"Sheng-ti? Oh, I bumped into him in the causeway. I told him to beat it but he insisted on shuffling along. Look, Sheng-ti, you'd better get out of here. This is bad. Trouble. Danger. Savvy?"
The bonze was paying no attention to him. His eyes had lighted upon Ramey Winters. Now he raised both arms high above his head in a jeremiac gesture. His voice rolled stridently through the vaulted chambers. "Aiee! Doom! Doom! When the bird man drops from the skies—"
"Very well, Sheng-ti. That will do," Dr. Aiken silenced him curtly. He turned to the others, frowning. "Well, there's your answer."
"Answer?"
"How the Japs found out about Ramey. Sheng-ti must have shouted his mad prophecies in their hearing, pointed Ramey out. Well, what's done is done. We might as well make the best of it."
Ramey's brows were knotted anxiously. "This has gone far enough, Dr. Aiken. Red and I can't stay here a minute longer. We've gotten you into trouble as it is. We're pulling out, now!"
The archeologist shook his head. "Thanks, boy, but it's no use. We're all in the same boat now. Have been ever since we defied their orders, returned their fire. They're resentful little beasts, the Japs. And don't condemn yourself. It's not altogether your fault. Our work here was finished the day they marched into Indo-China. If it hadn't been this they would have found other excuses to close in on us.
"No, the only thing we can do now is hold the fort. Try to defend ourselves until one of the coolies gets word to the American consul about what's going on up here. And I'm afraid our future actions will be determined entirely by our little yellow friends. Whether it is to be truce or war is a decision they must make—"
"A decision," interrupted Syd O'Brien from the vantage-point over which he stood guard, "they've already made. It's war, Doctor! Because here they come now!"