Gardella 13

13   Crossing the plain we began to see walled villages with the dark rich green of fields & trees around them.  Great numbers of people were hard at work paying us only casual notice as we galloped past.  Finally we came in sight of our main group.  The reunion with them didn't last long; soon the order came to split up into two groups.  "We are too many, too noticeable," the Dragon Lady told Scotty.  "You & Charlie will take one group; I shall take another."   Gunny, Audy, Nancy & I were to go with her; we'd take some of her people & half the Mongols to make up a force of fifty.  Scotty & Charlie were to form an equal force out of the other twenty Mongols & the rest of the Dragon Lady's people.  She explained to Scotty & Charlie where we'd meet again, outlining what she thought was the best route to follow.   Looking over my shoulder as we took off I could see the others disappear into the haze & I had to wonder whether I'd see them again.  After a few miles there were new orders.  "We shall be passing many people," the Dragon Lady said.  "We shall travel in single file keeping twenty yards between.  Do not pay any special notice to the people you pass.  Act as if you were one of them.  If anyone questions you, don't answer.  Just keep your head down.  I or one of the others will answer for you."   Though this was the country with the largest population in the world we hadn't seen very many people thus far.  But the more of them we met now the greater the chance that something could go wrong & interfere with our chances of reaching the coast.  We were proceeding slowly & although I could understand why we didn't dare act like fugitives on the run, the pretending to be casual with the hat low over my face was beginning to be a strain.  I couldn't help thinking about what would happen if anyone got a close look at the blond blue-eyed boy from Massachusetts underneath the disguise.  I tried to hypnotize myself into staying clam by concentrating on the steps of my horse.   People & wagons were all around us now.  The rice paddies appeared more frequently & often we would cross a bridge over one of the streams that watered them.  Suddenly we were being led off toward a village with a high stone wall around it.  When we reached the gate the Dragon Lady spoke to an old man who was acting as a sort of gatekeeper & he motioned for us to go in.  As we filed through what struck me was the number of people swarming inside those walls.  After we had dismounted the Dragon Lady spoke with a villager & then said to Gunny & me, "Go with him; you will change clothes, then we shall have to leave; quickly."  In answer to a question from Gunny she explained, "You are wearing Communist clothes.  I don't like to wear those; do you?"  "No sir!" Gunny said, "I mean, no ma'am!"  Her face eased into a grin.  "Five minutes."   Following the villager into a hut Gunny & I were given clothes in the Mongolian style though less heavy than the ones we'd seen in the north.  We got into them quickly.  Outside we found the Dragon Lady who had also changed her clothes already mounted & waiting for us.  "Why have you taken so long?" she asked good-naturedly, & we had been so tense until then that we all laughed.   Once we were on the road again I noticed that the people who passed would glance at us & then look away quickly.  The Dragon Lady told us that all the Chinese whether Communist or non-Communist were afraid of the Mongols, & I could believe that it must be so.   By now we were continually crossing bridges, many of them spanning canals with dikes on each side.  The plain was so low that without the dikes it would have been flooded.  After we had been traveling for awhile we came to a halt.  Up ahead a group of Communist soldiers appeared to have gotten out of a truck & rounded up a group of about fifty people.  When the Dragon Lady started around the truck a soldier who looked like an officer shouted something to her.  She answered & waited calmly as he approached, with a kind of leer on his face.  After another exchange he reached out to touch her arm & now his grin was really ugly.  She pulled back her arm as she answered him & in the same moment the Mongol lieutenant pulled up alongside her at an angle that allowed me to see what happened next, though I was twenty yards away.  The Mongol riveted the soldier with his powerful stare whose effect I knew about from my own experience.  I watched the soldier's hand fall away from the Dragon Lady's arm as he took a step back.  Then calling out something harsh, as though to save face, he waved us on.  We passed the soldiers one by one looking straight ahead.  I was so anxious that it wasn't until we'd gone a hundred yards that I risked a peek over my shoulder to make sure we'd all been allowed to pass.   Some time later the Dragon Lady dropped back alongside me to say that we would soon be stopping at a village & that she thought we would leave the horses there.  When I asked why she said, "They make us too noticeable.  But there is a chance we can keep them; we shall see later."  "Do you know people there?" I asked.  She said she did & I asked, "How is it you know everybody everywhere?  You seem so young to have met so many people!"   She shrugged & I said, "How old are you?"  She gave me a stare that ended in a smile.  "I told you; very old & wise."  "Okay," I said, "but let me ask you something else.  In Peking--those prisoners--"  "Yes, those prisoners were American & we could understand the way you felt.  But you were putting all of us in danger.  So--"  She gestured with her head toward the Mongol lieutenant.  "He hit you; I told him to do it."   I nodded but I must have looked as unhappy as I felt, because she now went on, "You must understand that he has vowed to protect you with his life to make sure you reach the water & then go to an American ship.  He made a promise, Khan, & he will keep it."   She pointed to the right.  "We must go that way across the fields there.  The village is not far now."  We left the road & were soon moving at a fast pace between ricefields where people were at work.  The stone wall of the village came into view & then we were reining up at the entrance.  while we dismounted a group of people came out to meet us.  After the Dragon Lady had spoken with them briefly several of them took our horses & we went in on foot.  Once again I was struck by the density of the population.  The whole area was small but with hundreds of people packed into it.  "Are the villages always this crowded?" I asked her.   "Yes, all very crowded," she replied.  At a word from her the Mongol lieutenant spoke to his men & in a moment they had fanned out & were mingling with the villagers.  A figure now came toward us who had the look of a headman if I ever saw one.  After a few words with the Dragon Lady, who pointed to Gunny & me as she answered him, the man strode up & made us welcome.  Our little party--the Dragon Lady, Nancy, Gunny, Audy & I--followed him to the far side of the village where he led us to a house that I suppose was his.  It had just three rooms & in one of them at least fifteen people sat in a circle.  They had been eating, but now they all got to their feet & bowed to us.  We bowed back & then the headman motioned for us to sit down with them.  We were given rice & maize which we ate without speaking while the chief & the Dragon Lady talked quietly.   When the food was gone the people all bowed their heads & began a kind of mumble.  I looked over at Gunny & saw that he was just as puzzled as I--until the Dragon Lady caught my eye & then bowed her own head.  I realized then that the mumbling was a prayer.  As Gunny & I sat there with our heads bowed nobody had more to pray for than we did.  After that the Chinese people began chatting among themselves.  One young fellow who must have been about my own age insisted on talking to me.  The Dragon Lady, noticing, slid closer & explained, "He wants to know if you are American."  "What will you tell him?"  "What do you want me to tell him?"  "Do you trust him?"  "He is my cousin & I trust him."   She turned & addressed the young man who was still looking at Gunny & me as though we were the main attraction in a museum.  He went on talking with the Dragon Lady but every now & then he would begin looking at us again.  Soon I could hardly hold my head up & I asked Gunny if he was as tired as I was.  "More so," he said.   I turned to the Dragon Lady with a motion to let her see how sleepy I was.  "You come with me," she said & walked us all to another room where there were several mats on the floor.  "You sleep here," she said.  "Don't say another word," Gunny told her & in an instant he had flopped down on a mat.  I looked at Nancy thinking she would be sent to another room to sleep.  But she declared, "I sleep here."  "How about you?" I asked the Dragon Lady.  "I shall sleep here too."  Audy said with a laugh, "& I'll sleep here too!"   I suppose the Dragon Lady was still amused by my modesty.  But what was really on my mind just then was how five of us would find floorspace in a room that must have been no more than six by four feet.  I didn't wait to learn how it could be done; I was so exhausted that I was no sooner on a mat than I was sound asleep.  I woke in the dark to a faint flicker of light from the fire in the next room.  Nancy & Audy were still asleep but I found Gunny & the Dragon Lady sitting by the fire in the other room eating rice & talking.  They looked up as I came in & I asked what time it was.   "The middle of the night," the Dragon Lady said.  "What are you two talking about?" I asked them, & Gunny said, "Business."  I thought he looked a little uncomfortable.  "What kind of business could that be?" I said, "in the middle of the night?"  "Well, mainly what's going to happen in the future."  I said, "What future is that?  Is there anything to make you think there even is a future for guys like you & me?"  The Dragon Lady said, "You should not think that way."   "I'll tell you what I think," I burst out, "I think my future ended back in that tunnel.  Back there I had no thought of ever getting out alive.  From then on every minute I've lived has been a bonus--one minute more that I didn't dare expect."  Gunny nodded, looking somber.  But then he said, "Well, dammit, you did get out of there; that's what counts now."  "No," I said, "what counts is that when I was in that tunnel I wrote myself off as dead.  Something came over me that made me lose all fear.  It wasn't that I suddenly became a hero or felt like Superman--nothing like that.  It's just that every minute, every day I get now is extra.  So I have not been making any longrange plans for any future!"  I was a little surprised at hearing myself say all this & I halfway wondered whether I really meant it.  But it was true that for days now I hadn't once seen myself back in America.  The place known as the future was nothing but a blank screen with nobody looking at it.   Gunny said, "For Christ's sake, smarten up, kid; you're gonna get out of here--that is, unless you go on thinking like that!"  "Gunny is right, Khan," the Dragon Lady said, "you must not think that way; we all care for you too much."  I shook my head & then shrugged.  "If there is a future for me, I won't throw it away."  Then I said, "But you never did say what the business was that you were talking about."  He laughed & then said, "Seriously-- "  "Seriously?" I grinned at him.  "You don't know what the word is.  But don't get me wrong, Gunny; I think you're one hell of a guy."  Once again what I was saying surprised me--but this time I knew I meant every word of it.  "Back in the States if you were a senior NCO & I was a snuff you might have treated me like shit.  All I know is that here you've never pulled rank on me.  Alot of people would have."  I stopped, feeling a little embarrassed by all that I felt.  The experiences we'd shared had brought us closer than anything else ever could have.  Those experiences weren't over yet & who knew where they would finally take us?   Gunny said, "Well, Rick, I'm pulling rank on you right now; rack out; we got a long way to go tomorrow & we got to be off early; I'm going back to sleep."  & he got to his feet & headed back to his mat.  "What about that business?" I said again.  "I'll tell you; only not now; now let's get some sleep."   In no time I'd dropped off again & when I woke next it was daylight.  Nancy appeared with plates of food for Gunny & Audy & me, & we'd just begun eating when the Dragon Lady came in.  I knew this meant there wasn't much time to finish our meal.  As soon as we had we went with her into the room where the Mongol lieutenant was sitting with two of his men.  They left after she'd talked with them briefly & then she said to us, "We shall take the horses; we do not yet have to leave them."   Just then there was a commotion outside the door.  We heard Audy's voice & he came in in a rush bringing Kim with him.  While the Dragon Lady spoke excitedly with her sister, Audy explained, "She came with some important news."  The two of them talked for some time & it seemed to me that I had never seen the Dragon Lady as she was now--almost rigid with anger.   "It seems that some of the people we killed in Peking were high government officials," she told us finally.  "Very high government officials."  She paused.  then she said to me, "Do you remember the man who came to the door with three others, the one who did not enter with them?"  Yes I remembered.  I'd seen how one man hesitated & then walked off--the decision that had saved his life.  She said glaring at me, "That man was Mao."  "Mao?" I repeated, "Mao Zedong?"  "Yes!"  She was almost spitting with rage.  I said, "I never really looked at him."   "& neither did I!"  She was almost shrieking.  "But if I had I would have given anything --I would even have spared Sing Yet-soo--to put an arrow into him!  Anything!  & now I shall never be so close again!"   I couldn't think of anything to say.  Getting back her self-control she went on, "As you can imagine, they are furious in Peking.  They are sending out troops over all the area to look for us.  but luckily they do not know which way we went.  So those troops must go in every direction."  She seemed to take some satisfaction in giving them that much trouble.  "But we're still in the middle of it," Gunny said.  "Yes," the Dragon Lady told him.  "That is why we must head south.  We must now split up."  "We're already split up," I reminded her.   "Not split enough," she said.  "We must now form at least six groups.  We shall head toward Loshan where I have friends & cross the Grand Canal.  We shall pass many many people, so we must be careful.  Until we meet at Loshan our six groups will be near each other.  But I must warn you:  we may have to change our direction at any time.  So the groups will be close enough that we can speak with each other every day."  I asked, "What about Scotty & his people?"   Before answering the Dragon Lady spoke to the Mongol lieutenant who nodded & went out.  Then she turned to Gunny & me.  "The lieutenant will send two men to warn Scotty & tell him to detour to meet us at Loshan.  If we can all reach that place safely we shall have a choice of routes to follow.  But I must warn you," she said again & her face & voice were as grave as I'd ever seen them.  "We can trust no one.  The Communists are determined to capture us.  Their spies are everywhere.  They have offered a large reward to anyone who captures us.  The trip to Loshan will be very dangerous."  "They can't outfox the fox," I said, trying to sound as though I believed it.   She did not smile at being called a fox but answered with a shrug, "We shall see.  Once we reach Loshan our chances will improve."  "Let's say we get to Loshan," I began, "& let's say we make it from there to the coast.  How are we going to contact the Americans?"  "We must find a transmitter; I think we shall do that without much difficulty."  I had one more question:  "What happens to Kim?"   After a word to her young sister, with both of them glancing at me, the Dragon Lady said, "She goes with us."  Then as though anticipating what I was thinking about the danger, she went on, "When I was her age I wanted the same thing--not to be left out."  Kim said something now & the Dragon Lady translated:  "She has something to give you--something that belonged to our parents.  She wants you to have it."  While I stared Kim put into my hand a set of rosary beads made of greenish jade with a handcarved ivory cross.   "They're beautiful!" I said, putting my arms around Kim.  She reached up & kissed me on the cheek & when I saw tears welling in her eyes I had to turn away or I would have been crying too.  I saw the Dragon Lady watching with a soft look that made her a totally different person from the one she had been only a few minutes before.  Now I put one arm around Kim & the other around the Dragon Lady & hugged them both at once.   But in a moment the thought of the commander came back into the Dragon Lady's face & I heard it in her voice:  "Now we shall divide into groups.  It would be best for you Americans to go separately.  So if one is caught the other will have a chance to get to the sea."  It was a sobering idea & I hated having to think of it.  I said looking at Gunny, "We're the only two left."  "Yeah," he said, "but she's right, Rick."  He turned to the Dragon Lady:  "Okay, so we split."   "Khan, Nancy, Kim, the lieutenant & one other Mongol will go with me.  Audy & Gunny will go with three Mongols.  Do not worry, Gunny, you will be in good hands." "I'm not worried about me, he said staring in my direction.  "Take care of the girls & don't go gung-ho on us; play it safe."  "Right," I said, "I'll take care of them; & no gung-ho."   Then the Dragon Lady began outlining our trip.  "From here we travel south.  We do not divide into groups until we reach the meeting of the Grand Canal & the Hwang Ho."  I asked how long it would take us to reach Loshan & she said, "Perhaps two days, perhaps a week."  She turned abruptly & shouted an order to someone who disappeared & came back with a leather bag.  From it the Dragon Lady pulled out two sets of binoculars-- one for Gunny & one for me.  The first set she'd given me had been lost in the fighting.   "A good thing that," Audy said.  "With the land so flat you can see a long way; spot a Commie from miles off."  "There is also another enemy out there," the Dragon Lady said, "this is the season of floods."  Audy confirmed this:  "The whole bloody area can go under water."  "But also the floods might work for us," she said.  "Now we go.  they are searching for us every minute."   Outside all of our people were waiting.  A number of villagers were standing by.  When the Dragon Lady said something to them, Audy explained, "She's telling them we are heading east."  "But aren't we heading south?"  "Quiet there, mate," he warned.   We mounted & we did start by heading east.  When we were a mile or so from the village two scouts dropped back as rear guards.  After we had passed a few more villages we took a route through the ride paddies that veered slightly to the south.  There was a halt when we reached a kind of basin where we waited for the scouts to appear.   "It is all right," the Dragon Lady told us finally.  "We are not being followed."  She appeared to read my thoughts about the friendly villagers.  "There are spies & informers--eyes & ears everywhere.  We cannot be too careful.  Soon there may be planes looking for us.  Now we must get back on the road & mingle with other people.  You two must keep your hats down low."   After riding due south for less than half a mile we came to a road that was simply a river of people--so many of them that we had to ride alongside.  After awhile we dismounted & walked our horses with the Dragon Lady in the lead.  I was right behind her, then came Kim, Nancy & the others strung out in a long line, our weapons hidden in baskets that had been secured to the backs of the horses.  Before long we began to see Communist soldiers standing by the road keeping a close watch on the people going in both directions.  The farther we went the more of them there were & the closer together what seemed to be checkpoints.  But the guards were only watching, not stopping anyone.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nancy working her way up to me.  "More Communists as we go south," she whispered.  "I can see," I told her, doing my best to keep my head down.  "You must get back in line."  I smiled from underneath the hat & could see her smile as she dropped behind me.   Over the next few miles there must have been a hundred soldiers stationed along the road.  They made me feel like a hunted animal.  While I tried to sneak past, unarmed, right under their noses, my heart pounded so hard that I halfway believed they would hear it.   It was midmorning by now & the flow of people along the road was thicker than ever.  I was surprised to see one of the Mongols mount his horse & leave the road, heading off towards a rice paddy.  Seeing that we were near a checkpoint I lowed my head.  Then I heard a commotion & up ahead I could just make out that the Mongol was being stopped by three soldiers who had begun interrogating him.  As I got closer I could hear the threat in their voices.  But the Mongol went on sitting astride his horse with his hands folded not saying a word.  I didn't know whether they thought he couldn't understand them or were afraid of him or just baffled.  But finally, looking annoyed, they waved him on.  My spirits had risen briefly at seeing the giant outwit the soldiers, but now they fell again at the thought of how noticeable the Mongols were; it seemed to me that the Communists had to connect them with our raids.  How many Mongols could there be in China at the moment who were giving trouble to the authorities?   As we rode I noticed that the soil was darker & richer than before.  This was river-bottom country with canals everywhere, all of them held in their channels by high dikes.  Toward early afternoon a light rain started to fall.  At the same time the weather was so much warmer that I took off all my extra clothes keeping on a long-sleeved shirt to hide the color of my skin.  I'd smeared dirt on my hands, neck & face.  But what mainly helped me at times when soldiers were within a couple of feet of me was simply the unbelievable numbers of people crowed along the roads--literally thousands of them.  It must have been that after awhile anyone trying to watch would be hypnotized by the sight of so many people passing.   Again & again I made out the walls of a village off to the side of the road with hundreds of people at work in the fields around it.  The rain became heavier & it felt so good that I would have loved to throw my head back & let it wash the grime & sweat from my face; but of course I didn't do any such thing.   The checkpoints now seemed farther apart & after awhile the Dragon Lady dropped back to tell Nancy & me, "After the next checkpoint we shall leave the road.  There is a village nearby where we can stop & rest for a time."  She veered off the road a little later & after riding less than a quarter of a mile we were in the midst of a huge soggy ricefield.  Keeping clear of the green rows while we sloshed through water we made our way across it & uphill onto a plain.  After a mile or so we came in sight of a village.  Before we got to the wall surrounding it the Dragon Lady signaled us to stop while she rode on ahead.  Hundreds of men, women & children were working in the fields & they gave us a curious glance now & then while we waited, not moving.  It must have been nearly an hour before she returned & signaled for us to enter.  During those final few hundred yards the wind was blowing & it began raining harder so I was all the happier at the thought of shelter.   The houses of the village, as those in the others we'd seen, were small & primitive--& just as packed with people.  I wondered how they could live jammed together that way.  Some of the Mongols took our horses & we went in on foot--Gunny & I still keeping our hats pulled low.  After what the Dragon Lady had told us about spies we could hardly feel relaxed.  The Mongols, always a little remote & wary, stayed outside the village with the horses & didn't mingle at all with the people of the village while we were led into a low-ceilinged hut & given food.  From the beginning, though, there had been some uneasiness in the air.  After a few moments I saw that the Dragon Lady & Audy were both agitated & soon she was saying that we must leave.  I asked what was the matter.  Audy answered my question  "The Communists have been really butchering people.  It's no good here.  The villagers are too bloody upset."   So we went out into the downpour.  Just as we were mounted & about to start off, three figures on horseback appeared in the distance heading straight for us.  They were all riding like madmen.  As they got closer I could see that one of them was a white man.  When he leaped from his horse he turned out to be at least as big as the Mongol lieutenant-- maybe six feet six & weighing as much as 250 pounds.   Two smaller figures wearing robes that covered them from head to toe sat on their horses while the big man walked toward us.  He was black-haired with dark eyes.  "& are you just going to sit there & stare all the day?" he asked with a grin that showed alot of very white teeth.  I guessed from his accent that he must be an Irishman--not Boston Irish but the real thing.  An M-1 rifle was slung over his shoulder & he carried two knives on his belt.   The Dragon Lady dismounted to meet him & several of the villagers came outside the walls again.  As soon as they headed back inside she was motioning for Gunny & me to follow her & soon we were back in the same hut as before.  The black-haired giant looked around & grinned again.  "O'Malley's the name, John O'Malley.  & whose company do I have the pleasure of on this hell of a fine day?"  We introduced ourselves & I went on wondering about his two small companions.  They were still engulfed in the robes they wore though they looked as though they must be soaked through.  Finally with a glance at them O'Malley said, "We have a bit of a problem."  When the two figures finally shed those wet outer clothes I saw what it was.  they were both women, Caucasian, & dressed in the garb of nuns.   While they stood there quietly shivering O"Malley said, "The Communists seem to have gone quite daft.  These two sisters are from a little church on the other side of the Grand Canal, four miles to the south.  A force of Communist soldiers came up the road shooting everything & everyone in sight.  They walked straight into the church firing.  I was in the back with a priest & the sisters.  When the priest ran out into the sanctuary they shot him.  I gathered up the two sisters here, got them onto horses & off we rode.  As we were leaving the soldiers were setting the church afire."   A couple of the villagers now took the nuns aside & gave them food.  They were Belgian, O"Malley told us; whether they didn't know English at all or were under some kind of vow of silence or were just in a state of shock I never found out.  For a moment the rest of us simply stood there no one saying anything until I thought to ask O"Malley where he had come from.  It was a second or two while he looked at me as though it was none of my business before he answered, "Burma."  "That is a very long way," the Dragon Lady said.  "What is your destination? "  O'Malley glared at her for a second.  Then he said, "You're a tiny thing.  If you stood sideways I might not even see you."  Though he sounded genial it was a brush-off & the Dragon Lady knew it.  "But I am not standing sideways," she retorted, "I am asking your destination. "   He let out a big laugh.  "No, you're not standing sideways, & I can see you.  Very well, I am heading for Indochina."  "Are you lost perhaps?" she asked.  "You are a very great distance out of your way."   He said, laughing even louder, "I came up here to go to church!"  Then he added, "No, I have to meet some friends first; then we will go south again; to help my countrymen in the fighting in Indochina."  The Dragon Lady stared.  "I did not know the Irish were fighting in Indochina!"   This time he nearly exploded with laughter.  "Sure & you'd be deaf not to hear the Irish in my voice.  But I was in the French Foreign Legion for fifteen years & now I'm heading for where the fighting is."  "& what about them?" I nodded toward the nuns.  they now sat in a corner eating rice, looking nowhere but down into their bowls.   "Oh, I'll manage.  We're only three, & we should be able to slip through.  The soldiers are busy looking for someone else."  He seemed to be thinking & his stare moved from the Dragon Lady to each one of us.  "It wouldn't be yourselves, I suppose?" he said then.  The Dragon Lady answered with another question.  "Have you seen many Communist soldiers?"   "Many?"  The whole road is a nest of them!"  Audy was now looking alarmed.  "What road did you say you were on?"  "I didn't, O'Malley said, still parrying.  Again he seemed to be thinking before he replied, "Just south of Tungping."   "That's the very same bloody road Scotty would be on," Audy said.  "If you have a friend on that road," O'Malley told him, "he'll be overrun."  The Dragon Lady now said, "Our schedule must be changed."  "Then you'd best hurry!" O'Malley told her.  "You've a long way to go & the mud will be so deep that horses will be of no use."   "Perhaps Scotty & his people will not be stopped," the Dragon Lady said quickly.  "We passed many Communist soldiers & we were not taken.  Scotty may not have been so lucky.  But if he has been taken we must try to help him.  With surprise & the weather even a small strike force, one of our size, could perhaps succeed.  If necessary we must be ready to try."  Audy, Gunny & I all readily agreed--though I couldn't help adding to myself, "But how?"   Then O'Malley said with a look at us, "I may as well go too."  "You have the sisters to care for," the Dragon Lady reminded him.  "Ah then if I'm killed," the big Irishman said, "you must agree to look after the sisters."  "Agreed," the Dragon Lady said.   O'Malley gave his flashing grin, shook hands with all of us & then reached into his pocket like a magician about to perform a trick.  What he brought out was an old battered tin flask.  Unscrewing the top he held it up & called out, "A toast for the battle to come!"  After a healthy swig he said "Ahhh," & passed the flask to Gunny.  "Whiskey?" Gunny asked.  "Homemade."  "It's been a long time," Gunny said & took a mouthful.  He swallowed, gasped & held out the flask to Audy who declined it.  then he offered it to me.   Although my experience with drinking was close to nil, I filled my mouth with the fiery stuff.  That was my first mistake.  Trying to swallow it all was my second.  I choked, gagged & spat all over the place trying to catch my breath while the whiskey made its way through my insides burning all the way.  "Have another, son," O'Malley said while Gunny tried to keep a straight face.  "Half of that one went on the floor."  When the laughter died down the Dragon Lady got back to business with a question to O'Malley:  "Tell us about the condition of the terrain between here & Tungping."   "Mud, as I said; getting worse all the time; we hardly made it ourselves.  I was sure our horses would break a leg.  Now it will be impossible; you'll not be riding there."  "How can we make any time without horses?" Gunny asked.  "I made it all the way from Burma without one," O'Malley told him.   Gunny said, taking on the challenge, "Well, hell, we came all the way from Manchuria & half of that was on foot!"  "Ah, saints preserve us, so you are the ones the Communists are after!" O'Malley declared.  I said to Gunny, "You sure know how to keep a secret!"   "Never mind, lad," O'Malley told me.  "It's hard to keep that kind of secret.  There are only a few of us foreigners in China & when you hear about a group of them causing trouble it's not too hard to figure out who it might be.  Believe me, your secret is safe with me!"  The Dragon Lady had been talking with several of the villagers who now brought out some skins.  "Get your weapons," she said, "& wrap them in these to keep them dry."   We went outside to follow her instructions & found a gale blowing.  Huts were swaying; here & there a roof had been torn off & the rain seemed to be driving at a forty-five degree angle to the ground.  Following the Mongols outside the village walls to where the horses were we retrieved our weapons from the baskets & took them back to the hut.  We found the nuns kneeling in prayer.  Almost without thinking I put down my machine gun & bandoliers & knelt down myself.  "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..."  I hardly knew where the words came from but there they were.  When I looked around the Dragon Lady, Gunny, Audy, Nancy & Kim were all kneeling too.  I had always believed in God & right now the time had come when it was comforting just to ask for a little outside help.   We got up & no one said anything for a moment or two.  Then as if there had been a signal we were all moving.  I slung the bandoliers & the binoculars over my shoulder again, checked my weapon & wrapped it in the skins I'd been given.  The Dragon Lady was saying, "Nancy, I should like you to take Kim, the two sisters & some of our men to a place where we shall meet you.  It will be difficult, for you will not be able to travel on the roads; you will have to cross the plain which is like a marsh in this weather.  You will have to take great care."   She paused & looked for a second at Nancy.  "If we are late," she said, "--if we do not come to the place by the right time then the Mongols will lead you back to the mountains.  You must not wait longer than the time I shall tell you."  "No!" Nancy said.  It was as though the word leaped out of her.  "We wait; we do not leave without you."  "Nancy!" the Dragon Lady answered sternly.  "You will not wait one minute past the time I tell you.  Every minute is a danger to the people with you.  You must promise!"   Tears broke from the girl's eyes & rolled down her face.  She stared at the Dragon Lady & then at me.  I walked over to her, put my hands on her fragile shoulders & said gently, "We're going to be there, don't worry; but you must promise."  She went on looking at the two of us.  At last she said, "I promise," & added, "Please be there!"   I could hardly keep the tears out of my own eyes.  While I turned & walked away, the Dragon Lady put an arm around Nancy & walked with her, telling her in Chinese exactly where & when we were to meet.  & then once again it was time to go.   In a couple of minutes we stood outside the village wall in the pelting rain watching while Nancy & her group veered off to the right & vanished into the storm.  Then we had to concentrate on our own journey.  The mud gave us trouble almost from the first step.  At best it didn't quite reach our ankles; at worst we were sucked in up to the knees all the time struggling to keep upright in the face of the wind.  Adding to our exhaustion was the fact that it was now getting dark.  Soon the mud was an intimate addition to our clothes & it kept working its way through to the skin.  I'd wrapped my machine gun as carefully as possible but I worried about how I was going to check it before firing if I ever had to.   Darkness came fast & we slogged on bunched close together so as not to lose each other.  There was almost no visibility.   Even in all that rain I was sweating like a pig.  When I stopped for a drink of water I got a dose of mud along with it.  finally the Dragon Lady held up her hand for a stop & we gathered into a single group.  There were about thirty of us now.  She told us that the Grand Canal was just ahead.  "Scotty had to cross the canal here," she told us, "where it meets the Hwang Ho.  So we shall cross.  We shall take the road he took & we shall catch his group very soon, I hope."   We resumed our plodding for about half a mile.  Then we were at the canal & again she was signaling a stop.  She & the Mongol lieutenant went off to make a reconnaissance, leaving the rest of us there to rest.  I looked over at O'Malley who was so quiet that he might have been in a trance.  Gunny, noticing it too, shook him & said, "Hey Irish, snap out of it!"  But O'Malley only said, "Things are not going right.  When they are I'll be the first to tell you; but now they're not."  Gunny asked what he was talking about & after another couple of moments his eyes seemed to focus.  "Now," I said, "tell us what the hell you were talking about."  "Talking?  Was I talking?  What did I say?" O"Malley asked.  "Alot of bullshit," Gunny told him.   "So I was, so I was, I suppose," O'Malley said.  None of us was satisfied with that but we all settled down to wait for the Dragon Lady.  About ten minutes later she was back.     "There is a big bridge up ahead," she told us, "but it is guarded; so we shall walk under it."  Gunny asked how we were going to do that--by walking on water?  I was glad he had begun asking the dumb questions.  "Yes," she answered with a laugh.  "You will see; there is a footbridge along the abutments at the level of the water; we shall walk on that."   What she called a footbridge was hardly even that.  It had no rail, it was narrow & slippery & in places it was actually under the water of the canal which was turbulent with flooding from the storm.  But there was nothing to do except follow her watching our footing as we moved in single file along those swaying planks with nothing to hold onto except the pilings of the bridge.  These were spaced about ten feet apart & what made things worse was the way the planks kept moving away from the pilings & then drifting back with the movement of the water.  That meant having to dash from one piling to the next while the planks were up against it & then squatting down on the boards to hold on as it moved away again--then another dash, another squat.  The footbridge was held together with rope but didn't seem to be attached to the main bridge; I don't know what kept it suspended.   When I finally set foot on land the Dragon Lady was waiting, moving each one of us along while she watched to see that everyone had made it.  We waited while she took a final count.  It appeared that no one was missing.  then we were moving through the mud again for another half hour until we came to a road.  The storm had left it deserted.  After the packed roads we'd traveled in daylight the emptiness seemed strange.  There was a delay while the Dragon Lady sent out scouts.  The road once we started forward again was so muddy that it was very little better than trudging across the plain had been.   Some figures up ahead meant another halt & this time the Dragon Lady ordered us to get down.  Staying at a half crouch in mud & water left our clothes & skin in worse condition than ever but we hid until it was clear that the people coming were our own scouts.  The Dragon Lady talked with them for awhile & then came over to report.  "The Communists have camped about a quarter of a mile ahead.  In a field just across from them they have shot about two hundred people."   I suppose the same thought went through all our minds.  audy was the one who voiced it:  "What about Scotty & Charlie?"  "The scouts do not know.  We shall move up as close as we can & see what we can find out."  We trudged forward through the mud & again the signal came to halt.    I said, "Why not hit them now while they're asleep?"  "No," she replied.  "We shall wait for the scouts to come back again."  & she told us to check our weapons.  Glad for a chance to do this I unwrapped my machine gun & found that it wasn't quite as filthy as I'd feared.  I did the best I could to clean it in that weather, squeezed out the water from the skins & rewrapped it.   Half an hour must have passed before the scouts returned once again with their report.  Now she told us, "We are thirty yards from the bodies of the prisoners they killed.  the Communists are right across the road.  We shall get into their camp to see if any prisoners are alive.  If there are not--" she paused, "then that will mean that Scotty & Charlie escaped or else they are out in the field...with the other bodies."

Gardella 12

12  

  The Wall went off in both directions, over hills & valleys, for as far as I could see.  A minute after we'd sighted it we broke into a gallop.  We were out in the open where we could be spotted from a long way off, so we had no time to waste.  As we got closer I could begin to make out some details.  It was maybe three stories high & wide enough on top to be used as a road.  Every couple of hundred yards a watchtower rose one story above the Wall itself.  "It's fifteen hundred miles long, lad," Scotty told me, "& it begins at the sea."  I asked him, "Is there anyone in those towers?"  "Let's hope not, lad!"

  We pounded toward a spot about fifty yards from one of the towers where we reined in.  From there I could see that the construction was of earth & boulders which in one spot had simply crumbled apart.  Several of the Dragon Lady's men had managed to roll away some of the bigger stones from what I could now clearly see was a breach in the Wall.

  Dismounting & leading our horses carefully we picked our way through the opening.  As I led my mount through I looked up & around me with an eerie feeling.  I was looking up at a wall that ran fifteen hundred miles & was God knows how many hundreds of years old!  But there was little time to be marveling over how old it was.  As soon as we were all through we had mounted again & were on our way.  The Communists might not be in every tower but we had to suppose they'd be sending out patrols.

  As we left the Wall behind I had to turn back for one more look, wondering as I did so whether I'd ever see such a spectacle again.  After about five miles we halted & the Dragon Lady brought us several bundles that her men had been carrying.  She said, "This is the clothing for the six of us who go into Peking so that we will look the same as the population.  When we get to the outskirts of the city the others will take our horses.  They will circle around Peking to the south & then go east.  We shall meet them on the North China Plain."

  While I wondered exactly where on the North China Plain we would meet--though I was sure she'd arrange that--she told us that the plain, in contrast to where we'd come from, was heavily populated & would be the most dangerous part of our journey.  Besides Gunny & me--she referred to me as Khan--she would be taking the Mongol lieutenant & two of his men with her while the others, led by Charlie, made their circuit of Peking.  The Dragon Lady told Gunny & me as she handed us the clothes we were to wear, "The hats you will pull down so that your hair & your faces will not show.  You decidedly do not look Chinese," she added with a smile.  "But with our size--" I began.

  "There are all sizes of Chinese.  Some who live in the north are tall, as tall as you.  Not only the Mongols but people from all over China come to Peking.  It is a very big city.  It will be all right if you keep your hats low.  We shall enter in daylight."  "In daylight?"  It slipped out even though I'd resolved to keep my mouth shut.

  "Yes, in daylinght; but there is a holiday," she went on, "& Peking will be empty.  The people will go to the Great Wall to hear Mao Zedong make a speech.  But I am told that the man I seek will remain in Peking because he has much work to do; he works very hard; he is a very ambitious man."  

  The moment came to split up.  We shook hands & said our goodbyes.  I hugged Nancy & she said, "You be careful."  Then there were gone.

  There were now ten in our party including the four who would take our horses with them to wait at our rendezvous.  The clothes we put on were standard Communist dress; highnecked tunic jackets, wide baggy trousers & huge hats worn low as the Dragon Lady had instructed.  Light was appearing in the east as we rode over rolling hills toward the city.  Soon we came to a rise from which we could see it in the distance.  Then we dismounted & turned our horses over to the four & they rode off.

  On foot now we went in single file at a steady pace, each carrying a basket of gear.  I wish that I could describe the city of Peking as it looked to us but the truth is that I had my broad-brimmed hat so low that I saw nothing but a narrow circle of ground with no more than a glimpse of the buildings we were approaching.  I've read that the outskirts of the city have since filled up with schools & housing for workers.  But this was 1952 before the Communist government had done much building & the population was only two & a half million rather than the nearly eight million it is today.

  As we got closer more & more people came into my range of vision, all of them headed out of the city.  Many were carrying flags & banners, some were playing flutelike instruments, a few were on bicycles.  No one paid any attention to us.  The baskets we carried looked innocent enough from the outside though they actually held weapons & bandoliers under a layer of kaoliang & maize.  They were large enough in fact to hold the hunting bows & arrows the Mongols had brought with them.

  The numbers of people became first a wave & then a flood of humanity, all in high spirits because of the holiday.  In the midst of all this the Dragon Lady spotted a group of bicycles & one tricycle with a cargo platform which she somehow managed to commandeer.  In a moment we had fastened our baskets to the tricycle platform & were pedaling into Peking.  I still kept my hat so far down & my head so low that I saw little except the wheels in front of me.  Out of a corner of my eye as we moved from the outskirts toward the inner city I could see that the bases of the buildings were becoming grander & more elaborate.  Once again I was scared & at the same time oddly exhilarated by the notion that with all those thousands of Communists out looking for us we were cycling straight into their capital.

  I saw an imposing stone wall to my left & I sneaked a glimpse of a huge stone lion in front of a wall, confirming my impression that we were now in an older grander part of the city.  The wheels ahead of me finally came to a stop before an old stone building where we pulled the bikes off to one side & waited with them while the Dragon Lady & the lieutenant knocked at the front door.  An old woman opened it & the Dragon Lady motioned for us to enter--quickly as always.

  In a darkened room we were greeted by six other people, each one of whom the Dragon Lady embraced, smiling, & to whom she then introduced us.  Our baskets had been retrieved by the two Mongols & we now each took out our weapons & put them all into a single basket.  Meanwhile the Dragon Lady was speaking rapidly & quietly with two of the older people in the house while the Mongols posted themselves at the windows to watch the street.

  The Dragon Lady now told Gunny & me that her "friend" was in the city & that she knew where to find him.  "So we shall go," she said.  The Mongols secured the loaded basket to the tricycle, we got onto our bikes again & rode until we came to a wall.  here after we had parked the bikes we took our weapons from the basket & concealed them inside the baggy pants & tunics we wore.  This was not difficult since the Russian guns were so light & small--only about three feet long, or the same length as the Mongols' hunting bows.

  Cautiously we began walking along the wall.  After we'd gone about three hundred yards we came to an arched opening that might have been eight feet high.  First the Dragon Lady motioned the two Mongols to go through; she followed & then she beckoned to us.  We made our way past four buildings; then we came to a fifth & went in.  It was an immense structure that might have been a shrine or a museum with many statues & carvings of marble & jade.

  As we entered the Dragon Lady hurried to a window on the far side of the building.  She peered through it & then waved Gunny & me over to her.  She said, pointing to a building directly across the way, "My "friend" is there; we shall wait."

  We sat & watched, not talking, for what seemed like hours.  Then all at once the Dragon Lady's entire body came to an alert & in the same instant I saw two men emerge from the building we had under observation & head straight toward us.  The Dragon Lady signaled to one of the Mongols who haded her his bow & an arrow.  She fitted the arrow to the bow & moved toward the nearby door while the Mongol lieutenant, with bow & arrow likewise ready, stationed himself on the other side of the door.  The Dragon Lady motioned us into a small room off the main chamber while she & the lieutenant waited, partially hidden by the statues that guarded the entrance.

  The two men were talking as they strode into the building & past the statues where the Dragon Lady & the lieutenant had concealed themselves.  They passed into an adjoining room & the Dragon Lady & the Mongol lieutenant immediately stationed themselves on either side of the door leading into it.  Within a few moments the two men reappeared, still engrossed in conversation, & the Dragon Lady spat out a curse as they passed.  They looked up simultaneously; one froze in his tracks & the other wheeled intending to flee.  Instead he caught an arrow in the throat. 

  The two Mongols, Gunny & I now ran out to seize & gag the other man.  His face had a look of utter terror & hopelessness; shaking with fear he sagged as though about to collapse until a blow from the Dragon Lady's open hand straightened him again.  "Khan & Gunny do not have to watch what will happen," she said, never once taking her eyes off the man.  "This is something I must do."  Then when we didn't move she said, "I do not wish you to see me like this."

  Gunny clutched my arm.  "Come on, Khan, let's wait," he said, & I followed him into another room.  We could hear the stifled sound of the man's voice & then a scuffling noise.  Gunny nudged me & pointed to the window.  Looking out I saw four men headed our way & raced for the other room.  What I saw there stopped me short.  The body of the Dragon Lady's "friend" hung naked from the outstretched arms of a statue--all except for the head which had been placed neatly in the cupped hands of another statue.

  While I blurted, "There's someone coming!" I saw that the body had been castrated.  The marble floor was slippery with blood.  I turned away & saw the Dragon Lady & the Mongols making for the entrance.  They took up positions just inside it & Gunny & I joined them.  We could hear voices outside where the men had stopped to talk about what I could only suppose was the life-or-death decision of whether or not to go in.  One man hesitated & then withdrew while the other three entered.  The Mongols were at them instantly--a hand clapped over the face of each, one man & one knife at the throat of each.  The only noise any of them made was a sort of strangled gurgle.

  While the Mongols were dragging the three bodies acroos the bloody marble of the floor to a smaller room, two more men came in through the door.  Without batting an eyelash the Dragon Lady spoke to them & whatever she said was funny enough that one of them laughed.  As if on cue she & the lieutenant went to work with their knives; quickly & quietly the two had been finished off & more blood was spreading on the surface of the marble floor.

  At a shout from one of the Mongols the Dragon Lady held up her hand.  "Guards are coming," she said.  "In here, quickly."  She & the Mongols had already taken up their positions at the entrance with their knives out.  I took mine from my belt; I saw that Gunny had his ready too.  Outside we could hear the guards talking.  There were five of them & the same tactics served us as before.  Gunny said, "We better get the hell out of here," & with the Dragon Lady in the lead we headed for the exit.  I did a quick calculation.  We'd come to Peking for one killing & we'd ended up with twelve.  I asked, pointing to the corpses, "What do we do with those?"

  "We leave them," she said.  "We shall go & meet Charlie now."  & she led us to the spot where we'd left the bikes, which for some reason she now decided to abandon.  We stuffed our weapons back into the basket & set out on foot.  A couple of times I reached up to pull my hat down low, although there was no one else around to see me.

  After passing between two buildings we came to a road which led to a square enclosed by massive buildings.  Here again the place was empty of people.  But as we crossed it I heard a sound--& that sound led to one of the most bizarre events of the entire adventure in China.  What I heard was a kind of screech from the direction on the far side of the square.  As we walked I saw alongside the building what I soon made out as a row of about half a dozen cages.  Without thinking, without asking, I went closer until I could see that the cages were hardly more than three feet square & three feet high & made of strong wood.  & now I realized that the screeching sounds were made not by animals but by human beings--men down on all fours in a space too small to let them stand!

  Even though I didn't want to see any more I couldn't help going closer.  What I saw then were men in rags so filthy that you could hardly see the color of their skin.  Yet not only were they human beings; I now saw unmistakably that they were white!  White is hardly an accurate word since they were so dirty; gray would be more like it.  Still I was certain that their features were Caucasian.

  One of these men was reaching an emaciated gray arm through the bars & pawing the ground in front of him.  Then I realized that food had been dropped on the ground--just out of his reach.  He raised his head to stare at me--a creature close to starvation with a gaunt beared face.  But what struck me most was his blue eyes & his long matted hair which had once been blond.  Our two stares met & locked.  Finally he managed a word--drawn out & hesitant, as if he hadn't used it in a very long time.  But there was no question that the word was "American."

  American.  A chill ran all through my body & I began to shake.  Crouching down I reached out toward his arm.  His bony hand with almost no flesh on it plucked at my arm, desperately but with no strength watever.  "American?" I repeated, feeling stupid, but not knowing what to say.  "You're American?"  He opened his mouth, but whatever he was trying to say came out as a sort of croak.

  "I'm American too," I said pointing to myself with my free hand while he still held onto the other.  Then in the same drawn-out croak he said other words which I am certain were, "Loo...ten.. .ant...com. ..mand... er...U... nited...States. ..Na...vy. "

  At that I pretty nearly went crazy.  Leaping to my feet I started tearing at the bars with my hands.  The wood frame of the cage & the bars themselves, which seemed each to measure two by two inches, were hard as iron.  I pulled out my knife & started to hack at it, shaking the cage with one hand as I slashed with the other.  Then two figures came at me from the other side of the cages, shouting & waving what I guess must have been sticks or clubs.  They wore highnecked tunics & red armbands.  In my furious excitement I ignored them & went on slashing at the bars.  Before they quite got to me a couple of arrows whizzed in my direction.  Then the Dragon Lady was tugging at my arm & the prisoners in the other cages had begun screaming.  "We must go, Khan!" she kept saying.  "We must go!"--while I went on with my slashing.  I remember hearing her give a shout in a language I didn't understand.  Then came a blow on the back of my head that knocked me unconscious.

  I woke to find myself tied to the platofrm of the tricycle with the Mongol lieutenant pedaling, while the rest rode ahead on bicycles.  For some time my aching head kept me from thinking clearly of anything.  But then the men in the cages came back to me.  Were they all American?  I couldn't be sure but it seemed likely.  & I knew that one of them was.  "Loo...ten.. .ant...com. ..mand... er...U... nited...States. ..Na...vy. "  I couldn't get the sound of that out of my mind then & I still can't to this day.

  While all this came running back into my mind we had reached the outskirts of the city.  There we left the bikes & headed south on foot carrying the basket with the weapons.  Even then I was moving as though in a trance.  How did those men get there?  Were they prisoners of war taken in Korea?  But prisoners of war as any boot is taught are supposed to be treated according to the Geneva Convention.

  One thing I had learned:  the Chinese were brutal to their enemies.  The Dragon Lady had shown little mercy to her captives.  She had decapitated two men & castrated one of them.  Mercy appeared to be a luxury nobody in this place & at this time could afford.  I kept going over & over what I could have done to help that caged American.  The little capsule in its plastic case leaped to mind, a thought that startled me into realizing that I'd lost track of it somewhere & left it in one of the many changes of clothes while I was cold, sick or unconscious.  What had I done to help those men in the cages except maybe raise a little glimmer of hope--which was proably worse than nothing?

  Another thing I'd never be able to get out of my head was how many men I'd gunned down or knifed or blown up.  Sure I had reasons--but those reasons didn't change what I'd done or keep me from remembering.  As we moved along I wondered whether Gunny was thinking the same kind of thoughts, blaming himself in the way I was.  He had kept silent all this while & when I looked over to him he would not meet my eyes.

  As we left the city we began to encounter hordes of people returning from the holiday celebration.  More times than I could count I tugged my hat down over my eyes again.

I have no idea how far we had trudged when we reached the top of a small hill & caught sight of the four Mongols with the horses.  Soon we had mounted & were heading south toward the main group, going from a walk to a gallop.  We were all glad to put some distance between us & Peking, knowing what we'd left behind us.  No one was gladder than I was now that I had a picture of what had been done to a captured American.  When I gave the question a little more thought I reaqlized that no one would suffer more on being captured than the Dragon Lady.  I shuddered every time I thought of it.

Gardella 11

11     After my own effort to cheer up Scotty I began to realize how perfectly lousy I felt.  "Why would they not want to save us?" I asked aloud.  Audy said, "Politics, mate, ever hear of politics?"   The Dragon Lady broke in as though she had heard too much griping, "When we cross the Great Wall, Peking will be only thirty-five miles south.  I must go there."  She stared at me.  "You will go to the south of it with the other group."  I said without hesitation that I was going to Peking with her & Gunny did the same.  "No," she said, "it is not your affair."  "But if you hadn't helped us with our problems, where do you think we'd be today?"   Again she said no.  But this time I was not to be overruled, & after some more sparring I said, "Look, I would just rather be with you than away from you.  I feel safer.  It's not going to be all that easy for me to leave China; I might not even leave at all."  I knew I'd gotten carried away but just then that was the way I really felt.  "Are you serious, Rick?" Gunny asked; there was a strange look on his face.  "Yeah, I've gotten to feel so much better when I'm with these people, I don't want to go anywhere without them."  I wound up, looking straight at the Dragon Lady, "& I am definitely going to Peking!"   "If you feel so strongly," she replied, "I shall not stop you.  But you must not go because of feeling that you are in debt to me."  Gunny & I both assured her that that wasn't the reason, & before long we were on the way with the Dragon Lady in charge as always.  The Mongols, she told us, would soon be leaving us.  "They will go back toward the mountains, toward the Gobi, until things are quiet again."  Since they were nomads & continually on the move, she told us, the Communists could never be sure where they were.  & besides, the Communists preferred not to fight the Mongols so long as the Mongols left them alone.   Nancy had been nearby during the entire conversation.  When we were on our way she rode up alongside me.  "Ricky, you say you stay in China?"  Though I'd said it on the spur of the moment I now found myself thinking about it.  "I don't know, Nancy.  There is alot of fighting here & it's a hard life but I've found real friends.  & I don't know how I could leave you."   "What will your mother & father, your--"  "My family?"  I gave the word she had been groping for.  "They'd be unhappy & I'd miss them.  I'd miss my home.  But the idea of leaving you..."  It was something I was going to have to figure out--assuming I'd be given any choice in the matter.   A few minutes later we heard bellowing again--& now I knew that was the signal the scouts gave as they came in.  Almost at once three riders came down the slope on our right.  We stopped but didn't dismount while they spoke with the chief & the Dragon Lady.  After a couple of minutes Audy said, "There's something funny," & in another minute or two Scotty dug his heels into the flank of his horse & cantered forward to investigate.  He & the Dragon Lady came back with grim faces.   "There is a large Communist force on the far side of the mountain," she told us.  "They are only three miles from us.  They do not know we are here--not yet."  "How many are there?" Gunny asked.   "Perhaps a thousand."  She went on, "Although they do not know yet, we do not have much time before they find us.  We cannot avoid them unless we go back in the direction we came from & we do not want to do that.  We must get ahead of them to the west before we strike.  Then when the chase begins they will think we are headed further up toward Mongolia.  After that there is a pass we must reach before they do." She would take a small force of no more than a hundred--enough to hurt & confuse them while the rest moved ahead to get the soldiers off our trail.  We would move while it was still light so that we would have the dark to escape in.  I turned to Nancy.  "This time you stay with the main group."  "Oh no," she siad, "I go with you."   The Dragon Lady agreed with me about Nancy.  "Charlie will lead the others to safety," she said.  "You must stay to help him."  She added a few words in Chinese which made Nancy stare for a moment like a little girl who's been told it's her bedtime.  But then she turned to me.  "You be careful," she said.  "Don't worry," Gunny told her, "I'll look after him."   Along with Gunny, Audy & Scotty, I moved up to the head of the column.  The chief wouldn't be going with the raiding party but his lieutenant would.  Moving out we rode hard for an hour.  Then after pulling up in a cloud of dust we got down & proceeded on foot.  We started up a slope that looked down onto a canyon with a natural bridge over it.  Before long something like seventy-five of us were charging over the bridge leaving the rest to cover us from behind, & making our way down the side of the mountain to where scrubby trees & rock formations gave us some cover.   When we were about five hundred yards from the bottom the Dragon Lady signaled a stop.  According to my estimate we had less than two hours of daylight.  We had good cover here but with no weapons heavier than the machine guns we carried, once again we were depending on the element of surprise.  Gunny was ten yards to my left, Scotty & Audy were on his far flank & the Dragon Lady had posted herself about twenty-five yards farther downhill.  As time passed & the light faded, I began to fear it would be dark before the soldiers arrived.  Then we saw them less than a quarter of a mile down the trail.  We were to hold our fire until we had a signal from the Dragon Lady.  I watched the soldiers & her with my heart pounding as they made their way slowly up the rocky trail.  Then they were directly below us.  Still no signal.  I looked for the end of the column but it seemed to have none.  God, there were alot of them!  They began to go under the natural bridge; soon it would be dark.   She waved her weapon finally & we all opened up.  Completely surprised, some soldiers dove for cover, some looked up for the attackers.  There were so many that they got in each other's way.  At last they began trying to climb toward us, firing as they came.  But the terrain had been well chosen; it was steep & rocky with some virtual cliffs between them & us.   Now as suddenly as we'd attacked, we had the signal to withdraw & we were scrambling back up the mountain, firing as we went.  By then it was really dark.  As soon as we got to the level of the natural bridge we stopped firing altogether; the muzzle flashes would have given us away.  Staying low we raced over the bridge.  This was all part of the plan--a feinting action to make them think we'd kept going to the top of that mountain & were heading down the other side.  & it worked.  We crossed without having a shot fired at us.  Dark as it was, we ran all the way back to the horses.  Though my breath was coming in gasps I managed to say to Gunny, "Can you keep up, old-timer?"- -& he managed to answer, "Screw you!"   After we had leaped onto our mounts & ridden off I lost sight of Gunny & the others.  But the Dragon Lady was directly ahead of me & I had no intention of losing her.  After maybe half an hour we halted & she rode down the length of our column & back.  "We did not lose a single person," she said.  "& now I must ride back to make sure the Communists did go the other way."   I told her Gunny & I would go with her but this time she would not be overruled.  "If it is necessary for us to escape quickly," she pointed out, "we may have to separate & you two do not know these mountains."   "Aye, she is right," Scotty told us & there was nothing we could say.  The Dragon Lady picked twelve men & divided them into two groups--one to go south, the other to ride with her back toward the bridge--while the rest of us who made up the main group went in still another direction.  After about twenty minutes we were dismounting on a ridge where we moved our horses in among the boulders.  We waited here until two of the scouts came riding back.  They raced over to talk to Scotty & Audy & in an instant the order came to mount again--quickly.  Scotty told me when I asked what was the matter that there were Communist soldiers twenty minutes away & headed in our direction.  "I thought we'd lost them!" Gunny said.  "We had," Audy replied.  "These are others; the ones we attacked may have radioed for help."   We galloped hard for half an hour, I have no idea in what direction.  After we had stopped I asked Scotty how the Dragon Lady would know where we were.  "Don't worry, lad," Scotty told me, "she'll find us.  Meanwhile get some rest.  We don't know when our next chance for that may be."   I remember trying to settle down--& I must have succeeded because the next thing I remember is being wakened out of a sound sleep by the noise of horses.  Still groggy I got to my feet & half walked, half stumbled over to where the Dragon Lady stood talking with Scotty & Audy.  I wondered again when she ever slept.   The news was that the Communist troops were headed west; we had fooled them.  By now they had stopped to wait for the force that put us on the run.  We could not wait to see what they did next--whether they would continue west or turn back.  We would have to be on our way at once.   We had been on the trail only a little while before two more scouts came in & spoke excitedly to the Dragon Lady.  Suddenly we changed direction & were heading up the mountain as fast as we could ride.  Five hundred yards farther uphill we dismounted to walk our horses through a narrow pass.  Then we climbed again.  We paused at a relatively level spot where there were new orders:  about a dozen people, among them Scotty, Audy, Gunny & me, were to follow the Dragon Lady on foot.  There was now a moon.  After walking awhile we came to a ledge.  Looking over we saw the reason for our change of plans.  Down below us were riders, lots of them.  The Dragon Lady whispered, "They are moving toward the pass.  They will probably come this way."   Audy asked the question for all of us, & she replied, "We cannot permit them to go through or they may run into our main force.  Some of us will stay & defend the pass.  The rest will ride to Charlie & warn him."  Gunny & I volunteered to stay & fight with her along with Audy & six others, while Scotty & the rest rode to find Charlie.  "Will the ten of you be enough?" Scotty asked.  "Yes," she told him, "the pass is narrow.  Leave our horses back there, we shall be able to get them."   There was nothing more to say.  While Scotty took off we moved toward the pass keeping down in a half crouch.  At a point just above it we took positions & settled down in the darkness to wait.  My heart pounded so that I wondered whether the Communist soldiers could hear it, while time seemed to drag on forever.  Then we heard the sound of horses below us.  With the moon in & out of clouds, just now we couldn't see much, though we knew the precise location of the pass & how narrow it was.  They would be able to get through only one at a time while we might be able to knock them off almost sight unseen by firing down into the canyon.   The signal came & we began firing.  There were screams & shouts from below.  Sometimes the moon would be hidden & sometimes we'd have glimpses of men scurrying like rats down there.  I remember hearing the expression, "like shooting fish in a barrel."  It seemed that easy.  When the signal to stop firing came I wanted to go down & see what was happening.  But the Dragon Lady said, "No,  no, we want to hold them back as long as we can.  Then we run."  "Righto!" Audy echoed her, "we run like hell!"   The moon popped out for a few moments, lighting up the scene as if it had been switched on from above--& in those few moments we saw that the soldiers were slipping through the pass & that some were edging up toward us.  Once again we began blasting them & hearing the shouts & screams from below.  As we fired the Dragon Lady shouted something in Chinese & two of her men took off to bring the horses closer.  In a few minutes we heard bellowing, the signal that the men were back, & she called out the order to move--quickly.   We scrambled up the mountain & luckily for us there was no longer any light from the moon.  As soon as we reached the horses, two of the men went ahead as scouts, we mounted & then we were riding mostly downhill.  Once we reached level ground we were able to pick up speed.  But just which way we were going I had no idea.  In fact the way these people got around in the dark, over rough terrain with no clearly marked roads & often not even a trail, remained a mystery.  It also made me realize once again how dependent I was on them, how helpless I would have been except for their company.   I lost track of time too--not having had a watch since our special training began--but we might have ridden fifteen minutes before the scouts came back & reported seeing more troops ahead of us.  To elude them the Dragon Lady had us veer off in a new direction keeping the same breathless pace.  We came to a hillside where there were caves, dismounted & walked our horses in.  There were to be no fires.  Instead each of us was to hold onto the tail of the horse just ahead.  "Or else you get lost," the Dragon Lady said.  "Caves go off in many directions."   One more thing that struck me was the way these people functioned in the dark of a cave--how much better than mine their eyes seemed to be.  After awhile my own vision improved & I began to pick up things where there was hardly any light at all.  right then though the darkness in the cave seemed total.  I could literally not make out my hand in front of my face.  As I walked I sometimes used one hand to feel for walls or ceilings but even so I sometimes bumped into one or the other.  After awhile I heard the Dragon Lady speaking in Chinese & I could feel scouts brushing past on their way out.  She said to the rest of us, "We stop here; no talking until we find out where the troops are."  We stood there in the dark & silence waiting for I don't know how long.  Then came a couple of hoots followed by a whispered conversation.  The orders now were to leave the cave, mount again & ride as fast as we could go.  Once we were out in the open the moonlight seemed absolutely glaring.  We must have ridden for a couple of hours while I wondered how much longer our luck could possibly hold out even with the Dragon lady's genius at outwitting her enemies.  I had to force myself not to think that way--to make myself believe we'd get through, that she'd get us through.    When we stopped for a rest, moving our horses in among the rocks once again, Audy said, "I think we lost them."  "But perhaps not for long," the Dragon Lady replied.  She wasn't going to let anyone relax very much.  "If they do not bother us we should make contact with Charlie soon.  But we must not lead the Communists to him.   While we sat there resting I looked over toward the Dragon Lady & saw her looking gloomy.  Moving nearer I asked if anything was wrong.  She said no, & then I asked, "Don't you ever get tired?"  "No," she replied, "I am strong."  I said I didn't mean that; I meant tired of this kind of life, riding, fighting, moving around all the time.   "This is my country," she said, "& in my country there must be fighting--for now."  "Some day soon it will be different, won't it?" I said, not knowing what I was talking about.  She answered, "Not in my lifetime.  More time must pass.  Blood must be spilled."   How old was she?  She might have been twenty-five though she looked still younger.  Back in the States a woman her age would be either getting married or worried about a job--maybe expecting a first child.  This young woman was a military leader with no sign that she had ever lived any kind of life but this one.   A couple of scouts rode in & she told me with a smile, "We have lost them."  Charlie's group was about an hour away; we would be with them soon after sunrise but now we would have to go--quickly.  Had there ever been a time when it wasn't necessary to move quickly?   Soon after we started moving Gunny pulled up beside me.  "Well," he said, "I kept my word to Nancy."  "What was that?"  "That I'd look after you."  "Don't be too sure," I said lightly.  "We're not back yet."  Though I meant it as a joke the Dragon Lady, overhearing, told him, "The Khan is right; we cannot be sure of anything until we know it is done."   The sun was coming up by then & though we'd been through a long hard night our spirits picked up when two scouts came riding in with a couple of men from Charlie's group & word that everything was all right.  It wasn't long before I saw Charlie & Nancy waving at us as we moved down a gentle slope.  I galloped toward them, dismounted & gave Nancy a hug.  "I told you it would be all right," I said.  I wasn't sure she understood every word unless I spoke carefully, but I knew she knew what I meant.  We learned that the Communist troops had gone off in the wrong direction.  But when Scotty spoke of needing sleep the Dragon Lady's reply was, "that will have to be later."  As we moved ahead walking our horses, Gunny came alongside me again.   "Rick," he said, "were you serious back there about staying in China?"  "Yes I was.  I feel closer to these people than to anybody I've ever known."  "You're just a kid," he said, "you still haven't given much of a chance to your own country & your own people."  "Yeah, I know you're right," I told him, aware that I hadn't really thought through what I'd said, meaning it without having decided anything.   For two nights & a day we'd been on the move with only one brief rest in the mountains, & I was beginning to feel the effects of fatigue.  But we went on pushing ahead, eating & drinking as we rode.  Midday came & went before there was an order to halt.  Soon after that I saw the Dragon Lady coming toward us with the Mongol chief & his lieutenant.  The chief held out his hands to us & while I looked up into that fierce face the Dragon Lady translated what he was saying.  "This is where we must part.  He wishes to thank you.  He hopes that he has shown respect to you for the help you have given him."   Then he went up to Nancy, put his massive hands on her little girl shoulders, engulfed her in a hug & finally kissed her on the cheek.  With each of us he repeated the farewell ceremony.  He had a few extra words for me, the last in the line, "Khan" was one of them.  "He says he is proud of you & proud to have you in his camp.  You are welcome to return any time you wish, you will always be greeted as Khan."   Touched & proud to have this warrior treat me as a brother, I asked the Dragon Lady to tell him I was happy to have his friendship & his good feelings & grateful for his help.  He gave his fierce smile & again the Dragon Lady translated:  "He is sending the lieutenant & forty of his men with us to protect us.  They will go as far as they are needed, even to the sea.  The Communists hate the Mongols & are afraid of them."   Then the Dragon Lady brought her little sister Kim to say good-bye.  I put my hands on her shoulders & said, "Honey, I'm going to miss you.  I love you, I really do."  When Kim put her arms around me & squeezed I felt closer to tears than I had been in a long time.  She went on hugging me until I told her softly, "You must be brave like your sister."  But she still didn't let go until the Dragon Lady came to lead her away.  "All the women & children are going north," the Dragon Lady told us.  "It will be safer for them there."   We spent some time shaking hads with the Mongols who would be leaving.  When they had all mounted & thundered off we were left once again with about a hundred people, the same number we'd had crossing the Changchun plain.  About a dozen had died in combat & altogether about thirty women & children were leaving, but the forty Mongols who were joining us made up the difference.   Our party mounted & we were on our way again, this time with the Great Wall as our destination.  The pace was a little easier than before; we'd trot, walk, then trot again.  There was not much talk; everyone I guess was busy with thoughts of his or her own.  & we were all exhausted.  When around midafternoon the order came to dismount I simply slid off my horse.   It started to rain.  The air was so cool that I felt chilled almost at once.  I put on the few extra clothes I had but they didn't help for long; the animal skins repelled water only for awhile & as soon as they were soaked they became cold & clammy.  The rain had turned into a driving torrent by the time we mounted again & I felt as though I were freezing.  After awhile Nancy pulled up alongside me.  She must have seen how I was shivering for she said, "I am cold also.  Can I ride with you?"  Though she made it sound like a request for a favor I had a feeling that she was doing it for my benefit.  Holding onto her bridle, she nimbly transferred herself to my horse & sat behind me with her arms around my middle.  Though there were so many layers of soggy clothing between us that her nearness didn't help alot, after a few minutes I did feel a little less miserable.   As it was getting dark we came to a hillside where there were caves.  After the Dragon Lady had sent scouts ahead she led us deep inside to a huge open cavern where fires were lit.  We all sat near them trying to warm ourselves.  I was so tired that the voices of Gunny & Scotty, sitting close beside me, sounded as though they came from a far-off echo chamber.  then Nancy was leaning over me saying, "What is wrong, Ricky?"  But even with her face so near mine I could barely hear her.  Then I couldn't make out anything at all.  The next thing I remember is awakening with bodies piled over me.  I was scared when I tried to move & couldn't.  Then Nancy & the Dragon Lady, still pressed close against me, were asking if I was all right.   "Yeah, I think so," I stammered, still feeling confused.  I discovered now that I was wearing a completely different set of clothes, all of them warm & dry.  Then I noticed Scotty who said, "You had a rough time of it, lad."  "Yeah, you were one shivering son of a bitch," Gunny said, "we were real worried about you."   "How long have I been out?"  "Maybe fifteen, sixteen hours," Gunny said.  "Christ, why did you let me sleep that long?"  "You were one sick bloke," Audy chimed in.  "Trembling like a bloody leaf, sweating & screaming.  You must have had some bloody awful nightmares."  "How did I get into these clothes?"  "They changed you." Scotty gestured toward Nancy & the Dragon Lady.  "That's your third set.  You kept sweating right through them."    When I looked at the two men & smiled, they might have been blushing for modesty--except that no one just then had time to be embarrassed.  "They had everybody lying alongside to get some heat into you," Gunny told me.  When I had thanked the Dragon Lady, I asked, "How about the Wall?  Are we going to get there on time?"  She smiled, "Do not worry, we shall reach it in time."  Then I asked if there was anything to eat.  Nancy said, "I get food."  Scotty laughed & Gunny teased, "Room service & a pretty waitress; some guys have all the luck."   Nancy brought some soup with meat in it which tasted wonderful.  While I ate Scotty explained that the Dragon Lady had gone out to find a certain root which had been boiled in a soup & which they had gotten into me shomehow while Iwas lying there either delirious or dead to the world.  Whatever the root had been it had worked--that & the body heat.  When I'd finished the soup I asked the Dragon Lady when we would be at the Wall.   "We shall rest here today & travel tonight; we shall cross the Wall before sunrise."  Then she was on her feet again.  "I must go & see Charlie & take some food to him.  He has been on patrol."  "What a woman!" I said to Scotty after she left.  "Yes," he answered, "& from a very powerful & highly placed family.  She could be living in comfort on Formosa but she chose to be out here fighting."   When she returned it was late afternoon outside the cave; the rain had stopped, she told us, & there was no sign of trouble.  But she sounded somehow far away as she said it.  After she'd stood silent almost in a trance for a minute she said abruptly, "I think the Communist soldiers have gone the other way."  Then came yet another of her abrupt swings of mood.  "We had much fun with them, didn't we?"--& her eyes flashed as though she'd been through an exciting game.  "Well, if that was fun," Gunny told her, "I bet we're going to have alot more fun before we reach the water."  The Dragon Lady was laughing.  "They must have tens of thousands of soldiers looking for us."   Gunny rolled his eyes.  "I don't see what's so funny about that," he said, & suddenly we were all laughing--though the idea of being chased by an army can't have seemed any funnier to the rest of us than it did to him.  Charlie walked in & told us that it would be dark in one or two hours & that everything was still quiet.  Spotting me, he asked how I felt.  "Never felt better," I told him.  & somehow it was true.   He said smiling, "You did not look better last night."  Then without any preliminaries except the Dragon Lady's eternal, "We must go now," we began to walk our horses out of the cave, moving single file into the evening light.  It was cheering to see a little piece of daylight before it faded away.   The main Mongol party had left us a supply of meat, maize & kaoliang for our trek south.  Seeing the bundles tied onto the backs of some of the horses I was reminded that with most of them gone we were again down to a hundred people--not alot with thousands possibly searching for us.  Everyone was silent probably thinking about the odds just as I was.  I began wondering again about the failure of the radio operators to make contact with the Americans who had the transmitter whoever they were.   As we rode we descended from the mountains into hill country that made for easier riding.  We still saw many caves & occasionally a patch of land level enough to be used as a rice paddy.  Some of the patches were flooded & after we'd sloshed through one of these we came to a bit of high ground where we stopped to rest.   Sitting next to Scotty I asked him, "Can you tell me why she wants to go into Peking instead of around it?"  "There is someone there she wants to see, lad."  "Oh?  Boyfriend?"   Scotty laughed.  "Far from it; the man is a Communist named Sing Yet-soo & he is a former admirer of hers.  Three or four years ago she was a Nationalist & had a job in the government.  When Sing made a play for her she snubbed him & he had members of her family killed in retaliation.  That is probably why her sister was left with the Mongols--to keep her safe.  The Dragon Lady had been waiting patiently for a chance to avenge her family & now she sees it."  "So she really is not a Nationalist anymore?"   "No, lad.  She should never have been in the government.  She couldn't function in a bureaucracy.  I'm sure you can see that.  Whenever she saw corruption--& there was much of it to see--she spoke up.  When she didn't like what the Americans were doing she did the same.  Of course that just wouldn't work & eventually, since she didn't get on with them, she simply quit & went her own way.  Now she fights for herself & her people against the Communists but not for the Nationalists.  I think that is a mistake & I have told her so.  I stayed a Nationalist even though I saw so much that was wrong.  That's what brought us to a parting of the ways."  Now of course I understood why this amazing woman wanted us to stay out of her mission to Peking.   We mounted again & hadn't been riding long when Charlie dropped back to say that we were about a mile from the Wall.  One mile from the Great Wall!  As I write this I recall having read that the Great Wall of China is the only manmade object visible to the naked eye from the moon.  I didn't know that at the time of course.  But what I would soon be seeing by the clear light of the moon was to me a schoolboy's dream.   As I rode I tried ticking off the days though I couldn't be sure anymore that I knew which one it was.  I knew we'd made our drop into Manchuria on May 9 & as nearly as I could calculate a little more than two weeks had gone by since then.  That would make it either the twenty-fourth or the twenty-fifth.  I supposed that none of the people who'd sent us had expected us to last this long--but then how could I know?  There was so much I didn't know.  How could anyone have predicted that this was where the expedition would take us?  Who could predict how it would end?   Scouts were riding up to report & then going off again & I could feel a kind of buzz around me as though the others also thought of reaching the Wall as a milestone.  We rode to the top of a rise & there it was.