“And so,” he concluded, “I saw it was really too late to get to the dam tonight. It would be dangerous. We might not be finished before it began to grow light, and that would be just too bad.”
“It shouldn’t take too long at the dam,” Slade said. “I think I can rig everything in half an hour if Vince can help me carry the stuff into the pipe.”
“I know, but we’ve got to allow for all emergencies,” Dick said, “for delays like the one that happened to me tonight.”
“Yes, Dick’s right,” Scotti agreed. “That dam operation is one that can’t be rushed. If everything goes well you can be through in half an hour, yes. But what if there’s a slip-up? What if that other colonel appears in the midst of things, for instance? There are any number of things that might happen to make you lie low for a few hours. And, anyway, I was never too sure about getting everything in there a full day before we were to set it off. We can do it on the last night, all right. Now you boys all get some sleep. You’ll be needing it.”
After a bite to eat from their tins they went to sleep, but all of them dreamed of explosions, of bridges being blown up, of dangerous parachute jumps, or something involving action and danger. The first light of dawn found them all awake, brewing some coffee over a small fire.
And then there was the whole day to pass. They did it by going over their plans endlessly, until they themselves were almost tired of talking about them.
“This is a dull day, all right,” Vince complained. “I guess it’s the calm before the storm.”
“There’ll be no calm before our storm,” Dick said. “The storm starts a few minutes before dawn tomorrow, and we’re going to have a mighty busy night before that time comes.”
“And I guess we won’t be able to sit down and have a siesta right after the storm, either,” Max added.
As it began to grow dark, Max got into his beautiful German uniform. The others admired him greatly as he strutted about in front of the cave trying hard to act like a Gestapo colonel.