Read Online Dive in the Sun by Douglas Reeman - Free Book Online Page B

of his father. No doubt he would even make capital out of his bereavement, he thought bitterly.
    Jervis looked even paler, and Duncan reached out with his foot to kick him chidingly in the ankle.
    ‘’Ere, snap out of it, Ian. It’ll do us good to stretch our legs.’
    Jervis still stared straight at the side of the hull, his eyes dull. ‘What would they do to us if they caught us? Would we be treated as prisoners-of-war and everything?’
    Curtis eyed him levelly. ‘They say they’re going to hang every midget submariner, frogman, commando, charioteer, and what-have-you that they can catch, Ian. The German High Command say we’re all saboteurs, and must be treated as such. So get it through your head—we’re not going to be caught!’
    ‘No, that’s right, sport!’ Duncan laughed only with his mouth. ‘We’re goin’ to see that you get home to your dad, the Admiral, just so that you can tell ’im what a lot of scruffy jokers we all are in this outfit!’
    Duncan turned back to Curtis, a look of careless ease on his face. Curtis’s sharp words had somehow struck new life into him, and even Taylor looked more relaxed. ‘Where you settin’ us down, Ralph?’
    ‘I’ll go back to this deep underwater valley, you remember, “
il dietro del camello
”, and as soon as it’s dawn tomorrow, we’ll slip ashore. We can sink the boat in deep water then.’
    ‘What’ll we take with us, Ralph? I guess we won’t want to lug too much ashore, especially if we’ve got to swim for a bit!’
    Curtis pulled the chart closer to the light.
    ‘The beaches are pretty shallow for a long way out. I think it’ll be more of a wade than a swim. We’ll need the emergency pack and a good water container.’ He rested his hand almost gingerly on the holster which hung on his hip. ‘We shall need these as well. Although I don’t aim to have to use them.’
    ‘I wouldn’t mind too much.’ Duncan eased his depth controls, his eyes distant. ‘You should see my old man. He can knock the eye out of a jack-rabbit at a hundred yards with a pistol.’ He shook his head, marvelling at his own memories. ‘He sure is quite a guy.’
    ‘What did he say when you came over and joined the Royal Navy?’ Curtis was suddenly curious about Duncan’s father, although he had heard so much about him he sometimes felt he knew him better than his own.
    Duncan gave his slow smile. ‘We was out checkin’ the wire one day, when we ran into old Dick Masters, the constable. He told us he’d just got the griff about the boys pullin’ back to Dunkirk. I was so worked up about the mess the Pommies were makin’ of it I said I wanted to make for Cairns and join up. My old man didn’t even bat an eyelid.’ Duncan grinned affectionately. ‘He just waved his fist across our land—an’ we’ve got quite a piece—and he said, “I built this up from nothing! I’ve worked hard all me life, an’ I’ve seen drought, famine, death, good times, an’ bad, an’ I’ve made something for a man to be proud of. But d’you know, boy, the thing that still stands out most in my memory is the morning that me an’ my cobbers hit the beach on the Dardanelles. So I’m not goin’ to stand in
your
way now!”’
    ‘He must be a fine man,’ said Curtis quietly.
    Duncan nodded. ‘He’s a, bloodthirsty old bastard, that’s for sure!’
    Jervis was peering at the chart, his mind confused by the casual conversation. ‘It’s a long way from that village to the south coast. I wonder if we shall be able to contact the army all right.’
    ‘I got a brother in the Eighth Army,’ said Duncan slowly. ‘Reckon we should spot him soon enough.’
    ‘I didn’t know that, Steve.’ Taylor’s voice showed rare surprise at the secret.
    ‘Well, I didn’t want you to think I’m always boastin’; I’m a modest guy, y’know!’
    As the clock turned down the hours, Curtis found that the preparations for leaving the boat helped to settle his nerves, and now that