re with one hand.

"Come with me," he said. "Honorable Admiral desires to talk with you
again. Come please."

For a moment Dawson could hardly believe his eyes and ears. He gaped at
the Jap and then looked at Freddy Farmer. A look of astonished disbelief
was stamped on the English youth's face. Dawson looked back at the big
Jap, and nodded.

"Okay," he said. "Lead the way. It so happens that we want to see the
Admiral, too."

The big Jap smiled, and a funny look suddenly gleamed in his
double-lidded eyes. It struck Dawson as though the man were enjoying
some little secret--at their expense. However, he didn't give the Jap's
expression more than a passing thought. Lady Luck was indeed smiling on
Freddy Farmer and him. Things were working out even better than he had
hoped. Just one more break and everything would be perfect. Just the
chance to suddenly duck away from this big Jap and pile into the pit of
one of those Jap planes up on the flight deck. Once Freddy and he were
in the pit the rest would be a cinch. They'd go scooting down that
narrow take-off lane before the dumbfounded Japs realized what had
happened. Right! Just one little more break, and then it would be the
Japs' turn to receive some knockout surprises.

And so, with a fervent prayer in his heart, Dawson shot a last second
warning look at Freddy Farmer, and then stepped through the cabin door,
and out into the companionway. A couple of minutes later he was leading
the way up the ladder to the flight deck. His heart was doing wild
outside loops in his chest, and the blood was racing through his veins.
And as he neared the top of the ladder he heard the glorious sound of
Jap aircraft engines warming up. That made it better and better. Maybe
ten minutes more and Freddy and he would be streaking away on a bee-line
course toward where they believed Admiral Jackson's powerful task force
to be!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

_Satan Laughs_

When Dawson reached flight deck level he slowed up his pace as though
waiting for the big Jap to give him the order to continue on toward the
flight bridge. As a matter of fact, though, that was not his real
intention. He slowed up a little to give Freddy Farmer time to catch up
closer, and, also, to take a quick furtive look around. What he saw
caused his heart to pound harder than ever. Not thirty yards away, and
right smack in take-off position, was a Jap Mitsubishi two-seater, long
range "Karigane" MK-11. And what