CHAPTER NINETEEN
_The White Cliffs!_
By the time they reached the water they had stripped off their hospitaljackets, torn free their water canteens, and flung them away. Shoulderto shoulder they splashed out as far as they could, then dived in. Theybroke surface together and struck out for the helpless craft beingcarried toward its doom by the tide. Above them raged another mightybattle of the air. Bombs fell close and when one struck the water andwent off, a thousand fists seemed to hammer against their chests. Behindthem the flames of Dunkirk leaped high, and the glow turned the watersthrough which they swam to the color of blood. And there ahead of themwas the sleek-looking motorboat, like a highly polished brown logdrifting on the crest of a shimmering red sea.
A great fire burned in Dave's lungs, and his arms became like bars oflead that required every remaining ounce of his strength to lift up andcut down into the water again. But he fought back the aches, and thepains, and the gnawing fatigue. And so did Freddy Farmer there by hisside. They kept their eyes fixed on that drifting motorboat and theydidn't take them off it until after what seemed like years they werealongside it and hooking an arm over the gunwale. For a moment they justhung there panting and gulping for air. Then at an unspoken signal theyeach shifted their grip to the small brass rail that ran along each sidefrom stem to stern, and hauled themselves into the boat.
Not even then did they speak a word, for words were unnecessary, now.There was a job to do, and a job to be done fast. The rocks weren't morethan sixty yards away. Shaking water from his face, Dave leaped towardthe engine hood, lifted up the motionless bullet riddled body andlowered it gently to the deck. At the same time Freddy caught up an oarand rushed toward the bow to fend off the craft should it reach therocks.
Lifting the engine hood Dave took one look inside and gulped withrelief. Messerschmitt bullets had not touched the American built engine.A quick glance down at the priming can in the dead man's stiff hand toldDave he had been trying to start the engine when the Messerschmitt firstdived. Perhaps he had throttled too much, and stalled the engine. Therewas no way of knowing that, and no time to wonder about it. If there wassomething else wrong, and the priming can didn't do the trick, then heand Freddy could at least save the boat from being slammed up againstthe rocks.
It was time for Lady Luck to smile again, however. Dave primed theengine, and stepped on the starter pedal, and the engine roared upinstantly in full throated song. He leaped for the wheel, yanked backthe throttle, and then swung the wheel over hard. The rudder bit intothe water, and the power boat slid by the jagged rocks with but a fewfeet to spare and glided out toward deep water.
"Made it!" Dave shouted wildly.
"Right-o!" Freddy yelled back from the bow. "This is one Herr Hitlerdoesn't get, by gosh. Not if _I_ can help it! Oh, Dave, let's...."
"Me too!" Dave interrupted him. "I know what you're going to say. Let'sgo over and pick up as many of those fellows as we can! You're doggoneright! Here we go!"
At that exact moment, however, the fates of war changed their plans. Atthat moment a steel fish made in Nazi land slid past the watchful eyesof a destroyer and let go a single torpedo straight into the maze ofcraft hovering off shore beneath the raging sky battle above. True,only one torpedo. And even as it streaked out from its tube the eyesaboard the destroyer saw it, and the destroyer's guns spoke ... andthere was one U-boat less. However, one torpedo was on its way. And itslammed into the bow of a sturdy coastal vessel plodding out to thecenter of the Channel.
In the blaze of light that spewed up from the side of the vessel Davesaw the decks crowded with khaki clad soldiers. Then they were lost toview as the vessel heeled way over and was engulfed in a mighty cloud ofsmoke. No sooner had what his eyes seen registered oh his brain than hehauled down hard on the wheel and pulled the motor boat's bow away fromthe shore and out toward that floating cloud of smoke and dull redflame.
Other boats did the same thing, but Dave and Freddy were closer than anyof the others, and they reached there first. Killing his speed as muchas possible Dave worked the craft inch by inch toward the cluster ofheads that were now bobbing out from under the edge of the cloud ofsmoke. Then when he was real close he throttled all the way back and letgo of the wheel and raced with Freddy to the stern of the boat. Theygrabbed the first hand stretched up toward them and pulled the drippingfigure into the boat. No sooner was he in than they let him shift forhimself and grabbed for the next outstretched hand. Then another, andanother, and another, until there were no more bobbing heads close tothem.
By then other craft had arrived and were picking up survivors from thatdoomed vessel. As Dave straightened up he stared out across the waterjust in time to see the last bit of the vessel's bow slide down belowthe waves and disappear. One look and then he was pushing through thesoldiers he and Freddy had rescued, to the wheel at the bow bulkhead.Cheers and praise filled his ears but he was too all in to even so muchas grin. And, also, memory of that U-boat was still fresh in his mind.If one slipped past, why not two, or even three? Dunkirk was behind him,and a sky battle was raging high above him, but he did not know whatmight be lurking in the waters under him. The sooner he got the boataway, the better it would be for all concerned.
He reached the wheel at the same time Freddy did. And hardly realizingit, both grabbed hold. Dave shot out his other hand and opened up thethrottle. Together, as one man, they guided the power boat in and aroundthe other rescue craft until they were clear and heading straight outinto the Channel. Once there was nothing but open water ahead of themthey both relaxed, looked into each other's eyes and grinned.
"Well, that _must_ be the last surprise, Freddy," Dave said. "There justisn't anything else that could happen that would startle me."
"Nor me, either!" Freddy breathed. "The excitement's all over for us,now. In another hour we'll be in England."
And then suddenly a hand was clapped down on each of them, and a hoarsevoice boomed,
"Well, of all things! You two!"
They both spun around, then stopped dead and gasped in bewilderedamazement. There standing in his water-soaked uniform was GeneralCaldwell, Chief of British Staff. His piercing black eyes bored intotheirs, and his teeth showed white in a broad smile.
"Good heavens, you, General!" Dave finally managed to gulp out. "Why, Ididn't even know we'd hauled you aboard!"
"But you did, and thank God for that!" the General said fervently. "Anddo you know, it's the strangest thing ever! I was telling the captain ofthat boat about how you stole that plane, when the blasted torpedostruck. By gad, it's incredible. But how in the world did you get here?and in this boat, too!"
"Later, sir, if you don't mind," Freddy spoke up and put a hand on theGeneral's sleeve. "Please tell us the truth. We've got to know. Theinformation we gave you wasn't any help? You got it too late?"
General Caldwell stared at him hard, and then shook his head.
"You're dead wrong, Freddy, if you think that," he said in his oddlysoft voice. "I spoke the truth to you in the Lille hospital. Look backthere, both of you."
They turned and with their eyes followed the General's finger pointingat the beach at Dunkirk.
"That's the last of the British Army to leave France," he spoke again."We've been getting them out for days, and against terrific odds. Theonly reason I was on that boat that was torpedoed, instead of being backthere to be the last man to leave, was because I had my orders to returnat once and start getting things reorganized. But they will all be inEngland before this fog gives the Stukas the chance they want. Andpraise to dear God for the fog and the rain he has sent us in these daysof heroic effort. But, what I am trying to say to you, is this. Had Inot received your information in time, thousands upon thousands of thosebrave chaps would never have been able to reach Dunkirk in time to betaken off. They would now be trapped in France and in Belgium. No, boys,it was not too late. And to you two England owes a debt she will neverbe able to repay."
"I'm glad," Freddy whispered softly
. "I'm glad it was not too late."
"Gosh, me too," Dave mumbled, and tried to say more but the wordswouldn't come.
And so the three of them: two boys and the General stood there withtheir faces turned toward England while the boat cut through thedawn-greyed swells and the light fog. And then after a long time the foglifted and they saw it there ahead.
"Dover!" Freddy said in a choked voice, and tears trickled down hischeeks. "The chalk cliffs of Dover. England!"
"Yes, the chalk cliffs of Dover, and England," General Caldwell murmuredhuskily. "We've taken a pretty bad beating, but it's far from being allover. We may even take some more beatings. Perhaps several of them. Butin the end we will win. We must win, for there will always be anEngland. Always!"
* * * * *
Three days after the world-thrilling evacuation of Dunkirk, Dave Dawsonsat in the living-room of Freddy Farmer's house in Baker Street inLondon. Freddy was there, of course, and so was his dad. And so wasDave's father. Within an hour after touching English soil the BritishWar Office had contacted Dave's dad in Paris where he had gone hoping topick up the trail of his missing son. And, now, the four of them werewaiting because of a phone call from General Caldwell. A phone callstating that the Chief of Staff was on his way there, and for them allplease to wait.
"Boy, I wish he'd get here!" Dave exclaimed for the umpteenth time.
"He didn't say why he wanted to see us?" Freddy asked his father for theumpteenth time, too.
"No, Freddy," the senior Farmer replied patiently. "He didn't say a wordabout it."
"Gee, do I hope, do I hope, _do I hope!_" Dave breathed and pressed histwo clenched fists together. "Do I hope he has fixed it for us to getinto the R.A.F., even though we are a bit under age. He said he'd doeverything he could. And, Dad?"
Dave turned and looked into his father's face.
"Yes, Dave?"
"I sure hope it really _is_ okay with you," Dave said. "I mean gettinginto the R.A.F., if I possibly can. It's.... Well, it's just thatnothing else seems important now, except trimming the pants off theNazis. And I want to help, no matter _what_ kind of help it is."
"I understand, perfectly, Dave," his father said with a smile. "I knowexactly how you feel, because I feel the same way. I'm staying over hereto help, too. In the government end of things."
Dave's exclamation of surprise was cut short by the ringing of the doorbell. Freddy's father answered it and came back into the room withGeneral Caldwell. The Chief of Staff greeted them all and then handedDave and Freddy each a small package.
"And with life-long gratitude from the bottom of my heart," he saidgravely.
They opened the packages to find an expensive wrist watch in each. Andon the back of each watch was the inscription:
To One Of The Two Finest And Bravest Boys I Ever Met General H. V. K. Caldwell
"And, now, the real reason I came here," the General said before theycould even begin to blurt out their thanks and appreciation. "TheirMajesties, King George and Queen Elizabeth, are waiting to receive youat Buckingham Palace. And your fathers, of course."
"The King ... and the Queen?" Freddy said in a hushed voice.
"Oh boy, meeting the King and Queen in Buckingham Palace!" Davebreathed. And then he couldn't hold it any longer. "General Caldwell!"the words rushed off his lips. "What Freddy and I asked you about? Imean ... the R.A.F. Is there any chance?"
The General tried to look stern, but he just couldn't keep the grin frombreaking through.
"Among other things," he said in his soft voice, "Their Majesties wishto be the first to congratulate their two new members of the Royal AirForce. So, I suggest we do not keep them waiting, eh?"
Dave and Freddy looked at each other without speaking, but their eyesspoke volumes. The dream had come true. Or perhaps it was onlybeginning. Either way, though, one thing was certain. Beginning withthis moment they would have the chance to do their share as pilots ofthe Royal Air Force in the battle for Britain. And that chance was allthey asked. Nothing more.
----THE END----
See next page.
_A Page from_
DAVE DAWSON WITH THE R.A.F.
At that moment a short, savage burst from Flight LieutenantBarton-Woods' guns snapped Dave's eyes back to the Junkers. They werestill quite a ways off but the Green Flight leader had let go with achallenging burst hoping that the Germans would give up thoughts ofescape and turn back to give battle. However, it was instantly obviousthat the Junkers pilots and their crews didn't want any truck with threeSpitfire pilots. The nose of each ship was pushed down a bit to addspeed to the get away attempt. And a moment later Dave saw the flash ofsunlight on bombs dropping harmlessly down into the rolling grey-greenswells where the Channel blends in with the North Sea.
"Not this day, my little Jerries!" Flight Lieutenant Barton-Woods' voiceboomed over the radio. "Let's make the beggars pay for dropping bombs inour Channel, Green Flight! Give it to them!"
The last was more or less the signal that each pilot was on his own.Dave waited until he saw his flight leader swerve off to slam in at theJunkers to the right. Then he touched rudder, and with Freddy stickingright with him, swerved off after the other German raider.
Transcriber's Notes: Page 73: Changed probaby to probably Page 184: Changed fairly to fairy Page 216: Changed aways to always
Dave Dawson at Dunkirk Page 19
