stoked the fire and roused Anna. 'I need your help,' he said. 'Can you heat some more tins of stew for me?'
She nodded sleepily.
'Are you all right?' he asked, as she stretched and yawned.
'Yes, I think so. This is harder than I thought it would be. I am used to tramping over the mountains, but I had not realized we would get so little sleep.'
He smiled, and touched her cheek lightly. 'It's an occupational hazard, I'm afraid.'
'I know.' She looked up at him. 'Jack - do you think we'll make it?'
'Of course. We have to.' He smiled again, then went to wake the others.
One by one, the men stumbled into the kitchen, stretching and yawning. Chevannes was the last to appear, eyes narrow and puffy, cracked lips stained with wine. Tanner chuckled to himself, then noticed Sandvold standing alone in a corner, rocking gently, eyes glazed. 'Professor?' he asked.
Sandvold jumped.
'How are you feeling? How are the legs?' Tanner asked.
'My legs - well, they are still here. I feel my age, Sergeant. How far do you think we must go today?'
'Perhaps a dozen miles - seventeen kilometres.'
Sandvold nodded gloomily. 'We still have such a long way to go.' He paused, then said, 'Ignore me. I have these moments of depression.'
While the others ate the remaining tins of Maconochie's, Tanner spread Anna's map on the stone floor. 'Anna,' he said, 'do you know this stretch of mountains?'
'I know Bringsfjellet. It's the peak above Vagamo, and I've been to the town before.'
'Good, but what about here?' He pointed to a narrow, steep-sided valley that ran north from Heidel.
'No,' she admitted. 'I've not been up there.'
'Do you think it will be wooded?'
'Almost certainly.'
'And it looks as though there's a track through it. What's more, it's mostly south-west facing so with luck there won't be much snow.' He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 'I think we should head down there.'
'Excuse me interrupting,' said Chevannes, his voice laden with sarcasm, 'but it is not up to you, Sergeant, to decide.' He leant over, stale wine fumes heavy on his breath, and snatched the map. He examined it briefly, then said, 'We should find some transport. The men are still exhausted. I have noticed that the welfare of yours is not of paramount concern to you, Sergeant.'
Tanner took a deep breath. 'I agree that if we see something we should take it, but I don't think we should waste time looking for it. It's no more than a day's march to Vagamo where we'd have to ditch any M/T we had anyway.'
'And the fact that the men are exhausted?' said Chevannes. 'We should find a vehicle.'
'We need to get going while it's still safe, sir. We're by a main valley road, and it's not long before Jerry will be down here. I've had a look at the sky. It was clear three- quarters of an hour ago, but the cloud's building and it looks like rain. We need to get away and under the cover of the forest as soon as possible. We can rest up later. Better to do so where we can post proper sentries and prepare a decent escape route. We should aim to get to the mountains above Vagamo. Anna knows those peaks.'
'There are good views of the river Otta, the VSgavnet lake and the town from the Bringsfjellet,' added Anna.
'So from there,' Tanner continued, 'we can look down on the town. It may even be that we'll get there before the Germans do, in which case we'll be fine. If not, we can work out how to join the road north of the town. I agree, we will need some M/T then, but we don't have time to look for transport now.'
'The track we take this morning should be fairly easy going,' said Anna.
Chevannes turned sharply to face her. 'Oh, I see,' he said. 'You two, you have - how shall I put this? - a little understanding. It seems as though you have it all planned.'
Tanner reddened.
'That is charming,' continued Chevannes, 'but, Sergeant, you must not let your feelings for Miss Rostad cloud your judgement.'
Something inside Tanner snapped. He prided himself on being able to keep a cool, calm head, no matter how testing the circumstances, but at several moments in his life uncontrollable rage had got the better of him. He had reached one such moment now.
Without further thought he clenched his fist and swung his right arm at Chevannes. The movement was so quick, and executed with such lightning precision, that the Frenchman had no time to react. The force of the punch knocked him backwards in an unconscious heap against McAllister and Bell, who caught him clumsily, thus saving him from further injury.
For a moment, no one said a word.
Damn, damn, damn, thought Tanner.
'Sergeant,' said Larsen, eventually. His face showed incredulity. 'What did you think you were doing?'
'He pushed me too far.' He glared at the Norwegian.
Hoisted upright by the two Rangers, Chevannes groaned, then came round. Blinking wildly, he suddenly focused on his assailant. 'Tanner,' he hissed, 'you struck an officer!'
'You insulted me and Miss Rostad, sir.'
'You struck an officer,' Chevannes repeated. 'I have never seen anything so disgraceful in my life.'
'Jesus Christ,' muttered Tanner.
'You had better apologize, Sergeant,' said Larsen.
'For God's sake,' said Tanner. He wasn't sure how to react. You bloody fool, he thought.
'Sergeant, it would be better if you just apologized,' said Larsen again, his voice firm and measured.
'You most certainly will apologize, Sergeant!' shouted Chevannes. 'Now!'
Tanner sighed, then said to Chevannes, 'Sir, I apologize for hitting you. And now can we get the hell out of here?'
'Just a minute,' said Chevannes, cheek muscles twitching with anger, 'don't think that's the end of it, because when we get back to our lines, Sergeant, I'm going to report you, and you will be court-martialled. I'm going to make sure your career is finished for what you have just done.'
'Enough!'
The Professor had stepped forward. 'Enough of this,' he said again. 'Lieutenant - please. Ask everyone to wait outside. You, Sergeant, and you, Henrik Larsen and Nielssen, stay here.'
Chevannes was plainly surprised by the professor's intervention. 'Yes, all right,' he said. 'Everyone-out. Now!'
'Listen to me,' said Sandvold, once the men had gone and the door had closed. 'I'm not interested in your
