Allison and O’Malley sat across the desk from Stan. He regarded them with an amused grin. They treated him with the respect due his rank only when they were in the presence of other Flying Tigers. In barracks or when they were reporting to him in his office they liked to ruffle him if they could. Either of them would have tackled a squadron of Japs at his order, but when the heat of battle was over they kidded him.

“It’s our duty to report you to the general,” Allison said with a wicked gleam in his eye.

“Faith, an’ you’ll get busted for sure,” O’Malley added. “I’ll be after havin’ a word with Chiang Kai-shek himself.”

Stan laughed. “I have to get something out of being in command of a lot of lunatics.178 This time I aim to do as I please. I merely mention my plans to you fellows because I am forced to put Allison in command while I am away. I have called Major O’Malley in simply as a witness.”

Allison leaned back. “It’s a three-man job, Colonel. Put Kirby or Texas in command and we’ll go along.”

“You boys are on regular patrol and combat duty. I’m just an extra around here,” Stan said. “The full strength of the squadron is needed right here. We are likely to get shoved back into China as it is. The full force stays here on the job.”

“Meanin’ the force can afford to lose a colonel but not a combat major?” O’Malley asked sourly.

“That’s about it,” Stan agreed.

“As flying leader I will patrol certain areas beyond the Salween River during your absence,” Allison drawled.

“You’ll patrol and protect the Rangoon area, unless you get orders to shift base,” Stan snapped.

“Sure, an’ you wouldn’t be after bringin’179 Nick Munson back? You spoke only of this colleen,” O’Malley teased.

“I may not have to bring him back,” Stan said grimly.

Allison shook his head and his smile vanished. He leaned forward. “I say, old man, isn’t it just a bit foolish and risky?”

“If it is then I’m a foolish nut,” Stan answered. “We owe that girl a great deal.”

“When you put it that way, all I can do is give you my blessing,” Allison said, the old-time flicker of a derisive twinkle gleaming in his eye.

“The Japs may well take Rangoon. They have to get it out of the way in order to slow up the flow of supplies to China. They can put ten planes into the air for every one we can send up. But as long as Rangoon stands, it will not be blasted from the air. That’s our record so far and that record is going to stand. It’s up to you fellows to make it stick.” Stan stared hard at his pals. “Now don’t let me catch you running out on the job to start looking for me.”

“If yer in that mood, I guess we may as180 well start plannin’ a celebration for the colleen,” O’Malley conceded.

“Now get out and keep still. I’m going up on routine patrol flight. Just to check up on what you fellows are doing. Regulations call for a man in command while I’m out.” Stan grinned as he got to his feet. “And I’m itching to be on my way.”

Allison and O’Malley went out and Stan got into his flying outfit. He had done a bit of work on his P–40. He had fixed a seat in the crowded bird cage for an extra passenger. He walked out and examined the ship. The ground men stepped back and stood watching him admiringly. Stan Wilson was very popular with all of the crews.

Stan climbed in and opened up the motor. He roared off the field and spiraled up to ten thousand feet, then headed south and east. His flight was hardly that of a commander checking his patrols. He flew in a line and kept the ship knifing along well above cruising speed. Sweeping over the Salween, he headed out over the jungle. He checked the rice plantations in the clearings below.

The sky was clear of all planes. He saw181 no Flying Tigers and no Japs. Easing down in a steep dive he floated over the edge of the jungle. He had sighted the clearing where he and Allison had set the Martin down. Skimming low over the grass he set down and rolled up to the edge of the timber.

He moved along slowly until he located a spot where there was an opening, a little avenue between big trees. Stan spent the next half-hour backing the P–40 into the avenue and covering her with vines and creepers. If his calculations were right, he should find a road leading into the jungle. That road should take him to the temple with the red roof. The Jap general had driven a car over a road in getting to this spot, so there must be at least a trail.

With the P–40 well hidden he started moving along the edge of the jungle. After a short time he found a dim trail leading into the jungle. Stan patted the automatic pistol snuggled against his hip and started down the road.

He had not gone far when he came to the wreckage of the general’s car. It lay where it had tumbled when he riddled it that day.182 Already vines were beginning to shoot out over it. He trudged on for an hour, being careful to pause every few hundred yards to listen. Once he heard voices. Fading back into the jungle he watched four natives trudge past. They were pulling a cart loaded with fruit. After they had passed on Stan emerged from the jungle and hurried on.

After walking another hour he came to a small clearing with several huts clustered at one end. This called for a detour. Heading into the jungle, Stan fought his way along. He had no brush knife and the going was slow and painful. Thorns raked his arms and face and scratched his hands. Grass blades cut like knives. A dog barked furiously and he heard natives shouting. There was one safe thing to do and that was to stand perfectly still. For ten minutes Stan stood close to a tree trunk and listened.

No one came into the jungle and the dog ceased howling. Stan pushed on and after a while came back to the road well away from the huts. He found the trail wider and showing more signs of use, so he stayed close183 to the leafy wall which formed a hedge on each side of the road.

By five o’clock in the evening he was close to the village. The jungle cover thinned out and he decided to wait for darkness. Hiding in a thicket he lay down.

Dusk fell slowly and darkness followed even more slowly. When night came Stan emerged from the thicket. He headed toward the village from which a few lights gleamed. Before he had gone far he came to the sentry line the Japs had thrown around their post.

Stan bent low so as to get the sentry against the sky. On hands and knees he worked his way up to the sentry line. The guard was out in the open where he had a chance to see anyone approaching, even in the starlight. Lying flat Stan checked the ground.

He did not wish to pick off a sentry. The man could be ambushed easily but his absence from the post would be discovered within a few minutes by his companions who met him on either end of his beat. There was one distinct advantage. The lines were184 blacked out. There were no lights at all, due very likely to the smashing raid the Flying Tigers had made a short time before.

Stan edged forward. He had discovered a shallow depression running across the guard line. This low ground was deep in shadows. The sentry paced back and forth, his rifle over his shoulder. He met his fellow guards and they exchanged gruff words but never halted to talk.

Using Indian tactics Stan wormed his way along the hollow. He moved a few feet, then lay still for a space, then wiggled ahead a little more. When the sentry had his back turned, Stan slithered across his path and on as far as he could get. When the sentry faced about, Stan lay flattened against the ground. He was able to time his movements by the voices of the Japs when they met and challenged each other.

The guard moved toward Stan and halted. He seemed to be peering into the night. Stan held his breath. He suddenly appreciated the danger a scout faced in filtering through enemy lines. The sentry lowered his rifle and leaned on it. With a low grunt he lifted185 the rifle and moved on across the hollow, passing less than ten feet from Stan. A bush loomed ahead and Stan wiggled toward it. He slipped behind the low clump of brush and sat up.

Crouching in the shadows he listened. The sentry was standing still. Suddenly a slim pencil of light poked toward the bush. Stan did not move. To dive flat would have caused a movement the sentry would have seen. The light poked into the dense foliage, revealing red flowers and green leaves. Then the light snapped off and the sentry moved on.

Stan crawled away as fast as he could. His objective was two big trees with low-hanging branches. Reaching the trees he seated himself against the trunk of one of them. Ahead, the ground was fairly open. He could see the temple and the grounds through the trees. The road had led him directly to the spot where he had been made prisoner by the little yellow men on his first visit to the village.

His map was in his pocket but he did not dare flash a light to look at it. He would have to work from memory. What he could186 see of the temple showed that the bombs from the Hudsons had done considerable damage. A pile of rocks and debris lay to the left of the building and he could make out two big craters where the parking space had been.

Rising to his feet he walked to the left. By going around the temple grounds he should reach a grove of trees. He hoped there would be underbrush in the grove, but he did not remember Kirby having shown anything of the sort on his map.

Skirting the shattered wall of the temple Stan located the trees. They were on a gentle slope at least a quarter of a mile away. Stan moved down the slope and into the grove. Beyond the trees he could see a glow of light. Working his way through the trees, he discovered a stream and beyond that a stockade made of bamboo set upright in the ground and laced together. Two powerful searchlights played over the stockade.

Stan studied the layout carefully. The Japs were not worried about marking the stockade with light. A bomb dropped on187 their prisoners would relieve them of the trouble of caring for them. He surmised, also, that Kirby’s escape had caused the Japs to take extra measures to guard the prisoners.

There was little undergrowth in the grove and Stan had to be very careful. The reflected light from the searchlights made a glow that penetrated the shadows under the trees. Reaching the tree nearest the stream Stan halted behind it. The light was coming from two mobile s............