Tramp in Armour (25 page)

'What makes him say it has only halted for a short
time?'

Jacques stepped forward, his manner so different from the
night before that he seemed a different person. He spoke
urgently.

'May I explain? It is part of a Panzer division - the usual
big tanks and guns. It has to come this way and may move at
any time. They are using this route as their highway to the west - but can you keep ahead of them?'

'We'll have to. We'd better start at once. Mandel, can I buy
some food off you or are you short yourselves?'

'Etienne.' Mandel turned and took a parcel from his nephew and handed it to Barnes. 'Take this - my wife packed it before we went to bed last night. No, any suggestion of payment will
be taken as an insult. Now you must go!'

Thanking him, Barnes tucked the parcel under his arm and ran back to the tank. The three Mandels followed him and waited while he climbed into the turret, put on his headset and gave Reynolds the order to start the engines. While he waited he looked down and saw grey stubble on Mandel's chin. Looking back in the growing light he could see no sign of traffic on the road from Beaucaire. The engines coughed, sputtered, and died. Barnes said nothing and waited. Reynolds tried again. The engines repeated their surly reaction. Mandel put his hands on his hips and waited. They all waited while Reynolds fought,desperately to start the motors. Five minutes later the dawn light was spreading gradually over the fields and now there was a glint of gold in the east. Soon it would be broad daylight. Reynolds tried again and again but not once did the engines give any sign of activating. Patiently, Mandel stood waiting without showing any traces of alarm but the two lads were now staring fixedly along the road to the east.

'No good?' Barnes called down from the turret to Reynolds.

The driver's head inside the hatch turned to look up. 'I
think it's the starter system.'

'Do your best - that Panzer column may be here soon.'

'I'll still have to look at the starter wiring.'

'How long do you think it will take?'

Immediately he regretted the question. How on earth could Reynolds be expected to predict that? It was the only sign of anxiety Barnes had allowed himself to show.

'Could be two minutes, could be two hours. I noticed it was
coughing nastily when we came down that track.'

'Have another go before you start checking.' Barnes leaned over the turret to" speak to Jacques. 'What exactly made you
think the column would be on the move soon?'

'The men in the tanks hadn't left them - they were eating a meal and they had stayed in the towers to eat.'

Barnes looked down at Mandel. 'That sounds as though it's just a short stop and then they'll be coming this way.'

'I think so, too.'

'We'll have a few more shots at starting.'

Reynolds was persisting non-stop now and while he strug
gled to coax life out of Bert it became daylight. Again no one
spoke. Barnes stared backwards at the distant hill crest which was now clearly to be seen, the crest over which the Panzers would appear. Jacques and Etienne stood stock still, hands in
their pockets to keep warm. Only Mandel was moving during
the agonizing wait when nerves were stretched and a fresh
chill, the chill of fear, seeped into the waiting men. Walking round the haystack, Mandel disappeared from view and then
reappeared at the other side in front of the tank. His face was
thoughtful, his thick brow scowling, and he looked at the tank
closely and then spoke quickly to Etienne. The lad ran away across the field to an outhouse just behind the farm.

'Sergeant, it's no good,' said Reynolds firmly. 'I've got to
have a look at the engines. It may take quite a while.'

'Just do the best you can as quickly as possible.'

He had just finished speaking when he heard the purr of a
motor. Turning round, he saw Etienne emerging from the
building as he drove a large orange-coloured machine towards
them. In front of the machine a huge power-grab shovel was
hoisted at an angle, wobbling as it moved closer. Mandel came
forward and stood directly under the turret.

'The tank will not move. Is that not so?'

'Not yet, anyway.'

'And the German tank column will soon be on the move and
will pass here?'

'That seems pretty evident,' Barnes replied irritably.
'So the only solution is to hide the tank. Is that not so?'
'You can't shift it with that power-grab machine. This tank weights twenty-six and a half tons and you won't budge it an
inch with that thing. You're pretty well-equipped out here,
aren't you?' he added.

'I borrow it from a wealthy neighbour to clear my ditches.
Now, I agree that this machine won't move your tank, Ser
geant Barnes. So we must proceed logically - we must leave
the tank where it is" and yet still hide it. That is the only
possible solution.'
'I don't follow you.'

'We shall have to turn it into something else - a haystack.'
'How the devil are you going to manage that?'
'This haystack is constructed of square bales of hay which
have been placed on top of each other - this method makes it
easier for us to take away only a small portion of the stack when we require it. The bales were lifted up by the power-
grab, as you call it. All we have to do is to take the haystack to pieces and then rebuild it round the tank which will, of course,
sit in the hollow inside it. But we must start at once - all of us
helping.'

'Even if it would work there may not be time.'
'It will be much quicker than you think. Etienne!'
He poured forth a stream of French as Barnes told Reynolds
to help Penn out of the tank. Between them they got him sat
down on the grass and by now Etienne was working the grab to
Mandel's instructions. To start with he tackled the corner of
the stack nearest the road, driving the machine forward, insert
ing the huge metal hand and emerging with a bale of hay
which he dumped on the ground. Immediately he began re
peating the process as Mandel developed his idea.

'We leave the wall of hay next to the tank because we can
use that where it is. To surround the tank will take a lot of hay
but there will be plenty left over by the hollow inside. We
shall use that hay to build the roof over the tank.'

While he was talking Etienne was moving more bales, drop
ping them at random as he attacked the haystack ferociously along the side nearest the road. Barnes looked again towards
the east. In the light of day the deserted highway bore a sini
ster aspect and he could just picture the scene. One moment it would be still like this, a peaceful scene devoid of traffic: then
the first tank would crawl over the crest and head towards
them, followed by a whole armada of Panzers. And if they found the tank here all the Mandels might well be shot. He
made up bis mind.

'We'll try it. Penn, your job is to watch that hill crest. At
the first sign of movement bellow like the bull of Bashan.
Reynolds, stop tinkering with that engine, there's work to do.'

Between them, Barnes and Mandel organized a work sys
tem: while Etienne dismantled the stack on one side, Rey
nolds and Jacques began lifting bales of hay and moving them to form a wall parallel to the rear of the tank. At the same time
Barnes and Mandel formed a second team, carrying their own bales to build a wall across the front of the tank. Even here,
Mandel was showing foresight.

'If the Panzers arrive too soon,' he explained, 'we may at
least have two walls up. If we were very lucky they might not
see the open back.'

'Let's hope we don't have to be that lucky.'

Half an hour later it all seemed to be taking too long to
Barnes. The Germans would arrive and catch them in the
middle of it. He urged everyone to move faster. It was still
chilly but they were all working feverishly, their jackets lying
on the ground as they heaved the huge bales up, balancing the
load between them, staggering across to the walls to lay their
new 'bricks', and then going straight back for another load.
The two side walls were still only half-built when Marianne appeared with a tray of coffee. Laying it on the ground she watched them working for a minute and then went indoors without a word. Mandel grinned across a bale at Barnes.

'You have misunderstood her - she knows that when men
are working women must keep out of the way. She is the same
when she brings us wine in the fields.'

'She must be worried, though.'

'We are all worried. So let us finish building our new hay
stack and then we can stop worrying.'

He's wrong there, Barnes thought. If we do get the job done
in time the big worry will then start - will the Germans find
the tank? He glanced towards where Penn stood leaning
against a fence as he stared towards the ominous hill crest.
They're going to catch us in the middle of this, Barnes felt
sure of it.

'Mandel, whether we get the tank hidden or not* in time I
think you should clear out until the Germans have gone - take
your family into the fields.'

'We could hide, certainly - and if they come too early we
shall. But if we have finished, then we must stay. It would look
strange if the place was deserted at this hour of the day.'

'No, it won't. People are fleeing all over France.'

'Yes, my friend, but they take things with them. Anyone
who goes inside our house will see that we have taken nothing
and will know we are hiding. They might well burn down the
house. And do not forget Jacques' car - that will show some
one is about.'

'Hide that in the outhouse where we hid Bert.'

They had laid the fresh bale on top of the wall in front of
the tank, a wall which was now about the same height as the
rear wall, Reynolds and Jacques were building, and so far both
walls only concealed half the hull. It was all taking far too
long.

'Your idea about the car is good,' said Mandel. 'If they ask
to see Jacques' papers they will see that he comes from
Lemont and may wonder why he is here - so take him with
you when you hide and I will get him to move the car at
once.'

An hour later they were making tremendous progress, en
couraged by the sight of the tank sinking lower and lower behind the walls of hay. The work had been considerably
speeded up by Ederme who had now completed dismantling three quarters of the haystack and was using his power-grab to
transport the loose bales right up to the walls, so that all the
others had to do was to manoeuvre the 'bricks' into position.
Soon the end walls were finished and within another half-hour the rear wall was over five feet high: even at the back only the
turret still protruded, looking rather like the conning tower of
an invisible submarine submerged in a sea of hay. They were all working in a frenzy now, standing on the rear wall, on the
hull of the tank as they wrestled the, bales into position, never
stopping for a moment. The unspoken thought that they might
just fail for the sake of a few bales gave added impetus to their
efforts and now Mandel and Reynolds worked stripped to the
waist, their bodies running with sweat in the warm sunshine. It
was going to be another lovely day - for the Germans.