“I must’ve blacked out,” he muttered. “Childish thing to do.” A frown creased his forehead. “I must’ve had a nightmare. I can still hear something ringing in my ears like a lion’s roar.”
He crawled slowly to his feet and glanced around.
“Just nerves, I guess,” he muttered. “There’s probably not a lion within a hundred miles.”
Jing glanced at Tink and smiled. The lieutenant returned to the plane and came out a few minutes later, carrying Red’s unconscious form. He stretched the young cameraman on the ground in the shade of the plane and loosened the tight collar. While he was holding a canteen of water to Red’s lips the cameraman stirred and shook his head weakly from side to side. The water trickled down his neck.
“What’s the idea?” he said, his voice a feeble whisper. But there was a faint grin at the edges of his pain-stiffened mouth.
“How do you feel?” the lieutenant asked quietly.
“Not so hot. I’d be better if you’d stop trying to drown me.”
The lieutenant smiled. “Just saving you the bother of your Saturday night bath, that’s all.”
Red glanced around the clearing. “Let’s cut the comedy,” he said. “Do we have any chance of getting out of here? Don’t soften the blow. If we’re sunk I can take it.”
The lieutenant shrugged. “Can’t say, yet. We may be within range of allied reconnaissance planes. If so, we’ve got a fair chance of being spotted and picked up.”
“Doesn’t sound too good to me,” Red said. “That ‘if’ is a little too large. Now, how about my leg?”
“Is it bothering you much?”
Red grinned whitely.
“Not much.”
“I can set it,” the lieutenant said. “And a couple of these saplings around here will make fine splints. So you haven’t got a thing to worry about.”
“Wonderful,” Red said. “And how much food and water have we got.”
“Plenty,” the lieutenant said. “Anyway,” he added wryly, “we’ve got some.”
“Fine,” Red said. “Imagine! I thought we were in a tough spot and it turns out to be a flyer’s Valhalla. Better get busy on this leg, Doctor. I’ve got a date with a blonde tonight.”
“Right away,” the lieutenant said.
The two leprechauns had crept close to listen, and now Jing turned worriedly to Tink and said, “We’ve got to do something to help these poor men. They won’t be able to stand it here more than a few days.”
“That’s right,” Tink said, “but I don’t know what to do. Do you think we could find our way to an allied air field?” He shook his head and answered his own question. “No, that wouldn’t work.”
“How long do you think they can last here?” Jing asked.
Tink looked up at the sky and shook his head.
“I don’t know,” he said moodily. “Well, we simply can’t disappoint that poor girl,” Jing said heatedly. “She’s expecting her lieutenant back and I intend to see that he gets back!”
But four days later, Jing’s confident resolve was fading with each passing hour. On the first day, an allied plane had flown overhead, but apparently the pilot hadn’t seen the lieutenant’s frantic signaling. Two days had passed since then, and there was no evidence of any rescue party.
“Oh, Tink,” Jing said desperately, “we simply must do something!”
“But what?” Tink said. He glanced across the clearing to the small lean-to which the lieutenant had built for Red. The cameraman was resting fairly comfortably in its shade, his splinted leg propped up on a pillow of moss. But the food and water situation was becoming critical. Tink knew that the lieutenant hadn’t been eating or drinking his share of the rations, but had given them to Red. Still there was only a crumb or two and a few drops of water left.
It was evening of the fourth day when they heard the sudden, out-of-place sound of a motor reverberating through the drowsy stillness of the jungle. And a few minutes later, they could hear the dry crackle of underbrush and the bouncing, jogging noise of a truck as it plodded its way through the tangled trail.
The lieutenant appeared at the door of the plane, his face alight with hope. Red crawled out of his lean-to and waved joyfully at him.
“Pack my grips,” he yelled. “I think I’m checking out of this hotel.”
A second later, the underbrush parted and the hood of a gray truck broke into the clearing. The truck stopped and the powerful cough of the motor faded into silence. A slim figure under a crash helmet slid from behind the wheel and dropped to the ground.
“Hello there, Lieutenant Diggles,” a light voice called.
The lieutenant was staring at the slim driver with dazed, incredulous eyes.
“It’s a mirage,” he said hoarsely. “If I shut ray eyes it’ll go away.”
“No it won’t. The air corps maintenance is a lot more substantial than you think,” the light, clear voice said.
The driver pulled off the huge, cowled crash helmet and lustrous dark hair fell down in long waves. A pair of smiling eyes laughed at the lieutenant.
“Ann Masterson at your service, Lieutenant Diggles,” the overalled driver said.
Chapter V
Jing smiled happily as the lieutenant vaulted from the door of the plane and ran across the clearing to the girl’s side.
“Darling!” he cried. “I can’t believe it’s really you.”
He took her in his arms and kissed her impulsively.
Ann put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him slightly away.
“That should convince you,” she laughed.
Red whistled approvingly.
“Lady,” he yelled, “I don’t believe in you, either. Come on over here and convince these poor old eyes of mine.”
“And he doesn’t mean eyes,” the lieutenant said. He grinned and shook her gently. “Come on now, honey, give! How’d you get here?”
“It’s very simple,” Ann said. “The day after you left I received my orders, transferring me to an allied air base here in Tunisia. This was my first job. One of our reconnaissance planes spotted you two days ago and I was sent out with supplies and equipment. Our base is only about twenty-five miles from here, but I was the only one there the colonel could spare for this trip. It wasn’t a bit dangerous, because all of this territory is controlled by the Allies and we have the entire region under constant aerial reconnaissance.
I’ve been in radio contact with the base since I left this morning, so they know I found you.”
She glanced at the plane with competent, experienced eyes.
“How are the chances of flying out?”
“Fair,” the lieutenant said. “Provided you brought along the right parts, I can do the repairs.”
“If it’s a chance,” the girl said, “I won’t take it. I can pile you all in the truck and have you back at the base in eight hours.”
The lieutenant glanced in Red’s direction and then lowered his voice.
“We’ll have to fly him out,” he said. “He couldn’t stand eight hours bouncing around in the back of a truck.”
“I heard that,” Red suddenly cried belligerently, “and it’s a lot of nonsense. I’m not going to risk everybody’s neck just so I can be flown out of here on a rubber mattress. We’ll go back in the truck.”
“We’ll go back as I see fit,” the lieutenant snapped. “I’m in command here.”
“I’m sure I’ve got everything you’ll need,” the girl said. “But I don’t know if I’ve got enough gas. I’ve got some, but it will be barely enough to get us from here to the base if we take the plane.”
“Well, that’s all we need,” the lieutenant said.