The sun was lighting the tree tops which poked over the slab when David woke on Sunday morning to the sound of church bells from below. He looked at his watch.

Seven o'clock. I slept long again.

Rachel was still asleep beside him, but Maria's spot was empty, though still slightly warm. He sat up and saw her at the stove, got up, walked over to her and kissed her good morning.

"Been up long?" he asked

"Only about five minutes. The tea water will be another seven or eight." She looked down, then up into his eyes with a smile and said, "I see you're up long."

"Just a morning pee hard. No emotion behind it." He looked at his stifness and chuckled. "That's not to say I'm not excited to see you."

"Do you mind if I watch you pee? I'm curious about how it works."

He looked into her eyes.

She's so beautifully innocent. So beautiful. I'll miss her.

He shrugged then tilted his head toward the edge of the slab. "Come." She followed him across.

"Do you always peel it like that? Uncover your head to pee?"

"I guess that's automatic, I don't even think about it. But thinking now, it would be messier leaving it covered. Pee would run around inside, under the foreskin and I'd be quite wet."

As he peed, his stiffness slowly eased, and the flow increased in volume. By the time he had finished, his penis was no longer self-supporting. He shook it, then milked along the length of the underside to push the last of the pee to the end, shook again, slid the skin back over the head and then dropped it.

"That's quite the process."

"I take much longer to pee when I'm stiff. The tube is compressed from the swelling, and the pee comes out rather slowly until the stiffness eases."

"All the shaking and squeezing, I mean. Do you always do that?"

"That too is automatic. I learned early on that if I don't do it thoroughly, I end up with dribbles and wet trousers. There's a lot of draining to do before I tuck myself away." He caught her eyes and grinned. "Besides, it also feels good."

"Men are so different from women, and I sure do love the difference. You have such a nice difference." She giggled, then picked up his dangle and laid it along her hand and up her wrist. "I've heard this is larger than normal." She looked up with an impish grin.

"Completely normal for me." He grinned back and chuckled.

"For me also, I know no other size. I don't want to know any other. I don't want to know any other man. I love you, David. I don't even know the meaning of love, but I certainly know its feelings now. I know it has so little to do with this thing," she said looking down and hefting it. "This is certainly a lovely part of it, but the depth of my love is for your spirit, for your fresh mind, for your inventiveness, for your openness and honesty, for your steadiness, for your acceptance and for your constant optimism. You're a noble man, David. I love you."

She watched his limpness receding across her wrist to her hand, then she took it between her forefinger and thumb lightly, saying, "This is a nice leash. Come, you need to get dressed. The morning is still cool, and you'll catch a chill."

David remained speechless as he was led back across the granite terrace to the sleeping nook. His head was spinning, churning up so many random thoughts, confusing and conflicting thoughts. He was somewhere he had never been. 

But I've spent much of my life exploring where I've never been. But that's been with mountains, with wilderness, with things, never with people. I truly don't know...

"Your eyes tell me you're confused," she said as she dropped the leash to allow him to pull on his trousers. "What's troubling your mind?"

He put on his shirt then his jacket before he said anything. "So many emotions, so many feelings, so many conflicting things. I'm not accustomed to these." He looked deeply into her eyes.

"That's the normal thing for women." She stroked his beard. "We so often have to juggle feelings and emotions which conflict with reality. Mama said that's a normal thing for us. Our strength is recognising what's real and acting on that, while allowing our emotions and our sensibilities to guide us."

She picked up his hand, put it on her shoulder, and they merged into a long hug. She felt him gently sobbing, and she tilted her head up to kiss his lips, tasted the salt of his tears, licked his bearded cheeks and kissed him again gently, saying, "I love you — you are such a magnificent man."

"But men don't cry. My father — everyone has always told me men don't cry. But I've cried at spectacular sunsets, I've cried for the sheer joy and the release of reaching the summit of an unclimbed peak. In the past weeks, I've cried so often at the loss of comrades in the fighting in Flanders. Now I cry because I love you and don't know what to do about it. I'm so very confused."

Maria held him more tightly and stroked the back of his head as they listened to Rachel saying from her bed, "Strong men cry, David. It's the weak ones who hide their feelings, who disguise them with pompous strutting, with anger, with rage."

"Good morning, Mama," Maria said, "Been awake for a while?"

"Long enough to confirm once again that David's a very special person, a very rare man and that we are so privileged to have him here with us. To have him in our lives."

"How's your foot this morning, Mama," David asked, as he bent to kiss her. "Pardon my wet face."

"So much better." She lifted her foot and slowly rotated it.

Maria bent to feel the ankle. "The heat's gone. Seems normal now. What should I get out for breakfast?".

"I was thinking of thinly slicing some of the Tannenhof Schinken and having it with sliced Appenzeller, knäckebrot and tea."

"What's Tannenhof Schinken?" David asked. "I know Schinken is ham."

"This is a special one," Rachel replied. "Cold smoked over fresh fir and juniper twigs; subtle flavours. It's made a short distance north of here in the eastern slopes of the Schwarzwald. It's one of our favourites, and I always keep a piece on hand."

"The tea water is boiling away, I hadn't even noticed the rattling of the lid," David turned and looked. "I'll go tend to that."

"The rattle of the lid is what woke me," Rachel whispered to Maria after David had left. "I noticed you were leading him around on a leash," she added with a giggle. "I told you women control men."

As they were enjoying their breakfast, David discussed plans. "I think we should sit in the sun on the lookout slab and observe the activity below. Look for patterns of any kind, anything that would look like organised patrols or watch rotations. We need to find out if Fritz is down there, and if so, where. We can't make valid decisions until we know."

"There'll be a different activity in the valley today, a Sunday, than there'd be on a weekday," Rachel added. "Probably a good idea to watch again tomorrow. That will give me two more days to strengthen my ankle. Give us more time to think."

"We can finally put Herzog's telescope to good use." David pointed to the holster harness. "I had forgotten about it."

After breakfast, they packed snacking food, water canteens and a few other things into the small rucksack. David draped two folded bedrolls over his shoulder, and they headed around the rib and slightly down to the lookout rock only a few minutes away.

The rock was like the prow of a ship, jutting proudly out of the rib and sloping back slightly. Its tip was a good twenty feet above the surrounding terrain and from the prow was an unobstructed view into the valley. It was just coming on quarter to eight.

David looked back up the rib to determine whether they were visible from above, and he was pleased the line of trees and some large granite blocks screened the view from there. He and Maria took the two bedrolls and spread them out near the brink, and they all laid on their bellies and forearms to survey the scene below.

"The rail line was extended past here about a quarter century ago to link the Wutach with the Donau Valley," Rachel said.

"The Donau, that's the Danube in English, isn't it?" he asked for confirmation. "How far away is the Donau?"

"The Wutach and Danube at one point are only ten kilometres apart. They both rise in the Schwarzwald, to the north of Feldberg. Actually, Feldberg is the source of the Wutach. When we crossed the big cirque toward the saddle that first day, those little streams and gullies are its source. The Danube rises a short distance north."

"I saw on the map that the Wutach flows into the Rhein, so the continental watershed lies between the Wutach and the Danube, one flowing toward the North Sea, the other east across Europe to the Black Sea. The rail line appears to be an important link then, between the eastern and western parts of Germany."

"Yes, very important. The original route from the southern Rhein plains into south-central and eastern Germany passed through Schaffhausen, following the north side of the Rhein. But after the Germans seized Alsace and Lorraine in 1871, they need a strategic defensive connection entirely within Germany for transporting supplies and troops, in case the French counter-attacked."

She paused, shook her head, sighed and then continued. "Edom was fascinated with the line. It's an extremely twisting route with a full circle spiral tunnel and many full switchbacks. In the final rise to the pass, there are five tunnels, five major bridges and viaducts plus minor ones. It's so twisty and curly that locally it's called the Sauschwänzlebahn, the Pigtail Line. Edom was an overseer of labour on the rail beds for a while before we married. The new line was a huge undertaking and wasn't completed until the 1890s."

"The small road beside it doesn't seem as important."

"No, not important at all, at least back when I knew it. It only linked a few small communities up the Wutach and side valleys."

"And the road heading up the side valley from Eggingen? The one where we were accosted, does it lead anywhere?"

"Only to the tiny communities and farms up the valley. It doesn't go through to anywhere. At least that's how it was before we moved."

"So the rail line is the most important down there," he said. "Do you notice anything unusual? Take a close look, try to remember from all those years ago. Are there any significant changes?"

Rachel looked slowly from right to left, sweeping her eyes back and forth across the flat valley floor. "Over there in the field by the weir," she said, pointing to the left. "Those are new buildings. At least, I don't remember any being there. Hand me the telescope."

She extended the tubes and put it to her eye. "This is so blurry. I can't see a thing." She adjusted the eyepiece back and forth. "I can't see anything with this, and I can't seem to put it into focus." She handed it back to David.

David collapsed the tubes and extended them again, then he twisted. "There, the tubes twist to lock into place, try it now."

"Much better. They're not buildings, they're tents. Four long tents and one square one next to the weir. They appear to be military, and there are a lot of men milling about. Here, you look, you understand army better than I do."

He looked, then glanced at his watch. "It appears they're mustering into squads. There's the eight o'clock bell. I'll watch them, you continue to search for anything else that's strange."

David watched as the troops formed, and as they were inspected, he gave the girls a running commentary of his observations. He finished after a few minutes with, "Three squads are marching off now, across the field toward the road."

"I can see them plainly," Maria said, "looks like two rows of four and a leader in each."

"The other six squads were stood down, so it appears they have three watches," he said. "I wonder how long each shift is. I guess we'll find out; that's why we're here."

"They've split at the road," Rachel said. "One squad heading west, the other two east."

"You two continue watching the troops moving along the road, I'll examine the tent encampment and the activity there." He saw little movement, nothing that seemed organised as he tried to sort the arrangements in the five tents and figure out their meaning.

"I'm analysing the troop strength and their routine," he said. "I'll be thinking out loud as I do. Follow along and tell me if I'm not making sense. We saw nine squads, three have gone out, and six have remained in camp. The three that have gone out will relieve three other squads, so that's twelve squads. How long is each rotation? Are there other squads recently relieved still in bed?"

"The squad that headed this way has now stopped." Maria pointed.

"Beside the slough." Rachel nodded. "Seems they consider it a weakness."

David swung the telescope across to the slough and watched the activity as the squad milled at the side of the road. "I see only the nine fresh troops but not the squad they're relieving. You both watch the other two squads, I'll focus on this one."

He saw no other movement as he swept the telescope along both sides of the slough, examining the bushes, looking for movement, looking for Fritz. Nothing. He looked again at the fresh squad and saw them laying back against the slope of the dyke the road runs along. "They're lying on their backs. Guarding the sky, it seems. They don't appear to be motivated or well led."

"One of the other squads has stopped." Maria pointed to the left. "Over there at the end of the hedgerow that runs across the field from the river to the forest edge. The river is directly beside the road there, so the hedgerow looks to be in Switzerland."

"No, the hedgerow is in Germany." Rachel tapped the map. "Look here. The border jogs across the field halfway between the weir and the hedgerow, then runs along the base of the forested slope."

David looked at the map and at the terrain. "Another obviously vulnerable spot." He put the telescope to the start of the hedgerow a little over half a mile up the valley, and watched the troops lounging on the rocks at the edge of the river. No relieved squad was visible.

He swung his glass back to the slough to look for additional troops and still saw none. "I don't think the commander of this company takes his duty seriously. He has more than enough troops to maintain a twenty-four-hour guard, but from our observations so far, I'll wager he is doing daylight only. I'll bet he rotates again at noon then at sixteen hundred and that the third rotation finishes at twenty hundred. The troops appear totally uninspired."

"The third squad has stopped now," Maria said as she pointed. "A little farther along beside the river where the swath of trees zigzags across the fields. From at the map, it appears the swath of trees is also in Germany." She put her finger on the map to show David.

He lifted the telescope to the place and watched the squad as men sat or laid beside the river. "This doesn't speak well for their defences, but it sure improves our position. Let's not relax. Let's keep watching. Let's confirm we're right in our thinking."