War Photographer's Notes Volume Chapter 1121 In the mine that suffered heavy losses, Ihor lit up all the kerosene lamps and placed them everywhere, waiting for the "living room" of the mine to be illuminated

At that time, Mesut and Weiran also drove in the last reindeer.

Although sharing such a cave with a dozen reindeer is inevitably a bit crowded, these reindeer are the key to everyone's escape, so they must be taken good care of.

After cutting enough pine branches to calm the animals, the three of them worked together to build a snow wall outside the cave entrance to block wind and light and reinforced it with canvas for tents. Only then did they dare to collect firewood.

A vital bonfire was lit in the mine.

Contrary to the expectations of the three of them, the smoke from the bonfire did not float outside the cave. Instead, it stuck to the blackened stone wall above their heads and was drawn into the mouth of one of the mines deep in the cave.

Based on this small detail alone, the three of them had already guessed that there might be other entrances and exits to this mine.

"I think we should leave everything we brought from the labor camp, including our personal belongings, here."

Mesut said, "Since we are going to disguise ourselves as Soviet hunters, we will inevitably come into contact with other people. If we are interrogated by Soviet soldiers and find our things, we will definitely be exposed. And look at this

Mines, what better place to hide things than here?"

"That's right." Ihor nodded subconsciously, and then asked, "Where's the gun? Also keep the gun stolen from the store warehouse?"

"Stay"

Ihor said, placing the dragoon rifle on the sleigh on the stone platform beside the campfire, then took out the horse-skin notebook, opened it, and pointed at the pocket watch compass and other accessories embedded in it.

The pen on top said, "Sorry, Victor, Ihor, I'm going to keep the birthday gift and this escape note you gave me."

"Stay here"

Ihor pointed to the compass hanging around his neck and said first, "We found a new compass in the hunter's cabin. It will help us escape."

"It's just a pen" Wei Ran expressed his attitude by spreading his hands.

After hearing this, Mesut tied the notebook with a leather cord and put it together with the rifle. Then he took out the aluminum barrel and pot he bought before escaping from prison and put it on it. At the same time, he did not forget to say, "We brought

The oil drums and kerosene lamps that came here also need to be kept, but fortunately there are many 20-liter oil drums and kerosene lamps here for us to use."

“I don’t have many personal belongings.”

As Wei Ran spoke, he first took off the Soviet kettle containing kerosene from his waist and placed it in the pile of things. Then he took out the bottle of bear oil that Panin gave him as a birthday gift from the sleigh and placed it in the pile of things.

He asked jokingly, "Should we change our deerskin robes and boots?"

"There is no need for these. Unless we are caught by Sergei or Panin, no one can recognize us through these common clothes. If we are caught by them, it will be useless even if we put on the clothes of Soviet soldiers."

Mesut said, taking off the goggles hanging around his neck and throwing them to the ground. Seeing this, Wei Ran also took off his goggles and threw them to the ground, while also hiding the pair of goggles still in his pocket.

If you want to throw it away, you have to hide it from Ihor, otherwise this little devil may not know what to think.

When the two people who had thrown away their things looked at Ihor, the latter hesitated for a moment, then rolled up his sleeves and took out a ladies Soviet watch!

"Where did you get the watch?" Mesut asked in surprise.

“In the cashier drawer of the store”

Ihor said nonchalantly, "It was a gift from the political commissar to Marina. I found it in the cashier drawer when Victor went to steal something in the warehouse.

Marina didn't dare take this watch home, she always hid it in the cashier drawer, and I saw it several times."

As he said that, Ihor put the watch in the pile of things, but he didn't notice the frowns of Mesut and Wei Ran at all.

"Let's find a place to put these things up"

While Mesut was talking, he took out the metal box containing the detonator, turned the detonator aside, put various small items including notepads in it, and wrapped the lid with two pairs of discarded goggles.

Finally, it was put into the aluminum bucket pot together with the bottle of bear oil and the lid was closed.

Without any discussion, the three of them each carried a kerosene lamp brought from the labor camp, ducked into the narrow mine that served as a range hood, and drilled deeper along the narrow and low opening.

After a distance of about ten meters, the dragoon rifle with the empty bullets was stuck diagonally on the gap in the wall of the mine. Then the three-liter oil drums brought from the labor camp were placed against the wall, and the aluminum with lid was placed.

The bucket pot was placed on the stacked oil drums.

Without wasting too much time, the three of them put down their belongings and immediately returned to the "living room" at the entrance of the mine.

"It's time for us to shave, and we'd better shave off our hair by the way."

Mesut said as he dug out an old-fashioned razor and a piece of soap as big as half a brick from a wooden box. "I found this in the hunter's house. We can even take a bath."

"The last time I took a bath was in autumn."

As Ihor said, he had already picked up a few iron buckets stacked together, "You guys make the bonfire a little brighter, and I'll prepare the water."

Before he finished speaking, the devil carried the iron bucket and left the cave. Wei Ran and Mesut looked at each other, each picked up the firewood they had chopped recently and placed it on the bonfire pit.

After a relatively long period of preparation, six consecutive piles of snow found in the mines or in iron buckets brought by the hunter's family finally melted completely and became scalding hot.

Even the stewed venison with carrots and onions in the iron pot hung over the campfire emitted a rich aroma.

This chapter is not over yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Before starting to eat, Mesut used the old-fashioned razor to help Wei Ran and Ihor shave off their messy beards and messy hair.

After that, they took a simple bath with the hard-heated hot water and the soap that was chopped into three pieces with an axe. By the way, they also washed their respective foot wraps cleanly.

With this little encouragement, the three of them not only felt much more relaxed, but also looked much more energetic - at least they didn't look like fugitive labor reform prisoners.

After each finished lunch with a large glass of vodka, Mesut handed over the task of cleaning the kerosene lamps found in the cave to Ihor, and handed over the task of cleaning the kitchen utensils and tableware to Wei Ran. Obviously, he was rigorous and serious.

Mesut is a German who likes to be clean.

Compared with those kerosene lamps covered with thick sludge and dust, these kitchen utensils and tableware are simple and trouble-free. After all, there are only three large, three small and six enamel jars in total, plus an enamel kettle, two pots and a few buckets, not to mention

These things themselves are not dirty at all.

If the work of the two of them is a little dirty, then Mesut's work is much cleaner. He is going to bake some white bread that has literally "not been eaten in years" and take the raw venison that everyone brought with them.

Bake the meat into jerky, which not only can be stored longer, but also reduces the weight, and can be eaten at any time as long as you are hungry.

Regardless of whether it was dirty or clean, Wei Ran didn't want to help with the work. After completing his work, he turned over the three sleighs and started the waxing work leisurely, while also thinking about it.

Depends on the next development of events.

The third day of the escape is now only November 14th when converted into a date. There is still quite a long time before Christmas.

This was indeed a long time, but Wei Ran didn't know that for Panin, who had been chasing behind them, the past three days had been even longer.

At this time, he had already left the river and entered the vast forest further south, but he had no idea that just behind him, less than a hundred meters to the north from where he left the river, was where the three of Wei Ran turned east yesterday.

Enter the key location in the forest on the north bank of the river.

He didn't even know that while he was busy searching for the missing prisoners of war and reindeer in the heavy snow, in the labor camp more than 40 kilometers away in a straight line behind him, Sher, who had received the news after the blizzard stopped, hurried back.

Father Gai has also assembled a hunting team from the labor camp to look for the missing four people.

Late that night, Mesut ate white bread that was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside as he wished, and the kerosene lamps were wiped clean by Ihor and filled with kerosene.

On one side of the bonfire, an emptied iron bucket was filled with sliced ​​venison, and the bottom of the bucket was covered with a layer of steaming charcoal.

Amid the undeniable aroma of meat, Mesut and Ihor almost devoured their dinner - especially the freshly baked white bread.

After having had enough wine and food, Mesut braved the heavy snowfall and arranged a circle of animal traps outside the entrance of the cave. Then he covered the wooden door at the entrance of the mine and blocked it with stones, and then lay down

On his sleigh.

With such a warm, strong and dry cave, coupled with the animal traps that have been arranged, there is no need to arrange for people to keep vigil at night. After the three of them worked together to add fodder and prepare drinking water for the reindeer, they each lay down on the animal bed.

On the leather sleigh, covered with a hastily sewn wolf skin blanket, he fell asleep.

It was a rare night of sleep until they woke up naturally. After their mental and physical strength had been completely restored, the three of them each put on thick warm clothes and applied some antifreeze grease on their faces before putting away the animal traps and traps arranged outside the door.

The canvas used to reinforce the snow wall was loaded onto the sleigh that was carried outside with the supplies to be taken away. Then the wooden door was locked and carefully buried with snow. The reindeer were shouted at and hurried towards the foot of the mountain with them.

The direction of escape was almost the opposite direction to the northeast.

After running in this direction for at least two hours, the three sleighs, led by Mesut, turned due east, spent more than half an hour crossing a frozen river, and entered the forest on the east bank of the river.

With the help of the compass, officially turn south.

Although they had gone in a big circle, the three of them had no complaints. Especially when the sky was bright and the snowflakes were no longer falling overhead, their three sledges had already crossed one of the upper tributaries of the Suhayatunguska River.

.

While the reindeer was pulling the sleigh, Wei Ran, who was wrapped in a wolfskin blanket, took out the map in his arms and made a rough estimate. At this time, although the straight-line distance between them and the labor camp was only about fifty or sixty kilometers,

There are not only dense forests but also mountains between the two.

In the east-west direction, they are almost in the middle of this vast forest between the Yenisey River and the Lower Tunguska River.

There is no doubt that even if the labor camps now send people to find them, the difficulty is no different than finding a needle in a haystack.

Perhaps also aware of this, Mesut, who was walking at the front, also slowed down, trying to keep the reindeer strong and able to walk a longer distance.

In this way, except for the person driving the car at the front, the people on the other two sleighs no longer have to hold on to the reins. These reindeer are far smarter than people think. This is a good weather with no wind or snow and no need to run.

, they will follow the sled tracks left by the car in front.

Putting away the map, Weiran once again took out the Kiev 30 camera that was originally tied to the handle of the kerosene gas lamp, and secretly took two photos of the two sledges in front.

Putting away the camera and retracting his hand into the warm wolfskin blanket, Wei Ran quietly took out the British army water bottle from the metal book, took a small sip of vodka to warm his body, and threw a strip of dried meat into his mouth.

It's extremely comfortable.

However, the good times did not last long. As the sky darkened again, just when they stopped temporarily and each lit a kerosene lamp and hung it on the handle at the rear of the sleigh, there was an incomparable sound from the dense forest.

Clear wolf howl!
To be continued...