“Okay,” Max laughed. “I’ll be deaf and dumb if it means I can help and at the same time keep from getting myself shot as a spy.”
“Maybe we can pick up a German uniform for you,” Dick said, “and then your German will come in mighty handy. Come to think of it, I’m going to keep on the lookout for a spare uniform.”
“Make me a high officer, if you get me a German uniform,” Max said. “I’d like to be more than a private for a while, especially if I’ve got to wear a Nazi uniform. It would be fun to get in a Colonel’s uniform and march up to a company of soldiers and order them to jump in the lake and drown themselves. They’d do it, too! They’re just that crazy about obeying orders if the orders are barked by a guy with enough gold braid on him.”
“But I don’t speak German or Italian, either one,” Slade said. “What about me?”
“Boom-Boom, you stay right here,” Dick said. “In the first place, you came along to blow up a dam. You can also be mighty useful by nursing our lieutenant back to life and health. Somebody’s got to keep on tap here, anyway, all the time. You’re elected.”
“All right,” Slade said. “But I must have a chance to look over that dam once or twice before I go to blow it up.”
“We’ll visit the dam, all right,” Dick said. “But that will come later. Now here’s the schedule, and for most of you guys it’s easy.”
They all looked at the young sergeant expectantly.
“If too many strange Italians from the north, including a deaf and dumb one, land in this town all of a sudden, some folks will be suspicious. So this first night Tony and I go down to the town to look for his uncle Tomaso or find out whatever we can. Depending on what we learn—we’ll lay our plans then.”
“And the rest of us just sit here?” Vince demanded.