impression that it was starting to cool down once more. What was it that
set it all off?"

"The disappearance of an American fighter jet off the coast of China,"
he replied straight-forwardly.

My interest was suddenly aroused, for that was the very section where my
squadron was stationed, and anyone who was lost would have been a close
friend of mine. "Go on," I told him.

"The Americans claimed that it was shot down by the Chinese, and
demanded an official apology. That the Chinese would not do, insisting
that they had done no such thing, and instead of the whole situation
diffusing, as you thought it would, both sides proceeded to war
stubbornly, each thinking itself in the moral superiority. But that is
as always."

"Do you have any idea whose ship it was that went down? They were all my
comrades," I said.

"Of course I know, Jehu, for it was your plane."

"But how? I wasn't shot down, I crash landed on an island."

"But you came to me and I sent you here, and since your radios went out,
they had no idea that you were safely landed."

"Still, they must have found the plane!"

"No, you know perfectly well that those islands are brought above and