He poured coffee into the cup, then sniffed it, then took a sip. It was so hot, it burned his lips. He added cream and a lump of sugar and stirred, then took another sip.
He put another chocolate-chip cookie in his mouth all at once, and then dipped a third into the coffee with cream and sugar.
The curtain opened again as Weston mopped up the juice from the steak with a piece of toast.
It was the officer who had given him permission to come aboard. Weston now saw the golden oak leaves of a lieutenant commander on his collar points and started to rise, as officers of the Naval Service do in the presence of a superior officer.
"Keep your seat," the lieutenant commander said. "Cookie take care of you all right? Is there anything else we can get you?"
Weston shook his head, no, and then said, "Thank you."
"I'm Warren Houser. I'm the skipper."
"Captain Weston, Sir," Weston said. "No-Lieutenant Weston, Sir."
"Which is it, Mr. Weston?" Houser said gently, smiling, offering his hand.
"Captain, U.S. Forces in the Philippines, Sir. First Lieutenant, USMC."
"Welcome aboard the Sunfish, Captain."
"Thank you, Sir. What's happening now, Sir?"
"We're discharging cargo."
"Captain, if the Japs don't know you're here, they will shortly. A Jap patrol was on the beach just before the first rubber boat landed. I killed them, but someone's going to wonder where they are, and probably right about now."
"Well, we've come a long way with this stuff, and we'd like to discharge it. I understand you've had a supply problem."
"We haven't had any supplies at all," Weston said simply.
"So we heard," Captain Houser said, and then changed the subject. "As soon as we're finished here, we're going to Espiritu Santo."
"Where, Sir?"
"It's an island. Sort of a forward base. From there, I expect you'll be flown to Australia."
"Yes, Sir."
"If you don't want anything else to eat, may I suggest a shower and a shave? And we'll find some khakis for you. I want to get back to the bridge, so if you'll excuse me, we'll continue our conversation once we're under way. My officers are pretty damned curious."
"I think I'll keep the beard," Weston said. "Lieutenant McCoy said I wasn't to shave it off until General Pickering saw it."
"From what I've seen of him, it would behoove you to do what Lieutenant McCoy told you."
"May I have another cup of coffee? I seem to have drunk all..."
"You can have anything on the Sunfish, Captain Weston," Lieutenant Commander Houser said, and rang for the messman.
[FIVE]
Approximately 30 miles south of Boston
Davao Oriental Province
Mindanao, Commonwealth of the Philippines
0745 Hours 24 December 1942
Lieutenant Chambers D. Lewis, USN, and First Lieutenant Kenneth R. McCoy, USMCR, were standing just inside the vegetation on the shore. McCoy was holding a carbine, the butt resting on his hip. Lewis had a carbine slung from his shoulder.
The Sunfish lay about two hundred yards offshore, her 4.2 cannon and an-tiaircraft machine guns manned, her colors now hanging limply from the conning-tower mast. She had surfaced just over two hours before.
After McCoy made the decision-feeling the weight of it lying heavily on his shoulders-to take the chance that Everly and Zimmerman could find the Japanese truck-if in fact there was a truck-and get rid of it, there was hectic activity.
Four additional rubber boats were inflated and launched, and manned by sailors-there was no shortage of volunteers from among the Sunfish's crew. They began to ferry plastic-wrapped parcels ashore.
After the first two boats were manhandled back into the water-the surf had diminished since daybreak-they were paddled back to the submarine. The next four boats from the Sunfish didn't reach the beach. Their plastic-wrapped parcels were put over the side, and one of the two paddlers went into the water with them. The remaining paddlers paddled the now empty boats back to the Sunfish.
That process was repeated four times, so that eventually ten sailors were on the beach or else standing in waist-high water unloading the boats and mov-ing the cargo inland.
It was a far more efficient means to off-load the cargo than they'd been using, but it had not occurred to anyone during the practice sessions in Aus-tralia. The idea was Lieutenant Lewis's. After he proposed it, McCoy went along with it, somewhat cold-bloodedly deciding that if the Japanese came submarine hunting with a destroyer, it really wouldn't make a difference whether the Sunfish sailors died aboard the submarine or ferrying cargo ashore. He had not really expected they would off-load all the supplies they had brought with them, and now that there was a chance to do that, risking the sailors' lives seemed justifiable.
After they started unloading, one of the sailors, a chubby cook, politely suggested to McCoy that he just let the Navy unload the boats and save his strength. McCoy accepted the offer, wondering whether he agreed to do that because it was the militarily wise thing, or because he would rather have some-one else work up a major sweat in the heat and humidity.
He also ordered Koffler to get into the shade and save his strength. As soon as Everly returned-if Everly returned-Koffler was going to have to look for Everly's motorcycle, and then start out to find Fertig. He would need all his strength for that.
How to get everything to Fertig-wherever Fertig was-was going to be a problem, but that could be worried about later. The important thing now was to move the supplies off the beach and into the jungle where the Japanese would be unlikely to find them.
Forty minutes later, Everly came out of the jungle, hopping with surprising speed with the aid of a tree branch used as a crutch. He had both the carbine and an Arisaka rifle slung over his shoulder.
"Found it," he said. "We lucked out. All there was was a sergeant and the driver. Zimmerman cut their throats."
"Where is he?"
"He took the truck south."
"How's he going to get back here?"
"He's only going to take it two miles," he said. "He said that's far enough. Then he's coming back here."
"What's this?" McCoy asked, tapping the stock of the Arisaka. "A sou-venir?"
"Until you showed up, McCoy, we got our weapons from the Japs."
"OK. The thing to do now is get Koffler and his radio to Fertig. Can you find your motorcycle?"
"Yeah."
"Koffler!" McCoy called, raising his voice, and Koffler came running up.
The sweat had erased much of the black whatever-it-was that he had had on his face when Everly first saw him. Now he looked even younger.
"Go with Everly, Steve. You know what to do," McCoy said.
"Aye, aye, Sir."
Having completed their final trip to the beach, two of the rubber boats were almost back to the Sunfish, carrying with them members of the shore labor party. Before wading a final time into the surf, each of them had shaken hands with the landing party.
The third boat has halfway between shore and the submarine. The fourth had two sailors in it; a third sailor, in chest-deep water, was holding it for Lewis to wade out to it.