He came hustling and watched the Japanese till they traveled out of sight around the bend of the road.
“We licked ’em,” says I.
“Tallow,” says Mark, “you m-may be right. I hope so. But—I calc’late you ain’t.”
“Then what are they goin’ away for?”
“To make you think what you thought,” says he. “And,” he says, “where’s the fifth man?”
Would you believe it, but I hadn’t noticed the fifth man wasn’t there. That did make it look a bit fishy until I had an idea. “Maybe he was on guard across the lake,” says I.
Mark nodded. “Maybe so,” he says, “but I guess we won’t l-l-lower the drawbridge, for all that. If Motu’s worth gettin’ he’s worth tryin’ for harder’n those f-fellows have tried. And if I’m any judge The Man Who Will Come isn’t a quitter.”
“A nest of hornets’ll make ’most anybody quit,” says I.
“Yes,” says he, “but we’re just out of h-hornets—and he knows it. He knows we can’t be f-f-firin’ hornet bombs at him every trip.”
“What do you figger they’re goin’ to do, then?”