speak until O'Malley had
finished three fourths of the pie. He ordered coffee and leaned back.

"I have heard a great deal about you, Lieutenant," he began.

O'Malley did not think this remark called for an answer, so he went on
eating his pie.

"I know you are an excellent pilot, though I understand you are a bit
reckless." There was a gleam that might have been humor in the colonel's
eye.

O'Malley leaned back. He pushed the pie plate away from him and uttered
a contented sigh.

"However, I'm afraid you are not the type of man I want working beside
me. With your permission, I will find you another assignment." The
colonel watched O'Malley as he spoke.

"What sort o' work?" O'Malley asked.

"Flying a fighter plane, of course." Colonel Benson smiled.

"'Twill suit me foine," O'Malley said. "I'm not likin' the idea o' bein'
a brass hat."

"I don't think you would make a very good one," the colonel said. "There
will be no further mention of your pie-eating exhibition of this
afternoon. You will report to operations for your new assignment."

"Thank you, sor."

The colonel drank his coffee and arose. O'Malley got to his feet and
managed a snappy salute. The colonel moved off and the boys closed in to
find out what had happened.

CHAPTER II

SPECIAL TASK

The sympathy of the boys in the officers' mess was wasted upon O'Malley.
He was not impressed by the advanced rating he had missed, nor was he
jealous of the new and shining bars and oak leaves his pals were
wearing. He had checked in and been assigned flight leader of a flight
of three planes whose task was special work. All that interested
O'Malley was that he was due to head out over the Mediterranean Sea with
the nose of his Lightning pointed toward Italy.

"Sure, an' I'll have Benito captured by the time you birds go into
action," he told the gang.

O'Malley's exact duties were not very clear, nor was his crew a reality.
No men had been assigned to him and he had no flight orders, but he had
the assurance of the captain at operations that he would be on his way
in a short time. If O'Malley had any suspicions as to the sort of work
Colonel Benson had laid out for him, he did not show them. He was in
exceptional good humor.

When he was called in by Captain Marks at headquarters, he dashed to the
operations room as fast as he could. The captain smiled as O'Malley
sprawled into a chair.

"I understand we are about to start an invasion of