War Photographer's Notebook

"Victor? Victor? Is that you, Victor?"

In the dense forest, Hugo, who was limping on one leg, panted and called Wei Ran's name. Behind him, the native soldier Warolo was holding a Sten submachine gun and staring nervously behind him.

"Stop shouting, here it is."

After finishing speaking, Wei Ranjing, who was hiding behind the tree, waited for a while before coming out.

"Great! You are still alive!"

When Hugo saw Wei Ran, he immediately looked happy, and then, he subconsciously looked behind Wei Ran.

"Neil is dead"

Wei Ran whispered before the other party spoke again, "Kaikai is also dead, they... They were dismembered and abandoned by the side of the path, in a conspicuous position near the place where we separated."

Seeing that the native Warolo looked at Hugo anxiously when he heard Kaikai's name again, Wei Ran gave Hugo enough time for translation, and waited for the other party to finish communicating with Waloro before he finished speaking. Said, "Tell me about your situation here."

"The airport is over there, not far away, less than 500 meters away."

Hugo raised his finger and pointed behind him, sighed and said, "We took advantage of the heavy rain to get rid of the enemies who had been chasing us yesterday. We were going to go to the airport to investigate today, but before we saw the airport, we were caught by patrol soldiers." I found out that my leg was also shot by the opponent's sniper, and Valoro's face was injured just now. And our grenades and bullets are almost all used up."

Hearing this, Wei Ran checked the wounds of these two people.Although the wound on Hugo's calf showed faint bones, the muscle on one side of the calf was also torn open a wound the size of a disposable lighter.But fortunately, the bullet did not stay inside, and the amount of bleeding did not seem to hurt the main blood vessels.

Then I checked the wound for Valoro. Compared with Hugo, his injury looks more serious. Not only the left ear is incomplete, but blood is dripping from the ear eye, and there are two scars on the left cheek. What appeared to be a severe cut from a grenade or trapped fragments.

"Patience first"

Wei Ran helped the two men repack their wounds and gave each a shot of morphine while saying, "We need to get rid of the pursuers first, and then find a safe place."

Hearing this, Hugo changed into the native language and said a few words to Valoro in a hurry. Although the latter was inconvenient to speak because of the wound on his cheek, he nodded cheerfully, and walked with Wei Ran side by side The inconvenient Hugo got into the jungle.

It was quite difficult to get rid of the pursuers who had been chasing behind him for almost half an hour. Wei Ran and Valoro, who had taken turns carrying Hugo, stopped in no particular order.

"Are you there yet?" Hugo, who was lying on Wei Ran's shoulder and could only see Wei Ran's heels and buttocks, raised his head and asked with difficulty.

"no"

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he put Hugo down, then raised his finger and pointed to the crown of a big tree in front of him.

Jumping around in a circle, Hugo looked in the direction of Wei Ran's finger.

This is a small piece of open space that is rarely exposed to the sun in the rainforest, and a broken parachute is covering the canopy of the 10-meter-high tree that is bathed in the sun.Under the crown of the tree, there is also a cylindrical airdrop tank less than two meters long, which looks somewhat similar to a large aerial bomb.

Perhaps in order to increase the amount of airdropped materials, the surrounding area of ​​the iron sheet airdrop tank looks like a space rocket with a booster engine installed. In the lower part, two bundles of blankets that can be over one meter long are tied with ropes. , As for what's in the blanket, we can only know after taking it apart.

"This is airdropped supplies!"

Hugo said excitedly, "About half a month ago we still had airdrop planes flying overhead, but those bastards threw everything in such a ghostly place, and now they don't dare to airdrop us. "

“Looks like luck”

Wei Ran had already walked over while speaking, first picked up a snake coiled on the airdrop tank with the muzzle of his gun, and then cut the tight parachute cords carefully and said, "If there are medicines in it, at least you don't will be handicapped."

Before the words fell, the two bundles of blankets were untied first, and Waloro carried them aside to open them.

It's a pity that there are good and bad news. In these two long bundles wrapped in fairly thick blankets, there are only five Enfield rifles, five disposable rifle ammunition straps with a capacity of 50 rounds, and Five bottles of Ah Diping stuffed in the ammunition belt.

"Let Valoro find a place to hide these weapons, and we will take those Ah Tiping away."

While Wei Ran was speaking, he also cut off the last two parachute cords, and carefully placed the airdrop tank on the ground.

While Valoro was busy hiding those rifles, Wei Ran had already used the shotgun butt in his hand to break the lock of the empty can, and after opening it, he saw three guns sprayed with yellow-green camouflage paint. The stock also holds an Owen submachine gun with a loaded magazine held in place by what appears to be a rubber band cut from a bicycle inner tube.

In addition to these three submachine guns that are absolutely "new" at this moment, there are 15 No. 36 grenades wrapped in socks in the airdrop tank, and three British standard seven-pack submachine gun magazines and carrying bags, and A fully loaded Owen submachine gun magazine had been loaded inside.

In the remaining space, there are at most 20 pieces of Adiping in a bottle, bags of biscuits and canned American luncheon meat, plus a few black tea bags and boxes of 9mm pistol bullets.

Between these sundries and the three submachine guns, there was a medical satchel that would only be used by a medical soldier or a stretcher soldier, and four machetes wrapped in canvas and firmly tied with ropes.

In addition to these, there are also two American-style L-shaped flashlights, batteries wrapped in cellophane, compass, maps, cigarettes and other consumables stuffed inside.

"Is this an Owen submachine gun?" Hugo limped over while speaking, bent over and picked up a submachine gun to play with.

"Have you seen it?" Wei Ran asked while checking the two medical satchels.

"Of course I've seen it before, and I tried it." Hugo explained, "That was about three months ago, and this gun is mine now."

While talking, Hugo sat down on the stone mountain next to the airdrop tank, took out an ammunition bag, and hung it around his neck after thinking about it.

"Sit still"

While speaking, Wei Ran had already put together the medical bag he had just dug out and the devil backpack he had just untied, and then he took out the same British medical bag he had brought along from the "tailor" back then, and again After injecting some morphine around Hugo's wound, he untied the cloth that bound the wound, and skillfully started the work of debridement and suture.

"You still know this?" Hugo asked curiously Chao Weiran.

"Veterinarian" Wei Ran said absently and perfunctorily, and said without raising his head while he was busy, "Let Valoro hide the rest of the things."

"Do not worry"

As Hugo said, he changed to the native language and said something to Valoro, and at the same time pointed to the airdrop tank beside him.

After the two communicated, Valoro also changed to an Owen submachine gun, and after Hugo taught him how to use it, he ran out immediately.

"What did he do?" Wei Ran asked while suturing the debridement wound.

"Go to the people of their tribe for help"

Hugo took out a pack of cigarettes from the airdrop can, tore open one, lit one, and explained, "Their tribe is nearby, and he originally wanted to take us to their tribe, which is very remote. "

"The tribe that gave you divination?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"right"

Hugo nodded, "I know everyone in their tribe, and they all know me. I also learned my native language from them."

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't say anything more, he sewed up the wound on Hugo's leg as carefully as possible, then bandaged it meticulously, and used a condom for waterproof treatment.

In the end, he helped the other party to re-treat the wound on his arm, so he had time to fumble around, change some medicine for the wound on his head and thigh, and re-wrap it with clean gauze.

Just finished working here, Valoro has already led ten people wearing canvas skirts holding blow darts or spears, wearing all kinds of animal teeth and bone ornaments around their necks, and their faces are also painted red and white , as if the aborigines who had just finished singing Peking Opera and hadn't had time to remove their makeup came over.

After Hugo greeted these big blacks whom he obviously knew one by one, and the two sides communicated a few more words in a local language that only Wei Ran could not understand, Valoro immediately put the two bundles of rifles he had just hidden away. It was carried out again, and one was distributed to each of these natives.

Taking advantage of Hugo communicating with them in local language, Wei Ran also greeted Valoro, let him sit in the position that Hugo had just done, and helped him debride the wound on his face and the mutilated ear Suture and bandage.

After such a short period of time, a few natives have torn off the white umbrella cloth and those tough umbrella ropes from the tree, combined with the sticks cut around, and skillfully made a simple stretcher for people with inconvenient legs. Hugo lay down in it.

Waiting for Wei Ran to pick and choose from the airdrop box, he took an American L-shaped flashlight, a few grenades, a compass, black tea bags, cigarettes and other small items. The airdrop can was also used by four indigenous people who had already carried rifles The stick was lifted up like a sedan chair.

"Victor, don't you have a submachine gun?"

Hugo, who was lying on the stretcher, asked curiously, "I have tried this submachine gun, and it is much easier to use than Sten."

"No need, this shotgun is enough for me." Wei Ran said, stuffing all the small items he picked out just now into the devil's backpack he had seized.

Taking out the camera he had picked up earlier, Wei Ran took a group photo of the indigenous people including Waloro, Hugo lying on the stretcher, and the airdrop tank being lifted.

"Where did you get the camera?" Hugo asked Chao Weiran in surprise.

"Found it in a devil's bag." Wei Ran stuffed the camera back into the already full backpack, carried it on his shoulder, picked up the shotgun and walked beside the stretcher.

"Victor, we still need to investigate the Kokoda Airport to see if there are any reinforcements there," Hugo said abruptly.

"I'm going?" Wei Ran asked proactively.

"Your leg is hurt too," Hugo said, "Let Valoro go, as long as we teach him to take pictures."

"Forget it, I'll go with him."

Wei Ran couldn't refuse and said that the camera he got didn't have many negatives left, and he estimated that it was more than ten kilometers away. If he couldn't find such a camera, he didn't feel relieved to hand it over to Valoro. Take the blind misfortune.

"Your leg"

"it does not matter"

Wei Ran pretended to be calm and waved his hands, then changed the subject and asked, "How far are we from their tribal camp?"

Hearing this, Hugo and Valoro asked a few words in native language, then switched back to English and said, "It's very close, but the road will be more difficult to walk."

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't say any more, and honestly followed the dozen or so aborigines, walking through mountains and rivers in the dense forest for half an hour, and finally found the A native camp.

The camp was unexpectedly clean. Not only had all the bushes been removed, some surrounding trees seemed to have been pruned, but beside the stream that was about two or three meters wide, there was a field that was half the size of a playground. In the open space, in the center of the open space, there are two tall trees that were obviously left on purpose.

Looking from the bottom up, it seems that a small tree house has been built in the canopy of the two 40-meter-high trees. Obviously, it is the most important sentry tower in this tribal camp.

Of course, Wei Ran is more curious about the tree house built in the air on the edge of the clearing than those two sentry towers.

It was indeed a tree house, some of them were taller than two or three meters above the ground, and some of them were shorter than 1.5 meters.

In addition to tree houses, there are also many wooden houses on stilts similar to those in Southeast Asia, and these wooden houses are obviously larger than those tree houses.

Under the leadership of Waloro, Wei Ran and Hugo, who was lying on a stretcher, were sent to one of the wooden houses.At the same time, Wei Ran also learned from Hugo's explanation that the reason why this indigenous tribe, which does not seem to have a large number of people, has built so many wooden houses and stilt houses is actually to resist mountain torrents and surface moisture.

Most of those tree houses are also used as warehouses and shelters, and no one usually lives there. Only when flash floods erupt, they will go to the tree houses to avoid the flood that may wash down from the mountain.

And when Wei Ran subconsciously asked why he didn't move out, Hugo, who had already found a straw mat to lie down in the wooden house, also asked, "Where are you moving?"

Hearing this, Wei Ran couldn't help being dumbfounded, his stupid question was indeed "why not eat minced meat".

"and also"

Hugo reminded as if remembering something, "This tribe is still a matriarchal society, and the witch of the tribe is almost the most powerful person. Although she also can't understand English, you'd better not speak nonsense, and you'd better be able to speak nonsense." Show enough respect, especially for her divination."

I don't know whether it was to scare Wei Ran, who was visiting for the first time, or it was true, Hugo lowered his voice and added, "They have a tradition of cannibalism."

"Really?" Wei Ran couldn't help grinning.

"It must have been like that at least before the First World War, I guess, and maybe it's still like that now, who knows?"

Hugo sat up leaning against the wall, spread his hands and said, "Of course, they cannibals must have their own standards for selecting ingredients. So in order to prevent you from becoming the main course tonight, in case the witch comes over later, you have to express Be respectful."

"Don't worry," Wei Ran happily agreed.

The two of them didn't have to wait long, a woman who looked like she could be 34 years old, with a painted face, led Valoro and a few indigenous people with guns into the building, which seemed to be reserved for Wei Ran and Hugo. in the wooden house.

In the native language that Wei Ran couldn't understand, Hugo communicated with that female wizard very respectfully.From time to time, Waloro or Hugo, or that witch, would point to Wei Ran next to him.

Although he couldn't understand what the three were talking about, Wei Ran inevitably equated Hugo with the knife-sharpening boss in the butcher shop through their voices, expressions, and body movements. The sorceress and Valoro are likened to diners who buy meat.

I couldn't figure out why the witch was picking and choosing at the butcher's stall and at the same time she didn't forget to say a few words, "This meat is very fresh, cut it twice for me and chop it finely, and give it to my son Valoro when I go back. Make up your body" and other nonsense.

Wei Ran also felt more and more that the grandson of Hugo might really want to use himself as an ingredient to treat his indigenous friends to barbecue or something?
In the midst of this wild thinking, Hugo stood up with the support of Valoro, and said as he walked out, "Victor, wait here for a while and don't leave the house. The witch and I will go to a divination. The rest Wait until I get back."

Before Wei Ran could respond, Hugo limped out of the dry and cool wooden house, and followed the sorceress to a large tree that was three to four meters above the ground in the distance.

Until this time, Wei Ran had time to look around.

The area of ​​this wooden house can be nearly 20 square meters, and the walls are made of straw mats with windows on all sides, which can be regarded as ventilated and cool.

It's just that there is nothing else in this room except for the straw mats and a few clay pots of unknown purpose by the wall.

He opened the canvas curtain with some English letters printed on it and looked outside the wooden house, but there was no one guarding it.

Seeing this, Wei Ran wisely put down the curtain, simply sat on the straw mat, opened the seized devil's backpack, took out the contents and sorted out the various things he carried around his body.

除了还有40多发12号霰弹以及四颗刚刚从空投罐里得到的36号手榴弹之外，现如今他还有一支鬼子的掷弹筒和足足25枚专用的榴弹。那些榴弹里有17颗，都是不久之前救援雨果和瓦洛洛的时候顺手缴获的。

In addition to weapons, his bag also contained a few socks filled with rice, several boxes of devil's canned meat, and the crucial camera.This is also part of the objects that occupy most of the space except for the shotgun.

What was left was a tube of mosquito coils and two gold plates hidden in it that was given free of charge from the sniper of the devil, as well as the soap box, needle and thread cylinder and the devil's sniper that he picked up together with the camera. Square box flashlights and other small items, as well as L-shaped flashlights, compasses, black tea bags, cigarettes, etc. that were also dug out of the airdrop cans not long ago.

Finally, look at the medical kit that was put aside and the 3W watch on his wrist that he also picked up.After some comparison, Wei Ran put aside the devil's square box flashlight, and then took out a full 16 rounds of special grenades for the grenade, and put aside the rice and canned food of the devil in socks.

By the way, he changed a new pair of socks for himself, and Wei Ran sorted the remaining things into this backpack again.

Using the vacated space to pack some medical equipment and medicines, Wei Ran picked up the bag and tried it after re-fixing the grenade launcher horizontally on the backpack.

After such a reduction, not only the devil's backpack, which was originally bulging, has shrunk a lot.Even on Wei Ran's body and in his pockets, he finally doesn't have to hang or carry all kinds of weights that affect his activities.

Of course, among the things that have been reduced, at least those grenades must be brought, they are so useful.As for the work of carrying these heavy loads, it is naturally handed over to Valoro or more natives who will definitely follow him.

Just after he finished his calculations, Hugo also walked over with the support of Valoro.Just looking at the happy look on his face, Wei Ran guessed that there must be good news.

Sure enough, as soon as Hugo entered the door, he said, "Victor, the witch's divination shows that there will be no danger this time, so not only is she willing to continue to let Valoro work for us, but she will also send five additional people.

Correspondingly, we also need to pay for all the cans and biscuits in the airdrop tank, as well as the ten rifles and corresponding bullets. "

Taking a breath, Hugo sat down with difficulty and continued, "The machetes, the two Sten submachine guns and the two Owen submachine guns are also theirs. Of course, I will stay, Victor, I hope you are right"

"will not"

Wei Ran waved his hand without waiting for the other party to finish speaking, "This deal is not a loss, and your leg is injured. It is a burden to follow us. Staying here will make both parties feel at ease."

"I'm very happy that you think so." Hugo paused and said with difficulty, "Also, I hope you can set off as soon as possible."

"Now?"

"right"

Hugo nodded, "I've already told Valoro, once you finish investigating the situation at the airport, he and his friends will be responsible for sending the information back, Victor, if you want, go back with you, there I need you more."

"I will send the information with Valoro and the others."

After resting for less than half an hour, Wei Ran, who didn't even drink his saliva, stood up while speaking, pointed to the things he picked out of the bag and said, "Say to Valoro, let him help me Carry these things on your back, let's set off now."