hundred miles distance from the point where you shot them down.
But just exactly where? Is that force south of here and advancing
through waters we control? Or have they spoken the truth, and is it
north on some mission we know nothing about? We must obtain the answer
to one or both of those questions, Honorable Comrade, you see?"

The Jap made a face and waved one hand in a careless gesture.

"I speak as a Japanese, and laugh in their faces!" he replied with a
hissing note in his voice. "Where they are, or what they plan to do, is
of no matter. They are doomed. The mighty forces of the Emperor will
crush them. If they have a force moving north, Admiral Sasebo will trap
them and cut them to pieces. And if their force is already north of us,
then Admiral Kusiro will shoot their planes into the sea, and sink all
of their ships. Japan is too strong for her enemies. We have already
proved that many times."

"Yes, true, of course," the Nazi commander said as though he were trying
to soothe an upstart brat. "But unless we know everything, it may make
it difficult for Admiral Sasebo's force. The American attack on
Guadalcanal is to start soon. Perhaps it has already begun. If Admiral
Sasebo is to wipe out any successes the Americans might gain, and
annihilate their forces, and cut off all reenforcements, he must have
knowledge of what is going on _elsewhere_. For him to run into an
unknown enemy task force might complicate things a lot. At least it
would bring about a serious delay in his own operations. If we can aid
him in any way, we must. That was what I was thinking of yesterday when
we surfaced and sighted their plane on scout patrol."

The Jap nodded reluctantly and spoke something in reply, but it was lost
on Dawson's ears for the simple reason that his brain was spinning, and
his head filled with roaring sound. _The Japs knew of the American plans
to attack Guadalcanal!_ That bit of news just about knocked him off his
feet, and for a few seconds he could hardly breathe, much less think.
And when his brain started functioning again, every thought was like a
twisting knife buried deep in his heart.

The Japs knew of the American plan to attack Guadalcanal! Admiral
"Suicide" Sasebo was obviously on his way with a huge task force to
catch the Americans by surprise and wipe them out completely before
sufficient reenforcements could be rushed to the Solomons. Sasebo's
force was headed southward, and Admiral Jackson's t