"Then give me soon thy coat of gray,

the Alpenkorps, tough, dogged, skilful soldiers, soldiers living only for the revenge of their massacred comrades, were very close behind. And they were highly-trained mountain troops, fresh, resilient, the reservoir of their energies barely tapped: whereas his own tiny band, worn out from continuous days and sleepless nights of labour and action. . . . Mallory sank to the ground near the angled turn of the ravine where he could keep look out, glanced at the others with a deceptive casualness that marked his cheerless assessment of what he saw. As a fighting unit they were in a pretty bad way. Both Panayis and Brown were badly crippled, the latter's face grey with pain. For the first time since leaving Alexandria, Casey Brown was apathetic, listless and quite indifferent to everything: this Mallory took as a very bad sign. Nor was Brown helped by the heavy transmitter still strapped to his backwith point-blank truculence he had ignored Mallory's categorical order to abandon it. Louki was tired, and looked it: his physique, Mallory realised now, was no match for his spirit, for the infectious smile that never left his face, for the panache of that magnificently upswept moustache that contrasted so oddly with the sad, tired eyes above. Miller, like himself, was tired, but, like himself, could keep on being tired for a long time yet. And Stevens was still conscious, but even in the twilit gloom of the canyon floor his face looked curiously transparent, while the nails, lips and eyelids were drained of blood. And Andrea, who had carried him up and down all these killing canyon trackswhere there had been tracksfor almost two interminable hours, looked as he always did: immutable, indestructible. Mallory shook his head, fished out a cigarette, made to strike a light, remembered the planes still cruising overhead and threw the match away. Idly his gaze travelled north along the canyon and he slowly stiffened, the unlit cigarette crumpling and shredding between his fingers. This ravine bore no resemblance to any of the others through which they had so far passedit was broader, dead straight, at least' three times as long and, as far as he could see in the twilight, the far end was blocked off by an almost vertical wall. "Louki!" Mallory was on his feet now, all weariness forgotten. "Do you know where you are. Do you know this place?" "But certainly, Major!" Louki was hurt. "Have I not told you that Panayis and I, in the days of our youth" "But this is a cul-de-sac, a dead-end!" Mallory protested. "We're boxed in, man, we're review best digital camera fastest shutter trapped!" "So? The Major does not trust Louki, is that it?" He grinned again, relented, patted the wall by his side. "Panayis and I, we have been working this way all afternoon. Along this wall there are many caves. One of them leads through to another valley that leads down to the coast road." "I see, I see." Relief washing through his mind, Mallory sank down on the ground again. "And where does this other valley come out?" "Just across the strait from Maidos." "How far from the town?" "About five miles, Major, maybe six. Not more." "Fine, fine! And you're sure you can find this cave?" "A hundred years from now and my head in a goatskin bag!" Louki boasted. "Fair enough!" Even as he spoke, Mallory catapulted himself violently to one side, twisted in midair to avoid falling across Stevens and crashed heavily into the wall between Andrea and Miller. In a moment of unthinking carelessness he had exposed himself to view from the ravine they had just combed: the burst of machine-gun fire from its lower enda hundred and fifty yards away at the mosthad almost blown his head off. Even as it was, the left shoulder of his jacket had been torn away, the shell just grazing his shoulder. Miller was already kneeling by his side, fingering the gash, running a gently exploratory band across his back. "Careless, damn careless," Mallory murmured. "But I didn't think they were so close." He didn't feel as calm as he sounded. If the mouth of that Schineisser had been another sixteenth of an inch to the right, he'd have had no head left now. "Are you all right, boss?" Miller was puzzled. "Did they" "Terrible shots," Mallory assured him cheerfully. "Couldn't hit a barn." He twisted round to look at his shoulder. "I hate to sound heroic, but this really is just a scratch. . . ." He rose easily to his feet, and picked up his gun. "Sorry and all that, gentlemen, but it's time we were on our way again. How far along is this cave, Louki?" Louki rubbed his bristly chin, the smile suddenly gone. He looked quickly at Mallory, then away again. "Louki!" "Yes, yes, Major. The cave." Louki rubbed his chin again. "Well, it is a good way along. In fact, it is at the end," he finished