The Legion of the Lost, стр. 16

Chapter Seven

The Lights Go Out

‘There is no need for alarm, my friends,’ said the man who looked towards them. ‘I am glad to see you again.’

All of the others were turned towards him, but although he was facing them it was impossible to distinguish his features. As he spoke, Conroy whistled beneath his breath, before saying in a clear whisper: ‘Orleck!’

‘In the very flesh,’ said Orleck dryly.

By then they saw that a slab of the stone on which they had barked their knuckles was raised behind him; he climbed from a hole in the ground and brushed his hands against each other. ‘I am very glad you are here, Dr. Raffleck.’

Raffleck stared at him, incredulous.

‘But before we go—’ Orleck looked at Palfrey with a twisted smile, although the strange light robbed his face of much of the villainy which was so apparent during the day – ‘there is a sight to see! The shooting and the general disturbance and the success of the escape have not pleased our conquerors,’ said Orleck, harshly. ‘There will be savage reprisals. Do not be afraid, Dr. Raffleck, there is not a man in Oslo who will not rejoice to know that you are safe. But since reprisals will come, we have decided they shall be fully deserved!’ He paused, then dropped a simple sentence into the tension: ‘We shall make the lights go out!’

He turned and led the way to the wall which overlooked the city. The unnatural glow was everywhere; it seemed brighter. They peered towards it, seeing that the men at the ships were still working; one or two small boats were patrolling the harbour.

Then there was a vivid flash.

It had an eerie quality – as if a flash of lightning had brightened a dull day. Palfrey likened it to lightning behind the clouds of a sky filled with the metallic rays of the sun through the storm clouds. It made them blink yet had no appreciable effect on the general brightness. When it stopped, there seemed to be a long spell of waiting – but actually only a second passed before they heard a distant rumble, saw another flash; then there was a sound of a roaring explosion from the heart of the city.

The lights went out.

They did not fade slowly or go out in ones and twos; they were bright and garish one moment, the next they were gone. About them was abysmal darkness broken in one point towards the north of the city by a puny flame which seemed insignificant. The darkness was so intense that it hurt their eyes. They kept staring towards the city, although they could see so little, but the tongue of flame grew higher and brighter. Then there was another flash in the western suburbs. It was blinding and, because they were expecting the explosion, it seemed to follow without a pause. As its rumbling ceased they saw a second shoot of flame and, while they were watching it in startled silence, a third flash and third explosion came from the east.

Orleck’s voice was filled with a deep satisfaction as he moved.

‘That is all!’ he said. ‘The three main power-stations have gone.’ He weighed his words. ‘We planned to do that some time ago, but decided that we would wait until something else aroused the Huns’ brutality again. This will be well worth while, have no doubt of that! Not a factory within a twenty-mile radius will be able to work for many days to come if the independent plants are destroyed successfully—we have made plans—probably for weeks. A good night’s work, I think! Now, come!’

He turned and led the way, unfaltering, to the gap in the ground, going down first. Once below, he shone a torch so that a faint glow guided the others to the hole. One after another they lowered themselves into it, treading first on the top rung of a ladder and then negotiating seven steps until they reached the floor of a tunnel, the sides of which were dripping with water and along which they could hear rats scampering in fright.

There was an unreal quality about the hours which followed, although Palfrey experienced a degree of contentment marred only by the fact that Stefan was missing. Orleck’s confidence was so contagious that it infected all of them. Palfrey saw Raffleck look towards the little ugly man a dozen times, as if he could not believe this revelation.

They reached Skien, going by foot through the hilly country to the north of it, a little after one o’clock. From there they were taken by horse and cart, when they reached a point some two miles out of the town, to Nisseda. The sturdy black horses, much smaller than English breeds, pulled heavy loads without apparent effort. The jogging of the big carts, mostly filled with hay and vegetables, had a not unpleasant rhythm. They were stopped twice en route but only for a cursory examination of the driver’s papers; Palfrey and the others, in the middle of the carts and hidden by the produce, were not seen.

It was after dark when they reached a little village and stopped for a few hours, going on to Nisseda before daybreak. There more questions were asked of the carters, and one or two half-hearted efforts to prod the hay and stacks of vegetables gave them no more than an uncomfortable