"Look, dime a dozen!" Dawson grated. "It was your idea to take this jeep
trip around the island. So don't start any of that stuff with me. I
simply said that this was quite a spot. And it is, _see_?"
"Right you are, Dave, right you are, old thing," young Farmer laughed.
"I simply couldn't pass by the chance to pull your leg a bit. First time
I ever heard you admit there were such things as moons, and what not.
Just shows there is another side to you. And I like that side, _too_. So
am I forgiven?"
"Aw, go spin a wing!" Dawson growled, but he grinned and gave Farmer a
playful punch in the ribs. "Fact is, Freddy, nobody can be hard-boiled
in the Islands. There's something about them that would break down the
toughest egg that ever came down the pike. I've seen a few places in
this old world in my few years, but somehow the Hawaiians always remain
at the top of the list."
"Yes, they really are quite something, I must admit," Freddy murmured as
he gazed about at the faintly silver-washed scenery. "I'm fair to being
in love with them myself. What say we take a walk back along the road a
ways? Or should we be getting on back to the Kaneohe Naval Air Station?"
Dawson glanced down at his wrist watch and shook his head.
"It's early," he said. "We've got lots of time. And I don't think
Commander Drake will be mad at all if we stay out of his hair for a
spell longer. Now, there is one swell guy, isn't he, Freddy? I went for
him one hundred per cent the moment I laid eyes on him."
"A very pukka chap, and no doubt of it!" Freddy Farmer agreed instantly,
and dropped into step. "We've probably bored him to tears, but he hasn't
shown it for a single second. Always ready to please. Always eager to do
anything to help us pass the time. That day yesterday with him is one
I'll always remember. Don't believe there's a blasted thing left on this
island that he hasn't shown us. A very, very top-hole gentleman, for
fair."
"That, and more," Dawson grunted. "But I've a hunch he got a kick out of
it too, taking us on the sight-seeing rounds. If only because it got
his mind off other things. The commander is worried about the spy
business here in the Islands. There are no two ways about that. If we
don't spot that Nazi tomorrow when the carrier force comes in, he's
going to take it like a mule's kick in the face."
"I fancy we'll feel much the same way ourselves," Freddy Farmer
murmured. "Makes me almost afraid to have tomorrow come. And for two
reasons, too."
"One is maybe we won't find the guy," Dawson said. "What's the other?"
"That we'll find him, and then that will be that," young Farmer replied
after a moment's pause. "I mean, our job will be all washed up. I
gathered that Vice-Admiral Stone expects us to go back to the mainland
on the next plane, after this business is all taken care of."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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