e a laugh for
themselves!

CHAPTER FIVE

_Whispering Death_

Shifting to a slightly more comfortable position in the Vultee's cockpit
seat, Dave Dawson absently drummed the fingers of one hand on the side
of the cockpit and stared down at the sky-blue Caribbean Sea rolling far
beneath his wings. Behind him was Puerto Rico, and a considerable way
ahead of him was the British-owned island of Trinidad. Several miles off
the Vultee's left wing tip were the Leeward and Windward islands of the
West Indies jutting up out of the blue water. High above him was a
cloudless sky with a shimmering ball of gold in the center.

All in all, it was a scene that would have made poets rave, and the
hardest of hearts melt. However, if the truth must be known, it left
Dawson cold. Not because he did not possess an eye for Nature's beauty;
it was rather because, though he was looking at it, he wasn't actually
seeing it. His mind was too filled with other and more personal
thoughts.

The previous night he and Freddy Farmer had taken off from Bolling Field
and had flown directly to the Army Air Forces base at Miami. There,
after making sure, they had delivered the first of the sealed envelopes.
Later they had flown on to the base at San Juan, on Puerto Rico, and
delivered the second envelope. Now they were winging their way farther
south to the Air Transport Command base at San Fernando on Trinidad.

"After Trinidad, Paramaribo, and Belem, and Natal," Dawson said, and
scowled down at the beautiful Caribbean. "That's just the point, too. A
couple of air-mail pilots, that's all we are!"

"What's that, Dave?" he heard Freddy Farmer's voice in the inter-com
phones. "What are you mumbling about?"

"Mumbling?" Dawson snorted. "I was shouting with joy! I'm so excited
that I can hardly keep from jumping overboard. And now that I think of
it, maybe that _would_ be a good idea!"

"Then go right ahead, old thing," the English youth in the rear pit
chuckled. "Nothing I want more than for you to have your own way, you
know."

"Don't look right now, but you can go fly a kite to the moon, pal!"
Dawson growled. "I suppose you're enjoying this here-to-there hop in the
sky?"

"Well, I _have_ seen better piloting," Freddy came right back. "But,
considering one thing and all, I'm not too fed up--yet. On the other
hand, it is a bit boring. I mean--"

"You mean what?" Dave asked as Freddy let the rest hang in mid-air.

"Don't know just how