"Why? So you can get captured and--"
The general interposed. "Even if the message is a bit garbled the intent
should be obvious to the lieutenant if he has any intelligence."
The captain regarded the general balefully and then snapped at Wims,
"What are you waiting for? Move out! ON THE DOUBLE!"
Wims trotted away and as soon as he was out of sight the general said
abruptly to Aronsen, "I'm going over to the Red lines and watch your
Blue attack from there."
_Sure_, the captain snarled inwardly, _now that he's set the fuse he's
running for the hills_.
The general climbed into his command car and waited while one of his
majors dashed into the woods along the path that led to the attack
group's staging area. Less than a minute later he returned, followed by
a colonel. They jumped into the command car which roared off
immediately. As the captain was trying to puzzle out the incident's
meaning, three of his runners came out of the woods along the same path.
"Where have you goldbricks been? You should've been back long ago!"
"Sir," one of them spoke up, "there was a colonel a little way back
there wouldn't let us pass. Said the gen'ral was havin' a secret
conf'rence and for us to wait."
The captain tucked away the strange information for later consideration.
Right now there was no time to be lost. "You! Get over to the attack
group and tell the lieutenant in command to hold up until a white flare
is fired from the spur of woods on his left. All other orders remain the
same. If Wims has already been there, the lieutenant is to disregard any
message Wims might have given him. If you see Wims, tell him to get back
here. All right, move out!
"You! Get over to the second platoon in the reserve area and tell them
to rush a replacement machine gun with support riflemen to the tip of
the spur; base of fire to be maintained twenty minutes. Signal end of
firing with white flare."
The captain dispatched his last runner with additional tactical
revisions and then took time to consider the odd fact that the general
had one of his colonels delay his messengers. Was he only testing his
ability to improvise? Yet he seemed unduly anxious to have him use Wims.
Why? Suddenly, into his mind flashed the scene of the general calling
Wims from behind the tree and he knew what it was that had been
screaming for attention at the back of his mind these last hectic
minutes. _No one had mentioned Wims' name within earshot of the general
and yet Fyfe had called Wims by name!_
* * * * *
Wims had not been included in the company briefing and he wished he had
had the courage to ask the captain where the jump-off area was, but the
captain had been so angry with him he had not wanted to provoke him
further. After a while of wandering he came upon two of his own
company's flank pickets nested in a deadfall a short distance beyond the
edge of the woods. They greeted him with hearty hostility. "Git outta
here, Wims. You ain't got no business here."
"But Ah'm lookin' fer the lieutenant. Ah got a message fer 'im from the
captain."
"He's over there on that hill," one of them replied, spitefully
indicating the hill occupied by the Red force.
"Thanks," Wims said gratefully and in all innocence headed for the enemy
hill. He lost his bearings in the woods and when he finally came upon
the hill he had made a wide swing around the left flank and was
approaching its rear slope. Immediately he was spotted by several
trainees of the defending force foxholed on the lower slope. Since he
came so openly from their rear area and alone, they assumed he was one
of their own men.
As they let him come within challenging distance, they saw, pinned to
his tunic, the green cardboard bar that identified him as a messenger.
The bars were worn so that noncoms wouldn't be snatching for other
duties, messengers idling between missions. As had always been done,
both sides in this exercise were using the same device to identify their
messengers, never expecting them to be delivering messages behind enemy
lines.
The challenged Wims explained his mission and he was passed through with
the information that most of the junior officers were on the forward
slope. Wims climbed up the hill, inconspicuous among others scurrying
about on various missions, many of whom did not wear the identifying red
armband of the defenders.
He reached the crown of the wooded hill without finding a second
lieutenant who was not a referee. He had almost reached the bottom of
the forward slope when a small bush jumped up and yelled, "Hey, jerk!
Why'n't ya watch where ya goin'?"
Wims pulled back just in time to avoid falling into a well camouflaged
machine-gun nest. One of the foliage-covered gunners, thinking Wims was
about to topple on him, jumped aside. His ankle twisted under him and he
fell, catching the barrel of the machine gun just under the edge of his
helmet and sagging into unconsciousness.
A platoon sergeant heard the steely clatter and rushed over. "That's
funny," he growled ominously, "I coulda sworn I set up a machine-gun
emplacement here but it's makin' noises like a boiler factory."
The assistant gunner pointed to the unconscious gunner. "He fell an' hit
his head. He's breathin' but he ain't movin'."
The chattering of a machine gun from the woods opposite the hill was
noted by the sergeant and he knew the Blues would be coming soon. He
turned to the gunner. "Get up the hill an' snag one of our looeys or a
referee. Tell 'im we got a man hurt here, needs lookin' at."
The gunner dashed off and the sergeant jerked his thumb at Wims. "You!
Get on that gun!"
"But Ah got an important message fer the lieutenant," Wims protested.