"This,… is a German Stielhandgranate, a stalk hand grenade" Garrison pulled the cord on the handle and held it up for the men to see.
"Blimey! Get rid of the bloody thing!" Goniff brought his arms up to cover his face, clapped his hands on the top of his head and dropped into a ball on the ground.
"Hey, dummy, get up already. He wouldn't have a live one a those around." Casino laughed and reached down to pull the English pickpocket to his feet. "This is just a demonstra…"
Garrison casually tossed the device to the edge of the clearing where it exploded, sending a geyser of dirt and rocks into the air. All of the men dropped and brought their hands up to protect their face and eyes. When the debris stopped raining down around them they were on their feet again all of them intent on their leader.
"Jeeze! Are you nuts or something?!" Casino shouted. "What d'you think your doin?!"
Garrison raised an eyebrow and his mouth quirked up in a half smile. "I'm teaching you how to use German weapons, Casino." He reached into the large pouch at his waist and brought another one out and held it up for them to see. "When you arm it, it takes five seconds to go off. Hang on to it for…."
"Hang on to it?! I'm gettin' rid of the bloody thing as fast as I can!"
"And if you do that, you just give the guy you throw it at time to pick it up and toss it right back in your lap… Hold the stalk in your hand. Take the cap off…" Garrison pulled the base cap off and the cord on the weapon dropped into view, the men's attention was riveted on him now. "Arm the weapon by pulling this cord. Count the seconds down. Judge the distance to your target….and..." All four cons dropped to the ground again. "…throw." Garrison turned away from the blast to protect his eyes from the dirt that erupted from the edge of the clearing.
g
Their official brandy ration had been finished off in short order when they returned to the room they used as a dormitory after their first session of German weapons training with Garrison, this was a bottle Casino and Goniff had 'liberated' from the locked drawer of the Warden's desk. It seemed only fair…..
"These little training exercises a his are gonna get us killed. You know that, don't ya?"
"I kind a think the trainin's s'pose to keep that from happenin', Pappy."
"Not the way he goes about it!" Casino turned from the group's scout to the other two men and demanded, "What kind a nut job plays with a live grenade, huh?"
"Well you have to admit," Actor laughed and poured another measure in each of their glasses, "using live explosives certainly got our attention."