The Legion of the Lost, стр. 64
‘Will it be?’ asked Palfrey.
‘The breaking open of the most-hated prison in Berlin? Will it be!’ Stefan was almost gay. ‘We are not alone in knowing of the Legion! They will jump at the opportunity, my friend, have no fear of that! It will mean—’ he paused, rubbing his nose thoughtfully. ‘Enough men to overpower the guards outside and immediately inside, although once inside a charge of the gas will be enough. The most difficult thing will be to find the prison gas-storage plant beforehand, but there will, I should think, be ways of doing that. And replacing the gas with our own—Sap, it is a grand conception!’
‘Never mind that!’ said Palfrey urgently. ‘There isn’t a lot we can do our end, you will have to look after the arrangements outside. You think you can?’
‘I shall be surprised if I cannot,’ admitted Stefan. ‘Where are you staying now?’
Palfrey told him and gave him a brief outline of the conditions at the block of flats. Stefan nodded, apparently in no way surprised. Almost casually, he said: ‘Men and women will sink so low, Sap, but we know that! We also know that there are others, like Dross and Hilde, Pastor Martin and Olaf, Orleck and Carlson—names without number. But we will avenge those who are gone, my friend.’
Now for the final stage! ‘If we succeed—’ he smiled as if success could almost be taken for granted. ‘What then?’
Palfrey said: ‘The main problem, yes! How many are there in the prison? Several hundred people at least!’
‘We can hardly get them all out of Berlin,’ said Stefan. ‘It is unlikely that we shall be able to hide any large proportion of them, but—’ he shrugged. ‘If they have a chance, then we must leave it to them. We will help where we can.’
Palfrey said: ‘Is that good enough?’
‘Can we do better?’ countered Stefan. ‘Every agent, every sympathiser, will be alert. Can we do better?’
‘Off-hand, no,’ admitted Palfrey worriedly. ‘But is it wise to let them all out of the prison and then leave them to their own devices? What’s going to happen to those who are caught again? Most of them will be caught.’ He began to play with his hair. ‘It’s almost too big, it—’
He stopped abruptly.
Stefan saw the light in his eyes and stood silently. Palfrey pulled at his hair, staring across the dilapidated garden, seeing the tops of some of the buildings towering towards the skies.
Then he said, very softly: ‘On the sixth day from now the delegates will be returning to their own countries. They’ll have their passports returned, they’ll be quite free, they’ll be well looked after, von Otten’s powers are great enough to make sure of that. Now if they—’ he paused, his eyes searched Stefan’s face. ‘If they could be kept at the flats, their passports and papers taken and handed over to the prisoners, that would be a chance. More than a fair one. An exodus will be expected, reservations will be made for many on the trains. Is it possible? Even vaguely possible?’
‘Sap,’ said Stefan softly. ‘It must be done! I will see to the outside, you to the inside arrangements. It must be done!’
Five clear days, thought Palfrey.
They had gone. During them, hardly a minute had passed when Palfrey had not been afraid that news would come to smash all their hopes of this coup, a dream-like conception, something which had made Conroy, Brian and Drusilla look at him as if he were mad, until they became fired with equal enthusiasm.
They attended lecture after lecture, heard the crazy outpourings of their tutors, been addressed by von Otten. They were prepared, now, for the return to their own countries. Things had gone so smoothly that they almost frightened Palfrey. He could not contact with Stefan easily, but once they had all visited the beer-garden – innocent enough to all appearances – and received a short message. Things were going well and preparations were in hand; Stefan expected to be able to pull his share off. He had been in touch with the Marquis, a plane would come for them in a wooded district, where planes had landed before to pick up agents and escapees from Berlin.
Palfrey felt, in those five days, very much like a tiny cog in the wheel of a machine that was much too large for him; it was as if he and the others would be crushed in its turning.
They did not matter, personally; all that mattered was freedom for that Legion from whom all hope had fled.
On the morning of the sixth day they told Hilde.
For the first time Hilde managed to visit them, explaining the long time she had been away with a casualness which Palfrey did not find natural. She had spent a great deal of time with von Otten, she said, and believed that she could exert some influence over him; but she was beginning to see a dreary future; she was much more lifeless than when he had seen her before.
When Palfrey told her a little of their plans she stared at him as if she could not believe her ears. For a moment her lips parted and her eyes held an incredulous expression, she gasped and put a hand to her breast.
Then, slowly, she said: ‘Is it possible? Is there even a slight chance? Is there!’ She almost shouted the words. ‘To get them all away, to get them all—no, no, I cannot believe it!’
Palfrey said: ‘It will work, Hilde, and that’s where we want your help. We need the passports. Has there been any change of plan? When will the distribution really take place?’
‘I know that,’ said Hilde. ‘It will be at the last lecture, tonight. Von Otten will address them again, then they will file up for their passports and visas. There is a special stamp—they will be