The Guns of Navarone

CHAPTER 9

«So I was wrong,» Andrea murmured. «He wasn't asleep.»

«He certainly wasn't,» Mallory agreed grimly. «He fooled me too--and he heard what I said.» His mouth twisted. «He knows now why we're so anxious to look after him. He knows now that he was right when he spOke about a mill-stone. I should hate to feel the way he must be feeling right now.»

Andrea nodded. «It is not difficult to guess why he has gone.»

Mallory looked quickly at his watch, pushed his way out of the cave.

«Twenty minutes — he can't have been gone more than twenty minutes. Probably a bit less to make sure we were well clear. He can only drag himself — fifty yards at the most. We'll find him in four minutes. Use your torches and take the hoods off — nobody will see us in this damn' blizzard. Fan out uphill — I'll take the gully in the middle.»

«Uphill?» Louki's hand was on his arm, his voice puzzled. «But his leg—»

«Uphill, I said,» Mallory broke in impatiently. «Stevens has brains — and a damn' sight more guts than he thinks we credit him with. He'll figure we'll think he's taken the easy way.» Mallory paused a moment, then went on sombrely: «Any dying man who drags himself out in this lot is going to do nothing the easy way. Come on!»

They found him in exactly three minutes. He must have suspected that Mallory wouldn't fall for the obvious, or he had heard them stumbling up the slope, for he had managed to burrow his way in behind the overhanging snowdrift that sealed off the space beneath a projecting ledge just above the rim of the gully. An almost perfect place of concealment, but his leg betrayed him: in the probing light of his torch Andrea's sharp eyes caught the tiny trickle of blood seeping darkly through the surface of the snow. He was already unconscious when they uncovered him, from cold or exhaustion or the agony of his shattered leg: probably from all three.

Back in the cave again, Mallory tried to pour some ouzo — the fiery, breath-catching local spirit — down Ste vens's throat. He had a vague suspicion that this might be dangerous — or perhaps it was only dangerous in cases of shock, his memory was confused on that point — but it seemed better than nothing. Stevens gagged, spluttered and coughed most of it back up again, but some at least stayed down. With Andrea's help Mallory tightened the loosened splints on the leg, staunched the oozing blood, and spread below and above the boy every dry covering he could find in the cave. Then he sat back tiredly and fished out a cigarette from his waterproof case. There was nothing more he could do until Dusty Miller returned with Panayis from the village. He was pretty sure that there was nothing that Dusty could do for Stevens either. There was nothing anybody could do for him.

Already Louki had a fire burning near the mouth of the cave, the old, tinder-dry wood blazing up in a fierce, crackling blaze with hardly a wisp of smoke. Almost at once its warmth began to spread throughout the cave, and the three men edged gratefully nearer. From half a dozen points in the roof thin, steadily-increasing streams of water from the melting snows above began to splash down on the gravelly floor beneath: with these, and with the heat of the blaze, the ground was soon a quagmire. But, especially to Mallory and Andrea, these discomforts were a small price to pay for the privilege of being warm for the first time in over thirty hours. Mallory felt the glow seep through him like a benison, felt his entire body relax, his eyelids grow heavy and drowsy.

Back propped against the wall, he was just drifting off to sleep, still smoking that first cigarette, when there was a gust of wind, a sudden chilling flurry of snow and Brown was inside the cave, wearily slipping the transmitter straps from his shoulders. Lugubrious as ever, his tired eyes lit up momentarily at the sight of the fire. Blue-faced and shuddering with cold — no joke, Mallory thought grimly, squatting motionless for half an hour on that bleak and frozen hillside — he hunched down silently by the fire, dragged out the inevitable cigarette and gazed moodily into the flames, oblivious alike of the clouds of steam that almost immediately enveloped him, of the acrid smell of his singeing clothes. He looked utterly despondent. Mallory reached for a bottle, poured out some of the heated retsimo — mainland wine heavily reinforced with resin — and passed it across to Brown.

«Chuck it straight down the hatch,» Mallory advised. «That way you won't taste it.» He prodded the transmitter with his foot and looked up at Brown again. «No dice this time either?»

«Raised them no bother, sir.» Brown grimaced at the sticky sweetness of the wine. «Reception was first class — both here and in Cairo.»

«You got through!» Mallory sat up, leaned forward eagerly. «And were they pleased to hear from their wandering boys to-night?»

«They didn't say. The first thing they told me was to shut up and stay that way.» Brown poked moodily at the fire with a steaming boot. «Don't ask me how, sir, but they've been tipped off that enough equipment for two or three small monitoring stations has been sent here in the past fortnight.»

Mallory swore.

«Monitoring stations! That's damned handy, that is!» He thought briefly of the fugitive, nomad existence these same monitoring stations had compelled Andrea and himself to lead in the White Mountains of Crete. «Dammit, Casey, on an island like this, the size of a soup plate, they can pin-point us with their eyes shut!»

«Aye, they can that, sir,» Brown nodded heavily.

«Have you heard anything of these stations, Louki?» Mallory asked.

«Nothing, Major; nothing.» Louki shrugged. «I am afraid I do not even know what you are talking about.»

«I don't suppose so. Not that it matters — it's too late now. Let's have the rest of the good news, Casey.»

«That's about it, sir. No sending for me — by order. Restricted to code abbreviations — affirmative, negative, repetitive, wilco and such-like. Continuous sending only in emergency or when concealment's impossible anyway.»

«Like from the condemned cell in these ducky little dungeons in Navarone,» Mallory murmured. «I died with my boots on, ma.»

«With all respects, sir, that's not funny,» Brown said morosely. «Their invasion fleet — mainly caiques and Eboats — sailed this morning from the Piraeus,» he went on. «About four o'clock this morning. Cairo expects they'll be holing up in the Cyclades somewhere tonight.»

«That's very clever of Cairo. Where the hell else could they hole up?» Mallory lit a fresh cigarette and looked bleakly into the fire. «Anyway, it's nice to know they're on the way. That the lot, Casey?»

Brown nodded silently.

«Good enough, then. Thanks a lot for going out. Better turn in, catch up with some sleep while you can… . Louki reckons we should be down in Margaritha before dawn, hole up there for the day — he's got some sort of abandoned well all lined up for us — and push on to the town of Navarone tomorrow night.»

«My God!» Brown moaned. «To-night a leaking cave. To-morrow night an abandoned well — half-full of water, probably. Where are we staying in Navarone, sir. The crypt in the local cemetery?»

«A singularly apt lodging, the way things are going,» Mallory said dryly. «We'll hope for the best. We're leaving before five.» He watched Brown lie down beside Stevens and transferred his attention to Louki. The little man was seated on a box on the opposite side of the fire, occasionally turning a heavy stone to be wrapped in cloth and put to Stevens's numbed feet, and blissfully hugging the flames. By and by he became aware of Mallory's close scrutiny and looked up.

«You look worried, Major.» Louki seemed vexed. «You look — what is the word?--concerned. You do not like my plan, no? I thought we had agreed—»

«I'm not worried about your plan,» Mallory said frankly. «I'm not even worried about you. It's that box you're sitting on. Enough H.E. in it to blow up a battleship — and you're only three feet from that fire. It's not just too healthy, Louki.»

Louki shifted uneasily on his seat, tugged at one end of his moustache.

«I have heard that you can throw this T.N.T. into- a fire and that it just burns up nicely, like a pine full of sap.»

«True enough,» Mallory acquiesced. «You can also bend it, break it, file it, saw it, jump on it and hit it with a sledgehammer, and all you'll get is the benefit of the exercise. But if it starts to sweat in a hot, humid atmosphere — and then the exudation crystallises. Oh, brother! And it's getting far too hot and sticky in this hole.»

«Outside with it!» Louki was on his feet, backing farther into the cave. «Outside with it!» He hesitated. «Unless the snow, the moisture—»

«You can also leave it immersed in salt water for ten years' without doing it any harm,» Mallory interrupted didactically. «But there are some primers there that might come to grief — not to mention that box of detonators beside Andrea. We'll just stick the lot outside, under a cape.»

«Pouf! Louki has a far better idea!» The little man was already slipping into his cloak. «Old Leri's hut! The very place! Exactly! We can pick it up, there whenever we want — and if you have to leave here in a hurry you do not have to worry about it.» Before Mallory could protest, Louki had bent over the box, lifted it with an effort, half-walked, half-staggered round the fire, making for the screen. He had hardly taken three steps when Andrea was by his side, had relieved him firmly of the box and tucked it under one arm.

«If you will permit me—»

«No, no!» Louki was affronted. «I can manage easily. It is nothing.»

«I know, I know,» Andrea said pacifically. «But these explosives — they must be carried a certain way. I have been trained,» he explained.

«So? I did not realise. Of course it must be as you say! I, then, will bring the detonators.» Honour satisfied, Louki thankfully gave up the argument, lifted the little box and scuffled out of the cave close on Andrea's heels.

Mallory looked at his watch. One o'clock exactly. Miller and Panayis should be back soon, he thought. The wind had passed its peak and the snow was almost gone: the going would be all that easier, but there would be tracks in the snow. Awkward, these tracks, but not fatal — they themselves would be gone before light, cutting straight downhill for the foot of the valley. The snow wouldn't lie there — and even if there were patches they could take to the stream that wound through the valley, leaving no trace behind.

The fire was sinking and the cold creeping in on them again. Mallory shivered in his still wet clothes, threw some more wood on the fire, watched it blaze up, and flood the cave with light. Brown, huddled on a groundsheet, was already asleep. Stevens, his back to him, was lying motionless, his breathing short and quick. God only knew how long the boy would stay alive: he was dying, Miller said, but «dying» was a very indefinite term: when a man, a terribly injured, dying man, made up his mind not to die he became the toughest, most enduring creature on earth. Mallory had seen it happen before. But maybe Stevens didn't want to live. To live, to overcome these desperate injuries — that would be to prove himself to himself, and to others, and he was young enough, and sensitive enough and had been hurt and had suffered so much in the past that that could easily be the most important thing in the world to him: on the other hand, he knew what an appalling handicap he had become — he had heard Mallory say so; he knew, too, that Mallory's primary concern was not for his welfare but the fear that he would be captured, crack under pressure and tell everything — he bad heard Mallory say so; and he knew that he had failed his Mends. It was all very difficult, impossible to say how the balance of contending forces would work out eventually. Mallory shook his head, sighed, lit a fresh cigarette and moved closer to the fire.

Andrea and Louki returned less than five minutes later, and Miller and Panayis were almost at their heels. They could hear Miller coming some distance away, slipping, falling and swearing almost continuously as he struggled up the gully under a large and awkward load. He practically fell across the threshold of the cave and collapsed wearily by the fire. He gave the impression of a man who had been through a very great deal indeed. Mallory grinned sympathetically at him.

«Well, Dusty, how did it go? Hope Panayis here didn't slow you up too much.»

Miller didn't seem to hear him. He was gazing incredulously at the fire, lantern jaw dropping open as its significance slowly dawned on him.

«Hell's teeth! Would you look at that!» He swore bitterly. «Here I spend half the gawddamned night climbing up a gawddamned mountain with a stove and enough kerosene to bath a bloody elephant. And what do I find?» He took a deep breath to tell them what he found, then subsided into a strangled, seething silence.

«A man your age should watch his blood pressure,» Mallory advised. «How did the rest of it go?»

«Okay, I guess.» Miller had a mug of ouzo in his hand and was beginning to brighten up again. «We got the beddin', the medicine kit—»

«If you'll give me the bedding I will get our young friend into it now,» Andrea interrupted.

«And food?» Mallory asked.

«Yeah. We got the grub, boss. Stacks of it. This guy Panayis is a Wonder. Bread, wine, goat-cheese, garlic sausages, rice — everything.»

«Rice?» It was Mallory's turn to be incredulous. «But you can't get the stuff in the islands nowadays, Dusty.»

«Panayis can.» Miller was enjoying himself hugely now. «He got it from the German commandant's kitchen. Guy by the name of Skoda.»

«The German commandant's — you're joking!»

«So help me, boss, that's Gospel truth.» Miller drained half the ouzo at a gulp and expelled his breath in a long, gusty sigh of satisfaction. «Little ol' Miller hangs around the back door, knees knockin' like Carmen Miranda's castanets, ready for a smart take off in any direction while Junior here goes in and cracks the joint. Back home in the States he'd make a fortune as a cat-burglar. Comes back in about ten minutes, luggin' that damned suitcase there.» Miller indicated it with a casual wave of his hand. «Not only cleans out the commandant's pantry, but also borrows his satchel to carry the stuff in. I tell you, boss, associatin' with this character gives me heart attacks.»

«But — but how about guards, about sentries?»

«Taken the night off, I guess, boss. Old Panayis is like a clam — never says a word, and even then I can't understand him. My guess is that everybody's out lookin' for us.»

«There and back and you didn't meet a soul.» Mallory filled him a mug of wine. «Nice going, Dusty.»

«Panayis's doin', not mine. I just tagged along. Besides, we did run into a couple of Panayis's pals — he hunted them up, rather. Musta given him the tip-off about somethin'. He was hoppin' with excitement just afterwards, tried to tell me all about it.» Miller shrugged his shoulders sadly. «We weren't operatin' on the same wave-length, boss.»

Mallory nodded across the cave. Louki and Panayis were close together, Louki doing all the listening, while Panayis talked rapidly in a low voice, gesticulating with both hands.

«He's still pretty worked up about something,» Mallory said thoughtfully. He raised his voice. «What's the matter, Louki?»

«Matter enough, Major.» Louki tugged ferociously at the end of his moustache. «We will have to be leaving soon — Panayis wants to go right away. He has heard that the German garrison is going to make a house-tohouse check in our village during the night — about four o'clock, Panayis was told.»

«Not a routine check, I take it?» Mallory asked.

«This has not happened for many months. They must think that you have slipped their patrols and are hiding in the village.» Louki chuckled. «If you ask me, I don't think they know what to think. It is nothing to you, of course. You will not be there — and even if you were they would not find you: and it will make it all the safer for you to come to Margaritha afterwards. But Panayis and I — we must not be found out of our beds. Things would go hard with us.»

«Of course, of course. We must take no risks. But there is plenty of time. You will go down in an hour. But first, the fortress.» He dug into his breast pocket, brought out the map Eugene Vlachos had drawn for him, turned to Panayis and slipped easily into the island Greek. «Come, Panayis. I hear you know the fortress as Louki here knows his own vegetable patch. I already know much, but I want you to tell me everything about it — the layout, guns, magazines, power rooms, barracks, sentries, guard routine, exits, alarm systems, even where the shadows are deep and the others less deep — just everything. No matter how tiny and insignificant the dotails may seem to you, nevertheless you must tell me. If a door opens outwards instead of inwards, you must tell me: that could savea thousand lives.»

«And how does the Major mean to get inside?» Louki asked.

«I don't know yet. I cannot decide until I have seen the fortress.» Mallory was aware of Andrea looking sharply at him, then looking away. They had made their plans on the M.T.B. for entering the fortress. But it was the keystone upon which everything depended, and Mallory felt that this knowledge should be confined to the fewest number possible.

For almost half an hour Mallory and the three Greeks huddled over the chart in the light of the flames, Mallory checking on what he had been told, meticulously pencilling in all the fresh information that Panayis had to give him — and Panayis had a very great deal to tell. It seemed almost impossible that a man could have assimilated so much in two brief visits to the fortress-- and clandestine visits in the darkness, at that. He had an incredible eye and capacity for detail; and it was a burning hatred of the Germans, Mallory felt certain, that bad imprinted these details on an all but photographic memory. Mallory could feel his hopes rising with every second that passed.

Casey Brown was awake again. Tired though he was, the babble of voices had cut through an uneasy sleep. He crossed over to where Andy Stevens, half-awake now, lay propped against the wall, talking rationally at times, incoherently at others. There was nothing for him to do there, Brown saw: Miller, cleaning, dusting and rebandaging the wounds had had all the help he needed — and very efficient help at that — from Andrea. He moved over to the mouth of the cave, listened blankly to the four men talking in Greek, moved out past the screen for a breath of the cold, clean night air. With seven people inside the cave and the fire burning continuously, the lack of almost all ventilation had made it uncomfortably warm.

He was back in the cave in thirty seconds, drawing the screen tightly shut behind him.

«Quiet, everybody!» he whispered softly. He gestured behind him. «There's something moving out there, down the slope a bit. I heard it twice, sir.»

Panayis swore softly, twisted to his feet like a wild cat. A foot-long, two-edged throwing knife gleamed evilly in his hand and he had vanished through the canvas screen before anyone could speak. Andrea made to follow him, but Mallory stretched out his hand.

«Stay where you are, Andrea. Our friend Panayis is just that little bit too precipitate,» he said softly. «There may be nothing — or it might be some diversionary move… . Oh, damn!» Stevens had just started babbling to himself in a loud voice. «He would start talking now. Can't you do something …»

But Andrea was already bent over the sick boy, holding his hand in his own, smoothing the hot forehead and hair with his free hand and talking to him soothingly, softly, conthuously. At first he paid no attention, kept on talking in a rambling, inconsequential fashion about nothing in particular; gradually, however, the hypnotic effect of the stroking hand, the gentle caressing murmur took effect, and the babbling died away to a barely audible muttering, ceased altogether. Suddenly his eyes opened and he was awake and quite rationaL

«What is it, Andrea? Why are you--?»

«Shh!» Mallory held up his hand. «I can hear someone—»

«It's Panayis, sir.» Brown had his eye at a crack in the curtain. «Just moving up the gully.»

Seconds later, Panayis was inside the cave, squatting down by the fire. He looked thoroughly disgusted.

«There is no one there,» he reported. «Some goats I saw, down the bill, but that was all.» Mallory translated to the others.

«Didn't sound like goats to me,» Brown said doggedly. «Different kind of sound altogether.»

«I will take a look,» Andrea volunteered. «Just to make sure. But I do not think the dark one would make a mistake.» Before Mallory could say anything he was gone, as quickly and silently as Panayis. He was back in three minutes, shaking his head. «Panayis is right. There is no one. I did not even see the goats.»

«And that's what it must have been, Casey,» Mallory said. «Still, I don't like it. Snow almost stopped, wind dropping and the valley probably swarming with German patrols — I think it's time you two were away. For God's sake, be careful. If anyone tries to stop you, shoot to kill. They'll blame it On us anyway.»

«Shoot to kill!» Louki laughed dryly. «Unnecessary advice, Major, when the dark one is with us. He never shoots any other way.»

«Right, away you go. Damned sorry you've got yourselves mixed up in all this — but now that you are, a thousand thanks for all you've done. See you at halfpast six.»

«Half-past six,» Louki echoed. «The olive grove on the bank of the stream, south of the village. We will be waiting there.»

Two minutes later they were lost to sight and sound and all was still inside the cave again, except for the faint crackling of the embers of the dying fire. Brown had moved out on guard, and Stevens had already fallen into a restless, pain-filled sleep. Miller bent over him for a moment or two, then moved softly across the cave to Mallory. His right hand held a crumpled heap of blood-stained bandages. He held them out towards Mallory.

«Take a sniff at that, boss,» he asked quietly. «Easy does it.»

Mallory bent forward, drew away sharply, his nose wrinkled in immediate disgust.

«Good lord, Dusty! That's vile!» He paused, paused in sure, sick certainty. He knew the answer before he spoke. «What on earth is it?»

«Gangrene.» Miller sat down heavily by his side, threw the bandages into the fire. All at once he sounded tired, defeated. «Gas gangrene. Spreadin' like a forest fire — and he would have died anyway. I'm just wastin' my time.»