“Did he indeed?” Shaw looked hard at Gorsak. “Where is he now?”
“Not your business, friend.” Gorsak’s heavy, bearded face leered down at him and he heard Gelda give a throaty gurgle of laughter. Then Gorsak went on, “But I will tell you all the same, for I am so sorry for hitting you so hard! You understand. I did not like my brother-in-law.” His face darkened savagely, cruelly. “You English have a proverb, no? Kill the two birds with one stone. My brother-in-law’s body lies in the forest where we met. You understand, yes?”
“I understand all right! You’re a tough nut, Gorsak. Well, I — suppose I ought to say thank you.”
“There is no need. It is enough that I am able to help. Gorsak hates many people, not alone his brother-in-law, that is why he does this work.” He got to his feet, looming larger than ever in the confined space. “Now we must get on — but first, Gelda will attend to you.”
Gorsak went away. Shaw lay back and closed his eyes and then Gelda came into the back of the bus with a pannikin of clear, cold water. They had stopped, she told him, where a stream ran along beside the road. She gave Shaw a refreshing drink of water and then bathed his face free of blood. Her hands were surprisingly gentle.
The cold water did him good and after a while Gelda said comfortingly, “The marks — not bad. Many bloods all gone. Gorsak know how, where to hit so not mark long time. Not show, all gone, day after this day.”
“Well, that’s good. I suppose I’ve got a nice pair of black eyes all the same.”
“Eyes…” She bent to examine his face and he felt the nearness of her again. Hot breath swept his face. “Eyes… iss blue. Pretty. I like.”
There was a gust of laughter from the front and Shaw, smiling, said, “Better cut out the flattery, Gelda. I don’t want to end up like Gorsak’s brother-in-law!”
Gorsak called something in Hungarian then and Gelda, smiling back at Shaw, said, “No black eyes. Face some swollen, soon go. Eyes quite O.K.”
When Gelda had finished with him she gave him a drink from a bottle. It tasted like some rough form of brandy and after it he felt a good deal better, though when they started up again the shaking he got racked his head badly. As
Gorsak drove off, he said they were already through Mosonmagyaróvár and heading south-east for Gyor where they would turn off for Budapest.
They stopped for meals en route, pulling off the road while Gorsak made a fire and Gelda prepared some food and cooked it. It was mainly a very sustaining vegetable soup which she provided, a soup made from what they could find in the fields, and once there was a rabbit which Gorsak, with his gipsy skill, was able to catch bare-handed. The Hungarian preferred eating this way to stopping in any of the towns and villages for a meal at a workers’ eating-place. This was partly due to his gipsy blood, but also partly to caution. The fewer the people who saw them together, he said, the better it would be for him if anything unfortunate should happen after Shaw was across the border — a hypothesis which Shaw found peculiarly depressing. So Gorsak made the fires and Gelda cooked, and when they sat down for that first meal in the open Shaw found the Hungarian much more forthcoming than he had been on their first meeting. He had mellowed and was no longer suspicious and surly. Perhaps it was the fact that he was back in his own country, perhaps it was because his part in the mission, with the first obstacle behind him, was soon to be over — for he would not cross into Russia with Shaw.
“How do I cross?” Shaw asked, biting hungrily into a vast hunk of black bread. “And talking of that, I’ve been meaning to ask you… why didn’t you tell me back in Austria how you meant to get me through Carovác?”
Gorsak smiled and said simply, “You said I was tough. I am, friend. By God, I have to be. But there are times… let me put it this way: I wished for obvious reasons to make your beating-up look very convincing. If you had known what I was going to do, you would not have defended yourself properly — and I could not have made a good and thorough business of it.” He added with an incongruous touch of virtue that made Shaw smile inwardly, “It is the way Gorsak is made — you know?”
“Hm… what about your brother-in-law?”
“Is different.” Gorsak’s face darkened, the dangerous look returning. “I told you. My brother-in-law was my enemy, so I slit his throat.” He gestured accordingly, with a sharp knife which he had used for skinning the rabbit. “You, now — you had done me no harm. There is a difference.”
“For which the Lord make me truly thankful,” Shaw murmured, grinning. “But suppose I’d come round at the frontier? I couldn’t have backed your story about Gelda then, could I?”
“Gorsak hit good.” He struck himself boastfully on the chest, his eyes gleaming. “I knew you would not come round. But if you had, I would have hit you again, very hard, in the natural course of my indignation. You understand? And now, all that is in the past. We must think for the future, so listen carefully, friend.” Gorsak put down the pot from which he was drinking soup, and fumbled with a filthy pipe. “We shall be across Hungary by about nine o’clock tomorrow night, allowing for as many stops as we shall need. We could do it quicker, but this is not wanted, so we shall not go too fast. We make for the frontier town of Khamchevko, where arrives at nine-thirty-five the express from Budapest on its way to Smolensk in Russia. This express, which you will catch after I have bought you a ticket for Smolensk, stops at Khamchevko for the frontier check out of Hungary — the railway-station is itself the frontier post for the train passengers. Now, friend.” Gorsak leaned forward, closer, speaking softly although they were in open country miles from any human habitation. “The station is built across the actual frontier, and half of it is in Hungary and the other half in Russia. A stout barrier across the platform at each side, with much barbed wire and electrification, and armed guards, divides the station in two. When the trains pull in, they pull only so far as this barrier, and all the passengers are made to disembark under guard. The train is then searched and when it is empty it pulls ahead, beyond the barrier, to the Russian end. Into Russia, you understand. Then it stops again, and waits. The people go through the combined Hungary-Soviet checkpoint where their documents are most carefully examined. Once they have passed through, they are free to board the train again. Naturally, if there are many passengers, this process takes some time, but normally the train moves on at midnight. You understand?”
“I’m with you so far, Gorsak.”
“Now, here is the interesting thing. If one extends a line sideways into the station buildings from the barrier, one finds that the frontier between Hungary and Russia at this point runs precisely between the Hungarian men’s urinal and the Russian women’s lavatory.” Gorsak gave a deep, coarse chuckle and nudged Shaw hard in the ribs. “Odd, yes — but true — and very fortunate, friend, because at the present, due to some reconstruction in progress of which I intend to take advantage, there is a long, high gap at the top of the wall, a gap through which you will be able to pass easily. Had it not been for this, we would have had to find another way, which would have been more dangerous.”
“And this isn’t?” Shaw was incredulous. “Surely the authorities have taken precautions?”
“Yes, they have. As I understand it, this is what they do: On the Hungarian side, an armed guard stands inside the men’s urinal. On the Russian side, another armed guard stands, but outside and not inside, since the compartment is for the use of women. The only exit opens into the already guarded platform. Now, I shall accompany you into the Hungarian side, and together we shall deal with the guard. Then I shall give you a hand up to the gap. After that, it is for you to deal with the Russian guard on the other side when he comes to investigate any sound. This will not be easy, yet neither will it be impossible. Also, friend, it is the best I can offer.”