She didn’t say anything, and for a moment I thought she was going to refuse.
‘Well?’ I asked her, and again I was speaking abruptly, for I was afraid that I had lost her as an ally.
‘Of course I will,’ she said simply. But she spoke slowly, as though considering something. Then suddenly she became businesslike, almost brusque. ‘I’ll go and look through those maps right away. I’ll come back and tell you the result of my labours as soon as possible.’
‘You’ll find it somewhere in the centre of a ring drawn round the fighter ‘dromes, I expect,’ I said as she turned to go.
‘I understand,’ she said.
I watched her walk briskly away, thinking how strange it was that people should have different sides to their personalities. I had just seen Marion for the first time as the efficient secretary. My God! I thought, and she would be efficient too. What a wife for a journalist! The thought was in my mind before I realised it. And suddenly I knew that she was the one girl for me. And then I kicked myself mentally as I realised that I had been thinking only of the things she could give me, and had not given a thought to what I could give her. And what could I give her? ‘Hell!’ I said aloud. And then went back into the hut as I saw Fuller looking at me curiously.
The next few hours dragged terribly. I was not afraid, thank Heavens! I had something concrete to do now and there was no room in my thoughts for fear. But as the evening wore slowly on I experienced the sinking sensation that one gets just before a big match. I passed part of the time reconnoitring my line of escape. The barbed wire, I knew, would not be difficult to negotiate. It was dannert, that coiled wire which is stretched so that it stands in hoops. By parting two of the hoops it was fairly easy to step through it. It was the sentries I was worried about. I went over and had a chat with the Guards’ corporal at the neighbouring pill-box. By fairly persistent, but not too obvious questioning, I discovered that there was roughly one sentry to each five hundred yards of wire. There were also some sentries in the wood along the valley. But they were very few — one at each end. They were supposed to meet in the middle once every hour. There was a path running through the middle of the wood. These shouldn’t worry me, but because they were the
unknown factor they worried me a good deal more than the sentries along the wire.
Marion did not turn up until nearly ten. I was on stand-to then. I went out of the pit to meet her. ‘I think I’ve got it,’ she said as I reached her. ‘I found two. One down in Romney Marshes. That isn’t any good, is it?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘Nightingale told me of that one.’
‘The other isn’t quite in the centre of the south-eastern fighter area, but it’s not far off. It’s just off the Eastbourne road in Ashdown Forest.’
That sounds hopeful,’ I said. ‘There were no others?’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. I went very methodically through the maps for Kent and Sussex. I didn’t think I missed anything.’
I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘It must have been a frightful job.’
‘No, it was rather fun in a way — all the peculiar place-names one had never heard of before, and some that one had. You know the Eastbourne road, don’t you? You go through East Grinstead and Forest Row and up to Wych Cross, where the Lewes road forks off. You keep left here on the Eastbourne road and about half a mile farther on there are one or two cottages on the left. Another half-mile and there is a lane turning off to the right. Take this, fork right along what appears to be a track, and you’ll come to Cold Harbour Farm.’
‘Marvellous,’ I said.
‘When do you start?’
‘As soon as it’s dark — about eleven. The moon doesn’t rise till late now. My detachment doesn’t go on until one, so I shall have two hours before they miss me.’
‘Do you think you can get out all right, though?’
‘Unless I have bad luck, it should be easy.’
‘Well, good luck, then,’ she said, and squeezed my hand. ‘I must get back. Your boys are already beginning to talk about us.’
She had half turned to go when she stopped. ‘By the way, Vayle went off in his car just before eight this evening. He won’t be back tonight.’
‘How do you know?’ I asked.
‘A boy I know in Ops. told me. He’s studying to become a navigator. He saw Vayle getting into his car and asked him whether he could come and have a word with him later in the evening about some problem he was stuck on. Vayle is apparently good about helping people. But he told him that he couldn’t as he wouldn’t be back tonight.’
That looks hopeful,’ I said.
She nodded. ‘That’s what I thought. And if you’re not back before dawn I shall see Winton myself.’
‘Bless you,’ I said.
For a second she hesitated and her eyes held mine. I often wonder whether she was trying to memorise my features for fear she should never see me again. We were very near to each other in that moment. And then she turned quickly on her heels and left me.
When I got back to the pit I came in for a good bit of chaff, but it passed me by. I was thinking of other things. ‘You and Micky are a pair,’ said Chetwood. ‘Both of you look worried and secretive.’
‘Don’t talk so bloody daft,’ said Micky violently.
The violence of his reply should have told me something. But it didn’t. I was engrossed in my own thoughts and barely noticed it. Zero hour was very close now.
Chapter Nine
At ten we were relieved. Usually the whole detachment went straight to bed in order to get as much sleep as possible. But, of course, Kan and Chetwood had to choose this evening of all evenings to start a discussion about the stage, Chetwood holding forth about the full-blooded qualities of the ham actor, and Kan naturally standing by the more sophisticated modern school. They sat up arguing over a hurricane lamp till a quarter to eleven while I lay in bed and fumed.
At last quiet descended upon the hut. I waited till eleven-fifteen to make certain that everyone should be sound asleep. The place was full of the soft, sibilant sound of steady breathing. I slipped out of bed and put on my battle blouse. Except for this, I had gone to bed fully clothed. For the sake of quietness, and if necessary speed, I put on canvas shoes. Before leaving I thrust my kit-bag and overcoat under my blankets, so that when the guard came in to wake his relief he would think I was still sleeping.
None of the recumbent figures stirred as I opened the back door of the hut. It was dark outside save along the western sky where the last light of day still lingered, throwing the pit into silhouette with the muzzle of the gun and the sentry’s tin hat quite visible. I closed the door of the hut softly and paused to listen. Not a sound from inside. I went a little down the slope towards the wire and there sat down to watch and accustom myself to the light. The nearest I had ever got before to my present escapade was stalking in Scotland, and I knew enough not to hurry even though time pressed.
Gradually I was able to see more and more until at last I could make out the thin coils of dannert stretched tenuously out along the slope of the hill, and behind loomed vaguely the black bulk of trees at the bottom. But still I waited. I had to know the position of the sentry.
At last I heard him. He was pacing slowly along the inside edge of the wire and every now and then his bayonet clanked in its rifle socket. I waited till he had passed. I was just rising to my feet when I heard a sound behind me. It was a click. I thought for a moment that it must be the latch of the hut door. But there was no further sound, and at length I rose to my feet and moved swiftly towards the wire. And at that moment the sirens went. I hesitated, cursing. And then I hurried on, realising that their wail would cover any slight noise I might make getting through the wire.