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But at this instant, her eyes turned often to a screen behind which was a stand, and on that stand was a desk telephone. Hanada had promised to consult Johnny Thompson regarding the strange proposition of the unknown Japanese. He had promised to call her at once; by eight-thirty at the latest. The stranger was to return for his answer at nine.
As the result of it he did not sleep for three hours after he had let down the deer skin curtain to his sleeping compartment. "Hanada! Hanada?" he kept repeating to himself. "Of all the Japs in all the world! To meet him here! And not to have known him. It's preposterous." Johnny had gone to the igloo now occupied by Iyok-ok.
It was the scar of that wound Johnny had seen and it was that scar which had told him that this must be Hanada. He smiled now, as he thought how he had taken Hanada to his room after that boy's battle and had attempted to sew up the cut with an ordinary needle. He smiled grimly as he thought of the fight and how he had resolved to win or die. Hanada had helped him win.
"But the girl, Cio-Cio-San?" Johnny questioned. "She is not of the secret police. She helps me as a friend, that's all, and I will help her if I can." Johnny wished to question him regarding the treasure, but something held him back. "So you see how it is." Hanada spoke wearily. "We have gone so far, so very far.
When the time comes, we must get him, or it will be worse for your country and mine." "Ours is the same country," suggested Johnny. "Huh!" Hanada shrugged his shoulders. "I am Hanada, your old schoolmate, now a member of the Japanese Secret Police, and you are Johnny Thompson. Whatever else you are, I don't know. The Russian has left us for a time.
He had settled two of them, knocked them cold. But the other two had got him down, and were beating the life out of him when this little Jap, Hanada, had appeared on the scene. Being also a first year student, he had come in with his ju'jut'su and between them they had won the battle, but not until the Jap had been hung over a picket fence with a jagged wound in his shoulder.
Then a gasp escaped his lips: "The Russian!" "The Russian?" Hanada snatched the telescope from him. As Johnny watched he saw the man leap just as the platform lurched backward. The two men at the other tower had reversed the motor, but they were too late. The next moment the outer tower toppled into the sea; the cable cut the water with a resounding swish.
And here he had been traveling with the Japanese days on end and had not recognized him. And yet it was not so strange. He had not seen him for six years. Had Hanada recognized him? If he had, and Johnny found it hard to doubt it, then he had his own reasons for keeping silent. Johnny decided that he would not be the first to break the silence.
"Well, anyway, that clears youse guys," grunted the leader. "Now you better beat it." Bidding Hanada good night, Johnny walked across the bridge, around four blocks, then made a dash for his room. There was dust on his blankets, but he could shake it off. Anyway, he probably would not sleep much that night.
When it came it was not, alas! to be for him the kind of end he fancied. "All right," he said. "To-night we go to Chicago." On the trip eastward from Seattle, Johnny slept much and talked little. The Jap girl and Hanada occupied compartments in different cars and appeared to wish to avoid being seen together or with Johnny.
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