Over and over he repeated the words, and after the tenth repetition, he got his answer through his earphones.
“Mark Antony to Julius Caesar,” the voice said. “Come in, Julius Caesar.”
“Got it, Dick,” Tony whispered exultantly. “Now give me the message—in Italian and in code. I’ll repeat.”
Dick had memorized most of the short code which had been devised in Italian for these special reports, so that he would not have to use a light to refer to a code book. Later, he knew, when he came to give detailed information as to troops and equipment, he would have to refer to his code book to get things absolutely straight. But now he just wanted headquarters to know that the paratroop party was established in Maletta.
He spoke softly to Tony the words which would tell the American general that the party had landed safely except for Scotti’s accident, that they had contacted Tony’s uncle, that the radio was now set up in the town itself. The next report, to come at eight o’clock the next evening, would give detailed information about German troop movements into Maletta, some of which had already started.
And that was all. It was essential to keep on the air the shortest possible time, so that the German locator stations would have only a minute or two in which to get a fix on the illegal transmitter.
Dick and Tony sat back. There was nothing more for them to do for a long time, and they knew it.
“But I’ll bet there’s a lot going on in certain places,” Dick said to Tony. “Back at headquarters, for instance, the radio orderly has rushed that message to the code room and it will be taken at once to the general. I’ll bet he left word to be awakened at any time a message came through from us.”
“And they’re plenty busy at a couple of German listening posts, too,” Tony said. “Maybe we’ll see some of the fun.”
Tony was right. In four German monitor stations their message had been heard. In each one a line had been drawn on a detailed map showing the direction from which the radio report had come. The message itself, in Italian, was obviously code, and was rushed to decoding experts.