War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1002
"Sterling, are you married?"

Beside the bonfire, Hawks gnawed on a piece of turtle meat, and asked vaguely to Captain Sterling who had been teaching him experience just now.

"Of course, of course I'm married."

Sterling replied while chewing on a piece of turtle meat, "My wife's name is Beverly, and we were married before Christmas last year."

"The great chief must be married too?" Wei Ran, who was also eating sea turtle meat, asked in an affirmative tone.

"My Margaret and I even have two sons."

Evans swallowed the turtle meat in his mouth, and said with a happy face, "I also have a brother and two sisters, and they will definitely help me take care of Margaret and my two children."

"I have four older brothers"

Sterling took a big sip of hot soup and said, "But Beverly and I haven't planned to have a baby yet, so that's not bad. Even if we really can't go back, at least she won't be too hard."

Seeing that the two young captains were already talking about "in case they don't survive", Wei Ran hurriedly asked, "Hawkes, what about you? Are you not married?"

"I chose to join the army because the girl I like is going to marry someone else. Of course, the main reason is that I want to see the sea."

The 18-year-old Hawkes shrugged depressedly, picked up a piece of sea turtle head and threw it into his mouth, sucked the little meat on it and continued, "And I don't have any siblings. Victor, What about you?"

"I have no siblings"

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he picked up a piece of oyster meat with a branch that served as chopsticks and threw it into his mouth, while chewing, he said the second part of the sentence that disappointed Hawks in his hopeful eyes, "But I have a girlfriend. "

"It seems that I'm the only one who hasn't even seen a woman's nako." Hawkes said with a depressed face, "I haven't even touched it."

"You will have this chance." After Sterling finished speaking, Wei Ran and Evans laughed at the same time.

"I didn't expect that I would encounter discrimination after running here." After Hawkes finished speaking, he himself laughed too.

Talking and laughing to fill up the stomach, Wei Ran filled up the remaining soup base with water and moved it to the side of the campfire to continue cooking slowly. In this way, not only did everyone not have to drink raw water, but also did not have to worry about leftovers. The little bit of turtle meat left will go bad.

Putting on wet gloves, he took out the gas cylinder that had been buried by the campfire. He poured a big cup of hot jasmine leaf tea for everyone, and then filled it with rainwater from last night to continue heating. Then he took off his gloves and lay down on his own wooden bed.

"I don't know how the two pilots are doing?" Evans muttered to himself while staring at the tight umbrella cloth above his head.

"Shouldn't be worse than us"

Lying in his hammock, Sterling said, "Maybe they got enough food for several days. I even doubt they caught a shark or tuna."

“That's not bad”

Hawkes sat cross-legged on the edge of the campfire, hacking the sticks used to make hunting bows with his Indian pipe ax and said, "So at least we have enough time to make bows and arrows."

"Unless they have a fridge it's not possible"

Evans reminded while rolling a cigarette, "Otherwise, even if they catch a whale, it will only take two days at most, and all the meat and food may go bad."

"So they are only two days ahead of us at most?" Sterling asked meaningfully.

"We still have this, plus those coconuts we've stashed away, so maybe we should be ahead of them."

As Evans said, he picked up the canning bottle with a capacity of one liter and up, which was used to hold tobacco, and said while showing the tobacco and cash inside, "If we have the opportunity to get a lot of meat these days Class, you can use this bottle to make cans."

"This is a good idea." Sterling's eyes lit up immediately, and he subconsciously glanced at the few pieces of turtle meat left in the helmet.

“I only remembered after eating”

Evans took the lead and said, "Besides, Sterling, if the weather is fine tomorrow, you and I will continue to explore the atolls together, and then we will wear the diving masks Hawkes made from gas masks. This island is going to be big. Victor, your job tomorrow is to gather firewood and fortify the camp."

"No problem." Sterling and Wei Ran immediately agreed to Evans' arrangement. As for Hawks, his job was naturally to make bows and arrows.

Compared with their guesses, Akira and Jiro on the north side of the island are actually much more difficult.

At least for Akira, it was far from enough to just have coconuts for dinner, but it was not only dinner, and even the firewood for lighting the bonfire was not enough to burn all night.

So even though the sun was about to set, Jiro, who had been feverish all day, was still waving the machete again and again, with a sunburned face tense, cutting down a silver leaf tree strangled to death by vines.

"Jiro, we need dinner."

Akila threw a piece of the drug into his mouth, then opened the kettle and poured it out, and then said dissatisfiedly, "There is even fresh water! Is there no spring on this island?"

"Uncle, there is nothing on this island."

Jiro asked intermittently while cutting down the tree, "Are you sure where we are now?"

"confirmed"

Akila took out a silk map from his pocket and opened it, pointed to a small island the size of a mung bean on it and said, "According to your description and the terrain I saw, we are probably on Helen Island in Helen Reef. "

"How far is it from them?" Jiro stopped what he was doing and asked nervously.

Akira opened his mouth, and finally said, "70 kilometers, we just need to go to Toby Island, which is 70 kilometers due west. According to your father's previous letter, there are fishermen living on that island, so we can definitely Find the boat from there, and then rush to Peleliu Island little by little."

"But wait for us"

"They must be alive!"

Akila flushed down the pills in his mouth with the last sip of coconut juice, and said with crazy confidence, "The Americans can't occupy Peleliu Island so easily, we must have enough time to rush there and join them!"

"And then we really grab a Mitsubishi 100 transport plane as planned?" Jiro swallowed, "Even if there is that golden statue, this"

"We just need to buy enough seats and parachutes for the whole family with all that gold"

Akira said confidently, "After takeoff, we have enough time and opportunity to hijack the plane and fly back to Nagasaki."

"We will be punished if we fail."

"You can only gamble once!"

When Akila said this, a morbid blush appeared on that excited face, but immediately after, he frowned, clutched his stomach, and limped out of the woods with a half oar beach.

"Can we really get out of here?"

Jiro muttered something to himself, and immediately felt that his stomach seemed to be a little uncomfortable.

“Next time you should cook those crabs longer”

While muttering in his heart, Jiro picked up an umbrella cloth that was washed in the morning, and walked to the beach opposite to Akira, facing the setting sun, spraying bloody feces with a painful expression.

It didn't rain as everyone expected that night, but Jiro realized very clearly that dysentery seemed to find him again.

But he knew very clearly that even if the Chinese man Wei Ran was willing to help it this time, he would not be able to produce any suitable medicine at all.

Under the torment of abdominal pain and high fever all night, Jiro lost consciousness before dawn the next day, and lay huddled beside the campfire that barely kept burning.

Seeing this, Akila picked up the pistol between the two of them, looked in the direction of Wei Ran and the others again and again, but looked at the 1911 pistol in his hand again and again.

This pistol came from the only weapon he took out of his weapons bag in the dark the night before landing on the island before he was about to sneak up on the life raft.

However, it wasn't until he and Jiro occupied the northernmost tip of the island with this weapon and buried the treasure that he noticed that there were only two bullets in the magazine of this gun.

It is obviously difficult to kill four people with two bullets.But no matter which two of Wei Ran and the others he killed, the remaining two would undoubtedly kill him and Jiro with ease.

In other words, the only thing he and Jiro can rely on now is that Ran and the others don't know how many bullets are in the magazine of this gun.

Finally, looking at the shivering Jiro, Akira reluctantly put down the pistol, took out the small medicine bottle, shook out a drug from inside and stuffed it into the former's mouth, hoping that these refreshing candies would give Jiro Bring some help.

Soothed by the waves, the night was finally replaced by day, but before the people at both ends of the island started their busy day, after a flash of lightning, the sound of thunder followed by the pouring rain.

In the camp on the north side of the island, the bonfire that provided warmth for Akira and his nephew had been completely extinguished due to insufficient fuel.Akira, who was missing most of the sole of his foot, did not take over Jiro's unfinished job of cutting dead wood, but helped him and himself put on a fairly thick one-piece flight suit to fight against the heavy rain brought by the morning rainstorm. low temperature.

In contrast, the southern tip of the island is much better. Thanks to the firewood collected by Wei Ran and Sterling in turn yesterday, and the windbreak wall made of branches and sticks buried in the sand, although their camp is not The top is airtight, but at least the sand under the feet and the body can be kept dry, let alone sleeping on the ground directly.

Even, with the help of the pouring rain outside, the four men not only took a bath, but also washed all their clothes and hung them on the trunk of the coconut tree.

And at the edge of the sky, Wei Ran used the toothbrush he stole on the boat and mixed it with crushed toner to carefully clean his teeth.

Of course, compared to his hygienic demeanor, the other three sailors who only wore an umbrella cloth around their waists had no time to do personal hygiene. Under the leadership, concentrate on making bows and arrows around the campfire.

Hawkes' skill in making hunting bows is impossible to evaluate. In his opinion, it is nothing more than flattening the two ends of a wooden stick to make an arc, and then using the gum found from an unknown tree, the whole body is wound and glued together. Loop the umbrella cloth strips, and finally hang the bowstring made of paracord.

Even shafts made from feathers, shards of glass, and wooden sticks are a bit more complex in comparison.Because of this, he also maintained a skeptical attitude towards the lethality of the bow and arrow that was about to be completed in Hawkes' hands.

Regardless of whether the bows and arrows are reliable or not, the torrential rain that started in the morning not only filled Wei Ran and others' water bottles, lunch boxes and steel helmets, but also completely disrupted their work plans.Fortunately, near two o'clock in the afternoon, when the firewood collected yesterday was about to burn out, the rain finally stopped.

Time was limited, so everyone dared not delay. The two captains put on damp clothes, took tools and went straight to the atoll on the southeast side to continue searching for supplies and lost weapons. Hawks stayed in the camp and continued to pack his bow and arrows. .

After taking a sneak photo of everyone, Wei Ran also put on his clothes and held a telescope, and cautiously approached the camp on the north side of the island under the cover of the woods on the center line of the island.

However, as the distance got closer, after he raised the binoculars for the last time, he raised his eyebrows strangely.

Contrary to what they guessed yesterday, at first glance, there was nothing to eat in the camp where the two pilots wore one-piece pilots, and even the campfire was drenched by rain.

Forget it, at this time, these two big grievances are squatting on the wet beach outside the forest, drying their snow-white buttocks, and from time to time, you can still hear these two beasts humming Haw's screams and Akira's curses.

Quietly changing the telephoto lens to the camera in his hand, Wei Ran took a picture of each of the two beasts with their butts paler than their faces, and then took a picture of their camp.

Carefully cleaning up his footprints, Wei Ran backed away slowly, and waited until the bushes completely blocked his sight, then turned around and ran back for a hundred meters. One, wrapped in an umbrella cloth and carried in hand.

Bringing such a jasmine back is naturally to pick the flowers and leaves to soak in water to supplement some vitamins. Although this may not be useful, it is better than nothing.

First transplanted the jasmine flower to the side of the camp, Wei Ran ran back and forth several times, collected enough firewood, and either dried them on the beach, or directly covered them on the bonfire that had not been extinguished, or Simply spread it around the campfire as a floor.

"Victor, lend me your telescope!"

Just when Wei Ran sent back a bundle of firewood again, Hawks who was standing on the beach immediately waved to him.

"Aren't you wearing any clothes?"

Wei Ran looked at Hawkes dumbfounded. Although the Indian boy was shaved, his hair was messy.

Forget it, but at this time he only bought an umbrella cloth around his waist, but he still held a self-made bow and arrow in his hand.And more than ten meters away, on the coconut shell used as a target, there are still two arrow shafts that were made in the morning.

"My clothes aren't dry yet"

Hawks explained indifferently, raised his finger and said in the southeast direction, "Anyway, take a quick look over there, are the chief and Sterling carrying something?"

"Let me see." Wei Ran said as he dropped the firewood in his hand, took out the binoculars and looked over.

Sure enough, just like what Hawks said, the two captains were really working together to lift a big thing, but firstly, the distance was a bit far, and secondly, the thing seemed to be wrapped with an umbrella cloth. So he didn't see clearly.

"It seems that they are indeed carrying something." Wei Ran handed the binoculars to the other party, "But it's too far away and I can't see clearly. I'll go over and help them carry it."

As he spoke, he ran straight over without waiting for the other party to respond.

As the distance between the two sides gradually narrowed, Wei Ran finally managed to see clearly that what Evans and the two were carrying together turned out to be the thermos bucket that was lost before!At this time, not only was an umbrella cloth wrapped in an unknown source, but also dripping clothes were placed on the thermos. Correspondingly, only a pair of underwear was left on Sterling's body.

"Where did you find it?!" Wei Ran yelled and asked from a long distance away.

"Found it at least closer than the life raft!"

Evans happily responded, "But it was underwater at the time, and Sterling fished it up!"

"Thanks to Hawks for the gas mask"

Sterling shook the gas mask on his other hand, "said loudly at the same time, "Also, I found a very large giant clam in the underwater coral reef.But it's too big, and I can't bring it up at all, until tomorrow I have to bring the warchief's axe.I'm guessing the meat will surely allow us to whip out an extra can while our stomachs are full. "

"I just went to observe Akira's camp"

While speaking, Wei Ran took over from Evans, who could only use strength with one hand, and helped to carry the light thermos. At the same time, he did not forget to briefly describe the situation of the two pilots.

"How is Hawks' bow and arrow doing?" Evans asked immediately after hearing Wei Ran's description.

"I saw him test shooting just now." Wei Ran paused, "But whether it can be used or not, we have to ask him."

"Using bows and arrows against hot weapons, I don't think there is any chance of winning." Sterling couldn't help but said.

"It won't be harder than our Johnston to challenge those big guys," Evans said confidently, "and we can act at night."

"It's true." Sterling immediately became excited again, "Shall we act tonight?"

"Let's see how the bow and arrow prepared by Hawkes"

Evan paused, then continued, "When we go back, we will use all the tools at hand to reserve boiled fresh water. If we suffer from dysentery or other gastrointestinal diseases like Akira and the others, Victor will not There is a way to conjure medicine to help us."

"Will they come to grab our food?" Sterling asked abruptly.

"They sure will"

Wei Ran said with great affirmation, "But it will have to wait until they can control their own chrysanthemums before they have the strength to come over. Otherwise, the distance of 500 meters between us is enough for them to have diarrhea several times."

"makes sense"

Sterling grinned after finishing speaking, "Victor, you are disgusting. Besides, don't mention this kind of thing anymore. I really don't want to recall everything that happened on the boat."

Captain Evans, who had also been hijacked while suffering from diarrhea, twitched the corners of his mouth and muttered "I don't want to either".

In the chatting and cranky thinking of the three of them, they finally rushed back to the camp carrying the thermos.

However, from a long distance away, Wei Ran noticed that Hawkes, who was clearly fiddling with bows and arrows before he set off, was sitting on the beach with his head down.And beside him, there was a hunting bow with a cracked bow and loose strings.

"I messed up." Hawkes said to the three of Wei Ran with a mournful face, "The wood I chose was cracked. I'm sorry, I may have to find wood again."

(End of this chapter)