Frank seemed warned just in time, for he gave a squirming whirl that brought him round facing in the opposite direction and prevented the Jap from securing the leverage he desired.
“Let go of that leg!” he commanded.
But he did not wait to see if the Jap obeyed. He did not dare risk it. Instead of waiting, he dropped in such a manner that his free knee was driven into Hashi’s wind.
That broke the fellow’s hold.
Fillmore saw this and breathed a curse of dismay.
Hodge was stirred up.
“What did he try to do, Merry?” he palpitated.
“Oh, nothing,” smiled Frank. “These jujutsu men never recognize a fair fall. To them it means nothing to be thrown flat on the back. He was trying for another hold, and I had to check him.”
The Jap was breathing with difficulty. For some moments the smile seemed a sickly one, but he maintained it, even as the Japanese soldier smiles in the face of intense suffering and death.
Fillmore gave Hashi water and hovered over him.