“Will that bring us anywhere near the villa where your uncle was caretaker?” Dick asked.
“Yes, right there,” Tony replied. “You see that steep hill ahead? You can make out the dark outlines of it against the sky. It’s at the foot of that—the villa, backed right up against the hill, almost built into it.”
They were walking across the farmer’s field now, stepping between the rows of plants. Dick could not make out what they were, but he was careful to avoid stepping on them. Finally they came to a low stone wall marking the end of the field. Beyond it was a ditch and the road. They crouched low beside the fence and listened. Far off a dog barked and from somewhere else another answered him. To the left they could see the lights of Maletta, though there were not many, and no glow was cast in the sky as it would have been in normal times.
The Two Men Walked Toward the Villa
“Okay, let’s go across,” Dick said, vaulting over the wall.
Tony followed him, and they clambered up the side of the ditch onto the road. It was wide and paved, obviously the main road to the northeast.
“There’s another road like this going northwest,” Tony said. “Two valleys meet here at Maletta and join into one up which our forces are coming. They form the letter Y, with Maletta at the point where the three arms meet. I imagine most of the German troops and supplies come down to Maletta along the left upper arm of the Y, from the northwest, though some come along this road, which is the right branch of the Y.”