For a minute longer the two boys just stood there as though their boots were nailed to the ground. Then they turned and stared at each other, neither quite sure that he wasn't just asleep and going through a crazy dream.

"Don't ever hope for luck again!" Dave finally broke the silence. "We've played out our string, Freddy. Nothing that ever happens from now on could possibly top this. My gosh, my gosh! I'm soaking wet with my own sweat. I thought I was going to fall into a fear faint for sure. And my hair is pure white, isn't it?"

"Grab hold of me, Dave, and hang on hard!" Freddy said hoa.r.s.ely. "I'm afraid I'll start running and keep running until I'm miles from this spot. Good grief, what luck! All we have to do is wait a bit, and then get invited right in there with them."

"Sure!" Dave muttered. "And then what, pal?"

A lot of the happiness drained right out of Freddy Farmer's face. He slowly sucked air into his lungs, and then promptly sighed heavily.

"Quite!" he murmured. "And then what? The beggars will no doubt have others in there with them. And what in the world can we do about it?"

"I don't know, yet," Dave grunted. "But--but we've got to do something, even if it's letting them have it in cold blood, Freddy. Major Barber wants them kidnapped, but--"

Dave finished the rest with a shrug and a gesture of his hands. Freddy Farmer made a wry face and swallowed quickly a couple of times.

"Yes, of course!" he got out with an effort. "It's war, and war's a beastly business. Still--"

"Me, too, pal," Dave said softly. "I hope with all my heart and soul we can figure some way. But one thing we're pledged to as loyal Commandos, Freddy. Those two go out of the war picture today, one way--or another."

Freddy Farmer didn't make any comment. He simply looked Dave in the eye, and nodded silently.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

_Eagles' Courage_

"If we have to wait any longer, Dave, I swear I'll fly apart in small pieces. This blasted suspense is getting me down something awful!"

Dave grinned at his English pal, and gave him a comforting nudge with his elbow.

"That makes two of us," he whispered. "But it's been only fifteen minutes, you know."

"Fifteen years!" Freddy corrected. "And look at that sun coming up! The more light around here, the tougher it's going to be for us, you know."

"You're telling me?" Dave murmured, and squinted at the first rays of dawn light stealing westward across the face of that part of France.

"Swiping one of those n.a.z.i planes in the dark is hard enough. But in broad daylight--well, let's not think about that little item. I sure wish, though, that--"

Dave never finished the rest of that statement. At that moment the door of the center building was jerked open and a fashion plate uniformed n.a.z.i Staff Captain stood framed in the doorway. He swept black, cruel-looking eyes over the officers and men grouped about, and scowled angrily.

"_Herr_ Major von k.u.mmil!" he cried out in a rasping voice. "_Herr_ Major von k.u.mmil! Are you out here? _Herr_ Field Marshal wants you at once!"

As the n.a.z.i barked the words he jerked his head from side to side like a spectator watching the flight of the ball in a tennis match. Dave hesitated, then nudged Freddy Farmer.

"I think that means us," he whispered. "That's probably the Major who told us to wait. We've got to chance it, anyway. Right?"

The English youth simply nodded, and started pushing through the group outside the door. Dave was right at his heels. They stopped a few steps from the black-eyed captain, and saluted.

_"Herr_ Major von k.u.mmil was recalled to regimental Headquarters by _Herr_ Colonel," Freddy spoke up in perfect German. "He instructed us to wait for _Herr_ Field Marshal's pleasure."

The n.a.z.i Captain stared down at them as though they were something the cat had dragged in. Then, as his gaze fell on the sealed envelope Dave held in his hand, his eyes took on a bright gleam. But Dave beat him to the punch.

"Our instructions were to deliver this in person, _Herr_ Captain," Dave said.

"That is true," Freddy echoed. Then he suddenly added, "And besides, _Herr_ Captain, I have been ordered to make my own report by word of mouth. It is impossible to put it in writing."

For a split second Dave thought that Freddy's words were simply to make sure that they both were admitted inside. But as he flashed a quick look at his pal and saw the odd look on Freddy's face, his heart looped over and the blood started to pound through his veins. Freddy was up to just more than getting inside that Headquarters building! There was something much, much more important than just that, in Freddy's head. Dave had only time for a quick look, but it was enough to tell him that Freddy was up to something.

"So?" the n.a.z.i Captain suddenly got out in a sneering tone. "Very well, then. Come in, both of you. But do not be too long. Say what you have to say, and don't waste words, you understand?"

Dave nodded meekly, but trust Freddy Farmer to have his little final say! Freddy coldly returned the senior officer's looks, and then put just the faintest touch of sarcasm in his reply.

"But certainly not, _Herr_ Captain!" he said. "It is not for me to add to _Der Fuehrer's_ orders!"

"_Der Fuehrer?_" the n.a.z.i Captain gasped, and stood there with his black eyes popping, and his bird-like mouth hanging open.

Freddy let it go at that. He nodded to Dave and then calmly led the way past the gaping Captain and in through the door. By the time they were inside a short narrow hallway, the n.a.z.i had collected his wits.

"This way," he said, and led them down the hallway, and through double doors that opened off the right.

For some crazy reason the first thing that came to Dave's brain as he was ushered into a fairly big room was the quite unimportant realization that Freddy and he had actually been edging toward the wrong side of the building when they had b.u.mped into that n.a.z.i Major. They would undoubtedly have gained nothing had they been able to peek through the windows on that side.

That thought came and went, and then he was taking notice of other things that really were important. The room was exactly like other n.a.z.i military Headquarters he had seen during his war career. Maps covered with little colored flags. A bank of field phones. Shortwave radio sets.

Memos, dispatches, letters and any number of other kinds of military papers scattered all over the place. But the main attraction, of course, was the huge double desk at which sat the two n.a.z.i high rankers who had been personally responsible for ninety per cent of Adolf Hitler's blood triumphs to date.

On one side was Field Marshal von Staube, lumpy, beefy, with a sweating red face, bald head, and neck the thickness of a telephone pole. And on the other side sat Luftwaffe Marshal von Gault, looking like a half starved vulture about to strike. His cruel, hawkish face was absolutely blood chilling to behold, and it was all Dave could do to suppress the shudder that started through him. The Number One and Number Two killers of the Third Reich. Adolf Hitler's two butchers. Himmler, of the infamous Gestapo, acted like a sweet little old lady when his acts were compared with the killing and plunder performed under the command of these two.

Dave looked at them, and his hand twitched as he had the sudden desire to go for the small but deadly automatic he carried in his tunic pocket.

Neither Freddy nor he wanted to end it that way. But they would be true to their mutual vow. Though it cost them all the torture the n.a.z.is could inflict upon them, today would be the last day of war for Field Marshal von Staube and Luftwaffe Marshal von Gault. These two would never--

"Well, have you lost your tongues? What are you here for? Where is your Major von k.u.mmil? Speak up! Can you two young fools not see that I am busy?"

It was von Staube who spoke the words. Yet that is not quite right. He did not exactly speak them. His voice sounded more like an express train going through a tunnel. Dave stepped quickly forward, saluted with one hand, and held out the sealed envelope with the other.

"_Herr_ Major von k.u.mmil was recalled, _Herr_ Field Marshal," he said.

"We were intrusted to deliver this to you."

The German high ranker growled in his throat, s.n.a.t.c.hed the envelope from Dave's hand, stabbed a thick finger under the flap opening and ripped viciously. He took out a fold of papers inside, glanced through them quickly, and then hurled the lot down on the desk.

"Fools!" he thundered. "Swine stupid fools! To tell me this by courier, when it could have been spoken over the telephone an hour ago! What do I care about the condition of your reserves? Should I tell the enemy to wait until we are ready to give them battle? Should I sit here and wait until arms and battle equipment have been issued to every German soldier. _Mein Herr!_ What am I commanding? German armies or packs of fools?"

The German bellowed the questions straight at Dave, and pounded his fat fists on the desk. Beads of sweat flew from his face, and his color mounted to where it seemed impossible that he wouldn't explode in small pieces in the next instant. Dave tried to think of something to say, but the German seemed not to want answers to his questions. He probably didn't even realize that he was looking straight at Dave. He was too busy with thoughts about something, some part of his plans, that had gone higher than a kite.

"Fools, stupid dogs!" he went right on roaring. "I order something, and I get nothing but words by courier! Well, we shall see about that. We shall see. There'll be a few swine heads fall before this day is done.

And they will not all belong to our enemies. The--"

Words failed the big fat German Field Marshal. He dropped back into his desk chair mumbling and gurgling sounds that didn't make any sense. Dave noticed that von Gault was watching von Staube closely, but there was just a shade of worry in the Luftwaffe Marshal's cruel eyes. Perhaps von Gault had gone through this thing before, with disastrous results to himself. After all, von Staube was Number _One_. Anyway, the Luftwaffe Marshal was watching his partner in world wide crime closely, and was not looking at all happy.