The Hunters Read Free Page A

not?”
    Cleve heard the rest when she returned with the tray of drinks. He was not watching any longer, but there was the sound of the glasses being placed softly on the table.
    â€œWhat’s your name?”

    â€œMyoko,” quietly.
    â€œWell, that’s a new one anyway.”
    She did not answer.
    â€œDon’t you have another name, an American one?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œHow about Rita? That’s a good name.”
    She was silent.
    â€œHow old are you?”
    â€œNineteen.”
    â€œOld enough, I’d say. What time do you finish work here, Rita?”
    The lean man cleared his throat at this and turned toward the group.
    â€œSay, friend,” he said clearly, “lay off, why don’t you?”
    The lieutenant stared back through the dimness with bland eyes.
    â€œWhat did you say?” he asked politely. The girl hurried away.
    â€œI said that she’d lose her job if she went out with you. You wouldn’t want that to happen to her, would you?”
    â€œAre you the club officer or something?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI see. Just being helpful.”
    â€œThat’s right. She’s not allowed to go out with any of the officers. It’s a club rule. I thought you might not know about it.”
    â€œThanks,” the lieutenant said.
    There was a brief, unnatural silence at the other table, and then Cleve could hear him talking again.
    â€œHow do you like that? If he was the club officer, I could understand it.”
    â€œCome on, Pell, we don’t want to get in any trouble.”

    â€œTrouble? How’s there going to be any trouble?”
    â€œYou’d better leave the girl alone.”
    â€œI’ll talk to her if I want to. He’s probably making a play for her himself. That’s why he’s bothered.”
    â€œYou may get her in trouble, though.”
    â€œWouldn’t I love to?”
    â€œI don’t think you ought to fool around.”
    â€œWait a while,” Pell said. He settled back, apparently undisturbed, to sip at his drink and observe what was going on in the rest of the room.
    Nothing more was said to the waitress by anyone at the table, however. The second lieutenants were loudly discussing flying when Cleve and the lean man left, quite a bit later. Through the cold night they walked back toward the barracks. The drinks after dinner had made Cleve sleepy. He listened to the sound of breathing as he undressed in his room, crawled into the deeply hollowed bedding of his iron cot, and was soon asleep.
    Early the next morning, right after breakfast, he received his orders. They were what he had expected, assigning him to the most famed of the fighter wings, which was located close behind the front. It took him only minutes to pack his things. He was on the way at last. He did not catch sight of the lean man before departing.

2
    It was almost noon when they crossed the Korean coast. Cleve stared anxiously at it, drifting past beneath the wing. He knew a moment of acute fulfillment, for here he would make a valedictory befitting his years. He had come a long way for it, and much was still ahead; but already he could feel self-imposed obligations, his burden of pride, diminishing, actually leaving him. He began to experience something of the exhilaration that came with triumph. In this war, he was more certain than ever, he would attain himself, as men do who venture past all that is known.
    He looked about the cabin. Everyone was leaning toward the nearest window to see the land below, which lay calm as wreckage in the clear winter air. Not much could be distinguished to show where the war had been. Smooth fields of snow mottled everything, and the rivers were as pronounced as veins, but he did not think of an ancient mother of men. His eye was the flyer’s. He saw the hostile mountains, the absence of good landmarks, and the few places flat enough to land in an emergency.
    They had fought down