With four machine-guns in their hands-two Brens and two 9 mm. His last words were caught up and drowned in the tearing, rapid-fire crash of the automatic carbines. ![]() A six-inch mortar, almost certainly using fragmentation bombs-you use a brush and shovel for clearing up afterwards. Guaranteed to turn the knees to jelly, especially after nightfall-but it's stifi the other one you have to watch. He broke off suddenly, flattened himself in reflex instinct as a burst of machine-gun bullets struck the steep-walled rock above their beads and whined up the gorge in vicious ricochet.Īlso a mortar, Mallory explained.A five-barrelled job, and very nasty. The thought of any more slaughter made him feel almost physically sick.They won't try again. We leave them be Mallory echoed emphaticaliy. That inhuman bastard that sent these poor devils up that hill, Mallory said quietly.Make a wonderful pietare seen over the sights of your rifle, wouldn't he? Miller looked round at him, eyes cold and still and empty of all recognition, then he blinked several times and grinned, a cut and bruised hand automatically reaching for his cigarettes. ![]() But what in the universe that other weird looking contraption can be. He squinted again at the guns, forehead lined in puzzlement.That first one's a mortar, I reckon. I do not believe it, Andrea said flatly.You couldn't make a mistake like that, my Captain.Īh, well, mebbe I was mistaken, Miller said magnanimously. But he was grateful to the New Zealander for trying to take their minds off what they had to do.Why don't they use them? That's right, Miller gowled.Cheer us all up. He reached out for his field-glasses but stopped in surprise as Andrea leaned across Louki and caught him by the wrist before he could lift the binoculars.Whats the matter, Andrea? He shook out his pack of cigarettes.Have one?Īny second now, Mallory said softly.I only hope that our friend Turzig isn't among this lot. Jus' daydreamin', boss he said easily.Jus' daydreamin'. He risked a quick peep round one of the boulders, eased himself back again.Eight, mebbe ten of them still down there, boss, he reported.The poor bastards are like ostriches-trying to take cover behind stones the size of an orange. I have been thinking, and it can be nothing else. ![]() Bitter-mouthed, savage, the American was swearing softly and continuously, oblivious to the pain as he pounded his fist time and again into the sharp-edged gravel before him. Then he became aware of the low murmuring to his left, shifted round again. The gravelly earth beneath his elbows grated harshly as Mallory shifted his weight slightly, looked at the two men to his right, Andrea with his impassive face empty of all expression, Louki with the sheen of tears in his eyes. The sudden silence was curiously oppressive, louder, more obtrusive than the clamour that had gone before. The frenetic stammering of the machine-guns stopped abruptly and in unison, the sound sheared off as by a guillotine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |