Stan Wilson led his pals1 to a small shack2 on the waterfront and halted before a flimsy door of matting. Over the door and along the wall were Chinese characters painted in red. Below the characters was a faded poster showing a slender American girl in a riding habit and wearing a cocky little hat. The girl was holding high a glass of Coca Cola. Stan pointed3 to the familiar advertisement.
“Looks like home,” he said.
“It sure does,” Allison agreed. “Those confounded soft drink ads are plastered all over the world.”
“Here is where you sign up. I was down yesterday,” Stan said. “Still want to head for China?”
16 O’Malley eyed the dilapidated building, then his eyes moved up and down the street crowded with similar shacks4.
“Sure, an’ I’m struck dumb with admiration5 by the elegance6 o’ their headquarters, but if they have planes and petrol I’m joinin’ up.”
“They have both,” Stan assured him.
“Suppose we have a look inside,” Allison suggested.
Stan tapped on the wall beside the door. After a brief wait the matting swung aside and a brown face appeared. Two glittering, black eyes regarded them. The doorman was a Malay, smaller than the average. His lips were stained red from chewing betel nut and his skin was a rich red-brown.
“Come,” he beckoned7 softly.
Stan shoved O’Malley forward and Allison dropped in behind. They entered a small room lighted by yellow rays which filtered in through a screen covering a high window. The room was divided into two parts by a long grass curtain decorated with painted cherry trees and mountains. Against this backdrop sat a gaunt Chinese17 at a small desk. He wore a white jacket and a pair of billowing pants. His deep-set eyes peered out at the three fliers from unmoving lids. Slowly he lifted a bony hand to his chin and fingered its carved outline.
“Welcome,” he said in a soft voice. “Welcome and please sit down.”
The only place to sit was on a bench before the desk or upon one of the many cushions scattered8 about on the floor. The boys seated themselves on the bench.
“General, I have brought two men who hope to join the China Air Force. They are the men Commander Beakin reported upon, and the same men I told you about,” Stan explained.
“I am grateful. China is grateful. To have three aces9 from the Royal Air Corps10 is indeed a great gift.” The general’s voice was smooth and controlled, but his eyes were searching and watchful11.
“There was to be another man. He should be here,” Stan said.
The thin, yellow lips parted in a smile. “Mr. Munson asked to come one hour later. He informed me he had an engagement.”
18 “Sure, an’ I’m thinkin’ this Nick Munson is a bad one,” O’Malley broke in.
The general beamed upon O’Malley. “It is good to be of a suspicious nature. However, we have checked the credentials12 Mr. Munson presented and find them eminently13 satisfactory. He boasts overmuch, perhaps, but China has great need of instructors15 and pilots.”
“We’ll handle the spalpeen, General. We’ll break his neck if he gets funny,” O’Malley assured the officer.
“He may well break his own neck if he does the things he tells us are easy for him,” the general said without smiling.
“We are prepared to be watchful, that is what Lieutenant16 O’Malley means,” Allison explained.
“I believe as much, and so we will get on with the few details which must be settled. First, I must warn you that efforts are being made to prevent recruited pilots from reaching China.” He smiled and went on with hardly a pause. “You will be paid one thousand dollars a month in American money for your services. You will be under the orders19 of our renowned17 general, Chiang Kai-shek, as regular officers of the China Air Force. I have made out the papers you will need to present at the air base from which you will fly. Once you have reported you will not carry these papers on your person. Should you be forced down behind enemy lines or be in danger of capture, you will divest18 yourself of your uniform under which you will wear Chinese clothing. This is for your personal safety.”
“So the Japs won’t shoot us on sight?” O’Malley asked.
“They seldom shoot prisoners. They use them for bayonet drill, lashed19 to a post.” The general’s eyes were hard and clear.
O’Malley straightened aggressively and started to say something uncomplimentary about the Japs. Stan broke in.
“Thanks, General.”
O’Malley got to his feet and thrust out a huge hand. The general took it and gripped it.
“Don’t you worry, sor. ’Tis no Japs will be botherin’ yer supplies once we get up north,” O’Malley said gravely.
20 The general laughed. “You are most wonderful boys. I wish you good luck, and, as they say, happy landings.”
Stan hesitated, then faced the general. “Where did you learn to speak English, sir? Many of your phrases sound very familiar.”
“I come from San Francisco, where I was born. Like yourselves I am a foreigner helping20 a great people resist an aggressor. When the liberty of China is secure I shall return to San Francisco and my law practice.” There was a twinkle in the eyes of the general.
March Allison laughed his old, cynical21 laugh. “A Yank,” he said and snapped a smart salute22 which the general returned.
Out on the street a minute later he turned to Stan. “What is his name?”
“Tom Miller23,” Stan replied.
O’Malley stopped and looked at Stan. “What sort of a country have you got over there?” he demanded. “By the shades o’ St. Patrick, if that general is Tom Miller, I’m Chiang himself.”
“We have Irish policemen, Chinese lawyers21 and Hindu doctors,” Stan said without a smile.
“I’m going over there after the war,” O’Malley declared. “Just to have a good look.”
At that moment the Malay boy who had admitted them to the presence of General Miller appeared.
“Come, please,” he said.
They followed him toward the waterfront. At a small fruit stand they met a short Chinese youth dressed in white duck pants and wearing a flat, straw hat. Their Malay guide bobbed his head and spoke24 in Chinese to the youth. The youth smiled at the three fliers, revealing two rows of even white teeth.
“Welcome to the China Air Arm. I am Tom Koo, flight officer.”
“I am Stan Wilson. This is Bill O’Malley and March Allison,” Stan said. “Allison will command our flight.”
O’Malley was looking closely at the soldier. Tom Koo was dressed the same as a thousand other Chinese they had passed on the waterfront. Suddenly he asked, “You come from San Francisco?”
22 “Yes,” Tom Koo answered, “but how did you know?”
“I’m an expert,” O’Malley answered. “Anyway, no man could fail to recognize a Yank.” O’Malley grinned broadly and Tom Koo looked greatly pleased. He turned to Stan.
“You, too, are an American?”
“I sure am, and we’ll show up the Irish and the British, Tom,” Stan said very seriously.
The Chinese flier laughed softly. “That will be a very difficult thing to do. You see, I am informed of the records of Majors Allison and O’Malley.”
“It’s action we crave25, Spitfires and Japs,” O’Malley broke in.
“Japs you shall have in large numbers,” Tom said. “And spies and crooks26 and saboteurs to add to the excitement.” The smile faded from his face and he looked grim. “But first you have a boat ride which will take you to an island where we have a flying field. It is best that you do not return to your barracks. Your bags will be forwarded to you.”
23 The three walked beside Tom Koo. About them milled shouting and laughing Tamil and Hindu traders, expounding27 the value of their wares28. In the midst of such a group stood a fat Chinese. His shrill29 voice rose above the tumult30 and the shouting. Tom shoved his way toward the fat boatman.
The boatman did not seem to see them, but others turned to look. The fliers wore street clothing and were taken for tourists who would have money to spend.
“I will go on. You will speak to the boatman. Say you wish to take a boat ride.” Tom Koo moved away after giving these instructions in a low voice.
Stan was closest to the burly Chinese. “We want to see things. Have you a boat for hire?”
The boatman turned and his black eyes fixed31 upon the three fliers. His round, fat stomach bulged32 above the sash he had knotted around it. His head was shaven and smooth and his face was wrinkled into a mass of genial33 furrows34. He was almost an exact copy of the little statues of the god of happiness they had seen displayed in the24 shop windows. He bowed stiffly and placed a huge straw hat on his head.
“You payee—big?” he asked.
“Sure,” Allison said. “American silver dollars.”
The fat man looked around, then headed toward a junk moored35 at the wharf36. The boat was high-pooped, square-sterned, made of carved wood, and staring popeyes were painted on the bows. On its deck was mounted a gun of a model which had been in use a hundred years before. Stepping on board, the three fliers found deck chairs under a canvass37 awning38.
Seating themselves, they watched the Chinese boatman maneuver39 his craft into the bay by using a long pole. The junk slowly proceeded away from the wharf, clearing the hundreds of odd-looking craft moored there.
A breeze fanned lazily over them and the boatman hoisted40 a huge sail. The junk lumbered41 slowly out across the oily waters. Stan noticed that the man kept watching the shore. He wondered what the fat boatman25 was looking for. Junks and other craft were coming in or putting out, and a motorboat darted42 out from among the moored vessels43. The boatman grunted44 and shrugged45 his shoulders as he gave his attention to his sail.
After that nothing happened in the bay, so Stan gave his attention to the shore line falling away astern and to wondering if the American instructor14 would get out to the island.
A number of small islands loomed46 ahead. The junk skirted the green patches so closely that they could see the natives going about their daily lives. The details of their tiny, palm-leaf shacks, standing47 on stilts48 over the water, could be seen clearly.
The day was hot and steamy and the tide was running low. The receding49 waters left vast, flat banks of slimy, stinking50 mud, alive with crawling creatures chased by long-legged birds. Along the bank myriad51 mangrove52 trees hugged the shore, their naked, crooked53 roots exposed.
“Reminds me of a basket o’ slimy, wrigglin’26 snakes,” O’Malley observed sourly.
“It all smells very rare,” Allison said with a grin.
Stan was not watching the shore ahead, he was looking at a motorboat which had appeared off one of the small islands. It was the same boat that had put out into the bay at Singapore. It was cutting toward them, sending a white wedge of water foaming54 back from its prow55. The Chinese boatman saw it and burst into a high-pitched chatter56.
“Looks like we might have our first taste of the stuff Tom Koo spoke about,” Stan said.
O’Malley watched the oncoming boat with interest. “Sure, an’ we might have a bit of excitement,” he said eagerly.
“We may have to make a detour57 to Rangoon,” Allison said softly.
“Our boatman is scared stiff,” Stan observed.
“If we had our service pistols we might have some fun,” Allison said. “But all we have are our fists.”
O’Malley grinned wolfishly. He had gotten up and was leaning over the rail. The27 motorboat circled the junk and came alongside. It was filled with little brown men armed with long poles. A chunky fellow stood in the prow. He shouted up to the boatman.
“Yer delayin’ the parade!” O’Malley shouted down at the man in the prow. “Get that raft out of our way!”
The leader of the crew looked up at O’Malley, then turned and began chattering58 to his crew. At that moment a white man appeared from a little cabin in the rear of the motorboat. Stan and Allison got up quickly. The man was Nick Munson. He stood looking up at O’Malley.
“I missed the junk and set out to overtake you. I’ll be aboard in a minute,” he called to them. Ducking back into the cabin he came out with a bag.
“Well, jest imagine that,” O’Malley drawled.
Stan looked over at O’Malley and suddenly his eyes narrowed. O’Malley was sliding a service pistol into the ample pocket of his trousers. He moved close to the Irishman.
28 “How come you filched59 a gun?” he asked. “We were to turn them in before we left London.”
“I’m that absent-minded,” O’Malley said with a grin. “I got so used to the feel o’ Nora snugglin’ in me pocket that I jest couldn’t part with her.”
Allison looked at Stan and there was a glint in his eyes. “Sometimes that Irisher shows a glimmer60 of brilliance,” he said.
Nick Munson clambered aboard the junk. Dropping his bag, he wiped his forehead and sank into a chair. He spoke two words to the boatman in Chinese.
“I reckon you learned to speak Chinese in a United States plane factory,” Stan said, and his eyes locked with Munson’s.
“I picked up a few words along the waterfront in Frisco,” Nick answered.
The motorboat roared away and the junk moved on its slow course around a small island beyond which they could see a larger expanse of land. Stan sat back and watched Nick Munson who was giving O’Malley a big line about dive bombers61. O’Malley was taking29 it all in and grinning amiably63 at Munson.
Presently they sighted low buildings on the island, then the gray and silver forms of several transport and bomber62 planes rose into view. As the junk moved closer they saw that the island was humming with activity. Malays and Chinese ran about and many white men mingled64 with them.
“Hudsons and P–40’s,” Stan said.
“Fine stuff,” O’Malley chimed in. “They got full armament.”
“China, here we come!” Stan shouted.
Allison leaned back and there was a sardonic65 look on his face. He puffed66 out his cheeks as he watched.
“Not bad, old man, not bad at all.”
Nick Munson stood up, his eyes moving swiftly over the scene, taking in all the details. His lips curved into a smile.
“Ideal spot for an attack, no cover, nothing.” He spoke slowly as though pleased with the idea.
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1
pals
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| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
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shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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shacks
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| n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 ) | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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aces
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| abbr.adjustable convertible-rate equity security (units) 可调节的股本证券兑换率；aircraft ejection seat 飞机弹射座椅；automatic control evaluation simulator 自动控制评估模拟器n.擅长…的人( ace的名词复数 )；精于…的人；（ 网球 ）（对手接不到发球的）发球得分；爱司球 | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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credentials
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| n.证明，资格，证明书，证件 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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instructors
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| 指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 ) | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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divest
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| v.脱去，剥除 | |
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lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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23
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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24
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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25
crave
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| vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求 | |
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crooks
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| n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 ) | |
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expounding
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的现在分词 ) | |
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28
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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29
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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bulged
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| 凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物） | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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furrows
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| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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37
canvass
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| v.招徕顾客，兜售；游说；详细检查，讨论 | |
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38
awning
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| n.遮阳篷；雨篷 | |
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39
maneuver
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| n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略 | |
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40
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
lumbered
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| 砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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42
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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43
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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44
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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45
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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46
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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47
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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48
stilts
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| n.（支撑建筑物高出地面或水面的）桩子，支柱( stilt的名词复数 )；高跷 | |
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49
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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50
stinking
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| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
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51
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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52
mangrove
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| n.(植物)红树，红树林 | |
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53
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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54
foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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55
prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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56
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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57
detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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59
filched
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| v.偷（尤指小的或不贵重的物品）( filch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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61
bombers
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| n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟 | |
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62
bomber
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| n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者 | |
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63
amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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64
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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65
sardonic
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| adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的 | |
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puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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