something else.
Clara felt suddenly that perhaps Adile had been up to see them, or had frightened them, staring at them or touching them while she was gone. She knew she was being irrational. ‘The babies aren’t well,’ she said, smiling resolutely, ‘thank you, Adile,’ and she went past her up the stairs.
She sat with the girls while Adile cleaned. She gave herself a very strict talking-to, but her babies’ eyes glittered with fever, watching her.
Clara, going back and forth to the bathroom to rinse out the flannel with cool water, and wiping it over the twins’ shivering hot bodies, thought almost constantly of Hal. Hal, after two hours in the shallow scraping underneath the sharp rock, getting men out one by one, and word back to the signaller, didn’t think of Clara at all; if he’d heard her name he wouldn’t have recognised it.
As he’d thought, the EOKA forces, such as they were, hadn’t had enough firepower to engage in a fight for long. Further north and west of them there had been other incidents, as EOKA, defending Pappas’s hiding place, ambushed troops, but only one casualty.
By late afternoon Hal’s company had advanced to the edge of the crevasse. It took another hour to get troops in position all around the edge.
It was a long slit of a place, about two hundred yards wide and ending in sharp angles at both ends. The R—N—were providing a much wider ring, a mile back, with Brens and snipers for Hal, too. Now they just had to wait. Pappas could have no thought of escape, and British morale was very high. Hal felt the determined cold sureness of his enemy’s defeat.
The sun caught the far end of the crevasse; the caves could be seen very clearly in their blackness – small, gaping holes. As night fell, the ridged bones of rock made their own deep shadows, and the patterns were confusing, but Hal’s men knew where they were now, and even Pappas’s position, from the occasional helpful glint of the low sun on the metal barrels of guns.
The descent needed to be examined minutely. There must be another way in, apart from virtually abseiling: they’d be picked off like ducks if they attempted that. Night fell, with no change.
Clara had both girls in bed with her all night. She lay awake, and they coughed, whimpering their pain, coughing till they were sick even, phlegm and froth into Clara’s shaking hands. All her instincts were wrong: she wanted to wrap them up but they were too hot already; she wanted to feed them but they couldn’t eat.
Through the same night, the soldiers changed guard every four hours. They had patrols out, trying to find easier ways down the cliff, and Hal found he could sleep for two hours then be awake for two, and that way rested quite easily.
There was a bright moon, large and silver white. Its revealing beams lit up the crevasse through the night as if the heavens, too, were on the British side.
Chapter Eleven
The sun rose pinkly, touching the tops of the mountains above Hal and the white walls of Clara’s bedroom, moving down slowly to light them both. Clara checked the rash that now clearly marked the girls’ skin and found their fevers had cooled.
They had breakfast and now Hal and everybody with him focused on the dark bottom of the crevasse.
A loud-hailer was brought for Hal. Grieves – with Davis’s help – stated the situation to Pappas, in English and Greek, and told him to surrender. The response was a volley of shots, which did nothing but reveal his whereabouts more specifically and Davis was sent back to the R—N—line to be out of the way.
During the night, patrols had found a track, almost a line, or a ledge, that goats might use with impunity but soldiers with less confidence. Still, it was a way down, and angled behind the sight-lines of the caves, so it was conceivable they might get a small unit down there. Once they’d done that, they could draw Pappas out, or else send more troops down and storm the place. The problem
Clara felt suddenly that perhaps Adile had been up to see them, or had frightened them, staring at them or touching them while she was gone. She knew she was being irrational. ‘The babies aren’t well,’ she said, smiling resolutely, ‘thank you, Adile,’ and she went past her up the stairs.
She sat with the girls while Adile cleaned. She gave herself a very strict talking-to, but her babies’ eyes glittered with fever, watching her.
Clara, going back and forth to the bathroom to rinse out the flannel with cool water, and wiping it over the twins’ shivering hot bodies, thought almost constantly of Hal. Hal, after two hours in the shallow scraping underneath the sharp rock, getting men out one by one, and word back to the signaller, didn’t think of Clara at all; if he’d heard her name he wouldn’t have recognised it.
As he’d thought, the EOKA forces, such as they were, hadn’t had enough firepower to engage in a fight for long. Further north and west of them there had been other incidents, as EOKA, defending Pappas’s hiding place, ambushed troops, but only one casualty.
By late afternoon Hal’s company had advanced to the edge of the crevasse. It took another hour to get troops in position all around the edge.
It was a long slit of a place, about two hundred yards wide and ending in sharp angles at both ends. The R—N—were providing a much wider ring, a mile back, with Brens and snipers for Hal, too. Now they just had to wait. Pappas could have no thought of escape, and British morale was very high. Hal felt the determined cold sureness of his enemy’s defeat.
The sun caught the far end of the crevasse; the caves could be seen very clearly in their blackness – small, gaping holes. As night fell, the ridged bones of rock made their own deep shadows, and the patterns were confusing, but Hal’s men knew where they were now, and even Pappas’s position, from the occasional helpful glint of the low sun on the metal barrels of guns.
The descent needed to be examined minutely. There must be another way in, apart from virtually abseiling: they’d be picked off like ducks if they attempted that. Night fell, with no change.
Clara had both girls in bed with her all night. She lay awake, and they coughed, whimpering their pain, coughing till they were sick even, phlegm and froth into Clara’s shaking hands. All her instincts were wrong: she wanted to wrap them up but they were too hot already; she wanted to feed them but they couldn’t eat.
Through the same night, the soldiers changed guard every four hours. They had patrols out, trying to find easier ways down the cliff, and Hal found he could sleep for two hours then be awake for two, and that way rested quite easily.
There was a bright moon, large and silver white. Its revealing beams lit up the crevasse through the night as if the heavens, too, were on the British side.
Chapter Eleven
The sun rose pinkly, touching the tops of the mountains above Hal and the white walls of Clara’s bedroom, moving down slowly to light them both. Clara checked the rash that now clearly marked the girls’ skin and found their fevers had cooled.
They had breakfast and now Hal and everybody with him focused on the dark bottom of the crevasse.
A loud-hailer was brought for Hal. Grieves – with Davis’s help – stated the situation to Pappas, in English and Greek, and told him to surrender. The response was a volley of shots, which did nothing but reveal his whereabouts more specifically and Davis was sent back to the R—N—line to be out of the way.
During the night, patrols had found a track, almost a line, or a ledge, that goats might use with impunity but soldiers with less confidence. Still, it was a way down, and angled behind the sight-lines of the caves, so it was conceivable they might get a small unit down there. Once they’d done that, they could draw Pappas out, or else send more troops down and storm the place. The problem
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