eyes on the pair.

"You two okay, eh, thank God!" he grunted. "Well, then I can bawl you
out. What was the big idea, anyway? Didn't you stop to remember that
there're eight other guys on this sky wagon?"

"Huh, Skipper?" Dawson echoed. "Come again?"

"Six nice juicy Zeros!" Captain Banks said with tears in his voice.
"_Six_ of them! And what happens? You birds nail four of them between
you. It ain't right. There should be a law against birds like you
cheating us war-starved ferry crews out of a look at the war. Kidding
aside, though, fellows, thanks, and how! Those Zero rats don't waste
much time giving you the works, do they? And my heart was choking me
when I thought that one of them was going to ram us. Wonder I didn't put
this old baby in a power spin. I--Hey! What happened to your wings,
Dawson? You been teething on them?"

"They dropped off, and Farmer stepped on them before I could pick them
up," Dawson grinned. "Look at his big feet, if you don't believe me.
But, speaking of other things, Skipper, how long before we get in?"

The Fortress commander glanced at his wrist watch, and pursed his lips.

"Twenty minutes," he said. "Unless we run into more Zeros. And I hope
we do. But hey! Those jobs were pretty far out to sea, now that I come
to think of it."

"Too far," Dave told him quietly. "My guess is that they were
carrier-based. This is your usual ferry course from India to Australia,
isn't it?"

"Check, and I get your thought," the pilot nodded as his face became
grave. "You think maybe the Japs have sent out a carrier force to cut a
hole in our air supply route, huh?"

"Could be," Dawson shrugged. "I wouldn't want to bet against it, anyway.
And--well, skip it."

"No," the other said. "Go on and say the rest of it."

"Well, if I were flying this job," Dawson replied with a half grin, "I
think that right now I'd give those four Wright Cyclones you've got a
chance to show what they can do. But, after all, I'm strictly a safety
first guy, Skipper."

"That makes two of us," Banks said quickly. "Anyway, my job is to get
these babies to Australia for other guys to use, so I'll just stick to
my knitting, I reckon. Okay, fellows, hang onto your hats. I'm going to
cut that twenty minutes to fifteen, at least. And again, thanks for that
job on those Zeros."

The Flying Fortress commander not only called the turn, but made good.
Just ten minutes later the west coast of Australia was sighted. And five
min