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Show , rSjr WMKLE 7'.. GOES to m ETr PRATT VV.N.U. RELEASE I I r FAR: Forty-four- NJ Zi back of his home, . 4li. bad news to Amy. " mitt h0 become, I '" J, Wl"kle " ent 40 u.m 'm I ' 1 , winkle oe home IT imf Hardly know him, W 'S. bark, at U. M mm Mr- Tlnker- re I -Til.rt.tlo.. Soon K1 . on the klKb ie. t "S meet ""' j wdre encouraged. jAPTER XI .jme they were at last f: Jey were going. Nothing Mt the main convoy. inning it had been I them to the island I oe of he steppingstones 1 ,ving of certain precious I n by the Japanese when I looking. eDd of the fifty-mile-long Wn captured by Ameri-' Ameri-' ilong with an airfield !! , Just completed by the j held the northern half jtey would land some jt morning. le iearched in his guide-, guide-, jentry under Talizo. To "Now, now," cautiond Mr. Winkle. Win-kle. "We're here to protect them that's all." "Sure," said Mr. Tinker. "Sure." He twisted his head, to keep in sigfct as long as he could what he looked forward to protecting. On the far side of the village the Jungle began, a monstrous growth of palms, lianas, bushes, vivid flowers breadfruit trees, and banana plants! Into this they marched along a narrow nar-row white shell road that threw up heat in nearly suffocating waves. They began to sweat. They came to a tent so cleverly camouflaged that they failed to make it all out at once. It was painted the exact color of the vegetation. Limbs of trees grew over its roof. Nets, to which branches were attached at-tached and sprayed a permanent green, covered it in other places. The jungle was honeycombed with such tents, some of them small, some of them large enough to house a small circus. Again Mr. Winkle felt safe. He told himself nothing could happen to him in such a hidden installation. in-stallation. He had half-expected to make a landing amidst a hail of bullets and exploding bombs. At their first meal in the mess tent they tasted new foods, potatolike potato-like taro, papaya, and wild chicken. Mr Tinker spat most of them out fnd took to what he called civilized dishes also provided. Mr. Winkle swallowed them, if not with relish, at least with pleasure In their proving how definitely he was on a tropic island. The newcomers were asked such a barrage of questions that they had little chance to put any of their own. The few they managed to get in were mostly answered with a lifting of the shoulders. One man jerked his thumb toward the north and said, "We're just sitting each other out." . The Messrs. Winkle and Tinker reported to one of the shops, where Mr. Tinker was open-mouthed at the equipment and Mr. Winkle was impressed. im-pressed. Trucks, reconnaissance and command com-mand cars, and jeeps and peeps were driven into spacious tents which held as complete equipment as to be found at home. The canvas sides were rolled up for ventilation, giving them a pleasant air of being outdoors. The familiar smell of oiled machinery and carbon monoxide fumes reached their nostrils. These perfumes were more heartening than the sweet, curious odors of the jungle with which they competed. Men like themselves, trained as they had been, following the same procedures, labored over the vehi- tual fighting seamed remote and unreal. un-real. They saw nothing of the enemy and heard nothing of him. There were so few evidences of his existence exist-ence that they were hardly worth while. Even the two cots in their tent hadn't been vacated by dead men, but by men who had contracted contract-ed tropic fever and been sent home. The native girls ran when Mr. Tinker Tink-er made approaches; they didn't trust any human being in a soldier's sol-dier's uniform. All in all, Mr. Tinker was very much disgusted. He said he might as well be home working it his plumbing, and he told Mr. Winnie he might as well be home in his shop. Mr. Winkle, on the other hand, could not conceal from himself the fact that he was pleased. He breathed easier, thinking that if this was all there was to it, it wasn't so bad. To the north, he knew, lay the airfield and the main part of the American forces of occupation. And farther on there was jungle fighting where men stalked each other through the undergrowth and sniped from the trees. But this was not his business, and he came into contact con-tact with none of those whose affair it was. Mr. Tinker hoped to be sent north on some mission. "It's the only way I can see for me to get me my Jap," he said. Mr. Winkle didn't understand how he could expect this. "You'd be on other duty," he pointed out. "Not all the time I won't," Mr. Tinker said. "You wouldn't tell anybody," any-body," he pleaded, "if I went of! for a while, would you, Pop?" "You won't do any such thing," Mr. Winkle scolded. Mr. Tinker remained silent, looking look-ing glum but determined. Mr. Tinker had only contempt for the south tip of the island, to which he and Mr. Winkle were sent several sev-eral times to rescue vehicles in difficulties. dif-ficulties. He could hope to find no Japs there. The shore was lined with American machine-gun fox holes, and it was here that the Alphabet, Al-phabet, to his chagrin, was stationed. sta-tioned. Sergeant Czeideskrowski and his crew, including Freddie and Jack, agreed with Mr. Tinker about their part in the war. Nothing, they felt, would happen in the portion given to them. They had come thousands of miles to sit and watch and wait for action that would never materialize. They with Mr. Winkle overlooked over-looked the fact that when you are in a war you are in a war. Awakened early one morning, Mr. Winkle and Mr. Tinker were told to report to the orderly tent on the double-quick. Their Commanding Officer looked grim when he told them: "Hop in a jeep and get down to Post Number Nine. Repair a com- Ill on land after the sea irched through town, ion he found that the is-imibals. is-imibals. It was, in fact, m ) afternoon a collection of )tame out of the sinking of them. The gun crews n and the other ships their stations, alert and i won word was passed these were their own e to protect them in that :ous of all times, dusk on F.lrom under, on, or over eared either that night or ten the planes returned ieir vigil and escort the lort made out boldly, was alow-lying shore reach-5tly reach-5tly to a towering volcan-1 volcan-1 ridge running along the Talizo. It was a scene ;jty as to be very nearly ilhey approached closer. !we (he white wisp of a 'nld be seen throwing it-from it-from the mountain jun-appearing jun-appearing into the thick 1 below. (r and the killing and 'mP could exist on this island did not seem 'tit, all you wanted to do ' tare, among the palm 'hite sandy shore and "'st of your life. ' e and his several thou-;ns thou-;ns gazed at it with ferment. The island the thing for which Mr. med, ai d he wondered Snd it here. ie' impression of land-"l land-"l ne of danger, but of 'Whip was the first ves-we ves-we mine field and the '"' by a small tug draw- tam0f the submarine 51 fore the anchor was ;e harbor, landing nets - wown over the sides of boats lowered. jjtf dovin. packing them- lifeboats. Three of tether, were pulled by J 0e of the piers. The at half-sunken supply Some of them :ore batteries placed on ;;0the harbor. wland after the sea as airough town. 1" hatched huts, they M .i, m were vacant. 'Z t re Were toey occu-skinned occu-skinned people whose 7J Sazed at them apa-' apa-' w of them were girls i ,PI Sarment of printed one shoulder bare . rest of their slim plr knees. . , t Jou know?" breathed , "hadda you know?" cles, one of which had its entire rear end missing as if it had been torn off with a violent hand. The men looked up, gazing idly, curiously, curious-ly, or with interest at the newcomers. newcom-ers. Only once did they pause in their quick, deft attentions to the motors. A radio, abruptly turned on, buzzed and crackled for a moment, mo-ment, and then from it came the clear, assured announcement: "This is the United States of America." The men went still for an instant, taking it in. They glanced at each other and some of them smiled briefly, brief-ly, almost shyly. As the short-wave program went on, giving the news from home, they returned to work with an added zest. Mr. Winkle couldn't suppress a tingle that went through him and a choking in his throat. It quieted the queasy feeling in his stomach. It made him know that the jungle of Talizo, at least this part of it and more to come, was the U. S. A. When a mail went out, Mr. Winkle was allowed to write only the barest information to Amy. He refrained from saying much for the double reason of living up to the censorship regulations and not caring to frighten fright-en her. He omitted certain things he discovered in his paradise, such as malaria, dysentery, white ants with a pincers attack worse than any war maneuver ever conceived, and mosquitoes so profuse that a net over the bed served only to trap them inside where they could concentrate concen-trate their attack. It must, he thought, be enough of a strain for Amy not even to know where he was beyond the fact that he was in the South Seas area. He kept to the cheery things, such as the taste of roasted wild pig, and the crawfish, shrimp, and prawns He described the flowers, and dwelt on the hibiscus, which he thought went better with the tropics than anything else. He told her about the parrots and cockatoos of the jungle jun-gle and how the air was filled with the color of flashing wings. He said there were no cannibals about just then, but he hoped eventually even-tually to see one. He described war as being nothing at all like what he had expected, and assured her hat Se would be back some day. "No jap bullet has my name on it, heHep0ondered on whether or not he should leave this in. It was boast-nhg0Ua boast-nhg0Ua li!ue, for he had yet to hear . shot fired on either side. In tie end let the statement go. decidiaf it was reassuring more than anything Te And he didn't want to give her the impression that he really wasn't in the war. Mr. Tinker was in it sc .little that he didn't think much of Talizo as a been fired so far away that the ac Mr. Winkle was allowed to write only the barest information to Amy. mand car you'll find there and bring it back. Don't waste any time. There's mist off the shore. Anything Any-thing can come out of it." Mr. Winkle's heart leaped as he saluted with Mr. Tinker and hurried hur-ried out. "Something," said Mr. Tinker, "is. up." Mr. Winkle was very much afraid that this might be so. "Nine," he said. "That's the Alphabet." At the motor park tent they found the men on duty there had the same tense attitude. "You'd better take some extra cartridge clips," they were told. These were given to them. They drove out. Mr. Winkle didn't like the extra cartridge clips, but he did feel better to have rifles slung alongside the bouncing car. When they reached the road running run-ning south along the shore, they saw the mist Between hillocks of the beach ridge they could make it out standing like a wall several hundred hun-dred yards offshore, mysterious, dangerous, unreasonable. It made Mr. Tinker enthusiastic. "The Japs know we're about ready to push them in the face in the north," he held. "Mebb they'll take this chance." (TO BE CONTINUED) |