Never So Few Page #7

Travis!

Execute the prisoners, Ringa.

Shoot them all, right now.

Lay them out in a line

so the rest of these rats can see.

Message to Parkson.

To Parkson for Chongqing:

"Go to hell. "

To Parkson for headquarters, CBl:

"Go to hell. "

To Parkson for Parkson,

if he goes along: "Go to hell. "

Now, move.

Move it, Norby!

Your plane's ready, boss.

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to

bad-news you, Jim.

This is not a particularly good time

to do it.

In this lash-up, one time's as bad

as the next.

- Someone's gonna have to run the outfit.

- Ringa?

I'm gonna jump him over you.

I was afraid you were

gonna take me off the squawk box.

Nothing as drastic as that.

Keep your glasses clean, junior.

I'm giving you a field commission.

Second lieutenant.

You let it change your ways

and you're a damn fool.

Yeah.

Meat-headed second lieutenant.

William Lewis Ringa. A gentleman.

By act of Congress.

I'm just sorry it had to happen

this way.

But I'll tell you one thing.

I'd give you the shirt off my back.

You already did, remember?

This is one of our general

staff bungalows, sir.

The colonel said you're to consider

yourself under arrest.

Confined to quarters here,

the colonel said.

I can imagine what the colonel said.

May I go on, sir?

The colonel said he'll come

to see you. It won't be too long.

You have a visitor.

Your first and last, the colonel said.

I know why you are here, Tom.

I know how serious the charges are,

and what the penalty can be.

You seem pretty well-informed.

Nikko?

Tom, from what I've said to you...

...the way I've acted, and the people

you've seen me with...

...you should know that Nikko and I

are close to high authority.

I've never had any doubt.

He's with Allied Intelligence,

and I worked with him.

You acted the fool by trying to be noble

the last time we were together.

You mustn't be foolish now

or you'll be charged with murder.

Or they can certify you insane, or...

I couldn't stand that.

Funny thing.

I thought it was all over between us.

It's not all over between us, Tom.

It will never be. I want you,

not the medals of a hero.

What you did was right.

You must make them understand

you were suffering from battle fatigue.

You must make them realize this.

You've got to tell them, Tom.

I can't tell them, Carla.

I can't.

At ease, Reynolds.

You might get an infection.

Not after I soak them in this stuff.

This is General Sloan.

The general's out of headquarters

in Washington.

You like a drink, general?

Thanks, Reynolds. I'd like one.

The colonel would like one too.

Thanks.

Well, Reynolds...

...looks like you really did it.

This is one of the warrants from

Chongqing that I picked up.

This is my answer to anything

you people have to say.

Those documents

were ordered destroyed.

Have you any idea of the far-flung

complications that you have provoked?

The drastic effect it has on

American-Chinese relation?

General, I know a little something

about you.

You were a Medal of Honor winner

in the First World War.

Self-made millionaire in civilian life.

In both areas, your exploits are, what

they say in the comic books, a legend.

I expected something different from you,

instead of the usual old hogwash.

Like to say one thing, general,

before we go any further.

Captain Reynolds has had

a hard tour of duty.

Too much for any one man.

Butt out, Fred! I don't need

a public defender.

I'm here to nail down

a few things myself.

The hell you are.

You're here to hang, unless you

come up with the right answers.

Over there in the main house

is General Chao...

...official representative

of the Chinese government.

He's patiently waiting

for your personal apology.

I'll stand trial. I'll resign my commission.

But I will not apologize.

Suppose we confiscate this document.

I couldn't stop you.

Except I got a couple of them

stashed away in safe places.

Fairly tricky.

But you don't know

what genuine trickiness is.

I've got a couple of tricksters.

Real star-spangled-banner, hell-for-leather

tricksters, right outside that door.

An investigating team

from headquarters, CBl.

They're panting to chew you up.

I only hope I don't have to use them.

I've just seen 34 American Gl's with

their heads blown off by Chinese troops.

And I wanna know why.

This is sickening.

Doesn't it strike you that your actions

were, to say the least, unprecedented?

Doesn't it strike you that we're fighting

a rather unprecedented kind of war?

Isn't that right, general?

Well, it has its bad moments.

But in the long run-

I don't give a damn about the long run

if it adds up to this.

You can't deny what's been going on.

What will continue unless

something's done about it.

I know I'm right about this.

And if you don't know it, I pity you.

Colonel Reed, Captain Alofson.

Drink?

Proceed, doctor.

No, not while you're in the room,

colonel.

Doctor, you know the regulations.

I've a right to a private examination.

Particularly since every

blood-sucking politician...

...in the CBl is looking to snap me

out on a Section Eight.

Who said you were to be examined?

I didn't say that anyone said it,

did I, colonel?

Reynolds, you're in a sling. According

to your 201 File, your actions...

...have for some time refuted your

psychological fitness for command.

You should have my problems, colonel.

You really should.

Proceed, doctor.

You got a very neurotic friend there,

doc.

That's all that's left of

the 34 men we found.

Reynolds, I've got to examine you.

Okay. Mind if I smoke?

Supposing I said

I wished you wouldn't?

If you gave me a good reason,

I probably wouldn't.

But seeing as how you don't

outrank me, I think I will.

- That's a specific, logical answer.

- Thank you, doc.

About your 201 File...

...I guess we both know what

Colonel Reed had reference to.

For instance?

For instance...

...your killing one of

your own men. Kachin.

I had to put him out of his misery.

We had no morphine. He couldn't

be saved. We had no doctor.

Without a doctor, how do you know

he couldn't have been saved?

I've seen a lot of bad belly wounds, doc.

This one was one of the worst.

What else?

You challenged the authority

of an Army physician...

...in his own hospital.

In his report to headquarters...

Man, they really stack the deck,

don't they?

About the Ubachi strike,

where you lost so many troops...

...would you say you were

under stress at the time?

Yeah, I think so.

Would you say that your subsequent

action in attacking the bandits...

...was influenced by the same kind

of stress?

No, doc, I knew exactly

what I was doing.

Chongqing is most understanding.

If Captain Reynolds is sick...

...and hospitalized, my government

will be satisfied.

Nevertheless, he must apologize

for his absurd charges.

Without an apology,

Chongqing would suffer...

...what many Orientals

characterize as a severe loss of face.

As an American, I must say I am

outraged at Captain Reynolds' attitude.

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