Kirby saluted and a weary smile came to his lips. “Kirby reporting for active duty, sir,” he said.
“Sit down. Active duty, my eye. You have to be fed and get some rest.” He leaned forward. “Tell me, how did you get back?”
Kirby seated himself. “I hit silk and floated into a clearing. It turned out I had landed on a field where a fellow keeps his elephants. Before I could get untangled a lot of brown men were on me.”
Stan grinned widely. He knew just what had happened to Kirby.
“They dumped me into a stockade along with a lot of Thailanders. I crawled through a hole I made in the stockade, borrowed a gun from one of the guards, and came home.” Kirby took a deep breath. “And am I glad to be here!”
“Good work,” Stan said. “I’ll have a ship for you as soon as you are rested.”
“I met a friend of yours,” Kirby said. “She had been tossed into the stockade for helping you get away. It seems her number is up. She’s to be shot.”
“Yes,” Kirby answered and his smile changed to a frown. “That rat, Munson, came out to the stockade several times. He sentenced me to be shot and the way he talked to that girl made me want to get my hands on him. I think he’s just holding her there to torture her. He blames her for upsetting all of his slick plans.”
Stan’s lips pulled into a tight line. He sat very straight behind his desk and there was an icy gleam in his eyes.
“Thanks, Major Kirby,” he said. “Now run along and get some rest. I have some important work to do.”
Kirby got to his feet and saluted. “I’ll be ready for combat duty tomorrow, sir,” he said.
“You will not. Now get out,” Stan said gruffly.
He watched Kirby walk wearily out of the door. He was not seeing the slender boy, he was seeing instead a slender girl bending toward him, whispering a single word, “dacoit.” He stood for a long time studying the map on his wall. It was an accurate map of the area, and the temple and the Japanese base were well outlined on it.
Taking the map from the wall he folded it and shoved it into his pocket. He went across to the barracks to Kirby’s room. Kirby was already half-asleep, lying fully dressed across his bunk.
“No trouble at all, sir,” Kirby said as he sat up.
Stan spread the map on the bunk. “Can you mark the location of that stockade on this map? If you remember any other landmarks, I’d like to have them, too.”