“If this is a trick,” Gale said, “and if we hike back four miles for nothing, you shall be shot at midnight. I’ve had a hard day, and I’m tired.”
“Listen!” Than Shwe put her fingers to Gale’s lips.
As they all sat there at the edge of the silent jungle with the night all about them, an ominous rumble reached their ears.
“More Jap bombers,” Gale groaned. “And I am not there to help stop them.”
“No,” said Isabelle. “It’s not bombers. It’s too tremendous and too indistinct for that.”
“Not bombers,” Than Shwe agreed.
“Then what is it?” Gale demanded.
“If you ask me,” said Isabelle, “I’d tell you that it was Pete’s outfit coming into roost beneath the Secret Forest. He’s with the tanks, you know.”
“More than that. Much more!” Than Shwe sprang to her feet to dance a jig. “Then what is it?” Gale repeated.
“It’s what the colonel calls ‘The whole damned outfit’.” Than Shwe grew vastly excited. “It’s not just tanks, but tanks, guns, men, trucks, trucks, trucks, kitchens, food, guns, tanks, Tommy guns, and men, men, men,—the most soldiers you ever saw.” Than Shwe danced all over the place.