will we run into
anything like that? No such luck. So we bear up the best we can, and
make a hobby of collecting gossip. So if you two know any--"

And that's as far as the Flying Fortress commander got. At that moment
there came the bank and snap of the aft turret guns. And a split second
later the excited cry carried through the ship.

"Enemy aircraft off to port! A half dozen of them. Zeros!"

"My gosh, what do you know?" Captain Banks gasped, and stared wide-eyed
at Dawson.

"You shouldn't have talked so loud, Skipper!" Dave laughed, and sprang
to his feet. "Tojo heard you that time, and is obliging!"

CHAPTER TWO

_Aces Don't Miss_

Maybe Tojo wasn't obliging the Flying Fortress' commander, but six Jap
Zero pilots most certainly were. As Dawson leaped to a pair of waist
guns and peered to port, he saw the six Zeros prop-piling down like six
bullet-spitting maniacs. Steadying himself, he trained his guns on the
leading plane and fired. His tracers streaked out and seemed to be
cutting the Zero's left wing in two, but the Jap craft continued to come
boiling in at the big four-engined bomber. Lumps of lead began to bounce
and jounce around in Dawson's stomach. The pilot of that leading Zero
seemed to be bullet-proof. He also seemed to have but one thought in his
head: to keep right on thundering down and ram the Flying Fortress in
midair.

But cold fear was Dawson's for only a brief instant. He corrected his
aim and let fly again with his guns. This time the Zero was out of luck.
It took the full fury of Dawson's fire, seemed to stagger in the air for
a moment before it blew up in a cloud of orange flame and smoke, and
went showering down out of sight.

"One for our side!" Dawson shouted happily. "Now--!"

The chattering yammer of Freddy Farmer's guns in the slot above him cut
off the rest of Dawson's words. And in practically the same instant a
second Zero spouted black smoke, and then nosed over to go hurtling
straight downward, tracing its path of doom straight to the surface of
the Indian Ocean.

"My error!" Dawson bellowed. "I meant, two for our side. Nice going,
Freddy!"

Of course the English-born air ace didn't hear him, because all of the
Fortress's guns were hammering death and destruction into the four
remaining Zeros. In less time than it takes to tell about it, there were
only two Zeros left. Then only one. And then, as Dawson got off a
perfect deflection burst, there weren't any Z