d. "But all this does not interest me. So you
have five carriers, eh? And they are up north meeting two other task
forces, eh? That _is_ interesting. What are they doing up there?"

Dave looked at the scowling Jap naval officer, grinned, and then
returned his gaze to the Nazi's face. He shrugged and gave a little
shake of his head.

"I don't know," he said. "Maybe it's Tokyo, and _for keeps_ this time.
We were to get our orders later."

The Jap made a sound like air coming out of a punctured tire, and wild
hatred seemed to come out all over him in lumps.

"Lies, all lies!" he screamed. "Never again will Tokyo be bombed by you
American dogs. We have seen to it, yes! You will all be dead and in the
water before you even sight our shores!"

Dawson shrugged again but kept his gaze on the German's face.

"Were you on the surface for very long last night?" he suddenly asked.

The Nazi started, and blinked.

"What?" he demanded. "What's that?"

"I asked if you were on the surface much last night?" Dave repeated.
"Was your radio open all the time?"

The German hesitated as though reluctant to reveal even that bit of
utterly useless information. Then he made up his mind, and nodded
curtly.

"Yes, we were," he said. "And the radio was open. Why?"

"You didn't hear the Tokyo station, did you, by any chance?" Dave asked
softly, and leaned forward slightly. "Did you hear _any_ Tokyo
broadcast? Say from midnight on?"

The Jap hissed some more, but Dawson didn't so much as look at him. He
kept staring at the Nazi, who was all scowls now. And there was a queer,
unfathomable look in his eyes. Then suddenly he blurted out the
question.

"You mean that Tokyo was bombed last night?"

Dawson calmly hunched one shoulder and gestured with his two hands,
palms upward.

"Maybe it wasn't Tokyo," he said quietly. "We didn't have a radio in our
raft. Maybe other objectives were selected at the last minute. I just
thought that maybe you had heard, and could tell me. Then you didn't
hear the Tokyo radio last night, eh? And maybe it was _off_ the air?"

"Lies, all lies!" the Jap screamed again, and actually jumped up and
down in his fury. "Not one enemy bomber will ever get within sight of
our shores."

Dave was tempted to turn and snap, "Quiet! small fry!" but instead he
kept looking at the Nazi commander. He could tell that the German had a
head full of thoughts, all bad. He and Freddy had planted the seeds of
doubt and worr