Tramp in Armour (49 page)

He waited alone for long hours, searching the sea of faces so
intently that eventually he feared he was incapable of seeing
what he was looking for. Twice he had persuaded a military
policeman to let him wait a little longer and he was on the
point of giving up when his heart jumped. Three soldiers were
helping a fourth along the platform to a waiting train and he
recognized the stoop of the broad shoulders, the tilt of the
head of the limping man who was being helped. Reynolds! He
could hardly believe it as he ran forward and when the three
men saw his stripes they left the driver in his care and wearily climbed aboard the train. Reynolds managed a faint grin, lean
ing on his stick.

'Those three Jocks found me outside Lemont - we helped ourselves to one of the fifteen-hundredweight trucks. I woke
up as they drove inside the Dunkirk perimeter.'

They were boarding the densely packed train when the mili
tary policeman questioned Barnes for the third time, inquiring his destination.

'Colchester,' Barnes replied.

Colchester was his base depot. Barnes now had one fixed
idea in mind. He had to get a new tank.