War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 287 The Companion Short of Money and the Professor's Suspicion

Under the busyness of the crowd, two tents were erected again, and the four reindeer were idly looking down for moss and lichens buried under the snow.

Although the area of ​​this small flat valley is not large, but because of the shelter of the surrounding stone mountains, not only is there almost no wind here, even the snow under the feet is not too much, not to mention the reindeer, even if a few of them , If you step on it without snowshoes, you can't even bury your knees.

If the weather station is really here, the Germans undoubtedly chose a good place.At the same time, it also provides a lot of convenient conditions for them to find jobs in the future.

Leaving the task of finding the ruins of the weather station to the three of Wei Ran, Professor Jonas took out an ice ax from his mountaineering bag, took a kerosene lamp, and circled around the foot of the mountain on the edge of the valley alone, from time to time Yes, he will dig a few times with the shovel or ice ax in his hand.Seeing his concentrated appearance, he obviously didn't want to explain too much.

"Victor, do you think we can find those precious meteorological data?" Eric asked while drawing circles in the snow with a metal detector that had just been assembled.

"If you can find the weather data, let's put it aside, at least find the ruins of the weather station first." Wei Ran, who was holding a kerosene lamp in his hand, replied absent-mindedly, all his attention was on Jonas who was not far away on the professor.

"I believe the professor will be able to lead us to find that weather station"

Eric is extremely confident, "As long as we find those meteorological data, we can have our own research topics in the future."

Wei Ran turned to look at Leo who was preparing dinner in the half-open tent, and asked in a low voice, "Speaking of this, Eric, how much do you know about Professor Jonas?"

"What kind of understanding?" Eric asked inexplicably.

"Be quieter"

Wei Ran moved closer to Eric with a kerosene lamp, and asked in a low voice, "Various aspects, such as his origin, his family."

"Professor Jonas' professional ability is beyond doubt." Eric thought for a while and continued, "But he is also a poor man."

"Why do you say that?"

"He has a daughter"

Eric whispered, "His daughter suffers from the same disease as Professor Hawking, who won the Wolf Prize in Physics last year, and it is more serious than Professor Hawking. He also has a son."

Seeing that Eric stopped talking here, Wei Ran couldn't help urging, "What's wrong with his son?"

"If his daughter is a natural disaster, his son is a man-made disaster."

Eric said with pity, "That bastard is addicted to drugs, and he owes a lot of gambling debts."

"So Professor Jonas is short of money?" Wei Ran thought of the most critical question in an instant.

"Who is not short of money?"

Eric raised his chin in the direction of Leo, and said pitifully, "For example, my cousin, he needs to take care of four children. In addition to exploring gold mines and poaching, he even dares to do smuggling, but even That way, the monthly bills can drive him crazy."

who are you looking for
Wei Ran frowned secretly, taking risks with two people who are in urgent need of money, how big is Eric's heart?
Before the two could say anything more, the beep of the metal detector in Eric's hand changed.

The two stopped in unison, Eric threw the metal detector aside, took the snow shovel handed by Wei Ran, and dug up the thick snow, revealing a small section of rusty, curved metal skin .

"This can't be a bomb, right?" Eric threw away the shovel in his hand, subconsciously took a step back, and sat directly on the snow.

"How can there be a bomb made of thin iron?"

Wei Ran handed the kerosene lamp to the other party to carry it, and he picked up the shovel himself, and continued to expand the area along the position that the other party had just dug.

Gradually, an iron cylinder nearly two meters long and half a meter thick revealed its entirety in the snow.

"What is this?" Eric asked curiously.

"Airdrop tanks used by Germany during World War II"

Wei Ran said, gently lifted the rusty iron sheet, and then saw that there was a dead dog in the abandoned airdrop tank.

Perhaps because of the low temperature throughout the year, this corpse barely maintained most of the characteristics of its life, which also allowed Wei Ran to spot it at a glance. There were WWII German soldier badges hanging on its collar.

It is not difficult to imagine that the pet who accompanied the weather station workers on Bear Island did not survive to the day of evacuation, and the Germans who chose to leave left their soldier badges to this pet who accompanied them. Friends through the long night.

"Keep looking"

As Wei Ran said, he put on the lid of the airdrop tank again, and used a shovel to pick up some snow at will and buried it again.

"You are such a kind person"

Eric joked, picked up the metal detector at hand, and continued to search for possible ruins of the weather station.

But before they took a few steps, the detector made an unusual sound again, and it was from here that the airdrop cans were dug out one by one.

It's a pity that most of these airdrop cans are empty, and a few of them even have traces of being cut and removed part of the iron sheet.However, it was following these neatly placed airdrop cans that Wei Ran and Eric successfully found the ruins of the weather station buried in snow.

The discovery on their side naturally attracted Leo, who had already prepared dinner, and Professor Jonas, who was still circling around the foot of the mountain.

The four of them each took a snow shovel and carefully cleared the snow on the surface along the burnt wood they had just discovered.Gradually, the foundation of a wooden house covering an area of ​​only seventy or eighty square meters was revealed.All that can be seen on this foundation are logs smashed into the permafrost layer one by one, other than that, there are a large number of charred wood fragments, and some such as pots and pans or deformed tin cans. kind of stuff.

"Where's the weather data?" Eric asked Professor Jonas disappointedly.

"Don't worry, let's eat first and then take a rest."

Professor Jonas said confidently as he walked towards the tent, "We will be able to find the weather data soon."

"Really?" Eric asked, frowning.

"Of course it's true, otherwise what are we going to do from France to this ghostly place?" Professor Jonas said, people have gone farther and farther.

Wei Ran, Eric, and Leo, who didn't know what happened, glanced at each other. After Eric explained a few words to Leo in Norwegian, the two brothers turned their heads and followed Wei Ran. tent in the distance.

After Leo finished serving everyone, Jonas took the initiative to open a bottle of wine, poured everyone a glass and said, "After dinner, Victor, you and Leo have a hard time, come back We may need to stay here for a few more days before we can see the weather data."

"Professor, why don't you explain where are those materials?" Eric asked impatiently again.

"We'll find out when they come back with the fuel," Professor Jonas said confidently, "Don't worry, we'll be able to find those meteorological data soon."

Not to mention that this old thing was bitten to death, the food in the hands of the rest of the people seemed not to be so delicious.The group filled their stomachs indiscriminately. Wei Ran and Leo didn't care about rest at all, so under Eric's urging, they removed the wooden poles supporting the tent from the sleigh cart, and then they shouted at the reindeer and pulled Headed towards the pier with the empty sleigh.

Almost at the same time as the two cars disappeared, Professor Jonas called Eric back to the ruins of the weather station, lit a cigarette and explained, "According to the records in my father's diary, they left here Before, all the supplies were put in the warehouse."

"Where is the warehouse?" Eric asked after him.

"See that mountain?"

Jonas motioned for the former to turn around, pointed to the short hill not far away and said, "They built a second signal tower on that hill, as long as we connect a line between the weather station at the foot and the top of that hill, the warehouse will Built on the rock face at the edge of the valley through which the line passes.

So we only need to wait for them to come back and dig out the entrance of the warehouse buried in ice and snow to find those meteorological data. "

"Why didn't you just say that?" Eric asked puzzled.

"See if your cousin Leo brings more people over"

Professor Jonas said bluntly, "If he brings more people, it's enough for only the two of us to know the secret. If he and Victor only bring back fuel, then we will immediately start looking for that How about a warehouse?"

"Leo would never do that kind of thing"

Eric said helplessly, "Besides, even if he has that kind of thought, he can wait until we get on the boat with our things."

"That's why I let Victor follow him"

Professor Jonas said in a puffy voice, "Victor seems to be more cautious than you. Just ask him about the situation on the ship, and we will know whether Leo is trustworthy."

"whatever"

Eric patted his forehead, "I know Leo, if there is gold in the warehouse, maybe he will be tempted. But even if it is gold, he will only ask for some at most, and will never do what you said sort of thing."

"I hope so." Jonas spread his hands, "I just asked them to help bring some fuel back, didn't I?"

Eric opened his mouth, and followed Jonas helplessly back to the low tent where he could only bend down to get in because there was no support from the sled.

And on Wei Ran's side, when he yelled at the reindeer and followed Leo across the entire island in the dark night, after running from the easternmost to the westernmost pier, he successfully found the man who was still waiting for them here. fishing boat.

(End of this chapter)