Faked Passports (5 page)

“I've found a stream not very far from here where you can bathe your wound,” replied the airman, “but the water is absolutely icy. It sent cold shivers down my spine when I had a dip in it.”

“D'you mean you stripped and went in?” Gregory asked, aghast.

“Yes. What is there so surprising about that?”

“Well, cleanliness may be next to godliness, in which case I rank with the Twelve Apostles when I'm leading a normal existence, but if you take my tip you'll go dirty while we're on the run. Nothing is calculated to lower one's powers of mental resistance so much as the immersion of the body in ice-cold water. Still, I suppose you're one of those hardy blokes. You must have missed the radio announcer this morning when you did your daily dozen.”

Freddie flushed slightly. “I believe in keeping fit. A chap can't keep fit without regular exercise.”

“Rot!” said Gregory. “From my infancy upwards I abhorred all ball-games and for the past twenty years I haven't lifted a finger that I didn't have to, yet my muscles are like whip-cord. If you once start you have to keep it up, young feller; and think of the hours that wastes in a lifetime! If you don't, you suddenly go flabby and are fit for nothing by the time you're my age. But let's skip it. What else did you find?”

“I went back to the road and there's a row of cottages about half a mile along it, to the left, but they're on the far side, on the open grassland, so I didn't dare to go nearer them for fear of being seen.”

“How far are we from the road?”

“About 150 yards. After I'd been to the road I worked my way back again to find out how deep the wood was; at a rough guess I should say it's a good mile and a half from here before you come out on the other side.”

“What sort of country lies beyond it?”

“There's a big open space with more grassland and a bit of plough, then more woods running up a slope to westwards. Just on the edge of this one, though, there's a fair-sized country-house,
so we'd probably be spotted from that if we tried to advance across the open.”

“Well, we won't—for today, at all events. But we must find a better place than this where we can lie doggo as it's pretty certain they'll send out troops to beat this wood for us. First, though, you'd better lead me to that stream you found.”

Gregory got slowly to his feet and together they ploughed their way through the thick undergrowth until they reached a shallow pool formed by a little rippling brook beside which Gregory sat down and Charlton helped him to remove his greatcoat. The blood from the wound had dried stiff on his jacket so Freddie had to cut the cloth away with his penknife and the next twenty minutes were exceedingly painful ones for Gregory.

He sat there without uttering a sound while the airman gradually soaked off the pieces of cloth and shirt which had adhered to the wound, bathed it clean with the cool spring-water, bandaged it with the torn-off tail of Gregory's shirt, got the remains of his jacket on again, his greatcoat over it, and made a rough sling out of his own muffler to carry the arm that was affected. By the time he had done Gregory was grey-faced, sweating profusely and near to fainting, but afterwards he sat quite still for about ten minutes, had a cigarette and then declared himself ready to set off again.

Freddie Charlton was considerably impressed by Gregory's stoical resistance to the acute agony that he must have suffered. He could not yet make up his mind as to whether he liked him or not, but it was abundantly clear that his lean, cynical companion possessed an ample supply of both mental and physical courage and he could not help realising that he might have been infinitely worse off had he had many other men that he could think of with him in this desperate situation.

Yet it irritated him that Gregory should be taking things so calmly. It was now past eight o'clock so it was quite certain that by this time troops would be on their way from the antiaircraft camp to search for them, if not already in the wood. To remain where they were would expose them to imminent risk of capture and in any case he did not see how they were to avoid it for long without a change of clothes and food. At the thought of food he realised how hungry he was and said:

“I don't know how you feel but I'm simply starving.”

“Let's make for that house you mentioned,” replied Gregory, getting to his feet. “November is a poor month to try to live on the land but we might find something edible in the kitchen-garden.
Patching up my wound took longer than I bargained for and the search-parties will be after us soon.”

“I'm glad you realise that at last,” said Freddie stiffly.

“Oh, there'll be time enough to scrounge some sort of breakfast first and to run from the Germans afterwards,” Gregory grinned. parodying Drake and the famous game of bowls, as they set off.

Most of the leaves had already fallen from the trees so they could see a fair way ahead of them when they were standing upright; but the undergrowth was still green and provided excellent cover ready to hand should they encounter anyone. Picking their way between the brambles they moved cautiously forward, keeping their eyes and ears alert for any sound or movement which might indicate the approach of another human being. After half an hour Freddie pointed through the trees to a wooden barn that had just become discernible. With a jerk of his head Gregory indicated that they should incline to the left and they proceeded still more warily until they reached the edge of the wood.

Looking right they could then see a group of buildings which consisted of a small, white, two-storeyed manor-house, probably built in the early part of the last century, and a number of outbuildings. No-one appeared to be about and the whole place lay silent in the cold autumn morning; so Gregory began to lead the way through the fringe of the wood towards it. After a few minutes they came to the back of the nearest barn and, creeping round its side, found that it fronted on a farm-yard. Half a dozen pigs were guzzling in a sty and a troop of long-necked geese were waddling importantly towards a pond. Turning right they passed behind the next barn and found a gate leading into the kitchen-garden. It ran along at the back of the house and was partly orchard so they were able to advance along its far end screened from the windows by the branches of the short fruit-trees.

Gregory gave a grunt of satisfaction on noticing that some late pears still hung among the withered brown leaves and as swiftly as possible they filled their pockets with the fruit. Charlton pulled half a dozen carrots from a near-by bed and Gregory snatched two heads of celery. Suddenly the clatter of a pail being put down somewhere near the house broke the stillness. They started as though electrified and at a quick,
almost noiseless run made off into the wood, which ran right up to the end of the garden.

“Pears, celery and raw carrots,” Freddie sniffed, as they eased their pace and drew breath. “Not much of a breakfast, is it?”

“Might be a darned sight worse,” Gregory replied. “Anyhow, before we think of eating we must try to find a good, snug hide-out. The troops must be beating the wood further in by now and if we don't get to earth soon we'll be captured. Time's getting on; we've got to hurry.”

For some time they searched, hoping to come upon a shallow cave or bramble-covered gully in which they might conceal themselves; but without success. The wood was curiously and depressingly uniform. By lying flat they could have hidden themselves in the bushes at almost any spot from a casual wayfarer who passed within a dozen yards, but the cover was insufficient to prevent their being seen by deliberate searchers who came nearer.

“The only thing for it is to get up a tree,” said Gregory at last. “That's not going to be easy with one of my arms out of action but we'll manage it somehow.”

Swiftly, anxiously, straining their ears for sounds of the beaters, who they felt might advance upon them at any minute now, they examined a number of conifers, since the leaves on the other trees were too few to afford them decent cover, and selected a pine which had three branches coming out from its trunk, all nearly on the same level and about twenty feet from the ground. Climbing it was a muscle-wrenching struggle. But Charlton was six feet one in height and strong; he managed to swing himself up on to a lower branch and to haul Gregory up after him; and by further efforts they succeeded in reaching the higher branches which they had chosen for a roosting-place.

Their perch was far from comfortable and it seemed doubtful if they would be able to maintain their position there for any great length of time, but Gregory insisted that they must do so at least until the search which they felt certain was in progress had passed by them. Having settled themselves in their hiding-place with considerable relief they munched their pears disconsolately and waited in uneasy suspense.

Barely ten minutes later they caught the first sound of the men who had been sent out to hunt them down. Evidently the search had started from the road and was being made with German thoroughness; otherwise it would not have taken so
long for the troops to work right through to almost the far extremity of the wood. Occasional calls came floating through the chill silence as the searchers approached and now and then the blast of a whistle by which an officer was evidently directing them; then came the crackling of twigs and the snapping of brambles as the heavy-footed troopers kicked their way through the undergrowth.

Gregory and Charlton remained deadly still, fearful that the faintest movement would draw attention to their hiding-place; since a pine tree, although the best that they could find at that season, does not afford good cover and anyone standing immediately beneath it had only to glance up to see them.

The flat cap of a grey-clad soldier appeared below. He was carrying a rifle with fixed bayonet slung over his shoulder and halted for a moment just under the tree. Suddenly Freddie felt a frantic desire to cough but managed to convert the spasm into a gurgle, which he half-stifled by clapping his hand over his mouth.

With acute anxiety Gregory stared down at the soldier fearing he had heard the noise that Charlton had made. If the man looked up the only possible way of preventing him from giving a triumphant shout, which would bring his comrades running, was to drop right on top of him. The weight of another body falling from twenty feet would smash him to the ground and with luck knock him out. Balancing himself carefully Gregory prepared to make that desperate plunge. His wound was temporarily forgotten in the tenseness of the moment but he was quick to realise that as the soldier's bayonet was sticking up just beside his head anyone who fell upon him from above must inevitably fall on the point of that too. Nevertheless, his decision had been taken instantly, since he felt that he owed it to Charlton to give him this desperate chance of remaining undiscovered and getting away afterwards.

For nearly a minute the man stood there, directly below them, glancing from side to side; then he moved on again, peering right and left into the near-by bushes as he went. Gregory stifled a sigh of relief and, relaxing, leaned back against the tree-trunk.

Gradually the sounds of the search receded and the two fugitives were able to ease their positions; but soon afterwards the searchers reached the edge of the wood and, turning, began to come back. Once again Gregory and Freddie held their breath as they listened to the thrusting of feet through the undergrowth
and the occasional calls of one man to another; but by half-past ten silence had fallen once more and it seemed that they had escaped discovery, at least for the time being.

They were more cheerful now as they argued that the gunners who had brought them down could not know that one of them was wounded; having searched the wood thoroughly would have convinced them that the fugitives were no longer there and, assuming them to have got much further afield, they would not bother to search it again. To be on the safe side the fugitives remained up the tree and as time began to hang interminably they endeavoured to pass it more quickly by swapping reminiscences.

Gregory told Charlton the fantastic story of his adventures during the past two months which had culminated in his enabling the German Army leaders to stage a revolt against the Nazis. Freddie listened with amazed attention, not quite knowing whether to believe it all or not; but as he himself had secretly landed Gregory two months earlier outside Cologne and had picked him up again the previous night outside Berlin he had definite evidence that the lean, sinewy man beside him was not entirely romancing.

The airman's own adventures in making his secret night-landings in war-time Germany would have thrilled most people but he felt that they were mere child's-play compared with Gregory's impersonation of a Gestapo Chief and extraordinary series of escapes; besides which, he was a modest person so he said little of them. Perhaps, however, that was partly because his thoughts were centred about a girl, one Angela Fordyce, to whom he had been engaged to be married before the war.

From his description of her it appeared that Angela was the world's prize wonder, but Gregory wrote that down by about one hundred per cent. Privately he decided that she was probably quite a pleasant-looking brunette with reasonably good blue eyes and all the nice, clean, healthy instincts that an English girl should have, without any particular brain or wit; and so, admirably suited as a wife to the tall, grey-eyed, fair-haired young man who sat precariously perched upon the branch next to him.

It seemed, however, that Freddie Charlton had bungled the affair badly. Unlike many men of his kind he had not considered the war a good excuse for rushing into marriage. On the contrary; he maintained that it was damnably unfair to any girl to marry her, and probably land her with a baby, if there were a
reasonably good prospect of being killed oneself within the year; particularly when the girl had been brought up expensively and one had no private money of one's own and so could leave her only the pension of a Flight-Lieutenant. In consequence, knowing that she would not agree with him he had taken the quixotic step of writing to her on the outbreak of the war to break off his engagement, without giving any reason.