It was the man called Yammanato who screamed the words, and almost
before their shrilling was lost to the echo there came the muffled sound
of two shots, and bullets tore through the heavy paneling in the door to
lodge harmlessly in the bamboo chest.
"You see?" Yammanato screamed, seeming to beat the butt of his gun
against the door. "I have a gun, and I will shoot you. No matter where
you stand I will be able to hit you. Kato is coming and he is strong
enough to break down this door. I tell you, your trick has failed. Be
not fools any longer, or it will go that much harder with you. Do you
hear me in there? Do you hear me?"
Freddy acted as though he were going to fling some kind of a taunt
through the door, but Dawson cut him off with a curt shake of his head,
and then put his lips to young Farmer's ear.
"Don't ask for it, Freddy!" he breathed. "He might be able to place the
sound of your voice, and plug us at that. Just keep mum. If we don't get
a break pretty soon, then ..."
Dawson didn't finish the last. Rather he finished it with a soft groan
and turned his head so that Freddy would not see the look he knew must
be showing in his eyes. The sands of time were running dangerously low
now. Was fate mocking their crazy efforts? Was this house where they
were prisoners so situated that nobody outside would see that yellow
smoke pouring from the skylight? Was this house set alone out on the
outskirts of Honolulu? Had their desperate attempt failed after all, and
in a few moments would that giant, Kato, smash down the door with his
massive shoulders? Would...?
The last thought was never completed in Dawson's brain. At that moment
from beyond the door some place came a cry of alarm, and the sound of
feet running furiously up the stairs. Then the speaking voice came
closer and Dawson could tell that it was Kato shrilling something
rapidly in Japanese.
And then ... and then a voice roared and Dawson's heart leaped with pure
joy. It was a good old American voice and it seemed to boom right
through the barred door.
"Hey you, what's going on here!" it thundered. "Your place is on fire.
What's in that room?"
"It is nothing, Captain," came Yammanato's voice, very sweet and
whining. "It was a cigarette that burned one of my jackets. It is all
right, now, Captain. But thank you for coming to our aid."
"Oh, yeah?" said the booming voice. "Well, I'm not a captain, just a
sergeant. And don't tell me that a cigarette made that much smoke.
What's your name anyway? What's ... Yeah, up here, Mike! Come on up and
bring those two guys with you. This looks screwy to me!"
"Coming, Sergeant!" cried out a second born-in-the-U.S.A. voice. "Hey,
these guys look Jap to me!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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