"Okay," he said to the four men, who stood just inside the doorway. "Okay, okay. Bug off."
As they left, Hunt said, "That was right-handed. I haven't shown you left-handed yet."
"Don't bother."
"How about left-handed with a blindfold?"
"You can't play this with a blindfold. How can you play if you don't see?"
"You don't have to see," said Hunt. "You've never noticed. The machine makes a different sound when a ball is coming in low than it does when it's coming in high. You can hear a siss that tells you fast or slow."
"You know, I don't think I like you," said Dor.
"I could beat you by telephone," said Hunt.
Dor looked at him, at the studied insolence in Hunt's eyes, so different from the look of bland confusion that was there when he first entered the room. The maharaji decided he could ignore the challenge in order to harness Hunt's talent. He said:
"One hundred thousand dollars. Kill them both."
"Their names?"
"All we've heard so far is Remo and Chiun. They're probably in San Francisco."
"Too bad for them," said Hunt, and he enjoyed saying it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Today, Remo thought, Joleen was almost human.
She had spent the previous evening sitting quietly, listening intently, as Chiun had gently lectured the girls of the San Francisco Divine Bliss Mission; then late at night she had tried to join Chiun on his sleeping mat in the large bedroom that had been given to Remo and Chiun.
But Chiun had flitted her away with a swish of his hand, and she had settled for Remo and climbed into his bed, and because he was tired and wanted to sleep, Remo serviced her, just so that he did not have to listen to her talk.
The cab episode yesterday had weakened her insane devotion to Maharaji Gupta Mahesh Dor, and their sojourn in bed last night must have weakened her even further, Remo decided, because today she was talking like a human being and not like a recorded announcement.
Chiun, meanwhile, had spent the morning complaining that insects had bothered him all night, while he tried to sleep, and when Remo said they had not bothered him, Chiun had suggested that they would not bother one of their own.
Now they sat in the front seat of a rented car, Joleen sandwiched between Chiun and Remo.
"I do not understand," said Joleen.
"Hear, hear," said Remo.
"If you are a Master," she said, "what then is the maharaji?"
"For small people there are small things," said Chiun. "For large people, there are large things. It is the same with masters."
Joleen did not answer. She clamped her mouth tightly and thought. Chiun looked across her body toward Remo.
"Where are we going?" asked Chiun. "I did not know we could reach Sinanju by automobile."
"We are not going to Sinanju. Now knock it off."
"I think this one is cruel," Joleen said to Chiun, nodding her head toward Remo.
"Ah, how well you know him. See, Remo. She knows you. Cruel."
"Don't forget arrogant," said Remo.
"Yes, child," Chiun said to Joleen. "Do not forget arrogant. Or, for that matter, slothful, inept, lazy, and stupid."
"Yet he is your disciple," she said.
"To make beauty from a diamond is given to many men," said Chiun. "Ah, but to make beauty from a pale piece of pig's ear is something else. That takes the skill of a master. I am still trying to make him seem human. Beauty will come later." He folded his arms.
"Could you make beauty of me?" she said.
"More easily than of him. You have not his bad habits. He is a racist."
"I hate racists," Joleen said. "My father is a racist."
"Ask the racist where we're going," said Chiun.
"Where are we going?"
"I'm taking us out for some fresh air. All that incense and bowing and scraping was getting me down."
"See. He is an ingrate too," Chiun confided. "People willingly open their doors to him, and he downgrades their gift and their hospitality. What an American. If he tells you he will take you back to Patna, do not believe him. White men never keep their promises to others."
"Hey, Chiun. She's as white as I am. She's from Georgia for Christ's sake."
"I don't think I want to go back to Patna anymore," Joleen announced suddenly.
"See," said Chiun. "She is different from you. Already she grows in wisdom, while you have learned less than nothing in the last decade of your years."
Remo pulled the car to the curb. "All right, everybody out. We're going to walk."
"See," said Chiun. "How he orders us about. Oh, perfidy."
Chiun stepped onto the sidewalk and looked around. "Is this Disneyland?" he asked aloud.
Remo, surprised, looked around him. A small carnival to benefit St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church had been erected on an asphalted parking lot a half-block away.
"Yes," said Remo. "It's Disneyland."
"I forgive you, Remo, for being a racist. I have always wanted to visit Disneyland. Forget everything I said," he told Joleen. "Who brings the Master to Disneyland is not all bad."