War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 249 A Birthday Gift Prepared by the British
After rushing back to the camp smoothly, Carlo, who returned alone, frowned on Panettone and Pere, as well as the two wounded who had already awakened.

"Carlo, where's Victor? And that British guy?" Panetone asked nervously.

"Don't worry, they're fine." Carlo turned off the three-wheeled motorcycle that had been running all night, and briefly described their previous discovery.

While talking, Carlo had already dumped the barrel of precious fresh water with a strong gasoline smell into the water tank.And Panettone, who was listening to the story, and the German reporter Pell also worked together to lift the anti-aircraft gun into the truck compartment.

"When are we going to leave?" Panettone was ready to start the three-wheeled motorcycle while speaking.

"Don't rush"

Carlo stopped Panettone and Pell, "We have to try to lighten the load on the truck, after all, we don't have much fuel."

"The anti-aircraft gun can't be left behind," German reporter Pell said irresistibly. "If we meet the British again, that anti-aircraft gun is our only weapon. You may choose to surrender to the British, but I will not."

Carlo patted his sand-covered forehead, "Okay, okay, the anti-aircraft guns are brought, but what about the supporting ammunition? Do you think you can use up so many shells alive?"

Reporter Pell opened his mouth and said in a muffled voice, "Two boxes, take at least two boxes of ammunition."

"whatever"

Carlo was too lazy to argue with the other party, turned his head and said to Panetone, "Leave two boxes of ammunition for Pell enough to kill us all, and empty the rest of the shells, leaving only the ammo box. We are running out of fuel. At least those wooden boxes can be used to make a fire to keep us from freezing to death."

"Don't throw away what you eat and drink"

Panettone insisted, "None of us knows how long it will be before we can go out. Those who eat must stay, especially canned tomatoes and noodles, and red wine."

"Of course these must be kept"

Carlo adjusted the angle of the headlights of the three-wheeled motorcycle, looked inside the cargo compartment, and personally supervised the loss of excessive ammunition and two Breda 30 light machine guns and accessories that even reporter Pell suggested to throw away. Several boxes of bullets.

This kind of junk is really only used to increase the load, not to mention that they can't use it, even on the battlefield, no soldier is willing to use this kind of junk that is worse than scrap iron.

After clearing the load in the cargo compartment of the truck, the three of them hung the front of the three-wheeled motorcycle in the air behind the cargo compartment of the truck before dawn.Then Panettone and Carlo jumped into the cab, one was in charge of driving and the other was in charge of guiding, and drove towards the direction where Wei Ran and others were.

At the same time as they started their journey, Wei Ran and Harry also got up and started digging along the length of the steel wire rope.

However, the amount of excavation this time was far greater than yesterday's, and nearly two meters thick of yellow sand buried them. It took them at least an hour to dig for every small step along the wire rope.

The two of them worked like gerbils from morning to noon, and they only advanced a distance of more than one meter. Fortunately, when the sun rose to its highest point, the truck driven by Panettone finally arrived.

Before the car was turned off, Per in the carriage poked his head out and shouted, "Victor, come and have a look! Pierre has a fever again!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran's heart sank, and he quickly dropped the extremely smooth wooden propeller blades polished by sand, and trotted towards the truck compartment.

After briefly checking Pierre's condition, Wei Ran frowned. The burn on his leg had already begun to ooze pus, his forehead was scorching hot, and his consciousness was a little unconscious.

Wei Ran said worriedly, "The burn on his leg has started to inflame. We must send him to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible. If we are still here two days later, we can only find a way to amputate him."

"Does Harry know where we are now?" Carlo asked after him.

"He doesn't know." Wei Ran sighed, he asked this question last night.

"We must get enough fresh water as soon as possible, and then go straight north." Carlo glanced at Harry who was still digging sand at the bottom of the bunker, licked his cracked lips, and shouted hoarsely, "Let's go, we Go help!"

The three people who had been driving all night didn't care about rest, each took a helmet and rushed to the bunker.Wei Ran, who was still in the cargo compartment, used the cover of his body to take out the penicillin he secretly took out from the medical box in the metal book when he was on duty last night, and gave them to Pierre who had a high fever and Trento who was shot in the thigh. A stitch.

"Victor, will he die?" Trento, who was still in good condition, asked before Wei Ran got out of the car.

"No, he won't die." Wei Ran promised.

"If there is anything I need to do, just tell me." Trento, who was half lying on Pierre's side, moved his hands and said, "At least my hands can still be used."

"Help me watch Pierre"

Wei Ran took out a small bottle of alcohol from the medical kit and handed it to the other party, "Find a cloth dipped in alcohol and wipe his forehead and underarms every fifteen minutes. If his high fever subsides, remember to call me."

"Leave it to me!" Trento took the alcohol and put it aside, then tore off a small piece of cloth from the blanket and started working.

Returning to the sandpit, Wei Ran picked up the paddle that was stuck aside and started working together.With the participation of Carlo and others, the excavation progress was greatly accelerated. When the sun set again, they finally dug to the end of the wire rope.

"It seems to be a well," reporter Pell said, looking at the edge of a stone well dug out.

"I hope that water can be dug under this well!" Carlo said, and then raised the steel helmet in his hand that had been worn off.

Seeing this, everyone didn't care about resting, and immediately continued digging along the small section of the well.When it was completely dark, everyone finally cleaned up the sand around the three-meter-diameter well filled with yellow sand.

What surprised them was that although the yellow sand that filled the well hadn't had time to be cleaned up, they could already feel a little damp when they grabbed it.

"Let's rest. How about resting for an hour?" Reporter Pell grinned. During the most of the day's excavation, blood blisters had already been worn out on his palms.

"You and Victor rest first"

Carlo and Panettone said while scooping sand out of the well with their helmets, "By the way, see how Pierre is doing."

"I just watched it"

Wei Ran, who also had blisters on his hands, changed the dressing on the wound on Harry's head and said, "His fever has subsided, and he has regained consciousness now. I will give him another injection later. , if he doesn't have a fever tonight, maybe he can last for a long time."

"Then hurry up"

Panettone said out of breath, "Ghost knows how long it will take to rush back from here. I don't want Pierre to become crippled on his birthday."

"When is his birthday?" Wei Ran asked while bandaging Harry's wound.

"Tomorrow," Panettone straightened up, "his birthday is tomorrow, his 27th birthday. He told me that last night when he was still awake."

"My birthday is tomorrow too," the reporter Pell said in surprise, fearing that everyone would not believe him, he took out his ID card, "Look, if I remember the date today correctly, tomorrow is really my birthday , 32nd birthday."

"Such a coincidence?" Panetto took Pell's ID and looked at it, "It's really tomorrow!"

"In this case, if Pierre is doing well tomorrow, how about we hold a birthday party for him and Per?"

"Birthday party?" At this moment, even Carlo stopped digging sand, "There are no cakes and candles in this ghostly place."

"But at least we have pasta and red wine, don't we?" Wei Ran continued to encourage each other, "Don't you always want to eat pasta?"

"Said you don't want to eat the same"

Carlo waved the helmet in his hand more vigorously, "Even for this birthday party, we have to dig out the water as soon as possible!"

With a goal, the speed of digging accelerated again. Even the reporter Pell, who was just about to take a break, picked up the helmet again after Wei Ran helped him deal with the blood bubbles on his hand.

After the five people worked all night, the yellow sand accumulated in the three-meter-diameter well built with stones became lower and lower, and finally they dug the section at the bottom of the well that was ten meters deep. the other end of the wire rope.

What made everyone dumbfounded was that what was tied to the other end of the wire rope turned out to be the seat of the fighter plane, and as the yellow sand was cleaned up bit by bit, there was also an oil drum full of fuel inside, and A small wooden box.

In addition, there are also large pieces of wet stones at the bottom of the well, which are slightly inclined towards the center of the well bottom. In the center, there is a gap that is only as big as the mouth of a bowl. The sand accumulated in the gap is light. With a light grip, water will drip out!

At the bottom of the well illuminated by the dismantled motorcycle lights, Carlo carefully pried open the wooden box with a bayonet. When he saw the contents inside, the reporters Pell and Wei Ran who were on the sidelines all jokingly said, " Oh! Sure enough, they are British!"

"Indeed, only the British would leave a set of exquisite but impractical tea sets to the latecomers in this kind of place."

As Carlo spoke, he took out the porcelain teapot from the wooden box, opened the lid and looked inside, "Well, there's also sugar cubes."

"More Than Sugar Cubes"

Pell took out the British army kettle in the box and unscrewed it, and smelled it with the tip of his nose, "I also prepared tea, wait, there seems to be something in it."

While talking, Pell put his finger into the kettle, then pulled out a rolled up paper from inside and opened it, "This is... a map?! As a witness, this is the first time I have such a good impression of the British!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran and Carlos moved closer together, and then saw that the simple hand-drawn map clearly marked the distance and direction angle from the well to the nearby oasis and even the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. In the wooden box, there is also a pure copper compass shaped like a pocket watch!
"It seems that these things should have been left by the British soldiers who rescued the pilot." Reporter Pell said a nonsense that made Wei Ran almost unable to hold back his laughter. "They finally did a good thing."

"In any case, their kindness at the time really saved us now."

Carlo took advantage of the situation and said, "Pell, for the sake of the birthday presents these British people prepared for you and Pierre, how about letting Harry go after we collect enough fresh water?"

Hearing this, reporter Pell hesitated for a long time playing with the slightly rusty British military compass, and finally muttered to himself at the bottom of the cool and damp well, "Unless he is at our birthday party, Willing to have a drink with each of us."

(End of this chapter)