he realized that they did not,
and the big Jap had made a polite suggestion, he had agreed at once,
given the necessary instructions, and then ordered the two air aces to
be taken away.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

_Missing in Action_

With the measured steps of a man deep in thought, and very much worried,
Colonel Welsh, Chief of Combined U. S. Intelligence, paced up and down
the full length of the Carrier Carson's flight deck. He walked as a man
who cared not where he was headed, because he knew that he would find
nothing when he arrived there. Pilots and plane crews lounging in the
crash nets that stretched the full length of the flight deck on both
sides stopped talking as he passed, looked at him, gave a little shake
of their heads, and murmured inaudible words of sympathy.

Suddenly the alarm system announced the approach of aircraft, the
Carson's aircraft. Colonel Welsh stiffened in a halt, lifted his head
and peered at the growing dots coming out of the sky to the north. Then
he wheeled quickly, ran across the flight deck and hurried up aloft to
the flight bridge. And there he came to a halt, gripping the bridge rail
hard with both hands, and straining his eyes at the oncoming planes.

"Too bad again, Colonel," Admiral Jackson spoke quietly in his ear.
"Those are the eight who went out on the last patrol. Here, look at them
through my glasses, if you wish."

"Thank you, sir," the Colonel replied in a low voice, and fixed the
glasses on the approaching planes.

A few moments later he lowered them from his eyes, and handed them back
to the Admiral without any word. He focussed his naked eyes on the
planes, and watched as they came up in line astern formation and circled
the Carson until the leader got the flag to come aboard. Then one by one
they slid down aboard to practically roll into the waiting hands of the
plane crews. But as each pilot passed the flight bridge he looked up at
Colonel Welsh, shook his head, and made a thumbs down gesture. And when
the last pilot to come aboard had done that, and rolled on down the
deck, Colonel Welsh gripped the flight bridge railing so hard his
knuckles showed white through the stretched skin. And he had to swallow
hard several times to stifle the groan of anguish that struggled for
expression.

"Let's have some coffee in my quarters, Colonel," the task force
commander said gently. "The executive can bring us the patrol report
there."

"Thank you, thank you very mu