And a precise shooting by the pilot of the German airplane. The shady path Melina had made for him was gone, and then he asked again:
“Melina, can you hear me?”
She heard a soft rustle, then a sad voice, different from Melina’s, said:
“Melina isn’t there!”
“What do you mean, she’s not? He recalled the aerial battle that for him had just ended in a nameless wadi in North Africa. If it had been a full moon, he might have walked even farther, but only by starlight was risky, as there were plenty of gullies into which he might fall. All they had to do was to set fire to one or two tanks at the head of the convoy and then concentrate on destroying as many British fighters as possible. It wasn’t until he looked down at the fuel gauge and saw how quickly it was dropping that he realized the smell of gasoline was stronger than usual. Minute after minute passed and the German pilot seemed to have no intention of turning, and Robert, with one eye on the fuel gauge, was just considering whether he should abandon the
