The Nazi looked both puzzled and angry. The look he gave Dave made the young Yank regret just a little that he had spoken in that manner.
"So, you would make a joke of it, eh?" the Nazi suddenly roared. "I advise you not to. I can crush an infant like you with one hand. What were you three doing over here?"
"Three?" Freddy spoke up before Dave could open his mouth. "What three? There's only the two of us."
"I can see that!" the Gestapo Colonel snarled. "I have eyes, you little fool. There was a third plane. The one that tried to get away. What were you doing over here, eh?"
Dave's heart skipped a beat. The one that tried to get away? Did that mean Barker had been caught and shot down?
"Oh, him?" Dave echoed and forced a grin to his lips. "He not only tried to get away, he did get away. Too bad for you. He was the important man in the patrol."
"So?" the German said with a slow smile. "The important man of your little patrol, eh? Then it is too bad for the ones who sent you out here. He will never return to England. He is dead, the swine!"
"You're a cockeyed liar!" Dave shouted at him with more conviction than he felt. "He left you birds fanning thin air, and he's well over England by now."
The German regarded Dave as though he were some strange species of something or other. Then his big body shook with silent laughter.
"You Americans are a stupid people," he finally said. "You have no sense. You do not realize that you are asking for punishment every time you open your dirty mouths. You have to be taught a lesson, always!"