  In the meantime, with a borrowed co-pilot, Sparky had made his way to a hidden airbase at the foot of the mountains. Since the co-pilot had made the flight several times before the trip was accomplished without mishap or adventure. The moment they landed a Chinese boy, hopping along on one leg and a crutch, came out to greet them and guide them back into the bush where living quarters had been established. “Oh!” he exclaimed after looking into the cabin. “Somebody say mebby lady flier come. Mebby somebody don’t know.” “They were not mistaken,” said Sparky. “The lady pilot belongs to this plane. She’s coming later with Scottie Burns.” “Oh! Scottie!” the boy exclaimed. “Very good flier, Scottie, mebby seventy Japs he shoot down, me not know.” “That’s a great record,” said Sparky. “What’s your name, boy?” “Me, Hop Sing. Alla time me hop—sometimes me sing.” The boy laughed at his misfortune. “Zero plane come down,” the boy swept the air with an arm, “came zoom! Zoom! Zoom! Machine gun—rat-tat-tat, go down me. Too many times shot. American hospital doctors fix up. Now, me, I got machine gun. Want Zero come back.” “You Chinese people have been taking the rap for us all these long years,” Sparky said soberly. “Now—here we are.” “Very soon come many big planes,” said the boy. “Mebby bomb Tokio.” “Maybe yes, maybe no,” Sparky said. After looking the plane over carefully, then locking it up tight, they made a dash through the pelting rain where a warm welcome and a good American dinner awaited them. When Mary and Scottie came zooming down on the hidden airfield, they found Sparky waiting for them. In a jeep he whisked them away to a little eating place where they had coffee and sandwiches and where Sparky listened to their rather amazing story. “I wish I had been with you when you visited that hospital,” Sparky said when the story was told. “Oh! I wish you could have been!” Mary exclaimed with real feeling. “It was sad but just wonderful. I’d go around the world three times just to do that much for our fine boys, who seem to feel that they are sort of forgotten over here.” “When we went for that Jap after our plane had been shot up?” Scottie spoke slowly. “Yes, that’s right, we did. But if you had seen that Jap in his plane with Uncle Sam’s face painted where it was and you knew what that rat of a monkey had done,—” “That’s right,” Sparky grinned, “I’d have gone after him.” “Of course you would,” Mary agreed. “Any real man would have done just that. There are some things in this war that can be passed up. Others are on the must-be-done list, and that was one of them. “But Sparky,” she leaned forward eagerly, “what comes next? When do we cross the mountains?” “Tomorrow morning if the mountain storm gods permit,” was his reply. “This afternoon, however, I have a little trip to make.” He turned to Scottie. “Do you know the road to a town called Gonagona?” he asked. “Very well,” said Scottie, “I’ve been there several times.” “There’s an officer over there with secret orders for us,” Sparky explained. “It has something to do with our landing place once we are over the mountains. I must get over there. Will you drive me?” “Oh! Sure!” Scottie grinned. “What am I to guard it from in this wild place?” Mary asked. “The Monkeys of the Snows or something?” “You never can tell,” Sparky did not smile. “And, by the way, there’s a one-legged Chinese boy who will help you out in a pinch. He has a sub-machine gun that someone loaned him. It’s a businesslike affair and I shouldn’t wonder if he could shoot it. He’s looking for a low-flying Zero plane. Perhaps you can find one for him. He calls himself Hop Sing. Sometimes he hops and sometimes he sings.” “He sounds interesting,” said Mary. “Please tell him to come around.” A half hour later Sparky and Scottie motored away, leaving Mary seated on a fallen palm tree at the edge of the narrow airfield. Mary dreamed of many things, of wide, black waters, sifting desert sands, glorious dances in Egypt, Persian gardens, and many more. But suddenly she was startled from her dreaming by a high-pitched voice saying; “You are the so beautiful flying lady and I am Hop Sing. Me, I got machine gun. Many times practice.” Aiming the gun at a tree the Chinese boy seemed about to mow it down but, instead, merely clicked his gun. “Can shoot very well. Come Zero plane, flying very low, I show you plenty.” “Monkeys not hurt white lady,” was his laughing reply. “Only monkeys wearing glasses, they hurt white lady, but not hurt white lady. Me, I shoot them, all-a-same them shoot me.” Mary took to Hop Sing at once. She enjoyed his happy, squirrel-like chatter. He told her many amusing stories of the war, how his people had learned to trick the Japs and lead them away from their goals, how they had hidden their food to return for it and so save their own lives. He told her too of things that made her blood run cold. “How can you be so happy when such terrible things are going on?” she asked. “No happy, bye-um-bye dead, that’s all,” was his way of saying that happiness, come what may, is a human necessity. After a time Hop Sing wandered away. Taking a seat on the plane’s right wing, Mary sat dreaming in the bright tropical sunlight until, with startling suddenness a powerful twin-motored plane appearing to come from nowhere circled once then swept down upon the field. The plane came to a halt not thirty paces from where she sat. Immediately four big men in officers’ uniforms leaped from the plane. A Powerful Plane Swept Down Upon the Field “I wouldn’t know.” There was something about these men that Mary didn’t like. She was thinking, ‘What’s this’? “Where is this plane’s pilot?” the man demanded. “I don’t know.” “See here!” The man took a step forward. “We just came over the mountains from China. We were sent to pick up the cargo of that plane.” “It is imperative that we have it at once.” An older man took up the story. Mary did not like his accent. He certainly did not come from America. “There has been far too much delay,” the man went on. “Bah! A woman for a co-pilot. What can you expect?” “We are to take off that cargo at once,” said the younger man. “And fly it to China,” the other added. Mary, who had been studying their plane, made no reply. “Well?” The younger man took a step forward. Mary backed away, then stood her ground. A great silence had fallen over the jungle. From far away came the scream of a parrot. Mary’s low-spoken words scarcely broke the silence: “Preposterous!” The older man’s face purpled. The younger man took another step forward but this time Mary did not retreat. She just stood there looking him squarely in the eye as she said, “Why so preposterous? What does this mean, your swooping down like this? I haven’t been long in the Orient and I’m only a girl but all this seems strange and,—irregular.” “Irregular!” the older man stormed. “You can’t run a war in this country in what you call a regular way. You must sometimes act in a hurry. China cannot wait, so please step aside.” “I am remaining where I am,” she declared stoutly. “Anyway, I don’t have the key to the plane. I may be right, then again I may be wrong. If I am wrong, I may lose my wings but you’ll have to come and take me if you want the cargo of this plane.” Outwardly Mary was calm but inside, she was all atremble. The younger man’s lips twitched. “Such stupidity!” he muttered, as his hand slipped toward a something that showed black beneath his belt. Mary trembled but did not move. “I got me a tommy gun. I can shoot him very good. Wanna see?” Before Mary could stop him Hop Sing sent out a burst of fire that burned the air above the four men’s heads. “You little Chinese rat,” the older man stormed. “You—” He broke off short. The gleam in Hop Sing’s eyes at that moment was a terrible thing to see. Hop Sing’s burst of gunfire, following as it did the arrival of an unidentified airplane, brought a score of officers, soldiers, and mechanics rushing to the scene. “What’s all this?” Captain Noble, the officer in charge of the field, demanded. “Well, sir,” said Mary, forgetting to salute, “these men say they’re from China. They say they have orders to take the cargo from Sparky’s plane.” “Let’s see your orders,” the Captain said, turning to the four men. “Certainly, Captain.” The younger of the four drew a sheath of papers from his pocket. “Here they are, Captain.” He shot Mary an ugly look. “Oh! Boy!” Mary thought. “If I’m wrong, I’ll be washed out of this man’s Army, just like that—” “Hm!” said the Captain. “Papers seem all in order. Suppose you’d like a cup of coffee before you start back?” “Time enough for a cup of coffee.” The Captain’s smile was disarming. “Are you guarding the plane?” he asked Mary. “Yes, I—I and Hop Sing.” She nodded toward the Chinese boy. “Unlock the cabin and start unloading the cargo. These boys will help you.” The Captain nodded to the group of mechanics. Mary’s heart sank. Then she remembered something. “The cabin’s locked,” she said quietly. “Sparky has the key.” “Where is Sparky? Oh, yes, he went to see the Major. I’m afraid we can’t do a thing until the pilot returns.” The Captain smiled once again. “Break the lock,” the older man snarled. “You know that cannot be done.” The Captain did not smile. At a slight nod from the younger men, the four moved toward the plane that had brought them. Oddly enough, with just no orders at all, but with guns ready for action, the soldiers of the Captain’s squad lined up in front of that plane. “I think,” the younger of the four licked his lips, “we’ll accept your offer of hospitality.” Ten minutes later, when Sparky returned, he went at once into a huddle with the Captain. “Mary, you’re a wonder!” Sparky exclaimed as that plane climbed the sky. “Who are they?” she asked in a whisper. “That,” said Sparky, “is a military secret.” “Where are they going?” she asked. “I don’t exactly know.” Sparky smiled. “One thing I’m sure of, and that is they won’t come back.” “One thing still puzzles me,” said Mary. “What’s that,” Sparky asked. “Why did the Captain order me to open the plane’s cabin door for those men?” “Perhaps he knew you didn’t have the key. Then again he may have known you wouldn’t use it if you did have it. Either way he was right. What he wanted was to avoid any shooting, and he got that. I wouldn’t trade you and Hop Sing for four Lieutenant Colonels and a General,” Sparky laughed. “And you’re both going with us to China.” “That,” said Mary, “will be swell!” Later that day when they were together once more, Sparky and Mary lingered long over their tea in a little place run by a friend of Hop Sing. When Mary had told her story all over again, Sparky’s admiration for his co-pilot was greater than ever before. “The bombers are here,” he said. “And that means—” “That we go over the mountains tomorrow providing the storm gods smile.” |
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