The guards moved around the silent camp with their roster boards, carrying out repeated roll-calls. Bowen had set off with Sergeant Nagata to the commandant's office, perhaps to be interrogated. For another hour Jim stood in line with the missionary widows, watched by the sentry. Already the flak tower appeared in a new light.

Through the window was the pagoda at Lunghua Airfield. He rocked on his heels and listened to an old woman crying in the nearby ward. Ransome, whom Jim was determined to keep alive. Carefully eked out, the kit and equipment could be bartered with Basie for extra sweet potatoes for months to come, and even perhaps a warm coat for the winter. Jim tried to decide which of the ruined buildings would best conceal his body. Soon enough, one of the Americans would be shot down into Lunghua Camp. Context: He waited for the roll-call to end, reflecting on the likely booty attached to a dead American pilot.