bushes. You can hardly see the shape of the ground. We can just hope for the best. Our task is important.
The jeep jumps around madly. I am hugging the radio with both arms and can’t hang on anywhere. I just manage to fold down the antenna. A big bump. We are tearing along a small wadi. I am thrown three feet into the air, but land back in my place, the radio still in my arms. Then another bump. Nobody has seen this wadi before. I feel a heavy blow, fly into the air, another hefty blow, and I fall backwards. In the air I collide with Dov. I land on my back about ten feet behind the jeep which is skidding to a halt. I stand up. My brain is not work-ing. Automatically I walk a few steps. Nothing is broken. My arms and legs are working. My head is buzzing. I walk up and down in a daze. My whole body is in pain. As if through a fog I see Dov, who is also staggering around. I see something red, bright red. Blood.
He is injured. I get a dressing and bandage his neck. He looks as though his throat has been cut. He curses me. The bandage is too tight. I remove it and start again. Only then do I notice that my face is bloody. A small cut on the nose, which I ignore. My leg hurts. I pull up my trouser leg. A long cut, but not very deep. Ovadia and Jerucham are unhurt.
"Shall we go?" shouts Ovadia.
"Let’s go!" answers Jerucham.
The jeep drives on, but gets stuck again after a few meters. This time it is Jerucham who is hurt. He bangs his head with full force against the machine gun. But there is no visible wound.
I notice that my shirt is torn. I take it off - a long, deep wound on my shoulder. I call Ovadia, who bandages my wound hastily. Slowly I am coming to myself. I remember that I had to do something. Where is the radio? It is lying in several pieces, some in the vehicle and others strewed around nearby. I reassemble it laboriously. "Hallo Nesher One, message for Nesher Two, over!" A tense moment. "Hello Nesher Three ..." It is working!
Suddenly Dov falls down. He is out cold. We sit him up and he comes to. Jerucham’s condition is worsening. He doesn’t talk any more. Just sits there with his head bowed.
Somehow we manage to get back in the jeep. I can’t sit down. The relevant part of my body has taken a beating. Each bump is hell. Still, we make it back onto the road. The other jeeps drive up. They have