Faked Passports (6 page)

Not unnaturally, in Gregory's view, Angela had been annoyed and had demanded an explanation, upon which Freddie had made bad worse by writing to say that he had come to the conclusion that they were not suited to each other. On learning of this his best friend, one Bill Burton, had persuaded him that he had acted like a fool and had been extremely unfair both to the girl and to himself. Burton had then gone to see Angela in the hope of straightening the wretched muddle out, only to find that she had left England the day before and that it was therefore impossible for him to execute his pacific mission.

As Angela's father was in the Consular Service his being posted, without warning, to Amsterdam, and her sudden departure with him overseas, was not particularly surprising, but it had had the effect of erecting a new barrier; and, Burton's mission having been sabotaged by fate, Freddie had felt that having made his bed he had better lie on it, so had refrained from writing to her. But he was still sick with the pain he had inflicted on himself and bitterly regretted that he had not written, especially now that it looked likely that he would be interned in Germany for the rest of the war and therefore debarred from any possibility of running into Angela again if she came on a visit to London, when they might perhaps have had an explanation leading to a renewal of their happiness.

Being an eminently practical person, and no mean psychologist, Gregory forbore from voicing the obvious, meaningless platitudes and, instead, suggested that if only they could succeed in escaping over the frontier into Holland Freddie might see his Angela much sooner than if he had remained in London.

This cheered the airman up considerably and, as it was intended to do gave him an additional incentive to use every ounce of his resolution in avoiding capture. He remained unaware that, the Dutch frontier being many hundreds of miles distant, Gregory did not mean to try to get out of Germany that way and, in fact, had no intention whatever of attempting to leave Germany at all until he had found Erika von Epp and could take her with him.

They stuck it out up in the tree as long as they could bear the discomfort but by early afternoon their posteriors were so sore from the nobbly branches that they were forced to abandon their hiding-place and come to ground.

Freddie, who found garden-produce most unsatisfactory fare for a November day spent out in the open, suggested that they should pay another visit to the farm-yard for the purpose of stealing a chicken or a goose, which they might later roast over a wood-fire, but Gregory shook his head.

“It's quite on the cards that the people who were hunting us this morning have left a certain number of pickets scattered about the wood, for today at all events. If we light a fire the sight of it or the smell of the smoke might give us away; but the idea of roast goose positively makes my mouth water so we'll see what we can do about that tomorrow.”

“Good God!” Charlton exclaimed. “We shall freeze in this climate if we have to spend another night without anything warm inside us.”

“I'm sorry, old chap, but we've got to stick it. My fault entirely but I daren't move on yet. This shoulder of mine is giving me hell and I'm afraid I'd only pass out on you if I attempted a cross-country march tonight.”

Charlton stared at him with sudden concern. “Yes; you're looking pretty flushed; I believe you're running a temperature.”

“I am,” Gregory replied.

“Then—then perhaps we'd better give ourselves up. I can't possibly look after you properly while we're in hiding like this and your wound will only get worse if it doesn't have skilled attention.”

“It's nothing much, you saw that yourself when you bathed it this morning; only a little round hole through the fleshy part of the shoulder. One of the muscles is torn but it'll soon heal up providing I don't exert myself for a day or two. If we can lie doggo in this wood for another forty-eight hours I'll be all right. Anyhow, I'm damned if I'm going to chuck my hand in. Come on, let's try to find a new hide-out while daylight lasts.”

About six hundred yards from the house they found a small ravine, which was even more thickly covered with undergrowth than the rest of the wood, where they would be well concealed from anyone who did not walk right on to them, and sitting down in it they made themselves as comfortable as they could. Gregory lay back and closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep but his wound pained him too much and he could only hope that
lying still might cause his fever to abate. Charlton sat beside him, miserable and dejected but keeping his ears strained for approaching footsteps so that they should not be caught unawares.

The afternon drifted by and shadows began to fall. No sound disturbed the stillness and Freddie thought that Gregory was asleep until he roused up and suggested that they might as well make their evening meal. They ate a few more of the pears and some celery but having tried the raw carrots threw them aside as too unpalatable. A swig apiece from Gregory's flask completed the unsatisfactory repast, after which they settled down again into an uneasy silence. The evening seemed interminable as although the November day had drawn to an early close an occasional glance at the luminous dials of their watches showed them that they still had a long time to go before it could be considered night.

Towards nine o'clock Gregory became light-headed and began to mutter to himself in delirium. Freddie was at his wits' end. There was nothing that he could do to aid his companion or allay the evidently rising fever. With his fellow-fugitive in such a state he felt that there was little chance of maintaining their freedom for any length of time but he knew how determined Gregory was not to give in while there was the least hope of escape, and now that the possibility of reaching Holland had been dangled before his eyes he was doubly reluctant himself to take any step which would definitely land him in a concentration-camp for the rest of the war.

Towards eleven Gregory ceased his incoherent muttering and dropped into a troubled slumber, so Freddie decided to see that night through and take a fresh decision the following morning. If Gregory were better they could rediscuss the situation but if he were worse there would be nothing for it but to seek help by surrender.

Just as Freddie was settling himself down to sleep he heard footsteps approaching, then voices talking in German. Stiffening in immediate alarm he crouched there in the gully, his heart thudding against his ribs. Peering towards the sound he strained his eyes but in the darkness he could see nothing. The footsteps
halted about a dozen yards away and there was further talking. His forehead was suddenly damp with sweat.

As he strove to silence his quickened breathing the awful urge to cough gripped him, as it had up in the tree. Closing his eyes he fought it down, but cramp got him in the leg that was doubled under him and he was forced to move it. The twigs snapped beneath him but just at that moment the rustling in the bushes came once more, and this time it was moving away. After a further five minutes of tense listening he grew calmer and decided that they were safe again. The sweat on his brow was turning icy with the cold. With a heavy sigh he brushed it off and, settling himself, endeavoured to court forgetfulness in sleep.

When he opened his eyes the cold light of a new day showed the trees and brambles rimed in frost. It was a fairy scene but one which filled him only with fresh dismay. He lifted the white-powdered collar of Gregory's greatcoat and saw that the wounded man was pale but breathing evenly. As he sat up he heard a faint noise just behind him.

It came from the direction in which he had heard the Germans speaking in the darkness the night before. Instantly Gregory's suggestion that the gunners might leave pickets posted in the wood flashed into his mind. Swinging round he very cautiously raised his head and peered between the thorny strands of the blackberry bushes.

Something grey caught his eye; it lifted a little and he saw the flat, round brim of a German officer's cap. He tried to duck back; but it was too late. A lean, grey-moustached face had risen above the brambles and a pair of hard blue eyes were staring straight into his. As he instinctively rose to his feet the German stood up and his hand was already on the automatic at his belt.

Having only just woken, Charlton's circulation had not yet got going; he was bitterly cold from his night in the woods and his brain was still half-fogged with sleep. In addition, it was now Friday morning and he had not had a proper meal since Wednesday. Yet, in spite of his lowered vitality and half-dazed condition, he realised that the only chance of escaping capture now lay in an immediate attempt to overcome this solitary German. Bracing his muscles and lowering his head he hurled himself forward.

Several feet of brambles separated them. Before Freddie had plunged a couple of paces through the tangle the officer had whipped out his automatic and spat out with a threatening scowl:

“
Holten Sie da!
”

The lean, grey-moustached face of the German showed stern resolution; his blue eyes were cold and commanding; the blue-black steel barrel of the big pistol that was trained so unwaveringly upon Charlton's middle held a threat which he could not ignore. It would have been stark lunacy to force the hand of such a man with such a weapon. Pulling up with a jerk Freddie slowly raised his clenched fists above his head.

As he stared at the German he thought with bitter fury how utterly futile it had been to spend the last thirty miserable hours hiding in the wood only to be caught at last. Evidently Gregory had been quite wrong in his supposition that, having searched the wood without success, the soldiers would conclude that the fugitive airmen had succeeded in getting further afield and abandon the hunt for them there. Obviously the officer who was staring at him so intently could be in the wood only for the purpose of inspecting pickets that he had left posted in it the previous night.

When the German rapped out, “
Was machen Sie hier
?” it conveyed nothing to him; he could only reply:

“Sorry, I don't understand.”

“You are English, eh?” exclaimed the officer with evident surprise, and lowering his gun a little he added: “I asked what is it that you do in this place.”

He spoke fluent, if ungrammatical, English and his question made Charlton stare, since it showed that he was not, after all, an officer of the anti-aircraft battery and evidently had not heard that two enemy airmen were being sought for in the neighbourhood.

“Perhaps you'll tell us what you're doing here yourself?” said a quiet voice, and swinging round Freddie saw that the sound of talking had wakened Gregory. He was now standing up and stepped out of the gully on to the higher ground at its edge.

The German's blue eyes narrowed in an uneasy look for a second, but he straightened himself and said abruptly: “I own this wood so I haf a very goot right to be here in. What two Englishmen should be making here in time of war is another question and I haf the right to demand the answer.”

From where Gregory was standing he could see the officer's rank-badges and a pile of tumbled rugs round his feet. He bowed slightly and his voice held a gentle note of amusement as he said: “
Herr Oberst,
if you own this wood presumably you also own the charming little manor-house just through the trees there? I have no right to question you at all but I confess that I'm extremely curious to know why, instead of sleeping in your own bed, you passed the night in the ditch where you are now standing.”

“Enough of this!” said the Colonel, with rising irritation. “You will observe, please, that I am armed while you haf not. Reply instantlich to my question! What do you do here?”

“The same as you, apparently.”

“
Donnerwetter!
I haf a right to camp out if I am wishing,” the German snapped. “What else do you think I make but hard sleeping which for a soldier is goot?”

“Why, that you are trying to keep out of the hands of the Gestapo, of course,” Gregory grinned.

For a second the Colonel's jaw dropped, then he said harshly: “Absurdity! What makes you that believe?”

“Simply because even the most hardened soldier would not spend a night in the woods at this season of the year if he could
sleep in his own comfortable bed. Evidently the
Putsch
was a failure and you're on the run.”

“The
Putsch!
What do you know of that?”

“I started it.” Gregory pulled back the flap of his greatcoat and displayed the Iron Cross of the First Class which was still pinned upon his chest. “For the part I played General Count von Pleisen honoured me with this. I can only say how immeasurably distressed I am to learn from your presence here,
Herr Oberst,
that the Nazis succeeded in suppressing the rebellion which was to have freed Germany.”

The Colonel suddenly put his pistol back in its holster and took a step forward. “
Gott im Himmel!
I thought I haf somewhere seen your face. I was at
der Pleisen Palast
with the comradeship of officers before the
Putsch
when the Count decorated you. Permit that I introduce myself.” Drawing himself up he clicked his heels and bowed sharply from the waist. “
Oberst-Baron von Lutz
.”

Gregory imitated the movement and rapped out his name, adding with a wave of his hand: “This is Flight-Lieutenant Charlton. After I'd completed my mission he was to fly me home and we left from a secret air-field, east of Berlin, on the night of the 8th; but we were shot down a couple of miles on the far side of this wood and have been hiding here ever since.”

“
Ach so
! I knew nothing of this as I escape from the Capital only last night.”

“Then, I take it that all hope of the
Putsch
succeeding has been abandoned?”

Colonel-Baron von Lutz nodded despondently. “It might haf succeeded if Hitler had been blown up in Munich as was planned, but swiftly it becomes known that he had escape the bomb and all Army leaders outside Berlin postponed action. This makes him free to concentrate his entire effort against those who in the Capital had risen. He sent bombing squadrons against us early yesterday morning which caused many casualties at the Artillery and Tank Depots. Battalions of S.S. and S.A. men were rushed to the city from all quarters of the Reich. By afternoon our situation desperate became. At six o'clock five of our leading Generals haf taken decision to give their brother-officers chances to escape, also to save further slaughter of their men by issuing the cease fire order and giving themselves up. I haf the goot fortune to get away by automobile but I walked the last twelve kilometres point to point so that of the local people none should see me to my estate arrive.”