Freedom in the Air by Hamish Ross

Author:Hamish Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781781594544
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-01-17T05:00:00+00:00

In the way humans interpret a dog’s behaviour, Bozděch described Antis as showing signs of contrition; then he settled again, and the men waited. Darkness gathered, and when they thought it deep enough they moved forward to the perimeter of the forest, then waited a little longer.

They began to advance through the strip of pasture with its long straggling grass, ungrazed and untended. But they had not gone far when Antis suddenly dropped flat to the ground. The three men lay prone in the scant cover provided by the long grass. What had he picked up, by smell, sound or sight? Antis, with a much larger field of vision than a human, was facing towards the forest, to the direction from which they had come. Bozděch put his hand on the collar; he could feel him, tense and rigid. They listened and waited. Soon they heard a different sound from the constant background note of the river: it was footsteps swishing through the grass; a number of people were silently advancing along a line which seemed to be converging with theirs. Was it a patrol of border guards or some escapees like themselves? It was nerve-wracking, Bozděch recounted; and Antis was poised to spring and challenge, but Bozděch restrained him, and the dog silently obeyed. The silhouettes of the unknown group passed within several yards of the men lying in the straggly grass; and were swallowed by the dark. The trio lay perfectly still for some more minutes, but breathed more easily. During this time, Antis, Bozděch wrote, made no attempt to rise. Then ‘he touched his owner’s hand with his muzzle’,4 and slowly stretched on to his four paws. The men rose too and began to move forward silently.

Suddenly, from about three hundred yards beyond the river on the other side, the darkness was pierced by the harsh glare of first one searchlight and then another from a portable unit on higher ground. The three men dived to the ground. Bozděch held the dog. The beams of light, they could see through the long grass, were moving restlessly in arcs, and were followed by prolonged bursts of machine-gun fire. To their horror they could see fleeing figures, trapped in the cones of light, cut down by the machine guns. The group had been escapees like themselves – the crossing point had been compromised and lay like bait. Not daring to move, the men lay flat while the searchlights played over the water and on both sides of the river.

After some minutes, they heard the sound of vehicles, and the lights of two speeding cars came sweeping along the narrow road, and, within fifty yards of the forest, swerved in a wide arc towards the scene where the searchlights were now settled. Several men in uniform got out, and from where they lay the trio could hear the excited whining of a dog. Immediately Antis raised his head and sniffed the air, ‘as if estimating the strength of this new enemy.

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