“And that was the Woman in Purple,” Gale said, springing up. “If the army doesn’t get her then we must.”
“And we will!” Than Shwe exclaimed. “By all the gods of India, Burma, China and America, we will!”
CHAPTER XX
Gale! Gale!
For some time after retiring that night Gale lay on her army cot, eyes staring at the blank walls of her tent, fully awake. Through her mind whirled delicate chimes, ladies, long lines of marching soldiers and a city of many small houses surrounded by a wall. Then the scene changed, became more bright, but it shifted to her hillside. Bombers came whirling over, bombs dropped. She trembled with fright. And then she saw the black dwarf—or was it the thin man a little lame in both feet? As her mind held the picture the two figures appeared to merge into one. At that she fell asleep.
She awoke early next morning, routed the sleepy Jan from her cot, then headed for her hideout. That this might prove a day of great importance she knew right well. If the Japs had any way of guessing or knowing that soldiers were camped in the shade of the Secret Forest, their planes would come swarming over. And if she failed to detect them? “We can’t fail!” she declared to Jan as they climbed through the dark just before dawn to their roost among the rocks.
“Where do you get that ‘we’?” Jan exclaimed. “You know good and well that I’m only your orderly, or—or something.”
“You do your part, and do it well,” Gale insisted. “So together we stand.
“For all that,” she added, “you don’t need any more glory. You got your share last night.”
“Didn’t I wow them!” Jan laughed. “I could do it all over a hundred times and like it.
“But I keep thinking of those fine boys!” she added soberly. “How many do you think will get to go back to America after it’s over?”