“He told you all that?” Isabelle exclaimed. “Oh, well, nothing matters much. It won’t be long now. And at that, he didn’t tell you a great deal. They have been at it for months. In another forest quite a way from here, engines with portable saw mills have been cutting timber for bridges across the river that the colonel and his party waded on their retreat.
“It’s really marvelous. Every piece is cut just right. The bridges are set up, then taken down again in the forest. When the time comes the parts will be sent over chutes built down the mountain.
“They’ve built hundreds of boats too, and they’ll go down the chutes. The whole army will be in Burma before the Japs know they’re coming.”
“That’s marvelous.” Gale sighed. “I wish the boys luck, every one of them. One more thing I wish.”
“What’s that?” Isabelle asked.
“I wish I could hear from Jimmie.”
“Oh! That reminds me!” Isabelle exclaimed. “A flight commander was in to see the colonel today. The colonel was out, so I had a chance to talk to him. I asked him about Jimmie. He said he couldn’t tell me a thing, then smiled in a queer sort of way and said something about a secret mission. It all sounded very strange.”
“I’ll say it does!” Gale agreed.
“But,” Isabelle exclaimed. “Did you report what we saw at the temple?”
“About the woman in purple? Oh, sure I did! I told the colonel about it first.”