Dick Donnelly of the Paratroops

by Marshall McClintock

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  FRUITLESS SEARCH

  The men on the roof said no word. They all knew, even old Tomaso, thatTony had reached the opening at the top of the bell tower. They stoodclose to the wall, their eyes fixed upward. For almost five minutesthey did not hear a sound or see anything.

  Dick knew that Tony was busy. First, he was feeling his way about inthe darkness up there. At some point in the tower there was the yawninghole of the ancient stone staircase which had crumbled so long ago.Tony had to locate that danger spot and make sure to keep away from it.Then he had to find a strong beam or rock to which he might tie the endof the rope for pulling up his supplies. Dick wondered if any part ofthe old bell stanchions might still be standing.

  Suddenly a figure leaned from the opening at the top of the tower, andthen the rope came sliding down the wall toward them. At a whisperedword Vince and Max removed the long ladder from the side of the towerand placed it flat on the roof, out of the way. Dick, meanwhile,grabbed the rope end and tied it securely to the first containerholding radio material. Then he gave three short tugs on the rope.

  It started upward at once. Tony took it slowly so that the containerwould not bump noisily against the wall. Even with the greatest care,it made too much noise as it scraped upward. Dick was worried about it.He turned to Vince and Max.

  “This might bring somebody out to see what’s going on,” he whispered.“You’d better get going. No use all of us taking a chance on gettingcaught. Take the ladders back. Take them apart. Vince, you take yourladder and the cord you used back to the cave. Help Tomaso put hisladder back where it belongs—not near this wing, anyway. The Germanswill be looking around for a radio transmitter tomorrow and we want toleave no clues for them.”

  “Okay, Dick,” Vince said, picking up the long ladder.

  “See that Tomaso gets back to his room,” Dick said. “Then you and Maxhead for the cave. When I get all the supplies up there, I’m going upwith Tony. As soon as he gets the radio working we’ll get in touch withour forces, send our first message. I’ll stick there with Tony untilafter dark tomorrow evening. Then I’ll get back to the cave. See youthere. If Scotti’s all right, give him a report on what we’ve done.”

  While Dick was giving these instructions, the first container hadscraped up the tower wall to the opening and Tony had pulled it inside.Now the rope was let down to the roof once more, and Dick quickly tiedthe end to the second container as Max and Vince went to the rear ofthe roof with Tomaso. Dick gave three jerks on the rope and the secondcontainer started upward.

  He looked back and saw the last of the three figures disappear from theroof at the rear of the wing. He listened carefully but could hear nosound other than the scraping of the metal container as it scratchedits way up to Tony. Then, when Tony pulled it inside, there wascomplete silence. There was no indication that any of the Germans hadheard the sound and were coming to investigate.

  In a few minutes the rope came snaking down the tower wall for thelast, and heaviest, container. It took Dick some time to tie itsecurely, for it was an odd shape. He wondered if Tony would have toohard a time pulling it up. Tony was small, but he was wiry and strong.

  Just before he pulled his signal on the rope, he heard a slight soundsomewhere behind him. He jerked around, startled, and then saw twoshadows making their way across the hill behind the villa.

  “Just Max and Vince,” Dick sighed with relief to himself. “If anythinghappens now, they’re in the clear at least and can carry on.”

  He pulled the rope and the big container started upward. A foot at atime it went, scraping more noisily than either of the other boxes.Halfway up it stopped for a full minute.

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  _Dick Tied the Rope Securely Around the Box_]

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  “Tony’s tired,” Dick told himself. “He’s probably taking an extra turnaround his post with the rope, in case his arms give out at the crucialmoment.”

  Then the box started upward again at a pace which seemed painfully slowto Dick, standing alone on the roof below. Almost inch by inch itscratched toward the opening. Then it was there! Tony was pulling itinside, Dick saw, but then there was a sudden loud clanking noise.

  Instinctively, Dick crouched against the wall. The big box must haveslipped a bit as Tony tried to haul it inside. But he caught it,dragged it in. That noise—it had been loud. Surely it would bringsomeone to look around!

  The rope slid down the wall quickly, and Dick snatched at it the momentit was within reach. Hand over hand he pulled himself up the wall,bracing his feet against the stone and walking up. Halfway up he waspanting, and the rope began to cut into his hands. But he did not lethimself slow down. If only he could get up there fast enough—

  He felt a hand grasp his arm and knew that Tony was leaning out to helphim inside. With another pull he was able to throw one hand over thestone ledge. Then, with a terrific heave, he slid his body through theopening, tumbling onto the stone floor inside and banging his headagainst a huge wooden beam.

  Tony was already pulling the rope in as fast as he could, and Dick satwhere he had fallen, trying to get his breath back, not daring to moveyet for fear he might fall into the stair well. Then Tony was on thefloor beside him, whispering.

  “Good going, Dick!” he said. “Sorry I made such a clatter. I almostwent out the opening with that last container. Keep to this side. Thestair well is there on your right, up against that wall. Everythingelse is safe. There are big beams in the center where the bells used tobe. That’s where I tied the rope.”

  “And where I banged my head,” Dick added. “Wait—what’s that?”

  They froze in their tracks and listened. Below they heard voices, onecommanding, the other replying—in German. Tony moved silently to anopening at the front of the tower, and Dick followed him. Looking down,they could see a lighted space in front of the villa, with light comingfrom two windows and the open door.

  A German officer stood there, giving orders to two sentries. They werewalking to the sides of the villa, throwing their strong flashlightbeams into every dark corner and shadow.

  “They heard it,” Dick whispered. “They’re looking around to see what’swhat.”

  “What about the others?” Tony asked.

  “Safely away,” Dick said. “And Tomaso’s in his room.”

  They watched as the sentries circled around to the wing at the rear ofthe villa, then returned and made a report to the officer. They threwtheir flashlight beams upward toward the roof, over the old bell towerand across the street. But there was nothing to be found. In a momentthe officer went back inside and the sentries took up their regularposts at the front of the villa. The lights went out, and Dick and Tonyturned to each other and smiled.

  “Now to work,” Tony said. “I’ll get that radio set up.”

  Tony worked in the dark. It was not for nothing that he had socarefully practiced assembling this radio. He wanted to be able to doit by feeling alone, without relying on any light. Dick helped byholding the few tools in his hands and giving them to Tony when heasked for them. When Tony finished with the screwdriver he returned itto Dick’s hands, so no time would be wasted feeling around for it.

  It took almost an hour for Tony to complete his work. During that timehe worked without pause, muttering to himself the names of thedifferent parts he handled, giving himself instructions. Dick satpatiently and said nothing, knowing Tony’s complete concentration onhis job. Finally, the young radioman turned to Dick and said, “There!It’s done. If it will only work now.”

  “Want the light for a few minutes to check it?” Dick asked. “I think itmight be safe.”

  “No, I’m pretty sure it’s okay,” Tony replied. “After that noise, thosesentries may be more on the alert than usual.”

  Dick edged his way up to
the generator and felt for the cranks. “Tellme when to start turning,” he said.

  “Okay,” Tony said “Give me some power now.”

  Dick turned the cranks and got them going at a regular speed.

  “That’s about right,” Tony said. Dick heard him snap a switch and speakin a clear voice into the little microphone.

  “Julius Caesar to Mark Antony,” he said. “Julius Caesar to Mark Antony.”

  Over and over he repeated the words, and after the tenth repetition, hegot his answer through his earphones.

  “Mark Antony to Julius Caesar,” the voice said. “Come in, JuliusCaesar.”

  “Got it, Dick,” Tony whispered exultantly. “Now give me the message—inItalian and in code. I’ll repeat.”

  Dick had memorized most of the short code which had been devised inItalian for these special reports, so that he would not have to use alight to refer to a code book. Later, he knew, when he came to givedetailed information as to troops and equipment, he would have to referto his code book to get things absolutely straight. But now he justwanted headquarters to know that the paratroop party was established inMaletta.

  He spoke softly to Tony the words which would tell the American generalthat the party had landed safely except for Scotti’s accident, thatthey had contacted Tony’s uncle, that the radio was now set up in thetown itself. The next report, to come at eight o’clock the nextevening, would give detailed information about German troop movementsinto Maletta, some of which had already started.

  And that was all. It was essential to keep on the air the shortestpossible time, so that the German locator stations would have only aminute or two in which to get a fix on the illegal transmitter.

  Dick and Tony sat back. There was nothing more for them to do for along time, and they knew it.

  “But I’ll bet there’s a lot going on in certain places,” Dick said toTony. “Back at headquarters, for instance, the radio orderly has rushedthat message to the code room and it will be taken at once to thegeneral. I’ll bet he left word to be awakened at any time a messagecame through from us.”

  “And they’re plenty busy at a couple of German listening posts, too,”Tony said. “Maybe we’ll see some of the fun.”

  Tony was right. In four German monitor stations their message had beenheard. In each one a line had been drawn on a detailed map showing thedirection from which the radio report had come. The message itself, inItalian, was obviously code, and was rushed to decoding experts.

  There were telephone calls from the four monitor stations to Gestapoheadquarters in a city to the northwest of Maletta. There the fourlines of the four different stations were drawn on a map, and the spotat which those lines crossed was in the town of Maletta.

  Before dawn two big black cars roared out of the city, toward Malettaitself. That town, now the crucial point of resistance to the AmericanArmy’s northward drive, would not have an illegal radio station forlong, the Gestapo officers felt sure. It was important—so importantthat Colonel Klage himself led the locating party to wipe out that newstation which was obviously trying to get vital information to theAmericans.

  At that time, Dick and Tony were asleep in the bell tower, after havingeaten a light meal from their ration tins. But the first light of dawnwoke them. Even if it had not, the roar of the two speeding carsstopping in front of the villa would have done so. They peeredcautiously down out of the opening at the front of the tower.

  Germans poured from the two big black cars, and one banged noisily onthe door of the villa after showing his credentials to the sentriesthere. A man in a colonel’s uniform was looking over the villa and thenat the houses across the street. Dick could not see his face, but heknew that the man was looking quite bewildered. He was standing at theexact spot shown on the map to be the location of the illegaltransmitter—and yet it was German Army headquarters!

  Two or three officers poured out of the front door of the villa, someof them still pulling on jackets. Dick and Tony saw that some were intheir slippers, and they did not look at all smart. Instead they wereperturbed, even though officers of rank a good deal higher than thecolonel who faced them. A colonel in the Gestapo could still make anarmy general tremble.

  Dick wished that he might have heard the conversation that was going onbelow: the angry statement of the colonel that an illegal transmitterhad operated from that spot and the vigorous protestations of theothers that such a thing was impossible. The colonel took a map from anaide and pointed out the exact spot of the radio station, proving thatit was in German army headquarters in Maletta.

  The army men pointed to houses across the street, and down the road tothe right. They were saying, Dick knew, that the transmitter must bethere, somewhere else in the neighborhood.

  Then the search began. The Gestapo men went first to the small housedirectly across the street from the villa. They were there half anhour, and Dick and Tony knew how thoroughly they were tearing that hometo pieces looking for the hidden radio.

  “I hate to put these Italians through such an ordeal,” Dick whispered,“but we can’t help it.”

  “In a while they will know the reason for it all,” Tony said, “and thenthey will not mind what they are going through now.”

  Dick and Tony felt that they had box seats at a good show that day. Allmorning and well into the afternoon the search went on. Houses andstores and buildings within several blocks were searched thoroughly,and finally the villa itself was gone over inch by inch, despite theprotestations of the German army men that the Gestapo officer wasinsulting them by searching in their own headquarters for an illegalItalian radio. But the Gestapo colonel did not care how many people heinsulted. He knew what would happen to him if he returned to his ownheadquarters without having found and destroyed that transmitter. Andhe knew how silly it would sound to his superior officer when he saidthat his locators had placed the radio in German army headquarters inMaletta.

  He himself began to doubt the accuracy of his listening posts. But forfour of them to go wrong at the same time—that was impossible! Therewas something radically wrong somewhere and the colonel didn’t like itone bit. His anger was apparent even to Tony and Dick as they watchedhim get into his big black car, slam the door, and pull away with tiresscreaming as the cars careened around the corner.

  “The colonel is a bit miffed,” Tony said, with a happy smile.

  “He’ll be more than miffed in a few days,” Dick said. “Before the weekis out that guy’s going to be in a real predicament.”