Contents (45)
- DULCE ET DECORUM EST
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- CONTENTS
THIRTY-TWO
WITH THEIR LETTERS written and pacts made, the boys headed back to the tunnels to complete their mission, but time was not their ally. Their deadline was less than three weeks away, and the command center demanded daily progress reports and responded with the same directive: Work faster.
Tension in the tunnels and trenches swelled with the news that the Germans had increased their daylight raids on London and the surrounding towns. Charlie became so concerned about his brother, he asked Frederick to write another letter, which he sent to his family’s pastor, inquiring about Henry’s safety and imploring that he tell no one he had heard from Charlie, especially his father.
One morning, as the crew neared the end of another long shift in the tunnels, Boomer, Thomas, and George carried the last bags of spoil to the PBIs waiting at the entrance. The remaining crew members had started to gather their tools when Bats, who was listening at the wall, held up his hand.
Careful not to make a sound, he placed the geophone to the right and lower on the wall. His brow furrowed, and his glasses slid down his nose, but he made no move to fix them. With slow, silent steps, he inched his way toward the tunnel face. Charlie stepped back to make room as the listener inched closer to where Bagger waited. Poppy flapped on her perch and let out a high-pitched trill. Bagger signaled to Charlie, who crept over to the cage and stroked Poppy’s head, quieting the canary. Sweat trickled down the sides of Charlie’s face. He didn’t dare move to wipe it away, fearful that any motion might be heard by the enemy.
Everyone strained to hear what Bats heard, but the tunnel was silent. Still holding an empty sandbag, Frederick swallowed hard. Their enemies were unaware of the stealthy techniques of the clay kickers. The German tunnelers were miners, like Boomer and Thomas. The Germans dug faster than the Brits, chopping at the clay with picks and shovels, but their speed came at a price. Bats had been tracking their noisy digging and conversations for days. He could hear the scrape of their shovels up to seventy feet away. Their voices he could detect from up to fifty feet. Over the last two days, both had grown louder. The news had made the crew nervous, but Bats assured them that as long as he could hear the enemy, they were safe. Noise followed by silence meant one of two things: Either the enemy had succumbed to carbon monoxide or they were preparing to fire a charge.
Bats pulled his glasses from his face with a quick jerk and closed his eyes. He moved the geophone lower on the wall, and his forehead wrinkled in concentration. After a taut minute, Bagger tapped Bats on the shoulder and raised his eyebrows in question. Bats shook his head, and Bagger mouthed a few vulgarities that would have made Charlie’s dad blush and then he signaled for everyone to exit that section of the tunnel.