Exodus - Leon Uris [288]
Ari looked through his field glasses.
“The God-damned fool!” Ari yelled, “he’s going to try to take Fort Esther. I told him to stop at the knoll.”
“What’s the matter with Zev?” David grunted between his teeth.
“Come on,” Ari cried. “Let’s see if we can stop him.”
Ari issued hasty orders for Jordana to have the Gadna children pick up the Arab arms in the field and pull back into Gan Dafna.
His plan had paid off. In less than fifteen minutes he had dissipated the strength of his defense, but nearly half Kassi’s troops lay dead or wounded.
When Mohammed Kassi saw his men run back up toward the fort, confusion broke out. Zev Gilboa was twenty-five yards out ahead of the rest of the Palmach when it happened. Arab gunners from Fort Esther began firing toward their own retreating men in order to stop the pursuing Palmach. Some of the Arabs managed to get inside Fort Esther. Those too close to the pursuing Jews were shut out and fired on. Zev had passed the outer accordions of barbed wire only forty yards from the fort.
“Cover!” he screamed at his troops. He threw himself flat and fired his Sten gun at the fort until the Palmach fell back out of range. Seeing that his attack was futile, Zev turned and tried to crawl back down the hill. A barrage of bullets came from the fort and he was hit. He stood up and ran and again he was hit, and this time he fell into the barbed wire and became entangled. He was unable to move.
The Palmach had dug in and were preparing to go up to try to bring Zev out when Ari and David crawled up to them.
“It’s Zev. He’s out there tangled up in the wire.”
Ari looked out from behind a large rock. He was a hundred yards away from Zev across an open field. There were some places he could find cover behind large rocks, but close to Zev he would be fully exposed.
Suddenly the firing from Fort Esther stopped and it became very still.
‘What’s going on?” David asked.
“They’re using Zev for bait. They see he can’t move and they hope we’ll try to get up there and get him.”
“Those bastards. Why don’t they shoot him and get it over with?”
“Can’t you see, David? He’s lost his rifle. They’re going to wait until we leave and try to take him alive. They’re going to take it out on him for all the men they lost today.”
“Oh, my God,” David groaned. He jumped out from cover but Ari grabbed him and threw him back.
“Somebody give me a pair of grenades,” Ari said. “Good. David, take the troops back into Gan Dafna.”
“You’re not going up there by yourself, Ari ...”
“Do what I order, damn you!”
David turned quietly and signaled to start a withdrawal. He looked back to see Ari already scuttling up the hill toward Zev.
The Arabs watched Ari move up. They knew someone would try to get the wounded man. They would wait until he got close enough and try to wound him too; then the Jews would send another man up ... and another.
Ari got up, sprinted, and dived behind a rock. The Arabs did not shoot.
Then he crawled again until he got to cover twenty yards from where Zev was tangled in the wire. Ari guessed that the Arabs would wait until he actually reached Zev and was an unmissable target.
“Get back ...!” Zev called. “Get back!”
Ari peeked around the boulder. He could see Zev clearly. The blood was spurting from his face and stomach. He was completely trapped in the wire. Ari looked up to Fort Esther. He could see the sun glint off the barrels of rifles trained on Zev.
“Get back!” Zev shouted again. “My guts are hanging out. I can’t last ten minutes ... get back!”
Ari slipped the hand grenades from his belt.
“Zev. I’m going to throw you some grenades!” he called in German. Ari locked the pins in so they could not explode. He stood up quickly and threw both grenades to the boy. One landed just beside him.
Zev picked up the grenade and held it close to his torn stomach.
“I’ve got it ... now get back!”
Ari ran down the hill quickly, catching the Arabs off guard; they had been expecting him to come up after Zev. When they opened fire he was out of range and making his