ealized. The transport began
circling for a landing. They sighted the ruins of a town and were soon
over it. Ten minutes later they were standing on a sand dune along with
the pilot and copilot. A group of higher-ranking officers, including a
general, stood a little way from them.

"We'll not be here very long," the pilot said, jerking his head toward
his other passengers. "Not with the big boy along. He's on an urgent
mission. We've already radioed for a pick-up plane."

"He's hurrying in the wrong direction," Allison said.

Stan walked away and down the slope a bit. One of the Navy's NATS
amphibian freight planes was down at the dock. Stan had learned to
respect the Navy Air Transport Service. Those boys flew freight and mail
from the United States to every part of the world where the Yanks were
fighting, and they flew it on schedule. This plane probably was headed
back to Tunis or Bizerte.

He passed the high officers at some little distance. The wind was
blowing away from them and he caught the irritated voice of the general.

"With this delay I'll have to go back. Action against Italy starts at
dawn tomorrow." The wind whipped away the general's words and Stan did
not hear any more, but what he had heard made him halt.

Invasion. The boys were going in for the kill and he was heading for a
rest in Alexandria. Turning, he walked up the hill. Allison was chatting
with the pilot. Stan motioned to him and they strolled down the slope.
When they were out of hearing of the crew, Stan said:

"I just overheard something."

Allison gave him a quick look. "Been eavesdropping?"

"An ill wind brought me a word from that general. We're hitting it back
to Bizerte."

"I say, old chap, you know I'm going where I can have two hot baths a
day. I'll have a barber shave me and I'll have breakfast served in bed.
You run along back to Bizerte, but I'm going on to Alexandria."

"The attack on Italy is set for tomorrow morning. The general is going
back and I'm going with him. O'Malley isn't going to hog this show."

Allison halted and stared at Stan. Suddenly his twisted smile pulled at
the corners of his mouth. "If you put it that way, I guess I'm going
back to Bizerte, too."

"The general has radioed for a plane to take him back. This delay has
upset his schedule and he won't go on. We'll go back with him. Let's
collar the old boy."

"We are under orders to report to Alexandria," Allison reminded him.

"The general do