for the explosives: they had been gone for more than half an hour already.
He relaxed, lay back on his side in the cushioning snow of the gully bank, and looked thoughtfully at Andrea who was sitting upright just in front of him. He had watched Andrea, with bowed head and hunched and lifting shoulders, making one single, titanic effort to free himself seconds after the guard had gestured to them to sit down, had seen the cords bite and gouge until they had almost disappeared in his flesh, the fractional slump of his shoulders as he gave up. Since then the giant Greek had sat quite still and contented himself with scowling at the sentry in the injured fashion of one who has been grievously wronged. That solitary test of the strength of his bonds had been enough. Oberleutnant Turzig had keen eyes, and swollen, chafed and bleeding wrists would have accorded ill with the character Andrea had created for himself.
A masterly creation, Mallory mused, all the more remarkable for its spontaneity, its improvisation. Andrea had told so much of the truth, so much that was verifiable or could be verified, that belief in the rest of his story followed almost automatically. And at the same time he had told Turzig nothing of importance, nothing the Germans could not have found out for themselves except the proposed evacuation of Kheros by the Navy. Wryly Mallory remembered his dismay, his shocked unbelief when he heard Andrea telling of it-- but Andrea had been far ahead of him. There was a fair chance that the Germans might have guessed anyway-- they would reason, perhaps, that an assault by the British on the guns of Navarone at the same time as the German assault on Kheros would be just that little bit too coincidentaclass="underline" again, escape for them all quite clearly depended upon how thoroughly Andrea managed to convince his captors that he was all he claimed, and the relative freedom of action that he could thereby gain-- and there was no doubt at all that it was the news of the proposed evacuation that had tipped the scales with Turzig: and the fact that Andrea had given Saturday as the invasion date would only carry all the more weight, as that had been Jensen's original date obviously false information fed to his agents by German counter-Intelligence, who had known it impossible to conceal the invasion preparations themselves; and finally, if Andrea hadn't told Turzig of the destroyers, he might have failed to carry conviction, they might all yet finish on the waiting gallows in the fortress, the guns would remain intact and destroy the naval ships anyway.
It was all very complicated, too complicated for the state his head was in. Mallory sighed and looked away from Andrea towards the other two. Brown and a now conscious Miller were both sitting upright, hands bound behind their backs, staring down into the snow, occasionally shaking muzzy heads from side to side. Mallory could appreciate all too easily how they felt the whole righthand side of his face ached cruelly, continuously. Nothing but aching, broken heads everywhere, Mallory thought bitterly. He wondered how Andy Stevens was feeling, glanced idly past the sentry towards the dark mouth of the cave, stiffened in sudden, almost uncomprehending shock.