For a moment, Hauman seemed to be thrown off by the careless phrase—(did he actually regard it as “profane”?)—but he recovered himself. “They don’t give a darn what happens to them, sir, if that’s what you mean. Not a darn. They never let themselves be taken alive, if you understand me.” He gave a laugh so hearty and good natured that Grandin had to think back on what had been said in order to understand; for to him, there seemed no connection whatever between the laugh and its cause. “I suppose you read in the papers that the Marines don’t take many prisoners? Well, that’s more our fault than it is theirs!” He laughed again.

“I often wonder,” Grandin said, “how you fellows stand it.”

“You people back home, sir, you read too many books. Most of the boys don’t mind it any more than a Boy Scout hike.” Pleased that he had at last caught the interest of the man whom he regarded as his wife’s professor, he moved restlessly on the edge of his chair and leaned forward enthusiastically. “Say,” he went on, “you’ve read these stories about how the Japs put up a white flag, sir? Then we advance, thinking the rascals have surrendered. But when we get within range, they shoot us down like— You’ve read stories like that, sir?”

Inwardly, Grandin shuddered. “We have indeed.”

Pleased, the Captain gave a short sharp laugh. “Heck, that’s nothing. We do the same thing ourselves!”

The shudder had been premature. Looking into that boyish smiling face, which spoke so amiably, so cheerfully, of bloodshed, a chill went down Grandin’s spine. Involuntarily he exchanged a glance with Ethel.

Hauman caught the fleeting alarm and hurried on, gleefully, to reassure them. “We have to, sir. If we hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now. There aren’t any rules out there—can’t be. Why heck, those rascals wouldn’t stop at anything—anything! So we give them as good as we get.” The charming smile seemed all the more disarming for being, under the circumstance, so ill timed. “A lot better too, if you ask me!”

“Cliff and I are going to rent bicycles and really get some exercise,” Billie said, “aren’t we, Cliff?”

“Sure are,” he said, and his smile warmed them all. “Got to work off some of this excess fat I’ve been piling on, lying around for so many months doing nothing.”