Page 201 - LEIBY

Chapter 26 201

Chapter 26

Leiby inched forward, crawling on his stomach, until he reached
a small grove of oak trees close to the Polish-Slovakian border.
He climbed up to the top of one of the trees and with the
help of a pair of binoculars, scrutinized the Polish guard booth
some distance away. He could make out the guards and their
bloodhounds quite clearly and looking through the binoculars,
he ascertained that the security at the border was tight, almost
impenetrable for unauthorized people.

Detachments of local policemen, backed up by regular
reinforcements from the Russian military, patrolled the no-
mans-land zone around the border and made the nearby
settlements dangerous for people without the necessary papers
as well.

Leiby had no legal ID documents at all and crossing the
border would require an extra level of caution and cunning.
As he could see, the Russians guarded their borders zealously,
and as they took over and occupied more and more territories,
their defense of the borders became more intense, making it
extremely difficult to cross without the proper authorization.

High up in his tree, he noticed a sudden flurry of activity
around the guard booth. Squinting to see more clearly, he