the first of the parked bombers. At that
point, Dawson swerved sharply to the left in order to avoid all notice
if possible. Then he swerved back to the right again without checking
his speed for a single instant. They had to pass four more bombers with
mechanics and pilots swarming all over before they reached the
Messerschmitt 110. They accomplished it in a matter of split seconds,
but to Dawson's high-pitched nerves and whirling brain, it seemed a
thousand years. It seemed as though he was only crawling over the
ground, and in slow motion at that.

But the crazy thoughts he had were far from the truth. He was traveling
so fast that he virtually ran into the side of the Messerschmitt and was
bounced back, to bump up against Freddy Farmer's plunging body. They
caught hold of each other in an effort to maintain their balance. They
succeeded, but no sooner had they regained their balance and were
turning to scramble up into the plane than two uniformed Nazis came
running around the tail of the aircraft.

The two Nazis saw Dawson and Farmer. Their jaws dropped, and they
skidded to a halt and reached for their holstered Lugers. But they might
just as well have tried to jump over the stars and drop straight down on
the two air aces. Dawson's gun barked once, so did Freddy Farmer's, and
there were two less Germans in the world.

Before either of the dead Germans had hit the ground the two air aces
had whirled and had thrown themselves into the Messerschmitt's cockpit.
Though nothing had been decided between them, Dawson impulsively leaped
into the pilot's pit, and Freddy Farmer piled into the gunner's pit
aft. It was one of those unspoken agreements, and as Dawson landed in
the seat, his hands shot out for the engine switches, throttles, and
starter buttons. Two seconds later, the grinding of the starter gears
sounded like the loudest noise in all the world, and Dave's heart
pounded in wild fear that their two shots were bringing a horde of other
Nazis on the run. However, he didn't waste time looking about. He
hunched forward in the pit and concentrated every bit of his attention
and all his prayers on getting the two Daimler-Benz engines started.

One second, one minute, one hour, or maybe a thousand years dragged by
before the two engines "caught" and roared in a mighty earth-shaking
duet of power. Dawson's heart leaped with wild joy, and for five
precious seconds he forced himself to let the engines run to warm up a