“And who knows?” Tony laughed. “Maybe we can find something else we can blow up with whatever’s left over.”
“Not a bad idea,” Dick said. “Not a bad idea at all.”
They all sat down at the mouth of the cave and opened their cans of rations. Dick said he thought it was all right to light a small fire for a short while so they might have coffee. In five minutes there were five cups being held over a little blaze, and soon the coffee was made. The men all drank it with relish and sighs of relief, and then the fire was put out.
“Nobody’ll spot that little bit of smoke and get suspicious,” Max said.
“We just shouldn’t do it too often,” Dick said. “If they should notice it regularly, they’d come to investigate.”
Every half hour, at least, Dick went to Scotti’s side, felt his pulse, and looked eagerly for some signs of consciousness. But the lieutenant remained in the same state, breathing shallowly, but with a good pulse beat.
By four o’clock in the afternoon, Dick felt sure that whatever decisions were made that day would have to come from him. Vince and Max had taken short naps, but now they were awake and asking him what the plan of action was. He called them all around him to talk the matter over.
“We can’t do much of anything except at night, of course,” Dick said. “And we haven’t got much time to waste. First, we’ve got to get the radio set up, somehow, somewhere. Any ideas, Tony?”
“Not up here,” Tony said. “That’s about all I can say now, Dick. They’d spot us in no time with their detectors, and we’d have a company of Germans all over the side of this hill.”
“Where, then?” Dick asked.