“Good going,” he said to himself. “He couldn’t have been seen even if the Jerries were looking that way.”
But his smile vanished as a roaring blast shook the earth beneath him. Instinctively he hugged the earth, and felt gravel, rocks, and dirt rain down on him from above.
“First mortar shell,” he spoke to the others. “Landed just on the other side of the crest. Come on, give ’em a good burst. Get those cords in your hands and let’s go.”
Before the burst of fire from the Americans ended there was another roar—this time behind them. Dick whirled to see the radio, which had been left on the shore, rise into the air and spread into a hundred pieces along with rocks and earth. Crouching low, he ran down the slope to the shore, with Max and Lefty and Bert immediately behind him. At the shore line he turned, grabbed two of the cords which were hooked to the Tommy guns wedged in the rocks. He gave them a gentle pull, and the others did the same with their cords. The gun chattered from the ledge above them, and they knew the Germans would not try to rush the crest. They’d wait for the mortars to do the trick. As the four Americans slid into the water, still holding their cords, they saw a shell dig a mighty hole in the rocky earth just behind the crest, where they had been not one minute before.
“There go two of the Tommy guns!” Dick said. By this time they were up to their chests in the water.
“One last burst before we swim,” he commanded tersely. He pulled on his two cords. One was limp—attached to one of the guns that had been blown up by the last mortar shell. But the other tugged the trigger, and he heard the stuttering fire it gave forth, along with the other guns that were still functioning.
“Swim for it—and fast!” Dick shouted to his companions.
They heard another roar behind them, then another in quick order, then a third. By this time they were swimming swiftly toward the other point, and it was not far away.
“Don’t bother to go under,” Dick muttered between strokes. “We don’t care if they do see us now.”
His clothes felt heavy, like lead weights holding him back. In trunks he could have made the distance in a minute; now each forward push was short. But suddenly he felt his feet strike the bottom, and he pushed forward rapidly up the point of land.