They looked up every moment or two toward St. Sauveur. “Things are going along fine,” the colonel said. “The engineers have got a rubber pontoon bridge over the Douve River, and troops are crossing there already. They’ll have a steel one over the river for the tanks to cross, in an hour or two.” Dobie nodded. “How soon do you think we’ll be sending our first patrols into St. Sauveur?” he asked. “By sunset,” the colonel said. “As soon as the 9th gets the rest of these towns around here cleaned up, we’ll send our fellows through. How are those new lieutenants I sent you, Dobie?” Captain Dobie grinned. “Schoenfargle took forty-seven prisoners yesterday. And Ouvarski’s squad took over a hundred. That answer your question, Colonel?” The colonel laughed. But his aide suddenly held up a hand. “Wait a second. SOS of some kind on the field telephone. Yes, yes ... I get you. Yes. Ouvarski ... a dozen men. What? Trapped in a barn.... Okay.... But where, man, _where_?” He saw the colonel reach out, and handed the phone to him. The colonel consulted the map and noted the position of the barn. After a minute’s delay, he got a battery commander by radio. Calmly, he gave the map location. “Have that stone barn boxed in by your guns,” he ordered. “Fire for five minutes exactly--and then quit. We’ll have relief troops ready to move in then.” He handed the phone to Weller. “I’m going down to the bridges now, Dobie,” he said. Captain Dobie looked white. “Ouvarski trapped,” he repeated. “Can we spare enough men right now to get them out, sir?” The aide said, “Why not?” The colonel put a thin, dirty hand on Dobie’s arm. “You _know_ we’ll get Ouvarski out. And my orders to you, sir, are to stay right here. You have my authority to make your man, Slim, a sergeant. Send him in command of the Ouvarski rescue bunch. Keep Weller with you. And _you_, Dobie, in future, try not to be so all-fired brave.” The captain turned to catch Weller’s eye as the colonel marched across the road to his own hidden jeep. “He sounds,” Dobie said, “a good deal like me talking to André, doesn’t he?” But his smile was short. “So Slim’s a sergeant at last,” he said. “Get him on the radio. Tell him to pick up fifteen or twenty men and we’ll meet him down the road.” “But Captain,” Weller exploded, “the colonel said--” “Ouvarski’s my lieutenant, and a brave one. It’s _my_ job to see that he and his men get out alive,” Dobie snapped. “Okay, sir,” Weller said. “It’s me’ll get courtmartialed. But pay no heed.” The jeep bounded and took to the road. A few moments later they met Slim with a truckload of men, and instructed him to follow. They whirled past a château set on a hill, with a scattering of cottages on its lower slopes. Weller tilted rapidly around high stone walls, and pulled up in the shelter of a cottage near the château gates. “Can’t get any closer,” Weller said firmly. “Ouvarski must be in that barn over there.”