“We search you,” said Arima, taking another step toward her and extending his hands.
It may be that Arima did not intend actually to lay hands on her. His thought may have been that the threat would induce Orme to tell where the papers really were. But the effect on Orme was to set him ablaze with anger.
His swift, indignant purpose seemed to multiply his strength until the little men who held him were like children in his hands.
A sudden jerk, and he had pulled both his arms free. Maku and the man at his other side were taken completely by surprise, and before they had time to recover themselves, Orme had thrown his arms around them and crushed their heads together with such force that they dropped limp and unconscious to the ground. They were out of the fight.
At the first sounds of struggle, Arima turned. Now, as Orme charged toward him, he bent slightly forward, every muscle tense, ready to strike or trip or twist.
His framework was overlaid by muscles that were like supple steel. Light and quick, he had a strength that could hardly have been inferred from his build. And though Orme’s outbreak had been sudden, the Japanese was apparently not in the least disconcerted.
He knew how to turn the rush of the American into a disastrous fall. He knew how to prod with his bony knuckle the angry man’s solar plexus—how to step swiftly aside and bring the horny edge of his hand against sensitive vertebrae. He could seize Orme by the arm and, dropping backward to the ground, land Orme where he wished him. Yes, Arima had every reason to feel confident. Many a time had he got the better of American fist-fighters.
But a system of offense and defense which is based upon the turning of an opponent’s strength against himself absolutely depends for its success upon an accurate estimate of the opponent’s intentions. A sudden shift of physical purpose may put your jiu-jitsu adept at a loss.
Arima, from his knowledge of American fighting methods, had reason to think that Orme would continue his charge and strike out with his fists when he came near enough. That, however, is something that Orme did not do. For, in his two previous encounters with the Japanese, he had learned much. He had learned, among other things, the value of the unexpected. And though his anger was almost blinding, he cooled, during those few short strides, to his usual caution.
Within two paces of Arima, he stopped short.