They talked for a long time. Slade wanted to know if they had looked at the dam, of course.

“No, not this trip,” Dick replied. “But I did learn from Uncle Tomaso that it’s pretty heavily guarded. There’s a power station there, too. The underground has disrupted it a few times, so a sizable guard is around, I guess. It won’t be easy to get a big load of dynamite planted in the right spot there. But—one problem at a time, I say. The radio is the first job, and we’ll take care of that tomorrow night.”

They finally went to sleep, and they slept late into the morning. Then they ate and sat around. Dick looked in at Lieutenant Scotti regularly, and he seemed better all the time. But his inability to speak seemed to bother him a great deal.

“Don’t try to talk yet,” Dick said. “It’s too much for you.”

This time, Scotti nodded his head slightly to show that he understood. So Dick proceeded to tell him about the plans for placing the radio in the bell tower. When he finished he asked, “Did you understand it all? Do you think it’s okay?”

Again there was a slight nod of the head, and there seemed to be a smile in Scotti’s eyes.

“I believe he thinks it’s really a funny situation, too,” Dick said to himself. “He’d like to laugh if he could, poor guy.”

The day seemed endless for them all. They could do nothing but sit and wait for darkness. For men who loved action as these men did, it was difficult to sit still while there was so much to be done.

Even after darkness came, there was a long wait ahead of them, for they were not to meet Tomaso until after midnight. Every fifteen minutes from ten o’clock on, Vince or Max asked Dick if it weren’t time to start yet. These two particularly were restless, for they had done nothing at all since their landing by parachute. Dick and Tony had at least gone into the town and laid plans.

It was well after eleven before Dick agreed to go. The radio equipment was packed and ready long before that. Vince had built a fifteen-foot ladder with an extra board at one end to enable it to fit over another ladder. They took rope and a sort of metal grappling hook which Max had hammered out of the metal cover of one of the supply containers.

Dick led the way down the hill, after telling Lieutenant Scotti that they were leaving, and getting a nod in reply. Slade wished them luck and sat by the entrance to the cave with a sub-machine gun across his knees.

The four men followed the same route Dick and Tony had taken the night before. Vince and Max would have gone at a trot, despite their heavy loads, if Dick had not held them back.

“I never saw two fellows so anxious to walk into an enemy-held town unarmed, and likely to be picked up and shot as spies!” the sergeant laughed.

“I just want to do something, that’s all,” Vince insisted.

“Sure, the general’s depending on us, isn’t he,” Max added, “for the success of this whole operation?”

“Okay, okay,” Dick said. “But the one way to make it a success is to take it easy except when fast action is called for. The main thing to remember tonight is—be quiet!”

They crossed the field and came to the road from the northeast. While Dick clambered up the ditch and looked up and down the highway, the rest of them crouched behind the wall with their loads. The lights of a car flickered a bit away from town, so Dick scurried back and joined the others behind the wall. In a few minutes four big trucks roared past them into the town. Dick jumped up, ran to the road again and motioned the others on.

Just as they were climbing over the wall on the other side, they heard again the sounds of motors and ducked down. This time half a dozen trucks came past and Dick whispered to Max, “Guess the general has started his attack. The reinforcements are beginning to come in.”

In another fifteen minutes the four men stood on the hill behind the villa, near the clump of trees where Dick and Tony had talked with Tomaso the night before. Tony pointed out to Vince and Max the outline of the bell tower which rose high over the villa, and showed them the servants’ wing at the rear of it, where they would put their ladders on the roof.

And then they saw the old man making his way up the hill toward them. They waited in silence until he came under the trees, and then Tony spoke.

“Hello, Uncle Tomaso,” he said gently. “We’re here.”

“Yes, I see,” the old man said. “With your radio—and a ladder, too.”

“We have everything,” Dick said. “And these are two more American soldiers. You may have heard of this big fellow—he’s Vince Salamone.”

The old man looked at the home-run king and his eyes shone!

“Of course!” he cried. “Who in the world does not know the world’s greatest baseball player? You have won good-will for Italians everywhere, young man. Just think of it—here is old Tomaso with these two great men—Vincent Salamone and Ricardo Donnelli! I am most fortunate to be able to help you!”

“And this is Max Burckhardt,” Dick said. “His family was German, so you can realize what a fighter he is against our enemies. But he cannot speak Italian. We will speak to him in English so he will understand.”

The old man looked carefully at Max, who smiled back at him, then nodded as if giving his approval.

“Come now,” he said. “We will go to work.”

“Is everything quiet?” Dick asked.

“Yes, but there has been much activity today,” the old man said. “Many trucks and tanks and soldiers have come into Maletta by both roads. We have heard of a big attack by the American forces.”

“Yes, that is why we must have the radio,” Dick said. “We want to report to our Army how many trucks and tanks and soldiers come here. Can you learn that for us each day?”

“My friends and I—we can learn,” Tomaso said. “Tomorrow morning I will tell them, and each evening I can give you the information. But I do not tell even my friends where the radio is. They need not know, and if the Germans should try to torture the information out of them, they will not be able to weaken.”

They were led to the end of the wing where the old man pointed out a long ladder lying against the rear wall where there were no windows. Vince lifted it and placed it against the roof, which was only a few feet above them where they stood on the hill’s side.

Dick went up first and stepped carefully on the roof. He was pleased to see that it was almost flat so that it would be easy not only to walk on, but also to set a ladder on. There was just a slight slope toward the rear.

He turned and motioned for the next man to follow, and Tony came up with one case of radio material. Then came the old man himself, and Dick and Tony helped him off the ladder. Next Max handed up the home-made ladder that Vince had put together that day, and Dick and Tony pulled it up and laid it on the roof. Max himself came next, with another box of radio material and the coil of rope with its metal grappling hook.

And last of all came Vince, with the big box containing the hand-cranked generator to supply power for the radio transmitter. When they were all on the roof, they waited for a minute, listening to see if there were any unusual sounds about. They heard the chugging of engines from the railroad yards to the west, the noise of truck motors coming down the road from the northwest, and that was all.

Dick and Tomaso walked along the roof side by side, treading lightly, and the others followed, bringing all equipment and both ladders. Finally they stood in the deep shadow at the base of the old bell tower. Looking up, it seemed to Dick as if it rose an impossible distance into the sky. He felt sure their ladders would never reach it.

Vince set to work fixing his home-made ladder to the end of Tomaso’s ladder. It slid over the end all right, but was rather loose, so he took from his pocket a length of heavy cord and bound it round and round the shafts where both ladders were joined. The others waited silently, watching him work quickly and surely. In two minutes the ladders were as strong as one long one, and Max helped Vince lift it so that they could lean it against the bell tower.

Dick stood back a little way to see how close it came to the opening near the top of the tower. It was almost ten feet short! He stepped forward and whispered to Vince and Max:

“Lean it at a sharper angle. It’s short.”

He stepped back and saw that the new position gained only about three feet. The top rung was still about seven feet below the opening in the tower. And Tony could never stand on the top rung, hugging the wall. He’d have to stand on the third rung from the top, so he’d have some support for his hands and could lean his body in against the wall. Of course, there was the rope and grappling hook, but that was tricky business—uncertain and likely to make a good deal of noise.

Vince was standing beside him. “Can’t make it any steeper,” he said. “It would topple backward.”

“Then Tony will have to try that rope and grappling hook,” Dick said. They stepped forward to the others again.

“Tony, you’ll have to try that rope trick,” Dick said. “But make it as quiet as possible, please. We’ll steady the ladder for you down here, and we’ll even try to catch you if you fall. But take it easy. It will probably take you quite a few tries before you can hook that thing on the edge. We don’t know if it’s big enough to grab hold of that rock at the opening. Maybe you can’t make it at all.”

“I’ll do my best,” Tony said, taking the rope and the hook from Max, who had tied the metal piece to the end of the rope. Tony slung the coil over his shoulder and started up the ladder. Without a sound he slicked up the wobbly steps as if he were sliding, not climbing.

“Look at ’im go,” Max whispered. “He’s a wonder, that guy.”

Dick just looked upward without a word. Then he felt the old man’s hand clutch his arm. Still he did not take his eyes away from Tony.

“Don’t worry, Tomaso,” he said. “Tony will be all right.”

“Yes, Tony is a good boy,” the old man said, and took his hand away.

Tony was near the top now. Dick could see the black blob that was his figure against the wall of the tower. He saw an arm swing outward and heard the clink of metal against stone. It was not as loud a noise as he had thought it would be, and he breathed a little more easily. He watched the arm swing outward again. There was another metallic sound, and this time Dick saw the spark as metal hit stone. It seemed to him, as clearly as he could make out, that Tony had come close that time. But he was hoping so hard that he felt he must be wishing it to catch hold.

Again Tony swung the rope with the big hook on the end. Each time he felt the ladder wobble, each time he grabbed with one hand to steady himself, each time he was sure he was falling. And then, each time, too, he had to dodge that big metal hook that hurtled down at him when it missed catching. He had not only to dodge it, but to try to catch it so it would not clatter against the wall and make too much noise.

After half a dozen tries he stopped. His heart was beating like a trip-hammer, and his breath was coming short. He knew that the others below were tense.

He pulled himself together and tried again. The hook missed and came down again. He caught it, almost lost his balance, grabbed hold, and threw again. He was already ducking and reaching out for the falling hook before he realized that this time it was not falling. It had caught over the edge!

“Boy, I hate to give a tug on this rope,” he said to himself. “I’m afraid if I do it will come right down again.”

But he tugged a little bit. The hook did not come down. He tugged harder. Still it did not come down. Then with both hands he pulled. It was secure.

As a final test, he lifted his feet from the ladder rung and let the rope support his whole body. He wanted to shout with joy at knowing that he had succeeded, but he could only smile silently.

Below, Dick knew that Tony had made it. There was no more slinging of that big hook. Then he watched Tony’s figure creep up the side of the wall above the ladder. Maybe the hook had been caught—but what if it gave way now? Tony would topple down in their midst, the ladders would fall, the metal hook would clatter to the roof, and the sentries would be shooting at them!

But it didn’t happen. Instead he saw Tony’s figure disappear—and that could mean only one thing! He had crawled in through the opening in the bell tower. He had made it!