"I soon found that morale wasn't very good in my outfit, the reason being that people at headquarters had been making so many statements that failed to prove true.
"ANYWAY, last week we were ordered to advance across the Sungari. The advance went fine, with amphibian tanks to support it—except that our battalion was on the extreme left of the brigade, and suddenly found that the brigade next to us had simply pulled out, for no apparent reason, and gone home. Of course you never realize just what's going on on a battlefield, but I was chief battalion runner and got a better idea than most of the men.
"With our flank in the air, the enemy—that is to say, the enemy of the army in which I was ostensibly serving—wasted no time, and we had to fall back on the Sungari. We dug in in some marshy ground on the inside of a bend in the river, and waited. Our battalion had only four officers left, a captain Ishii and three lieutenants. We sat in the mud for three days, and ran out of most of our ammunition and all of our food."
The 'phone rang for the Admiral. When he finished listening, he said with a broad grin, "The Brazilian Army has asked for an armistice. Told you something was going to pop. Go on, Okuma."
"As I was saying, we sat there, with Captain Ishii trying by radio to get something done about our precarious position. Finally Headquarters announced that they were sending some 'planes over to drop supplies, and asked our exact location, which was given.
"Pretty soon the airplanes appeared, but instead of supplies a bomb came whooshing down, and we scuttled for our holes like a lot of prairie-dogs. The 'planes dropped three more before the Captain, by frantically waving a Japanese flag, got their attention.
"I could guess what had happened: a capsule had been influencing the operator at headquarters, and he, when given the position of our battalion, had reported it as that of a group of the enemy: The bombs hadn't done much damage because of the softness of the ground, but I still felt that the capsules were working a little too well for my comfort. Having been brought up in this country, I haven't quite the fatalistic attitude about death that a true Japanese possesses.
"After the 'planes had gone, and Captain Ishii had protested loudly into his radio, an amphibian supply-carrier appeared across the river, splashed into it, and puttered over. It crawled out on its tracks, and the driver hove out four large boxes. 'These, Sir, ' he said to Ishii, 'Are your food and ammunition. '
"Ishii looked puzzled. 'Why are the boxes marked, "Woolen Mittens"?, ' he asked.
"The driver answered, 'The Honorable Headquarters did not inform me, Sir, ' and drove his machine back the way it had come.
"We hacked open the boxes in a hurry, I can tell you. You can imagine the feelings of those soldiers when the first was full of—woolen mittens. The second and third were likewise.
"Captain Ishii said in a strangled voice, 'Open the remaining box! ' We did, and it contained -woolen mittens.
"Just then Captain Ishii spotted Sergeant Wada reading one of the innumerable propaganda leaflets with which the Russian 'planes had showered us. 'Sergeant! ' he barked, 'I thought I told you not to read those again? '
"The sergeant just looked at him, and said 'Sure you did, but I didn't promise not to. '
"Ishii looked as though he were going to have apoplexy. Not only was the sergeant being insubordinate, but he was using the forbidden Fourth Inflexion. The Japanese language has four inflections implying different degrees of politeness; ordinarily officers use the contemptuous Fourth to enlisted men, and enlisted men use the respectful Second to officers. The sergeant's use of the Fourth was a mortal insult.
"Sergeant Wada went on: 'Furthermore, I'll do as I damn please. You and the rest of the officers have been fooling us long enough. You've given us every reason to believe that these Russians'—here he waved the paper— 'are right after all, when they say that all this talk about the divinity of the Emperor and the glory of the Empire is just a racket. In war you expect people in authority to lie, especially to the enemy and to the masses on their own side. But the members of our High Command lie not only to us, but to each other as well. That bombing this morning, and these mittens, aren't the first of such happenings, but as far as I'm concerned they'll be the last. Nobody in his right mind wants to fight for such crazy people. Who's with me? '
"Ishii whipped out his big old samurai sword and started for Wada, but a big gun went off and the Captain fell with his face in a puddle. We were astonished to see that Lieutenant Tatsuta had killed him. But then, these lieutenants were all pretty fresh from the ranks. The shortage of officers had made it necessary to promote them in a hurry, and they couldn't be expected to take the samurai code as seriously as the military-academy products.
"Tatsuta said to Wada, 'I'm with you; I think you're right. How about you, Kanzaki? ' speaking to one of the other two lieutenants.
"Kanzaki said, 'The samurai code leaves me but one course, ' and before anybody could move he had pulled his pistol and blown his brains out.
" 'You, Ichikawa? ' said Tatsuta to the remaining looey, a nervous little rabbity man. Ichikawa answered, 'We-ell, I suppose I really ought to kill myself too. But a lot of queer things have been happening, and if it should turn out that Wada is right, and the samurai code is actually the bunk, I'd have killed myself for no good reason. And if it transpires that Wada is wrong, it will always be easy enough to kill myself when that time comes. So I think I'll go with you boys for a while and see what happens. '
"We hoisted a white flag, and pretty soon a tank rattled over the nearest rise and up to the edge of the soft ground. A man in a Russian uniform got out and asked us in a strong Mongol accent who was in command.
"THAT was embarrassing, because obviously Sergeant Wada was the commander de facto, and Lieutenant Tatsuta was the commander de jure. They began arguing about it, bowing and hissing politely through their teeth, but the Mongol officer said to skip it, and ordered us to fall in. As we started to march away, one little private asked the Mongol if he was going to have us killed. The officer just grinned, and said 'Why should we? You'll all be good Communists by the time we get through with you! ' "
The 'phone rang again. When the Admiral had finished listening this time, he was fairly bursting."Poland has quit! In Italy they've set up something called a co-operative republic, though how co-operative and how republican it is remains to be seen. Von Freygang has killed himself. The King of the South Slavs fled from his palace in his pajamas, and when last seen was pulling his pants on in the cabin of his private 'plane just before it took off." He paused for breath. While he was getting it, I suggested getting our celebrating in early, before the streets became packed. He said "Sure, sure! But we'd better bring along the man who really did this—you know, the brain guy, Hoyle." So he called the psychologist, and we picked up him and his wife on our way to the hotel.
The steak wasn't up to my idea of a celebration steak, but meat prices were still astronomical as a result of war rationing. We drank enough cocktails so that all the food tasted pretty good whether it was or not, and the Admiral said to Hoyle: "Hasbrook here has been asking me leading questions ever since I had you up to his place, trying to find how your capsule works. I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell him now, especially as he's the most discreet man I know, except maybe Okuma here, damn it."
Hoyle brought his eyes slowly back into focus."Capsule?" he said vaguely."Oh, yes, that's what you call my transmitter." He gazed into space for a moment.