xxx The Honorable Ones

John Steele adventurer. Hello friends, this is John Steele. Most of us at one time or another in our lives have had to face a hard decision. Our story this week concerns a man who faced a cruel choice to break the only promise he'd ever sworn to keep or to sacrifice the lives of those who depended on him.

I call this yarn the honorable ones. They say the path of least resistance leads to destruction. Maybe that's part of the reason James Guilford tossed over what might have been a brilliant career as a brain surgeon and ended up in China where the reputation no one would want pinned on them.

It began a short time after the Chinese Communist Army captured Hankau. Some Americans and Europeans had stayed on in the city for various reasons, mostly business. But Jim Guilford didn't have their connections and got pushed around.

combined with what he saw going on and wasn't able to do anything about made him hate the new people's Republic. So when he heard a rumor that an American was flying out to Japan, he pulled a few strings he hadn't got himself passage.

Jim thought that maybe getting back to the States would help him pull himself together and enable him to make a fresh start. The plane took off just before dawn to his surprise. Several other people were huddled on the floor on the pitch black cabin. Jim recognized their names as those of popular business people

and the international sector. Well, people better now are underway, right Benny? Yeah, Pete. Lots of good contacts washed down the drain though. Like losing your life blood, huh? Nah, salesmen, it's just like your reporters.