instinctively as the next shell came shrieking in to burst so close
that dust and smoke blew into their faces.
'I get this strange feeling we should move on now,' suggested
Gareth mildly. 'That is, if you have no other plans.' Jake sent the
car plunging steeply down the face of the dune, turning hard as he hit
the firmer earth of the plain and setting a running course for where
the mouth of the gorge was hidden by the smoky writhing curtains of
cloud and rain.
Vicky Camberwell saw them coming and swung Miss Wobbly and gunned her
on to a parallel course. Wheel to wheel, the two elderly machines
bounded across the flat land, and the rain began to crackle against the
steel hulls in minute white bursts that blurred their outlines as the
next Italian shell burst fifty feet ahead of them,
forcing them to swerve to avoid the fuming crater.
'Can you see where the battery is?' yelled Jake, and Gareth answered
him, clinging to one of the welded brackets above the hatch,
rain streaming down his face and soaking the front of his white
shirt.
'They are in the ground that the Gallas deserted, they've probably
taken over the trenches I dug with such loving care.'
'Could we have a go at them? 'Jake suggested.
'No we can't, old son. I sited those positions myself.
They're tight. You just keep going for the gorge. Our only hope is to
get into the second line of positions that I have prepared at the first
waterfall.' Then he shook his head sorrowfully, screwing up his eyes
against the stinging raindrops. 'You and this crazy old bastard,'
he turned his head to the Ras beside him, 'you'll be the death of me,
you two will The Ras grinned happily at him, convinced that they were
charging into a battle again, and deliriously happy at the prospect.
'How do you do?' he cackled, and punched Gareth's shoulder
gleefully.
'Could be better, old boy,' Gareth assured him. 'Could be a lot
better,' and they both ducked as the next shell came howling low over
their heads.
'Those fellows are improving Gareth observed mildly.
'God knows they've had plenty of practice recently, 'Jake shouted,
and Gareth rolled his eyes upwards to the heavy bruised cloud banks.
'Let there be rain,' he intoned, and instantly the thunder cracked and
the clouds lit internally with a brilliant electric burst of light.
The splattering drops increased their tempo, and the air turned milky
with slanting drumming lances of rain.
'Amazing, Major Swales. I would not have believed it,' said
Gregorius Maryam from the turret above Gareth's head, and his voice was
hushed with awe.
'Nothing to it, my lad,' Gareth disclaimed. 'Just a direct line to the
top.' Rain filled the air in a white teeming fog, so that Jake had to
screw up his eyes against the driving needles, and his black curls
clung in a sodden mass to his scalp.
Rain wiped out the mountains and the rocky portals of the gorge,
