invite him to join in the examination.
He saluted hastily, taking another step backwards.
'Has your Excellency orders for me?'
'I am an ill man,
Castelani,' and the Count struck a pose, drooping visibly, his head
lolling weakly. Then slowly he drew back his shoulders, and his chin
came up. A wan but brave smile tightened his lips. 'But that is of no
account.
We advance, Castelani. Onwards! Tell the men I am well.
Hide the truth from them. If they know of my illness, they will
despair. They will panic.' Castelani saluted again. 'As you wish,
my
Colonel.'
'Help me to the car, Castelani,' he ordered, and reluctantly the Major
took his arm. The Count leaned heavily upon him as they crossed to the
Rolls, but he smiled gallantly at his men and waved to the nearest of
them.
'My poor brave boys,' he muttered. 'They must never know. I will not
fail them now.' What the hell is happening out there?' fretted
Gareth Swales, glancing up anxiously at Jake on the turret of the car
above him.
'Nothing!' Jake assured him. 'No sign of movement.' don't like it,'
reiterated Gareth morosely, and his expression hardly altered as the
Ras let out one of his triumphant cries and began laying out his
cards.
'I don't like that either,' he said again, and reached for his wallet
before the Ras reminded him. While the Ras shuffled and dealt the next
hand, he continued his conversation with Jake.
'What about Vicky? Nothing from that quarter either?'
'Not a peep, 'Jake assured him.
'That's another thing I don't like. She took it too calmly.
I expected her to put in an appearance long ago despite my orders.'
'She won't be coming,' Jake assured him, raising the binoculars again
and sweeping the empty horizon.
'I wish I was that confident,' muttered Gareth, picking up his cards.
'I've been expecting to see her car driving up at any minute.
It isn't like her to sit meekly in camp, while the action is going on
out here. She's a front-ranker, that one.
She likes to be right there when anything is happening.'
'I know,'
Jake -agreed. 'She had that mean look in her eye when she agreed to
stay at the gorge. So I just made sure she wasn't going to use Miss
Wobbly. I took the carbon rod out of the distributor.' Gareth began
to grin. 'That's the only good news I've had today. I had visions
of
Vicky Camberwell arriving in the middle of a fire fight.'
'Poor bloody
Italians,' observed Jake, and they both laughed.
'Sometimes you surprise me. Do you know that?' said Gareth, and he
drew a cheroot from his breast pocket and tossed it up to where Jake
