“Well, he probably has the local policeman and the grocer and a few others looking and listening,” Tony said. “And I imagine Tomaso himself overhears a good deal when he’s cleaning up in Army headquarters below us.”

Dick got down on the floor of the tower and got out his flashlight. Tony stood over him so as to prevent as much as possible of the light from showing. Even then, Dick covered the front of the flash with his shirt so that only a faint glow came through on to the paper. But it was enough to read by, and enough to show him what code words he should use in making his radio report.

“The fourteenth motorized division has come through today,” Dick said to Tony. “In addition there’s a panzer force of forty small and twenty large tanks. Eighteen pieces of heavy artillery have gone through and are being emplaced about three miles south of the town.”

“The floods will get every one of those,” Tony cried. “The Germans certainly do think we’re making our big push right straight up the valley. They’re pouring everything in here to stop it.”

“Okay now, Tony,” Dick said. “I’ve got all the code words in my mind. Let’s give our report and, incidentally, set the Gestapo on their ears again.”

They went to the radio and Dick began to crank the generator. In a moment, Tony had made contact with the American Army headquarters and repeated clearly the code words that Dick spoke to him. Then he repeated all again and shut off the radio.

“I’ll be leaving you now, Tony,” Dick said, standing up. “I’ve got lots of work to do tonight.”

“Wish I could help you,” Tony said.

“Same here, but somebody’s got to stay here with the radio,” Dick replied. “We’ve got to have someone to keep his eyes on the town, somebody who can get a message from Tomaso in case anything important turns up, and especially someone to let down the rope when necessary. If we both left, we’d have to leave the rope hanging here for us to get back up again, and that’s out of the question.”

“Sure, I understand,” Tony said, as Dick climbed to the ledge and tossed out the rope to the roof below. “I’ll stick by my radio. What about the next report?”

“Either Vince or I will come shortly before dawn,” Dick said, “when Tomaso sends up his next report. The schedule is each evening after dark, each morning before dawn—unless something comes up to prevent it.”

“In a pinch I can turn the generator and handle the radio at the same time,” Tony said. “It’s not easy but I can do it if I have to.”

“Maybe you will have to some time,” Dick said. “But there’ll be somebody here with you as much as possible. So long, Tony.”

“Good luck, Dick,” the radioman replied, and Dick slipped down the rope to the roof. Then Tony pulled the rope up again and settled down for the night as he saw Dick’s shadowy figure making off across the hill at the rear.

Dick’s first inquiry as he approached the cave in the hills was about Lieutenant Scotti.

“He’s talking some,” Slade reported. “It’s not easy, but he can move around a bit. I really think he’s coming along okay. There may have been some internal bleeding that caused some pressure against the brain, but that’s stopping now. Anyway, he’s anxious to see you. He knows about getting the radio up in the bell tower and he’s delighted.”

With a nod to Vince and Max, Dick went on in the cave and knelt down beside Scotti. The wounded man smiled a little and his eyes shone.

“Dick,” he said, and that was all. Dick saw that it was a great effort for him to speak.

“Wonderful to see you getting better, Jerry,” he said, “but don’t try to talk too much. Let me do most of the talking and you answer with nods as much as you can.”

Dick then told his lieutenant about the safe installation of the transmitter in the bell tower, about getting the first message through to American headquarters, then about the frantic search by the Germans for the illegal radio. At this, Scotti started to laugh but it hurt his head too much and he stopped. But Dick saw that he thought it was a wonderful joke on the so-smart Germans.

Dick went on to tell Jerry about the movement of German troops and supplies through the town, the detailed reports given them by Tomaso, and the second radio report that had been sent in just a short while before.

“You’re doing wonderful job,” Scotti said slowly and with great effort. “Keep it up!”

“Sure,” Dick said. “We’ll carry on, and I feel better now because I can tell you our plans, and you can tell me if you think I’m doing right or not. Now we’ve got to have a look at the dam. I’m taking Slade and Vince with me to look it over so Slade can decide where his dynamite charge must be placed, and I can figure out how to handle the guard so he can get in to do it. It won’t be easy. Max will stay here with you until we get back. Tony’s in the bell tower with the radio.”

Scotti nodded his approval of these plans and Dick gave him a pat on the shoulder and moved away. At the front of the cave he found the others and gave them the latest news.

“Now we’re going to look at the dam,” he said, and Slade sighed with relief.

“I was beginning to wonder,” he said, “when we would get around to the main objective of this mission.”

Dick laughed. “Okay, Boom-Boom, tonight is your night. Vince will come along with us. Max, you stay here with Scotti until we get back.”

The three men started down the hill from the cave. But this time they did not go as far as the field below. Instead, they kept to the woods and circled around to the east where the hill ended at the right-hand branch of the Y which was the northeastern branch of the Maletta valley. It took them almost an hour to reach the dam, for they were not always sure of their direction.

It was the glinting of a light on the water of the artificial lake that finally told them it was near at hand. They moved forward much closer to the edge of the trees and looked down. From where they stood, on the hill a little above the dam, they had a perfect view of everything.

Directly below them about seventy-five feet was the main northwest road which went part way up the hill in order to circle around the dam and lake. On the other side of the road there was a short drive which led in toward the dam itself, which was a concrete structure about three hundred yards long, stretching to the opposite hill. On top of the dam wall at this end was a concrete building and near it stood several sentries.

“Probably the control house for the sluice gates,” Slade said, “and headquarters for the guards. There’s a similar structure at the other end of the wall, but smaller.”

Below the dam itself, on a stretch of level ground, stood the electric power station. It was a low building made of brick, about fifty feet square.

“Not a big plant at all,” Slade told Dick, “but I imagine in the present battle emergency it’s pretty important as a source of electric power for the Germans.”

Dick and Vince nodded, watching Slade as he looked over the objective with a practised eye. There was a long black steel pipe, at least ten feet in diameter, leading from the bottom of the dam to the power house. That, Dick knew, was the sluice, or pipe-line, which carried the water under pressure into the power house for turning the turbines that drove the generators.

“It won’t be easy,” Slade said. “Even figuring that you can get me in there despite all those guards, it’s going to be tough to place the charge so that it will surely knock the dam completely out and not just crack it.”

“Tell me the place you want to put your dynamite,” Dick said, “and then it’s up to me to get you there.”

He knew that was a broad statement, for he still had no idea how he could get Slade and his dynamite past the guards on the wall and around the power house.

“There is one spot that would do the job, without a doubt,” Slade said. “But I’m afraid that would be asking too much of you. Do you see that pipe-line over there?”

“Yes, I see it,” Dick replied.

“Well, if I could get inside that and crawl up to where it comes out of the dam itself, it would work,” Slade said. “With the big pipe coming out of it, that’s the weakest part of the whole structure. But that pipe is filled with water under very high pressure.”

“Wow! That’s a tough assignment all right,” Dick said. “But let’s see—what if the pipe didn’t have any water in it?”

“You mean if the water-gate at the entrance to the pipe were closed?” Slade asked. “If that were done, I could get there all right. All those pipes have a couple of hatch-like openings along them so that workmen can get in to clean them out and so on.”

“Then you wouldn’t have to go through the power house itself?” Dick asked.

“No, I could get in the pipe, I’m sure, not far from the spot where it enters the dam,” Slade answered. “And I could place the dynamite right under the weak spot of the dam. But the water-gate would have to stay shut completely until after the charge was exploded.”

“I see,” Dick said. “Let me think that one over a bit. You go on getting the lay of the land completely in your mind.”

Slade and Vince continued their observations while Dick tried to figure out a way to get Slade and his dynamite into the pipe-line. Suddenly he remembered something that Tomaso had said to him on the first night they talked together.

“Boom-Boom,” Dick called to Slade, “tell me something. If for some reason the turbines or dynamos were damaged badly and the plant had to shut down for a few days, would they close the water-gate leading from the dam through the pipe-line?”

“Of course they would,” Slade replied. “That’s the first thing they’d do. And they wouldn’t open it again until all repairs were made.”

“There’s our answer,” Dick exclaimed. “Old Tomaso told me that the underground has several times performed a little neat sabotage at this power station, stopping it for several days until repairs were made. If they did it before, they ought to be able to do it again.”

“Swell,” Slade said. “Then I could really do the job—provided we can get through all those guards, place the ammunition, lead out my wires and hook them up to a detonator.”

“All right, I’ll have to figure that out, too,” Dick said. “But I can’t see how yet. We’ll just have to find some way, but for the life of me I don’t see what it can be. Anyway, we’ve solved part of our problem. We’ll get our dam blown up right and proper, boys, and don’t you ever forget it. But we can’t waste very much time. Tonight is already the third night. We have just three nights more in which to do our work!”