«Be quiet!» Turzig's voice was very cold. «I have had enough of recriminations, of cheap melodrama. Another word and you join your friend in the snow there.» He looked at him a moment in silence, then swung back to Andrea. «I promise nothing. I will hear what you have to say.» He made no attempt to disguise the repugnance in his voice.

«You must judge for yourself.» A nice mixture of relief, earnestness and the dawn of hope, of returning confidence. Andrea paused a minute and gestured dramatically at Mallory, Miller and Brown. «These are no ordinary soldiers — they are Jellicoe's men, of the Special Boat Service!»

«Tell me something I couldn't have guessed myself,» Turzig growled. «The English Earl has been a thorn in our flesh these many months past. If that is all you have to tell me, fat one—»

«Wait!» Andrea held up his hand. «They are stili no ordinary men but a specially picked force — an assault unit, they call themselves — flown last Sunday night from Alexandria to Casteirosso. They left that same night from Castelrosso in a motor-boat.»

«A torpedo boat,» Turzig nodded. «So much we know already. Go on.»

«You know already! But how--?»

«Never mind how. Hurry up!»

«Of course, Lieutenant, of course.» Not a twitch in his face betrayed Andrea's relief. This had been the only dangerous point in his story. Nicolai, of course, had warned the Germans, but never thought it worth while mentioning the presence of a giant Greek in the party. No reason, of course, why he should have selected him for special mention — but if he had done so, it would have been the end.

«The torpedo boat landed them somewhere in the islands, north of Rhodes. I do not know where. There they stole a caique, sailed it up through Turkish waters, met a big German patrol boat — and sunk it.» Andrea paused for effect. «I was less than hail a mile away at the time in my fishing boat.»

Turzig leaned forward. «How did they manage to sink so big a boat?» Strangely, he didn't doubt that it had been sunk.

«They pretended to be harmless fishermen like myself. I had just been stopped, investigated and cleared,» Andrea said virtuously. «Anyway, your patrol boat came alongside this old caique. Close alongside. Suddenly there were guns firing on both sides, two boxes went flying through the air — into the engine-room of your boat, I think. Pouf!» Andrea threw up his hands draniatically. «That was the end of that!»

«We wondered.. .» Turzig said softly. «Well, go on.»

«You wondered what, Lieutenant?» Turzig's eyes narrowed and Andrea hurried on.

«Their interpreter had been killed in the fight. They tricked me into speaking English — I spent many years in Cyprus — kidnapped me, let my sons sail the boat—»

«Why should they want an interpreter?» Turzig demanded suspiciously. «There are many British officers who speak Greek.»

«I am coming to that,» Andrea said impatiently. «How in God's name do you expect me to finish my story if you keep interrupting all the time? Where was I? ah, yes. They forced me to come along, and their engine broke down. I don't know what happened — I was kept below. I think we were in a creek somewhere, repairing the engine, and then there was a wild bout of drinking — you will not believe this, Lieutenant Turzig, that men on so desperate a mission should get drunk-- and then we sailed again.»

«On the contrary, I do believe you.» Turzig was nodding his head slowly, as if in secret understanding. «I believe you indeed.»

«You do?» Andrea contrived to look disappointed. «Well, we ran into a fearful storm, wrecked the boat on the south cliff of this island and climbed—»

«Stop!» Turzig had drawn back sharply, suspicion flaring in his eyes. «Almost I believed you! I believed you because we know more than you think, and so far you have told the truth: But not now. You are clever, fat one, but not so clever as you think. One thing you have forgotten — or maybe you do not know. We are of the Wurttembergische . Gebirgsbataillon--we know mountains, my friend, better than any troops in the world. I myself am a Prussian, but I have climbed everything worth climbing in the Alps and Transylvania — and I tell you that the south cliff cannot be climbed. It is impossible!»

«Impossible perhaps for you.» Andrea shook his head sadly. «These cursed Allies will beat you yet. They are clever, Lieutenant Turzig, damnably clever!»

«Explain yourself,» Turzig ordered curtly.

«Just this. They knew men thought the south cliff could not be climbed. So they determined to climb it. You would never dream that this could be done, that an expedition could land on Navarone that way. But the Allies took a gamble, found a man to lead the expedition. He could not speak Greek, but that did not matter, for what they wanted was a man who could climb — and so they picked the greatest rock-climber in the world to-day.» Andrea paused for effect, flung out his arm dramatically. «And this is the man they picked, Lieutenant Turzig! You are a mountaineer yourself and you are bound to know him. His name is Mallory — Keith Mallory of New Zealand!»

There was a sharp exclamation, the click of a switch, and Turzig had taken a couple of steps forward, thrust the torch almost into Mallory's eyes. For almost ten seconds he stared into the New Zealander's averted, screwed-up face, then slowly lowered his arm, the harsh spotlight limning a dazzling white circle in the snow at his feet. Once, twice, half a dozen times Turzig nodded his head in slow understanding.

«Of course!» he murmured. «Mallory — Keith Mallory! Of course I know him. There's not a man in my Abteilung but has heard of Keith Mallory.» He shook his head. «I should have known him, I should have known him at once.» He stood for some time with his head bent, aimlessly screwing the toe of his right boot into the soft snow, then looked up abruptly. «Before the war, even during it, I would have been proud to have known you, glad to have met you. But not here, not now. Not any more. I wish to God they had sent someone else.» He hesitated, made to carry on, then changed his mind, turned wearily to Andrea. «My apologies, fat one. Indeed you speak the truth. Go on.»

«Certainly!» Andrea's round moon face was one vast smirk of satisfaction. «We climbed the cliff, as I said-- although the boy in the cave there was badly hurt — and silenced the guard. Mallory killed him,» Andrea added unblushingly. «It was fair fight. We spent most of the night crossing the divide and found this cave before dawn. We were almost dead with hunger and cold. We have been here since.»

«And nothing has happened since?»

«On the contrary.» Andrea seemed to be enjoying himself hugely, revelling in being the focus of attention. «Two people came up to see us. Who they were I do not know — they kept their faces hidden all the time — nor do I know where they came from.»

«It is as well that you admitted that,» Turzig said grimly. «I knew someone had been here. I recognised the stove — it belongs to Hauptmann Skoda!»

«Indeed?» Andrea raised his eyebrows in polite surprise. «I did not know. Well, they talked for some time and—»

«Did you manage to overhear anything they were talking about?» Turzig interrupted. The question came so naturally, so spontaneously, that Mallory held his breath. It was beautifully done. Andrea would walk into it — he couldn't help it. But Andrea was a man inspired that night.

«Overhear them!» Andrea clamped his lips shut in sorely-tried forbearance, gazed heavenwards in exasperated appeal. «Lieutenant Turzig, how often must I tell you that I am the interpreter? They could only talk through me. Of course I know what they were talking about. They are going to blow up the big guns in the harbour.»

«I didn't think they had come here for their health!» Turzig said acidly.

«Ah, but you don't know that they have the plans of the fortress. You don't know that Kheros is to be invaded on Saturday morning. You don't know that they are in radio contact with Cairo all the time. You don't know that destroyers of the British Navy are coming through the Maidos Straits on Friday night as soon as the big guns have been silenced. You don't know—»