About a month after Christmas, Mainwaring received a call from Major Bailey. Eager to share the news, he called Wilson into the office at the Bank.

'Was it the Bluetts' account, Sir?' Wilson asked, reflecting that he'd really, practically finished it by now…there was no need to keep chasing him for it…

'Oh no, I can't be looking into that now,' Mainwaring shook his head and sat further forward in his chair. 'I wanted to speak to you about taking the Men down to Devon!'

'Devon?' Wilson looked puzzled. 'Why?'

'Don't you remember? I told you about my meeting with Major Bailey weeks ago!'

'Oh, the Marine chap, yes…' That didn't really make it any clearer.

'Well, he's arranged some training for us!'

'In Devon? Won't it be rather cold at this time of year?'

'Quite possibly. Survival Exercise, Wilson!' Mainwaring replied enthusiastically, only for the look in his eyes to fade somewhat as he took in the rather less than impressed expression on Wilson's face.

'Survival Exercise?'

'Yes!' He wasn't going to let this reaction dampen his spirit. 'What better way to train the Men? Look at France – Resistance fighters hiding out, hitting the enemy! Living off the land too, I shouldn't wonder – that's just the sort of warfare we need to be prepared for!'

'We're not going to be eating any hedgehogs, I hope?'

'Oh, no…no hedgehogs on Dartmoor,' Mainwaring asserted breezily. 'But this is Marine training! If our chaps can manage this, they can take anything Hitler can throw at us!'

Wilson raised his eyebrows at that. 'Aren't most of them, you know, a little too old, for that sort of thing?'

'Nonsense! We've got a determined bunch here, Wilson! Now, I'll get these orders typed up, and I'll brief them on Parade tonight – we'll soon show those Navy chaps what we're made of!'

'…and so I will expect all of you at the train station next Friday morning at…eight hours..?' Mainwaring announced later that evening.

'Eight hundred hours,' Wilson finished, a little smile lighting his face for the first time since this whole ghastly business had been mentioned.

'Eight hundred hours,' Mainwaring repeated, pretending he hadn't said anything. 'So…'

'Permission to speak, Sir!' Jones had been bubbling at Mainwaring's announcement, and could clearly contain himself no longer. 'I can't wait, Sir! I'm ready to take on anything they throw at me, and I'll be right there, ready with the old upward thrust, Sir, 'cause they don't like it, you know, they do not like it…'

'He never said we'd be fighting 'em!' Frazer cut him off sharply. 'More moving across country, hiding out, not bringing 'em doon on us!'

'Like when the wagon train crosses the hostile Indian territory – just like that, isn't it, Mr Mainwaring?' Pike asked then, clearly imagining himself in some sort of shootout in the old West, causing a familiar look of exasperation to cross the Captain's face.

'No, it isn't, you stupid boy!' Was he really getting married before too long?

'Well, it could be! They could be out there watching us and then suddenly rush in, out of nowhere, just like that!'

'There won't be too much rushing, Sir, will there?' Godfrey asked then. 'I shall do my best, of course…'

'Don't you worry about that, Mr Godfrey,' Jones said then, seeking to reassure him. 'You stay with me, and we'll get there no problem, just you see!'

'Aye, and who's looking after you?' Frazer asked then, turning to Jones.

''Ere, I can look after myself, Jock!' Jones replied, offended at the implication.

'All right, all right, Jones, Frazer, settle down!' Mainwaring interrupted them sharply. 'We will all take responsibility for ourselves and one another. Now, I will give you further instructions when we reach Okehampton camp, but in the meantime Sergeant, take the Men through those slides on Fieldcraft there…must be well prepared.'

It was a long journey down, and late when the Platoon arrived. They were taken to the camp, and settled there for the night before being met by Major Bailey the following morning.

'Now this exercise will be in two phases,' Major Bailey explained. 'Today is all about working together to reach your Objective here,' he tapped it on the map 'while keeping an eye out for my men who will be seeking to prevent you from consolidating your position. You will then set up your camp overnight, and then you will break off into two separate sections as if you have lost the rest of your Platoon in action, and each section Commander is responsible for getting his men back to this point here.' He indicated the camp as shown.

Mainwaring had already made up his mind to be first back as Section Commander, when Major Bailey continued.

'After some discussion with my Staff, we have decided to nominate the Section Commanders here today, and assign their men accordingly.' He looked down at his notes, and read out the names of those in one section, 'to be led by Private Frazer', and then the second, 'to be led by Private Pike.'

Frazer couldn't have looked prouder at the rare opportunity to take charge. 'Aye, I'll no let you down, Sir!' He ran a critical eye over the men under his command – they'd better all pull their weight – he wasn't carrying any passengers!

Mainwaring, however, was far from happy with the situation. Not only was he not in charge, Major Bailey had somehow seen fit to put that stupid boy in charge of him, and Pike just looked unsure.

'Sir, I feel I should point out that I am not only this boy's superior in the Platoon, I am also his Manager at the Bank!' Mainwaring's face was quite red as he attempted to make Major Bailey realise his mistake.

'I'm aware of that, Captain. You should all be aware though, of the speed at which things can change on the ground – it's quite possible that junior Soldiers could be required to command. Now, are there any questions?'

Dartmoor in February is a cold, dreary place, and by the time the Platoon reached the old empty barn that was to be their camp that night, it had not been improved by blank ammunition being fired over their heads, bogs and having to devise methods of transporting Godfrey up the formidable Tors. As if that wasn't enough, tomorrow the real tests would begin.

'An excellent effort today, men,' Mainwaring looked exhausted himself. 'Keep that up, and tomorrow's navigation exercise should see us all back on camp before we know it! Frazer, you have your maps to hand…you too, Pike?'

'Aye, I have that Sir!' Frazer had been checking them compulsively throughout the day, at any spare moment. This was his opportunity to impress on the Captain that he was the clear choice should he ever decide to expand his small team of NCOs, and he wasn't leaving anything to chance.

'What about you, Pike?' Mainwaring repeated his question, still sceptical at the idea of him leading anyone.

'Oh, yes, I've got them!' He'd had some time to think about it since the Major had announced it, and was quite looking forward to it now. 'And don't forget I got Elementary Tracking in the Scouts, so I know all about reading maps, don't I, Uncle Arthur?'

'Yes, yes, you did, Frank. Very well done.' Wilson really wanted nothing more than for all this to be over as soon as possible. Getting cold and wet scrambling over the wild moor was not his idea of an enjoyable weekend in the slightest…

'You know, I came down to Torquay once with my sisters,' a weary Godfrey said from the corner. 'There was a little tea shop on the sea front…it did the most wonderful Cream Teas…'

'Oh, I could just eat a Cream Tea now, Mr Godfrey!' Jones replied enthusiastically. 'I don't suppose they do them now…I remember this one time in India though, when we was Guard of Honour for the wedding of a young Second Lieutenant, and him and his young lady had all these buns sent over from England, jam, cream, an' everything, and we all had some, only they'd got a bit wet 'cause of the Monsoon, you know, gets very wet in the Monsoon it does, but they was some of the best I ever had…you don't get 'em like that any more…'

'No, Jonesy, you certainly don't. I was only thinking just now about a lovely place I knew in Paignton…' Wilson added, attempting to find some vaguely comfortable position on the rough floor.

'That's very true,' Mainwaring agreed. 'I didn't know you'd been down here before, Wilson?'

'Oh, yes, long time ago now Sir…'

'Yeah, you were living down here when you met Mum, weren't you? Why don't they ever ask us down to visit?'

There was a somewhat awkward silence at that, broken by Mainwaring.

'And what about you, Frazer? All these ports – you must have been here with the Navy?'

'I have indeed, Sir, I have indeed.' Frazer paused, looking around the room. 'I mind the time I was here once before, must be near on thirty years ago, with an old shipmate of mine…'

Suspecting what was to come, Mainwaring was starting to regret asking.

'One night, Jack had asked us all up to drink with him in a wee pub he knew just on the edge of the Moor, when we were alongside…'

'Alongside what, Mr Frazer?' Pike asked then.

Looking somewhat put out at being interrupted, Frazer explained tetchily. 'Alongside – means in port! Well, at the end of the evening, we had tae make our way back to the farm where we were stayin', and it was a dark, black night we walked oot into…aye, a night very like this. Now, Jack, he knew the Moors like the back o' his hand, but in all his years, he'd never seen the sight that met oor eyes as we went to cross that last bridge…there was a howl, and standing there was a hound!' He stopped again, looking for a reaction. 'That hound, he said, was not of this Earth! We tore across the bridge, running, running from the hound, and daren't stop until we'd locked and bolted the door behind us – the cries of the beast ringing in oor ears…'

'What happened then, Mr Frazer?' He'd got his attention, at least.

'Well son, the morning came, but I'll never forget that howl…not of this Earth, I tell ye, not of this Earth!'

'Stop rolling your eyes, Frazer, and get some sleep.' Mainwaring had lost patience by now. 'Long day in the morning.'

'What about that hound, Uncle?' Pike asked Wilson just as he had managed to drop off.

'Really, Frank, there's no hound. Now, do go to sleep.'

Pike shuffled slightly, still somewhat concerned, but soon found his thoughts wandering to his 'beautiful girl'. It had been a long time since he'd seen her, and he both missed her dreadfully and was still rather worried by what had happened last time – particularly considering how much he wanted it to happen again. What was she doing now? He daydreamed about her almost constantly in the back of his mind, even today, and that made it rather more bearable, imagining how impressed she'd be when he told her about it, and wishing she was there.

The next morning, the two groups set off early, both keen to get back to camp. To begin with, Pike's leadership of the Section was going fairly well, until they came to a stop, certain that they had been there before.

'Look, why don't you give me the map, boy!' Mainwaring said, exasperated.

'No Sir, it's my map – Major Bailey said so!' A sulky look crossed Pike's face. It was a look Mainwaring knew all too well.

'Frank, come on now, just let Mr Mainwaring check.' Wilson attempted to calm the situation.

'But I know where we went wrong, Uncle!' Pike wasn't about to give up that easily. 'I can find it again, look!' He pointed at something on the map. 'If we go up there, along that river, we'll find this little village, and can get back from there!'

Wilson glanced at his superior officer, who was clearly struggling with the idea of someone else making decisions.

'But if we just…look, take the bearing and go this way!'

'No, Sir! We should go this way!' He was on the verge of stamping his foot again. 'And I'm in charge, the Major said so!'

Mainwaring scowled. He took the point, even if he didn't agree with it.

'Very well. We're following you.'

Suddenly anxious about his decision, Pike hung back to ask Wilson about it.

'But if I'm in charge, we should go that way, shouldn't we?'

'Frank, don't worry about it now. We'll soon find out, and we're here to help if you need us, all right?'

The small party continued over the tufty, windswept grass for nearly an hour, when Sponge caught sight of a camp up ahead.

'Look up there, Pikey, over by those trees – they're up there!'

'It's an ambush!' Pike said, wondering what to do next. If they carried on, they'd all get captured, but maybe if the rest of them hid out in another patch of scrubby trees, he could pick up the stream that was only a couple of miles away now?

'Well then,' Mainwaring asked, folding his arms. 'What do you suggest we do now?'

'Umm…' Pike looked to Wilson for help, but couldn't find any. This was something he had to work out himself.

'Well, see those trees there, you hide in them, and I'll check the route goes down to the stream!'

'You're going to go off on your own?' Mainwaring asked, at about the same time as Wilson said, 'Do you really think that's wise?'

On another day, Pike probably would have listened to them. On another day, it would have been easy to let Mr Mainwaring have his way and get them out of it, but that day, he wanted to prove himself, and this was the one time when he didn't have do what he was told.

'Yes Sir! It's not far, look!'

'But you can't just wander off!' Wilson didn't even want to imagine what Mavis would say if she knew he'd let him roam this bog infested barren wasteland on his own.

'I'm not going to – I'm just going to the stream, and you've got to stay here!'

'Pike! That's enough of that – you listen to what you're being told!'

'But it's my plan, Sir!' He was getting sulky again. 'And if we all go, we'll get captured, so there!'

'Don't you speak to me like that, boy!'

'I'm in charge, though! And I'm not a kid!' The effect was slightly spoiled when Pike did actually stamp his foot this time, but the words rang true. No – he wasn't. The older men both knew of his plans for that ring he'd been saving for, and he would have been out there by now, serving and possibly dying for his country.

'All right then.' Mainwaring subsided. 'But come back as soon as you find it, do you understand?'

'Yes Frank, do hurry back,' Wilson added, clearly concerned.

'Yes Sir!' The enthusiasm was back in his eyes. 'Don't worry; I'll be just like Gary Cooper!'

With that, Pike was gone, map in hand, leaving the rest of the men amongst the trees. He followed the bearing he'd set, and got quite caught up in the story in his head, pretending he was a Pioneer in the old West. He was so focused on the map though, that he didn't notice the creeping mist thicken into a dense fog.

As he realised, panic started to take hold. He was alone, and cold, and the fog made it impossible to tell exactly where he'd come from. He'd get hungry soon too, and what if they never found him? He'd never go home again, never see his Mum or Uncle again…never see Sylvia…That didn't help, and although the fog cleared soon after, he came out of it frightened and confused. Now what would he do?

There was some hope though, as Pike found himself stepping out on to a road. A road had to go somewhere – maybe there was a village around here that would have a phone box, and he could at least call his Mum to tell her he wasn't stuck in a bog again, and then maybe she'd be able to find out the number for the Camp, and they'd come and get him…

A mile or so down the road, things looked even better. Some was parked up there – a truck, with someone leaning over the engine. It looked Military, so it was probably the Marines, out looking for him already. He'd have failed the exercise, of course, but right now, Pike didn't really care.

'Hello!' he called, running up to it. 'I'm here!'

He stopped suddenly as the person in front of him turned round, surprise evident in her features.

'Sylvia? What are you doing here?'