All through the heat of the day Lieutenant Diggles worked on the plane, replacing damaged parts, inspecting every instrument; and the oberleutnant dogged his heels, watching his every move with small, suspicious eyes.
Finally the lieutenant straightened up from the undercarriage where he had tightened several loose bolts, and wiped his streaming face with a grease rag.
“That does it,” he said, and he couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice.
Captain Myers was lying in the shade watching the American work.
“Excellent,” he said heartily. “Are you sure that everything is in good shape?”
“Perfectly sure,” Tom Diggles snapped.
The captain nodded contentedly.
“Now, if you’ll be so kind as to clear away the brush from the clearing and swing the plane about, we won’t impose on your hospitality any longer. One other thing,” he added, with a soft little smile, “if the plane isn’t in excellent working order it will be most unfortunate for the young lady.”
“What do you mean?” Tom demanded.
The German captain flicked a speck of dust from his breeches before replying.
“Because,” he murmured, “she is coming with us.” He smiled. “She looks as if she might be amusing under different circumstances. So you see it would be a great pity if the plane wasn’t in excellent condition. Because if it crashes, she will crash also. Are you sure now that there isn’t something you’ve overlooked? Some little detail which just escaped your mind?”
“I said the plane was ready to go,” the young American lieutenant told him frostily, “and I meant it.”
“I’m quite sure you did,” Captain Myers smiled, “but still the best of us are sometimes forgetful.”
“What about my cameraman?” Tom asked. “That leg of his needs medical attention badly. Will you take him along too?”
The captain shook his head.
“I’m not interested in his condition,” he said.
“I didn’t think you would be,” Tom said grimly. “You may get away with this Captain,” he said, and his voice was as hard and cold as ice, “but if we ever meet again I think you’ll regret what you are doing.”
“I admire your sense of the dramatic,” Captain Myers smiled, “but it is extremely unlikely that we will ever meet again. For when we take-off from this place you will be bound securely to one of these trees. It’s only a logical precaution; you must see that. But after we leave there won’t be anyone left to set you free, so you will undoubtedly have a nice long wait before anyone happens along this way. The chances are that some hungry animal with no discrimination will find you a satisfying meal. But it will have to be very hungry before it will eat an American.”
He leaned back, smiling at his joke. “Now get busy, my young friend, before I decide to shoot you immediately. Your usefulness to me is over, but I enjoy seeing you clear away rubble, and slave like a stupid mule under my orders. That is quite satisfying to me, but I will forego that satisfaction and kill you quickly if you don’t get busy.”
In an hour’s time the American lieutenant had cleared a section of the ground and, with Oberleutnant Schmidt’s help, had swung the plane about to face it.
Captain Myers got to his feet then and walked across to the lean-to where Ann was changing the dressing on Red’s broken leg.
“You will “not have time to finish that errand of mercy,” he said ironically.
“I understand you are taking me with you,” Ann said evenly.
“That is correct,” the captain said. He smiled and bowed politely. “Don’t look so cold, my dear. In Nazi Germany there can be a great future for a young woman who is both intelligent and beautiful.”
“Listen, you Nazi rat,” Red yelled, “if you lay a hand on her I’ll tear your head from your shoulders.”
The captain clapped his hands together in mock applause.
“Bravo!” he cried. “Spoken like a true American. Full of fury and indignation and stupidity.” He gestured sharply to the oberleutnant.
“We must be leaving,” he said. “See that these two are bound securely.” The oberleutnant worked with methodical speed and thoroughness. He removed the American’s belts, forced them to sit with their backs to thick trees and bound their arms behind them, with swift sure loops of the stout leather.
Red twisted in pain and beads of sweat broke on his forehead. But not a sound passed his tightly locked lips.
Ann watched the scene with hot, dry eyes. Her cheeks were flaming with an anger that was too deep for tears.
“You beasts!” she cried. “You inhuman beasts! You can’t leave these men here to die.”
“That is where you are wrong,” Captain Myers smiled. “You don’t appreciate our philosophy yet. It isn’t that I enjoy doing this, but it is necessary, therefore it must be done. When you have spent some time with me you will better understand our methods and principles.”
“You have none,” Ann cried, in helpless fury. “You’re like jungle beasts masquerading in human form. There isn’t a decent emotion in your body.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” the captain said blandly. “But our method is successful and that is what counts.”
“But how long will it be successful?” the American lieutenant asked quietly, but there was a better anger in his voice. “For every one of us you kill there are a thousand to step forward to take our places. And even the Nazis can’t kill enough to silence every man who is joining the fight against them.”
“I am not interested in these idle discussions,” the captain said. He nodded to the oberleutnant. “You may put the girl aboard now. And it might be a wise idea to bind her also. She is a bit too temperamental to be left loose. She might do something foolish. We must save her from herself.”
The oberleutnant pinioned the girl’s arms behind her before she could make a move, and with his own belt, strapped her elbows tightly to her sides.
He led her to the plane and helped her inside.
When the girl had disappeared into the plane, Jing turned furiously on Tink.
“If you don’t do something, Tink, I’ll never speak to you again,” she blazed.
“I’m trying,” Tink said desperately. He scratched his head anxiously. “Let’s go inside,” he said.
They went aboard the plane. The German oberleutnant had shoved the girl into a chair and was standing at the controls, just in front of her.
“Couldn’t we untie her?” Jing suggested.
“How?” Tink said miserably. “We can’t reach the straps on her elbows. They’re too high.”
The German officer was bent over the controls and Jing looked at him with a sudden speculative gleam in her eyes. She glanced at the small, stout boots that Ann was wearing and then looked up again at the stooped form of the German. And as she made a mental measurement, an odd smile curved her lips.
“Tink,” she said, “I think I’ve got it.”
“Got what?”
“A way to untie the girl.”
“How?” Tink asked excitedly.
“Watch.”
She crept under the chair until she reached the booted feet of the girl. With an inch-long piece of straw in her hand, she raised herself on tip-toe and moved aside the cuff of the girl’s trousers.
Tink watched her in open, undisguised bewilderment.
“What’s the idea?” he asked.
Jing didn’t bother to answer. With a prayerful, beseeching expression on her face, she jabbed the tiny piece of sharp straw against the girl’s bare ankle.
“Ouch!” Ann cried.
Instinctively her foot lashed out and, without deliberate intent on her part, the stout toe of her shoe collided with the most prominently exposed section of the German officer’s anatomy. She hadn’t kicked him purposely. The movement of her foot had been simply a reflexive reaction against a sharp little scratch on her ankle.