Posted As Missing

Chapter Thirty-Five

"I'll watch the farthest one on the left. For ease, let's call it Zigzag. Maria, you take the next one — Hedgerow, and Mama, you do Slough," David said. "The best way to spot movement is with your eyes slightly out of focus. Don't look at anything, simply look. Any motion will jump out at you."

The sun was beginning to warm the day as they lay there sharing stories and looking out over the edge. The only movements from the troops were at Hedgerow and at Zigzag. Most of them appeared to be fishing. At Slough, the soldiers were too far from the river, so they did nothing but strip their shirts and lie in the sun.

Among the other movements were occasional waggons and automobiles passing along the road and many people out walking. Mid-morning a long freight train came slowly down the valley, pulled by three locomotives. "That looks to be a heavy load," he said. "Probably full of munitions from factories in the industrial heartland."

"It would save many lives if it could be destroyed," Maria said, "But how would you destroy it?"

"Destroy a bridge or viaduct as the train passes over. That would likely be the easiest way," he replied.

"But how would you do that? With what?"

"With dynamite or other explosives. The Army has engineers trained to do this. They examine the structure of a trestle or bridge and then determine where to place charges which will weaken the structure, not necessarily destroy it, but allow the weight of the train to finish the job and have the train plummet into the void, possibly destroying its entire load. If I were Fritz, I'd be guarding all the bridges, viaducts and tunnels along the vital rail lines. There must be saboteurs with thoughts similar to these."

They remained quiet in their thoughts and watching. Then they continued with their story telling until they heard the noon bell below them, when David said, "They appear to be getting ready for something. They're putting away their fishing poles over here."

"The Slough group is climbing up onto the road," Rachel said, "They're preparing to head back."

"Same over here," Maria said. "There's also activity in the camp, like the replacements are mustarding."

David chuckled loudly, "That's mustering, Maria, mus-ter-ing,"

"I knew it was something like that." She giggled. "Anyway, they're bunching together into little groups. Looks like six groups."

He handed her the telescope. "Here, take a closer look."

"Yes, six groups of eight and a leader, like the ones this morning, but six groups, not nine." She watched for a while longer, then said, "Three of the groups have unmustered, if that's a word. The other three are marching across the field toward the road."

They watched as each of the three pairs of squads met, paused for a minute or so and continued along. "I've been puzzling over this." David stroked his beard. "A German platoon is four sections, each with three squads of nine. They have four barrack tents down there. We've seen only nine squads, three sections. There's a missing section, three missing squads..." He paused to analyse.

"One section is probably on break for a day or two. Otherwise, they'd be working seven days a week. If my thoughts are right, we'll see some of the missing twenty-seven returning along the road later today. There may be some heading into town this afternoon..." He stopped again to reflect. "Did you see the men leaving the camp before the train went by?"

"Two small groups heading out," Maria said.

"One of the groups stopped to talk with the squad at the slough," Rachel added.