s I felt a few hours ago."

But there was no take-off. When the bomber was swung around into the
wind, the engines were throttled to idling speed. Then and then only did
Colonel Welsh come out of his trance. He looked at Dawson and Farmer,
and reached out his hand.

"Give me the rest of those envelopes," he said.

Dawson shook his head and spoke quickly as a look of utter horror spread
over Colonel Welsh's face.

"We haven't got them, sir," he said. "Right after receiving your code
message, we decided it was best to destroy them, so we did."

Horror vanished from the Intelligence Chief's face and thankful relief
took its place.

"Good lads!" he said. "Now give me a detailed report of your flight from
Washington."

Dave Dawson glanced impulsively at Freddy Farmer, but the English-born
air ace shook his head and made a sign for Dave to do the talking. Dave
turned to Colonel Welsh and began to relate everything that had happened
from the Washington take-off to the moment of the colonel's arrival. He
didn't leave out a thing. However, in the event he might have missed
something, he shot a questioning look at Freddy Farmer when he had
finished.

"No, I can't think of a thing to add," the English youth said. "You've
covered everything, I'm sure."

During all the time Dawson was talking, Colonel Welsh sat leaning
forward slightly and listening as though his life depended upon every
word. Eventually he straightened up and looked at Major Parker.

"Have you anything to add?" he asked.

"Nothing, sir," the major replied. "Dawson covered my end of it all in
complete detail."

"You had never seen the dead man before, Parker?" the colonel then
asked.

"No, sir," Major Parker replied. Then, with a faint gesture, he added,
"I may have seen him, sir, in the course of my work, but the natives
here all look more or less alike."

Colonel Welsh grunted, scowled down at the little table in front of him,
and suddenly shot a sharp look at Dawson.

"Yes?" he asked. "You've got something on your mind, Dawson?"

Dave started slightly, because he did have something on his mind and was
debating if he should mention it. He could feel the red seeping up into
his face as he looked at Colonel Welsh.

"Just a hunch, sir," he said. "I'm probably all wrong. The dead man is
undoubtedly a native, as Major Parker says, but--"

"But what?" Colonel Welsh pressed as Dawson let the rest go unspoken.

"Well, his skin was dark like that o