loss, too, see? Think I'm kidding. All
right, then, get _this_! Get hold of that double-crossing flying ape of
yours who shot us down, and ask him--_what direction was our plane
flying when he shot us down!_ Go ahead, ask him that, and he'll tell you
_south!_ And if he had his eyes open he probably saw us dump our gas
hoping that the empty tank would keep us afloat longer. But it was
punctured, so the plane sank in a hurry. But here's the point. Ask him
about how much gas he saw us dump to empty the tank. If he can't tell
you, _I can_. It was practically _a full tank!_ So figure it out,
Admiral, figure it out. We were flying south with practically a full
tank. Flying _back_ to our carrier? Not a chance! We were scouting out
from our carrier trying to find out if your force, this force right
here, was _trailing us up north!_"

Dawson emphasized his words with a violent nod of his head. And then he
added just one more word jab for good measure.

"Okay. Throw us to the sharks. We're all washed up. But at least we've
had the satisfaction of having the horse laugh on _you_. And what a
horse laugh, as you'll soon find out!"

As Dawson got the last off his lips he instinctively steeled himself
and waited for the Jap Admiral to start screaming his head off. However,
if he expected the Nippon killer to fly into a tantrum he was doomed to
disappointment. Suicide Sasebo simply stared at him expressionlessly for
a long, long time. Then he spoke in his native tongue, but his words
were addressed to the big Jap standing just in back of the two air aces.
Yet he held them with his eyes all the time he spoke.

A few moments of silence followed his words, and then the big Jap spoke.
A flicker of light, or something, seemed to pass across the Admiral's
face. And then he spoke for the second time. The big Jap made hissing
sounds, bowed low, and then took hold of Dawson's arm and Freddy
Farmer's arm with fingers of steel, and turned them around and led them
out into the companionway.

Bewilderment and a faint sense of uneasiness welled up in Dawson, for he
had no idea what the two Japs had spoken to each other. And if only he
_did_ know! It would save so much for Freddy Farmer and himself. The
first time Sasebo spoke he had ordered the big one to take the two
prisoners down onto the flight deck, shoot them, and toss their bodies
over the side. But he had only spoken thus to see if either of the
prisoners understood Japanese. And when