“Tomaso,” Dick said, “you are doing a wonderful job. Your reports are perfect—just what we want. They are of very great help to our Army.”
The old man beamed with pleasure. “It is my friends, too. They know the information is for the Americans, who will soon be here to free us.”
“Now I must ask two more big things of you and your friends,” Dick said. “And for these I must tell you of our plans. Two nights from now, just before dawn, we plan to blow up the dam!”
“The dam!” Tomaso exclaimed. “Why—the town will be washed away!”
“Yes, Tomaso,” Dick said. “But with the town will go thousands of German soldiers, hundreds of trucks, tanks, guns, and many supplies. The German Army will be trapped and defeated. When the flood waters recede you will have your town again, and there will be no more Germans here. Won’t it be worth it?”
The old man thought a moment. “Yes,” he finally said. “It will be worth it. Of course. If the town were to be wiped off the map forever, it would be all right if it meant we got rid of the Germans. But what about the people here?”
“Your own people must be warned in time so they can get to the hills,” Dick replied. “But not too long in advance must they know, lest some word leak out. Tonight you can tell those closest to you, those who can surely be trusted completely. Then, on the night before the wrecking of the dam, these can pass the word to all others. They must filter out into the hills, trying their best to cause no wonderment among the Germans.”
“I understand,” the old man said. “We shall do as you wish. But you said there were two other things to do.”
“Yes, to help us blow up the dam,” Dick said. He explained that Slade must be able to get into the pipe-line from the dam and for that the power plant must be damaged so the water-gates would be shut off for a few days.
“You said that your people had damaged the power plant before,” Dick went on. “Can they do it again, tomorrow?”