enly a barrage broke loose from a hill a half mile
away. A German battery had heard the plane and had spotted the flares.
The gunners were shooting at the flares and by the dirt they were
lifting they seemed to be getting the range.

"He'll be blown to bits when he lands!" Arno shouted.

"We'll have to move back or get blasted ourselves," Allison called,
breaking into a run.

Shells were exploding close to them, kicking dirt over them, and the
barrage was swinging toward them. Overhead the plane was coming in. It
roared over their heads a few feet above the barrage.

"Overshot it!" Tony yelled. "Now he'll have to try again."

"And the Germans are coming!" Stan yelled. "Get set with the machine
guns!"

When a shell burst close to Allison, he stopped running. Suddenly he
shouted, "He's fooled them! He's set down at the far edge of the field!"

Sure enough, the plane had landed almost at the edge of the woods. It
was swinging around. They all ducked and raced toward it. Stan got there
first and was greeted by O'Malley's voice from the plane.

"Sure, an' you got out the band for a welcome!"

"As soon as they spot the flare of your exhausts the welcome will get
hotter!" Stan shouted back.

Loading up was only a matter of seconds, but the Germans on the hill and
those charging down into the field had the Mosquito located and began
pounding the lower end of the field. O'Malley headed into the barrage
and hopped her off without getting a direct hit. They circled overhead
and then swung south. Stan was seated across from O'Malley.

"Have a nice trip?" O'Malley asked with a grin.

"We did," Stan answered.

"I hear there'll be a flock o' tinware waitin' for you when you get in."
O'Malley continued to grin. "The boys are bettin' ten to one that you
all got shot. I'll be richer than Rockefeller when I get back." He
chuckled to himself.

"Right now we could do with something to eat," Stan said as he leaned
back and closed his eyes.

"Colonel Benson has a banquet spread for you. Have Allison get on the
radio and tell him to put it on the table, and have him order me two
apple pies." O'Malley opened the Mosquito up another notch as he thought
of the pies.

Stan clicked on the intercom and got Allison. He felt, at the moment, as
though he could stand a vacation, but glancing back he saw a great fire
raging with an intensity that lighted the sky for a hundred miles. The
Germans were destroying the historical city of N