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waited until von

    Lappus had a question.

    "Ranke, what do you know about this river?"
    "Not a damned thing," Kurt replied, surprising himself.

    Now why had he said that? As an afterthought, "Sir."

    Then, "But we should have a flood tide."

    The Captain grunted and walked away. He spoke with

    Gregor for a moment, assumed the conn, and turned the

    ship toward the river.

    lager reached Kristiansand an hour after sunrise. The
    old town seemed a thriving village of perhaps a thousand
    souls, many of whom came out to watch the warship pass.
    The men of the Sea Detail, which had been set when
    Kristiansand was sighted, waved and shouted. Petty
    officers passed among the seamen, growling, toning them
    down. There would be no fraternizing with the Kristian-
    sander girls anyway. Their fathers and husbands and
    brothers were already hustling them home. An ancient

    custom, Kurt thought.

    Jager crept up the Otra until, near noon, she dropped
    anchor off a good stand of timber. Kristiansand, forty
    kilometers downstream, was an attraction no more. Kurt
    was wolfing a delayed breakfast, wondering about the
    Norwegian way of life, when Hans approached his table
    with his own morning meal. "You've got boat three," he said.

    "What?"
    "You're in charge of boat three, to get wood. You'll

    need a dozen Operations men for your working party.
    There'll be one from Engineering, two from Deck."

    "What about Gunnery?"

    "Somebody's worried about the natives. Why, I don't

    know."

    "I don't feel like chopping wood."

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    "Who does? Want to trade boats?"

    "Why?"

    "Beck's going over in mine."

    "No thanks. Why?"

    "To watch for deserters, I guess. It's a golden opportunity, you have to admit. We're awful close to Telemark."

    "Two days' walk," Kurt replied, revealing his recent thoughts.

    Hans's eyes narrowed. "You taking off?"

    "I thought about meeting Karen there. But I won't."

    "Get your tools from the boatswain's locker. Deck-
    inger'll have them ready."

    "All right." Kurt hurriedly finished his coffee and soggy roll. After returning his tray to the scullery, he went to
    Combat, where he collected a working party.

    "Muster the working parties!" was soon piped. Kurt smiled, briefly wondered why Hans so enjoyed the public-address microphone—perhaps he achieved a surrogate
    feeling of power, of godhead. He reached boat three as
    Gregor arrived.

    "Everyone here?" the lieutenant asked.

    Kurt ticked off names in his mind. "Where's Weber?"

    "Here." The sonarman hurried up.

    "All present, sir," said Kurt, saluting sloppily. Jager's crew, often to Beck's dismay, demonstrated little interest
    in ceremony.

    "Very well. Weber, Hippke, get the tools. The rest of
    you stand clear here." Men from the deck force lowered the boat, rigged a Jacob's ladder. "All right, get aboard,"
    Lindemann directed when the tools arrived. "Ranke,
    you're coxswain."

    "We may need shovels, sir," Kurt observed later, when they finally managed to get the boat to shore. The bank
    was a clifflet six feet tall.

    "Mr. Czyzewski's ahead of you." Behind them, the
    engineers were loading their own boat. Shovels were
    among their tools. Kurt shrugged, made the boat's painter
    fast to a sapling, scrambled up the bank.

    A hundred meters of gently rising green meadow lay
    between river and wood, richly strewn with petaled jewels.
    The grass was deep and comfortable. Several men were
    lying in it, talking. Kurt breathed deeply of the meadow's
    lush perfume.

    "A nice place," Gregor observed. Indeed. Here there was no sign of man or his foibles.

    "Yes, pretty," Kurt replied. "Except for that." He pointed at Jager. The ship, beautiful as a panther is

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    beautiful when moored at Kiel, was a canker here in the
    wilderness.

    "Uhm," Lindemann grunted. "All right, stand by!" He went to meet Czyzewski, just coming ashore. They spoke
    for a moment, then Lindemann returned. "Kurt, start with a few of the bigger trees. He wants a raft to float the
    wood over."

    Kurt nodded,