“Not sure yet,” Dick said. “I’ll tell you after I take a little trip tonight. Right now I’m too tired to do anything.”
When they returned to the cave, Dick found that Scotti was sleeping soundly, so he did not report to him then about their observations at the dam. Instead, he stretched out and fell into a deep sleep almost at once. Despite all the difficulties confronting him, he could sleep. He knew he had to if he were to be fit and able to solve all his problems.
The sun was high in the sky when he awoke. He had not heard Vince return from town, nor the others eating their breakfast. But he felt completely refreshed and ready to tackle anything. After washing his face and hands, he went in to Scotti and told him all the news, including that brought by Vince about the latest radio report to headquarters, which had gone smoothly. Scotti was better, finding it possible to talk more easily and without the great effort of the day before. He was now propped up against the wall of the cave, with nylon parachutes behind him.
“You’d better get out in the sun a bit,” Dick suggested.
“It would be good,” Scotti replied. So Dick called Vince and Max, and the two big men carried their lieutenant gently outside and placed him near the entrance to the cave. Then he joined Dick in a bite to eat and listened to their plans.
Dick told about the dam, and explained that he had to find some way to draw the guards away before Slade could get in with his dynamite.
“I’m sure Tomaso can get the sabotage work done all right,” he said, “so that the water will be shut off. But then the guard might even be increased at the dam. If we could go in and do it at the last minute, we might be able just to mow the guards down with our guns. But we can’t take that chance. We’ve got to be sure! That means we ought to get in there and get our dynamite placed the night before the explosion.”
Scotti thought the problem over but could not come up with an answer. Slade did not even try to figure it out. He was too busy going over in his mind how he would crawl up that pipe and place his dynamite charges. It was Max who finally made a very timid suggestion.
“Dick,” he said, “this may sound like a fairy-tale idea, but maybe it would work. Remember we were kidding about wearing Italian peasants’ clothes when we first got here and we said something about swiping a German uniform for me? Well, if your Uncle Tomaso could get a really good officer’s uniform, I might be able to march right up and give those guards a few orders and so get them out of the way for a while.”
“That would be dangerous as the devil!” Dick replied.