An Impossible Rescue

 

Read/Watch 'em In Order #130

Warren Hastings Miller was yet another prolific writer of short stories for the pulps, active throughout the 1920s and 1930s. He had been editor of Field and Stream, was an outdoorsman and a world traveler, writing a number of books about camping, fishing, travel, etc. . More information about him can be found here. 

His contribution to the May 1927 issue of Frontier Stories moved the action to Burma with "Dayong Gets Mislaid."

Dayong is the Malayan assistant to British Secret Service agent Bruce Romney and he does indeed get mislaid. Dayong, you see, has a lead to catching a guy named Bugwan Dass, who is planning on stirring up an armed revolt among Burma's Buddhist population.

To get the evidence he needs, Dayong gains access to a large Buddhist temple and manages to get hold of an incriminating document. But he's found out and taken prisoner. He does manage to toss a message to a contact waiting on the other side of the temple wall and this message eventually gets to Romney.

But the British government has made that temple off-limits to white men. Romney can't storm the place or demand entry. So he needs to come up with a more clever way of rescuing Dayong before the Malay is executed.

Romney's plan is indeed clever and I think it will catch even a fair number of modern readers by surprise. I also like that most of  the story is told from Dayong's point-of-view, so we are kept in the dark regarding the nature of the rescue along with him. Dayong is clever and couragous in his own right, making him a strong protagonist even though he spends most of the tale as a prisoner. 

The author's travels took him to Burma, so I assume his depiction of Buddhist culture in 1920s Burma has some authenticity, but my own knowledge on the subject is zero, so I could be wrong. 

Click HERE to read the story and judge for yourself.