Dave Dawson with the Eighth Air ForceBowen, Robert Sidney
General
Dave Dawson with the Eighth Air Force
Bowen, Robert Sidney
World War, 1939-1945 -- Juvenile fiction
It blinded him for a moment, even though he was lying down face to
the car floor and away from the light. But as soon as he could adjust
his eyes to the sudden change he turned his head and looked at Freddy
Farmer. Freddy was a little pale around the edges, and there was a tiny
trickle of blood from his nose, but the hard, glittering look in his
eyes indicated that his feelings had been hurt far, far more than his
cracked nose and clipped head.
"Atta boy, Freddy!" Dave whispered softly. "Just hold it that way, but
_hold_ it!"
Young Farmer had only the chance to nod slightly. Before he could
whisper in reply the heavy booted feet were removed from the small of
Dawson's back, and harshly spoken German words filled their ears.
"Get up, and get out, swine! Herr Baron is waiting! Get up, dogs--or
must I help you?"
An altogether fitting comment hovered on Dawson's lips, but he did not
permit himself the satisfaction of saying it. Instead he pushed up onto
his hands and knees, and then up onto his feet and stepped out through
the car door that a pale, thin-faced man was holding open with one
hand. In his other hand was a small but wicked-looking Luger automatic,
the muzzle of which was trained dead on the Yank air ace. And when
Dawson stepped down onto the cement floor of the garage and started to
turn around and give Freddy Farmer a helping hand the man snarled and
jammed the muzzle of the gun against him.
"Step back, swine. Your little comrade is all right. He can get out by
himself!"
Dawson backed up and watched Freddy Farmer get out. There was nothing
about the English youth to indicate that he didn't feel any too steady
on his feet, save his unnatural pallor. His chin was up, and his eyes
set and unflinching as he stepped out of the car. The thin-faced man
gave him a sneering smirk, and motioned him over to stand beside
Dawson. And when the two youths were standing shoulder to shoulder a
bullet-headed, thick-set man came around from the other side of the
car. His small, close-set eyes seemed to glitter like those of a deadly
snake about to strike.
"Well, well!" he growled. "Herr Karl Stoltz, and Herr Paul von Heimmer!
You stupid fools. So you thought that we would not remember, eh? That
we would not try to find you? _Gott!_ So you would be swine traitors to
the Fuehrer? But Herr Baron will teach you about that. Hans! Lead the
way. I will be right behind the dogs!"
The thin-faced man called Hans nodded, turned and pushed open a door.
Dawson saw a lighted stairway leading up, and then a clenched fist
struck him in the back and sent him stumbling toward it. He heard
Freddy Farmer gasp sharply, and then his pal was stumbling into him.
He managed to keep his balance and follow the thin-faced man up the
stairs. At the top the man did not pause. He walked along a narrow
hallway and went up a second flight of stairs. As a matter of fact he
did not come to a stop until he had mounted four flights of stairs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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