So fatigued was he that he slept soundly, unconscious of the activity
without, where the moored U-boat was being fitted for another voyage
into the North Sea.
It was several hours past noon when he was awakened by the roar of
guns, hoarse cries of men, and the stamp of feet outside his prison.
As he jumped to his feet and clambered out of the boat a shell burst
just over the fish-house, scattering a hail of metal over the flimsy
roof and tearing a jagged hole in the wall above the doorway. Running
to a window that looked out over the canal wharf, Jack saw Germans
scrambling up out of the hold of the U-boat, some of them carrying
rifles, others lugging a machine gun. The village was in wild confusion.
"Am I dreaming?" Jack asked himself incredulously, "or is the village
being attacked?"
For answer came another shell that ripped its way clean through the
frame building in which he was housed, bursting with a roar that
brought the flimsy structure crashing down upon the head of the
imprisoned boy.
Pages:
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188