orchard dodging between trees, Gus racing after her giving off cries of passion concerning her Alik (sexual organs). "Don't run from Uncle Gus, my little pigeon." He caught her tunic with one square- fingered hand and she turned and slugged him square in the face, crossing his eyes.
"She loves me," he cried and began tearing the clothes off her.
Langer and the others merely stared in amazement. Teacher started to stop him but Carl said to leave him alone. "When he's in heat he just might turn his attention to you. Besides, I'm not sure if she can't whip him in a fair fight."
Tina Yurenova defended herself and her honor from the assault of this human tank. She kicked, clawed and fought, trying to knee him in the balls, but all to no avail, and soon all that was left on her were her boots. Gus was on her, the two floundering in the trees and grass, resembling two pink pigmy dinosaurs. They grappled, grunting and squealing, Tina Yurenova threatening to feed Gus his balls when Russia won the war. She kicked and cursed. The bushes shook until Langer thought the roots were going to be torn up. Suddenly the screams and curses stopped and gurgles of pleasure began to emerge. He caught a quick glimpse of fleshy white thighs over black boots, heels drumming the ground. A feminine giggle seemed out of place coming from the mouth of this woman. Her giggles were punctuated by roars of laughter from Gus as he demonstrated the merits of the German helmet. Soon both were completely involved, oblivious to anything else. Twice Gus tried to get up, only to be dragged back into the bushes. After what seemed to be hours, the two emerged stark naked, holding hands like teenagers, Yurenova's head on Gus's shoulder. Looking up she saw the rest of the crew watching her and ran back into the bushes to dress. She tossed Gus his uniform. While he was getting his trousers back on, Gus told Langer she promised to get him a job in a tractor factory in Ryazhsk where her brother was a foreman if he would desert. "Do you think I should?"
Teacher merely looked at him as if he were the personification of every base instinct known to mankind. "No," said Langer, "I don't think it's a love match that would endure. Now get your ass into town and find me some paint or I'll have your guts for suspenders." Gus looked back at his lady love. "Don't worry," Carl said. "We'll let them go. Now move it!"
Gus complied unwillingly and trotted off down the road. As the women disappeared from sight, Teacher asked, "What do you think they'll do to her for collaborating with the enemy?"
Langer chuckled. "They'll probably give her the Order of Lenin. I'm sure by now she's told the others she sacrificed her honor to save them from the same horrible fate and that she only pretended to enjoy it for their sakes."
Teacher lit up his pipe, thought for a moment and then dismissed them from his mind with one statement. "You're probably right, but sometimes Gus worries me."
Three hours later, Gus was back, riding a motorcycle with a side car and inside enough paint to do three tanks.
"Where did you get the motorcycle?" Then, imitating Heidemann's response, "Never mind, I don't want to know. Just leave it in the trees."
The rest of the day was spent turning their new Tiger I into a different tank, which was fortunate because shortly after they had finished and the paint barely dry, two SD headhunters came by in a Kübelwagen asking if they had seen a Tiger with Totenkopf markings on it go by lately, being driven by a maniac who said he was with the 7th Panzer Division. Gus had an angelic expression on his face as he told them he had seen one earlier and pointed to a distant ridge to the north. The headhunters thanked him and wheeled their vehicle around, bounced off and headed in the direction indicated.
Langer stood confused for a moment and then turned to Teacher after checking his map. "Isn't that the ridge we bypassed yesterday where the Russian antitank guns were dug