The scouts walked past the panicked Germans with a steady and calm step. It wasn't until he had disappeared in the grove that Toltkin hurriedly glanced around and ran. They quickly rushed through the grove to a pasture, startled the birds in the swamp, and moved into the next grove. Here they took a breath. Semenov looked around and found out that there were no Germans nearby. The scouts were limp and sat on the grass and smoked.

Everyone knew that Sun Hui didn't smoke, so they didn't let him, because tobacco was very precious, and there were trophies from Sun Hui among the cigarettes they smoked.

Toltkin looked at Sun Hui, smiled slightly, and said for the first time since last night: "I was almost caught by the enemy just now." "He struggled to speak, and his tongue was not very flexible, because he had not opened his mouth that night.

"yes." Sun Hui nodded with a smile and said in Russian, which he was not yet very proficient in, "It's really dangerous." ”

"I think you seem to be fearless, not so afraid." Toltkin looked at Sun Hui and said with a smile, "I really want to know, what do you five think, five people, go to the enemy to get tanks, I just heard the news, I thought you were really crazy, but you succeeded." I don't know how you did it, but the corpses of those enemies, they are real. ”

"So we'd like to take this opportunity to see how you're doing it, whether you need to learn from us or if we need to learn from you." Semenov also laughed.

"Courage comes largely from ignorance." Sun Hui smiled, "That time was too risky, and we were too lucky, so it won't be like that in the future." He can only attribute that success to luck now, otherwise he would have to leak the stuffing.

At that moment, a dozen or so Germans formed a chain formation, carefully searched the grove that the scouts had recently left, and walked to its western edge, and inspected the swampy pasture that the scouts had just run through for a long time. Then the Germans gathered again, talked and giggled—apparently laughing at the three men who had seen the "white ghost" in a trance, smoked again, and walked away.

Sun Hui couldn't help but admire Toltkin's steely perseverance, and in such a situation, he was still able to calm and compose, without leaking the slightest flaw. If you change yourself, you can't do it at all.

Travkin was sure that there were no Germans in this grove. Just in case, he set up a guard, then removed the radio from Markov's back and made the first wireless call.

He was unable to answer for a long time, the radio clicked and hummed, fragments of conversation and music were heard, and at the wavelength immediately next to his own, he heard a strong, menacing German dialect. When Travkin heard this, he couldn't help but shudder - the wavelengths of the two sides were so close that they might leak their own secrets to the Germans.

Finally, he finally heard a muffled response, and a voice repeated the same word: "Eagle!" Eagle! Eagle! Eagle! ”

"I'm sending the news," said Travkin, "galloping horses, galloping horses." The distant radio station was silent for a while, and then it was informed that it understood, completely understood.

"There are a lot of locusts, a lot of locusts," Travkin said repeatedly, "just arrived." ”

The distant radio understood, and repeated like an echo: "There are many, very many locusts. Understood, understood. ”

Everyone was happy. Crossing such a front line, crossing the forest where the Germans were concentrated, and then turning on the radio. Telling oneself about the situation of these German troops can be said to have successfully completed the reconnaissance mission.

Sun Hui noticed Travkin's eyes on everyone's faces again and again. They were no longer subordinates, but comrades who depended on each other, and as a commander, he felt that they were no longer strangers from him, but a part of his own body. If he could still give them a right to live their own lives and keep their hobbies while they were stationed in the fortress, here they and he were one in this lonely enemy position.

Sun Hui understands this feeling, he and the girls are now a whole.

Toltkin decided to follow the predetermined plan and continue his march towards a settlement located at the intersection of railways and roads. It is dangerous to travel during the day, but it is possible to walk away from villages and traffic arteries and along marshes and forests. Germans generally avoid such places.

But as soon as the scouts reached the western edge of the grove, they saw a German unit approaching the muddy sidewalk. These Germans wore not gray uniforms, but black, and the leading officer glittered majestically with a pair of glasses with a pinched nose.

"It's ...... Ss! Semenov said softly.

This SS unit was followed by an axle-bearing detachment, which included a dozen or so loaded wagons.

The scouts burrowed into the nearest forest and noticed fresh tracks on the ground, so they carefully followed their way to a glade surrounded by 12 camouflaged tracked armoured transports. The fresh dust on the tracks proves that the vehicles have not been driven for a long time. This can also be seen in the actions of the Germans, who ran noisily to and fro in the forest, pitching tents, sawing trees, cutting branches for fire—in a word, all they did when people were new to a place.

The scouts crawled away from the dangerous clearing, far around it from the right, but then they came across a German barracks full of trucks loaded with shells.

The snow in the forest littered empty cigarette boxes, cans and bottles, as well as torn newspapers typeset in Gothic script. There were many signs in the woods, and it was impossible to wait until dark, for it was impossible to advance during the day, because all around were shouting, sleeping, walking, and riding Germans, and all the assembled German troops.

Travkin and all the scouts understood that the enemy must have some intention to hide the new force in the depths of this great forest. For the first time, perhaps for the first time, they understood the full importance of their tasks and the enormity of their responsibilities. The scout slept through the rest of the day in a ravine, and then continued on his way when it was nearly dark.

Soon, they came to a beautiful lake. There are many large and small lakes here, all frozen because of the severe cold, and there is a birch forest next to the lake.

Travkin rests in a depression overgrown with hazel trees not far from the lake. On the opposite bank stands a huge two-story stone house. The sound of German conversation could be heard in the house. To the right of the house there was a sidewalk that was not too wide, but on the horizon, in the middle of the poles, there was a large road.