Now came a lull in the attack. I guess the enemy had run out of ambition, or maybe The Man was fussing around to get some new idea. He had done pretty well so far with his ideas, and, taking the whole campaign into consideration, we had a little the worst of it, for we had lost the bridge and the island, and were besieged in the citadel. But that didn’t mean we were licked. The hardest fights in a siege come when the citadel itself has to be taken, and the Japanese were finding that out.
We hadn’t used all our resources, either, for Binney and Motu were keeping guard, and the dog was tied up to be sure he would be out of the way. Mark sort of figured the dog might come in handy sometime, but he didn’t want to use him if he didn’t have to, because the Japanese wouldn’t care whether they hurt the dog or not, and they would be a little mite careful what they did to us.
We weren’t afraid of what would happen to us, anyhow. The worst would be a little rough handling. What we were worried about was their capturing Motu.
The Japanese had disappeared from the foot of the stairway, and Mark went to warn the guards to keep their eyes wide open. Then he came back and we sat down to wait developments. Below somewhere we heard the noise of hammering, and Mark says:
“I’ll bet here’s where we l-l-lose this stairway. If The Man’s thinkin’ of the same scheme I am he can d-drive us back.”
“What then?” says I, sort of startled.
“Then,” says he, “we make for the t-third floor. They can’t cut down the stairs there and they can’t reach us with ladders. It’s our strongest p-place.”
“Grub up there?”
“Every ounce of it,” says Mark.
“Why not sneak up there, then?” says I.