Probably, Pickering thought, now that I think about it, Charley Wil-loughby didn't come to see you immediately because he knew you would not want to hear what Weston told him, that Fertig has done an amazing job, and that just as soon as we can get some supplies to him, he is going to really cause the Japanese a good deal of trouble.
"Probably because he's boiling down what Weston had to tell him into a more convenient form, so as not to waste your time, General," Pickering said.
"Yes, of course, that must be it," MacArthur said. He changed the subject. "You were telling us about Captain Weston's beard, that you had ordered him to keep it?"
"Until after he deals with the OSS, General. I thought it might-"
"Impress them with the fact that they are dealing with a warrior?" MacArthur interrupted.
"Well, at least with a Marine whom the fortunes of war have placed where he had more important things to worry about than five o'clock shadow."
"You and I share a sense of humor, Fleming," MacArthur said. "I don't know how Jean feels about it."
"I think his beard is handsome!" Jean MacArthur said.
"My grandfather wore a beard," MacArthur said. "My father, General Arthur MacArthur, Jr., did not. It is family lore that he could not grow one, possibly because at the time of the battle, Missionary Ridge-where he won the Medal of Honor-he was just eighteen years old. Family lore also holds that after he was brevetted colonel-he was then nineteen, the youngest officer ever to hold that rank-he tried to grow one to make himself look older. He failed. Humiliated by that, he was clean-shaven the rest of his life, except for his mustache; and I suppose that I have patterned myself after him in that re-gard as well."
"You would look distinguished with a mustache!" his wife said.
He gave her a look that could have been mild annoyance or amusement, or both, and turned to Jim Weston.
"Captain," he said. "Perhaps an odd question: What did you think, or more precisely, what is your assessment of the reception of the matches by the Filipinos?"
"Matches, Sir?" Weston asked, baffled.
"Yes, matches. Matchbooks."
"Sir, I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."
MacArthur turned to Pickering.
"I was led to believe, Fleming," he said coldly, "that matches were among the supplies your people took into the Philippines."
"I don't think Captain Weston saw your matches, General. They probably weren't off-loaded from the Sunfish before he was sent aboard. We sent a case, or two cases. I told McCoy to see that at least one case went with the first rubber boat."
"I see."
"Darling," his wife said. "I have some. Should I get them?"
"If you please, if for no other reason than to satisfy Captain Weston's curi-osity."
"Dinner is served," the white-jacketed orderly announced.
"It will have to wait," MacArthur snapped. "Mrs. MacArthur is not quite ready. Bring another round of drinks in the meantime."
"Yes, Sir."
The drinks were served before Jean MacArthur returned with a handful of matchbooks. She gave one to Weston, and then, like a hostess serving cookies, gave one to Pickering, Stecker, and Hart.
Weston looked at the matchbook in his hand. On it was printed "I SHALL RETURN! MacArthur."
"It was an idea my psychological-warfare people came up with," MacAr-thur said. "It rather embarrassed me, but they are supposed to know what they are doing, and I gave in."
"I never saw these before, Sir. But with respect, I think your psychologi-cal-warfare people are right."
"How is that, Captain Weston?"
"They're like General Fertig's gold, Sir. Proof that the United States hasn't forgotten them. And they'll drive the Japanese crazy."
"How is that, Captain?"
"The Filipinos think you, and for that matter, your father, are sort of like gods." Major General Arthur MacArthur, General Douglas MacArthur's fa-ther, was formerly the Military Governor of the Philippines; he ruled with both wisdom and compassion, and was instrumental in the transformation of the captured Spanish colony into the Commonwealth of the Philippines. "They're not going to use these matches. They'll carry them around like religious relics. And the Japs won't be able to do anything about it."
"Would you explain that?"
"They're killing people they find with arms, or trying to help us; but not even the Japs are going to start killing people over a book of matches. They're still trying to push that 'Greater Asian Co-prosperity Sphere' business. They would lose face doing something brutal over matchbooks."
"Charley Willoughby, General," Pickering said, "seemed to be fas-cinated with Captain Weston's views about the Japanese philosophy of occupation. And with the principles General Fertig has laid out for his psychological-warfare operations."
"Did he really?" MacArthur said impatiently.
"Yes, Sir," Colonel Stecker said. "I had the feeling that General Fertig was setting that sort of thing up the way General Willoughby would himself."
"Fascinating," MacArthur said. "I will discuss that with him." He turned to Weston.
"And you don't think, Captain, that putting my name on it was going a bit too far? Instead of, for example, the American flag, or crossed Filipino and American flags, something on that order?"
"No, Sir. Without the name MacArthur, all they'd be is matches."
"You see, Douglas?" his wife said. "I told you."
"Well, I don't mind being proven wrong by an expert," MacArthur said.
"Sir, could I ask you for a favor?" Weston asked. "Could I ask you to autograph one of these for me?"
"You would like my autograph, Captain?"
"Yes, Sir. If you would please, Sir."
"Not on a matchbook, Captain," MacArthur said. "But I'll tell you what I will do. If General Pickering will bring you to my office at, say, oh nine hun-dred tomorrow, I will be happy to give you my autograph. It will be affixed to a document awarding you the Silver Star medal for conspicuous gallantry in action."
"Yes, Sir."
If a medal is well deserved, Fleming Pickering decided, the circumstances surrounding its award are not really important. And it is probably very cynical of me to suspect that the notion to decorate you for your valor come shortly after you told El Supremo the Filipinos regard him as a god.
"Douglas, what time did you order dinner?"
"Right now, my love," he said. "Captain Weston, would you do Mrs. MacArthur the honor of taking her in to dinner?"
[SIX]
Office of the Director
Office of Strategic Services
National Institutes of Health Building
Washington, D.C.
0900 Hours 8 January 1943
"I didn't know if you would want to see this or not," L. Stanford Morrissette said, laying a long sheet of teletypewriter paper on the desk of OSS Director William J. Donovan.
"What is it?"
"A synopsis of Waterson's debriefing of the officer who came out of the Philippines on the submarine."
"Why did you think I wouldn't want to see it?"
"There's nothing new in it. All it does is confirm what Lieutenant McCoy has been reporting all along. And McCoy's reports, which you've seen, have much more detail."