"Blast the Japs!" retorted Aiken pettishly. "Greedy little yellow beasts, anyway. Never did like 'em! Don't you worry about the Japs. Needn't know you're here. You two get out of those uniforms, burn 'em. If they come sticking their dirty little snub-noses in here, you'll be two junior members of my party. Diplomatic immunity. Won't dare touch you!"
Barrett nodded to Ramey.
"That's so, pal. The Japs ain't looking for no more trouble with Uncle Sam just now; not till Hitler turns on the green light, anyhow. Even if they do see our crashed 'plane, they'll think we burned up in it."
"Unless one of the laborers spills the beans," Ramey reminded. "But if Dr. Aiken thinks it's safe—?"
"Think? I know it! My men won't say a word. Not a word. Absolutely loyal, every one of them. Furthermore, the Cambodians hate the Japs as much as we do. More! Isn't that right, Tomasaki? All right, now—get along with you! Clean clothes and a shower. Then we'll all have a bite to eat."
So, smiling, the two young airmen left their peppery host for the time being. Clothes were donated to them, khaki shirts and whipcord breeches from the wardrobes of their new-found friends. Barrett was clothed from the locker of Johnny Grinnell, only member of the expedition they had not yet met; Ramey found the duds of either of the tall O'Briens a perfect fit.
Thus it was that, feeling like new men, a short time later they sat down to breakfast. The meal, as American as a World Series, was a feast to two who had taken their fare for months in a Chinese Republic messhall. Cereal, ham and eggs, griddle-cakes with maple syrup, coffee—hot, black, aromatic coffee instead of green tea!—tempted Ramey into over-eating till the waistband of Lake O'Brien's breeches strained like a sausage skin.
It was then, after the empty dishes had been removed and he dragged the luxurious fragrance of American-cigarette-smoke into his lungs, that Ramey brought up the subject which had perplexed him ever since he first saw this place.
"Dr. Aiken," he said, "if I weren't sitting right in this building, seeing it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it could exist. I never dreamed there was such a place! How long has it been here?"