CHAPTER VIII

“We’d better hunt up Motu and tell him about these men lookin’ for him,” says I.

“I sort of calc’late from Motu’s actions t-t-that we wouldn’t be f-fetchin’ him any news,” says Mark.

“He may know,” says I, “that he’s bein’ hunted for, but maybe he don’t know the hunters are so warm.”

“They are tolerable hot,” says Mark, with an uncomfortable grin. “But I guess so long as Motu wants to mind his own b-business pretty strict, we’d better do the same. He knows what he’s up to.”

We got back to the hotel in a little while, but nobody else was there. We looked for Motu all over, but couldn’t find hide or hair of him. I guess as soon as we got out of sight he went and hid up. But it wasn’t long before Binney and Plunk came rampaging in, panting like a couple of grampuses, with their eyes bulging¹ out and talk just spilling out of them in bunches. They both wanted to talk, and neither of them could manage it.

“Back there—” says Binney, and stopped to pant.

“We ’most bumped into—” says Plunk, and he stopped to puff².

“Lucky we was goin’ cautious—” Binney says.

“Or,” says Plunk, “nobody knows what—”

“They’d ’a’ got us sure,” says Binney.

“S-sit down,” says Mark, “and breathe a couple of breaths and drink a dipper of water. Maybe by that time you’ll both ’light. You’re f-floppin’ around like scared chickens.”

“You’d be a scared chicken if you’d bumped into what we did,” snapped Plunk.

“Yes, sir,” says Binney. “Why, before we suspected a thing we almost stepped on ’em.”

“On who?” says Mark.

“Two of them Japanese,” says Plunk.

“Where?” says I, getting pretty excited myself.

“Sittin’ down back from the road about a mile up,” says Binney.

That made it sure it was two more Japanese. Our two couldn’t have gotten where Plunk and Binney saw theirs.

“Then there’s four of ’em,” says I.

“Two, I said,” Binney snapped.

Mark grinned, but there wasn’t much enjoyment³ in that grin. “Don’t calc’late,” says he, “that you fellows have got any monopoly on seein’ Japanese. We saw a c-c-couple ourselves.”

“What?” Plunked almost yelled.

“Back there,” says I, jerking my thumb over my finger.

“Motu’s friends?” Binney asked.

“If they be,” says I, “he don’t appear anxious to see ’em, does he?”

“Are they why he’s so partic’lar about keepin’ out of sight?” Plunk asked.

“That’s our guess,” says Mark.

“You think they’re after him?”

“Looks that way.”

“Huh!” says Plunk. “Looks like a lot of trouble to be takin’ for one boy. S’pose he’s run away from home?”

“He’s run quite a ways,” says Mark, as sarcastic⁴ as could be, “and he must ’a’ s-s-swum the Pacific Ocean on the way. This ain’t any runnin’-away-from-home scrape. It’s s-s-somethin’ serious, I’ll bet.”

“And I’ll bet,” says Binney, “that I wisht I was back in the State of Michigan.”

“If there’s four Jap men lookin’ for one Jap boy, and they’re as close to him as these men are to Motu, it looks a heap like they’d get him,” says Plunk.

“I ain’t layin’ any claim to him,” says Binney. “I dun’no’ what I’d do with a Japanese boy if I had him. Them men can have him, for all of me.”

“I guess you said that without doin’ m-m-much thinkin’,” says Mark. “Just figger if you was in Japan and four Americans that had it in for you was t-tryin’ to catch you. S’pose you didn’t have any friends and didn’t know the country. Wouldn’t you be just a mite⁵ glad if somebody was to give you some help? Eh? Wouldn’t you sort of l-l-look at it as though it was somebody’s duty to help you? Tell me that. What kind of a country would you think Japan was if nobody l-lifted a finger to help you? Pretty rotten one, I guess. Well, that’s how Motu’s fixed⁶ here. He’s in a strange country, bein’ chased by men that’ll do somethin’ unpleasant to him, There ain’t n-n-nobody to help him but us. It strikes me we can’t get out of it if we wanted to, and, for one, I d-don’t want to. ’Tain’t a United States way of doin’ things. I’m just tellin’ you that if those men get Motu it’ll be b-because I can’t help it. I’m goin’ to stick to him just like I’d stick to one of you. Then he can’t go back home and say the United States is no good, and that American boys can’t be depended on. Now what about it? If you f-feel like pullin’ out, go ahead. But I’m goin’ to stay, and I’m goin’ to enlist⁷ with Motu.”

Nobody said anything for a minute, then Plunk got up and sort of stretched and felt of his neck and blushed and says, “That goes for me, too. I’m with Mark.”

“Me, too,” says I.

Binney looked pretty embarrassed. “I guess I didn’t think much before I spoke,” says he. “I didn’t have it clear in my head. I’m with you, and Motu can depend on me just as much as on the rest of you.”

“B-bully for you,” says Mark.

Well, sir, something happened then that clean took the wind out of my sails. It was pretty embarrassing, but, come to look at it now when everything’s over, it was sort of pleasing and satisfying, too. It was Motu. He stepped right into the middle of us, and held out his hand to Mark.

“I heard,” says he, his eyes shining, but his face was calm and dignified⁸ and without any more expression to it than a buckwheat griddle-cake. I expect it’s the Japanese way not to let your face give away what you’re thinking about. “What you said to the others I heard, and what they said in reply to you. It was as Samurai boy should speak, first for the honor of his country, then for his own honor. You, Mark Tidd, are Samurai,” he turned to the rest of us, with hands stretched out, “and you, too, are Samurai. This story shall be told in my land, not this year alone, but for years to come. It shall be told how four American boys came to the aid of”—he paused, checked himself, then went on—“came to the aid of Motu. It shall be made into a song.”

“That’s all r-right,” says Mark, flustered⁹ as could be. “Don’t mention it. You’d be doin’ the s-same for us if we was in your place.”

“I hope I should,” says Motu. “It makes me proud to think I might act as you have acted.”

“Well, then, let it go at that.”

“There is a danger,” says Motu; “it is my danger, but you offer to share it. For myself I would not accept, but for—for another reason I do accept. I can tell you nothing. I cannot tell you why there is a danger. But I can tell you that there will be no dishonor to you in giving me help. I have done nothing wrong.”

“Oh,” says Mark, “you didn’t need to say that. We knew it already.”

Motu shot him a look out of his black eyes that was good to see.

“Do you calc’late the four we saw are all there are after you, or can we expect more of them to come moseying along?”

“I think the four are all. There may be one other.” He said that as if the one other was a different kind of person from the four, and you can take it from me as solemn fact, he was. Different! Well, I should say so. As different as a darning-needle is to a crowbar or a weasel to a hippopotamus¹⁰. “There may be one other, but he will think, not act,” says Motu. “Him we should dread¹¹.”

“One of those thinkers, is he?” says I. “Well, I guess we can match him. Huh! Wait till Mark Tidd gets to playin’ checkers with your thinker, and we’ll see.”

“Ah,” says Motu, looking at Mark again, this time like he was sort of weighing him and measuring him. “The one who will come has a cunning brain. Many plots he has made.”

“If he goes makin’ any plots around here he’ll think he bumped into the side of a house—and a brick house, at that. Why, Mark Tidd—”

“That’s p-p-plenty from you, Tallow,” says Mark, sort of cross, but I could tell by his eyes that he was pleased just the same. He likes compliments, but the ones that tickle¹² him most are the ones about his head. Mark Tidd would rather think up a great scheme than win the hundred-yard dash in the Olympic games—and I never could understand it. I guess it’s because I’m stronger in the legs than inside the skull¹³.

“The Man Who Will Come,” says Binney, pronouncing it impressive, as if every word commenced with a capital letter. The way he said it made you sort of worry. The Man Who Will Come! Sounded like a threat. It was a sort of name. As a matter of fact it got to be a name, and we never called him anything else, even when we knew what his real name was.

“He’ll make five,” says Plunk. “That’s one apiece. We ain’t outnumbered, anyhow.”

“They’re men and we’re boys,” says Binney.

Mark was looking at Motu and thinking hard. I could tell that because he was pinching his ear.

“Motu,” says he, “I want to a-a-ask you just one question. It will make a d-difference how we act.”

“Ask,” says Motu.

“Will those men h-hurt you? I mean will they—injure you?”

“No,” says Motu. “They will seize me and hold me. I must not be seized and held. I must be free.”

“All right,” says Mark.

I heard Binney muttering to himself and listened. He was saying over and over again, “The Man Who Will Come.... The Man Who Will Come....”

“Say,” says I, “quit it. You give me the shivers.”

“If you ’ain’t got enough shivers,” says he, “I’ve got a stock I can turn over to you without missin’ ’em.”

“Motu,” says Mark, “do you calc’late they know w-w-where you are? Do you think they know you’re here?”

“I do not believe they have found me yet. They have traced me to this lake, but they do not know I am still here. It was The Man Who Will Come who traced me. They will find me.”

“But it gives us a little time to p-plan,” says Mark. “If we can keep you hid for a couple of d-d-days it’ll make a heap of difference.”

“What good’ll a couple of days do? I wish they’d get at it and have it over with,” says Plunk.

“There’s goin’ to be a siege,” says Mark, “and we got to see that our castle’s p-provisioned, and the moat full of water and the arms and armor in shape. They’ll come with batterin’-rams and catapaults to knock breaches¹⁴ in our walls, and we’ve got to heat p-pitch to pour down on their heads. Hain’t you ever read about any battles and sieges of castles like Froissart tells about in his chronicles?” He was off imagining again, and I knew there wasn’t any use trying to get sense out of him while he was that way. Might as well try to play checkers with a bullfrog.

“Motu’s a foreign prince,” says he, “that’s sought our p-p-protection. His enemies is comin’ for him. They’ve got to tear our castle down about our ears to g-get him.”

“All right,” says I, “but when those real Japanese without anything imaginary about them get here I hope you’ll have somethin’ to stop ’em besides castles that you read about in some book. If it comes to a rumpus I’d rather have a pile of stones to throw than all the imagination in the public library.”

Mark sort of squinted¹⁵ at me. “Hold your horses, Tallow. Before we’re out of the woods you may be m-m-mighty glad I’ve read books, and gladder that I’ve got an imagination.”

“Maybe so,” says I, pretty dubious¹⁶, but before we were out of the woods I got so I agreed with every word Mark said. Without his reading hitched¹⁷ on to his imagination I guess those Japs would have had Motu and would have eaten him in a sandwich, for all we could have done to prevent it. I’ve come to see that imagination’s all right when you can compress it and shoot it into a cylinder¹⁸ with a piston¹⁹ in it like you do steam. Mark Tidd was a cylinder built to run on imagination.

1 bulging   

膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱

参考例句：

• Her pockets were bulging with presents. 她的口袋里装满了礼物。
• Conscious of the bulging red folder, Nim told her,"Ask if it's important." 尼姆想到那个鼓鼓囊囊的红色文件夹便告诉她：“问问是不是重要的事。”

2 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

3 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

4 sarcastic   

adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的

参考例句：

• I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
• She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。

5 mite   

n.极小的东西；小铜币

参考例句：

• The poor mite was so ill.可怜的孩子病得这么重。
• He is a mite taller than I.他比我高一点点。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 enlist   

vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍

参考例句：

• They come here to enlist men for the army.他们来这儿是为了召兵。
• The conference will make further efforts to enlist the support of the international community for their just struggle. 会议必将进一步动员国际社会，支持他们的正义斗争。

8 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

9 flustered   

adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The honking of horns flustered the boy. 汽车喇叭的叫声使男孩感到慌乱。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She was so flustered that she forgot her reply. 她太紧张了，都忘记了该如何作答。 来自辞典例句

10 hippopotamus   

n.河马

参考例句：

• The children enjoyed watching the hippopotamus wallowing in the mud.孩子们真喜观看河马在泥中打滚。
• A hippopotamus surfs the waves off the coast of Gabon.一头河马在加蓬的海岸附近冲浪。

11 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

12 tickle   

v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒

参考例句：

• Wilson was feeling restless. There was a tickle in his throat.威尔逊只觉得心神不定。嗓子眼里有些发痒。
• I am tickle pink at the news.听到这消息我高兴得要命。

13 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

14 breaches   

破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背

参考例句：

• He imposed heavy penalties for breaches of oath or pledges. 他对违反誓言和保证的行为给予严厉的惩罚。
• This renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon. 这样一来，婚前败坏道德的事就少见了。

15 squinted   

斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• Pulling his rifle to his shoulder he squinted along the barrel. 他把枪顶肩，眯起眼睛瞄准。
• I squinted through the keyhole. 我从锁眼窥看。

16 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

17 hitched   

（免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上

参考例句：

• They hitched a ride in a truck. 他们搭乘了一辆路过的货车。
• We hitched a ride in a truck yesterday. 我们昨天顺便搭乘了一辆卡车。

18 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

19 piston   

n.活塞

参考例句：

• They use a piston engine instead.他们改用活塞发动机。
• The piston moves by steam pressure.活塞在蒸汽压力下运动。