rmer's guns. The MK-11 shook and trembled as it was hit in a dozen
different places. And suddenly Dawson felt as though he had been clipped
in the chest by the tip of a spinning prop. Every bit of air was knocked
out of his lungs, and black and red spots began to whirl and dance
around before his eyes. Then, suddenly, the spots disappeared, and save
for a dull ache in his chest he was all right again.

All right? He laughed harshly as that thought flashed through his brain.
All right? Sure, except for the minor detail that the two Jap Zero
pilots were maneuvering about to "box" the MK-11 in a deadly and fatal
cross-fire. Yes, sure, he was all okay save for that minor little
detail.

"Give it to them, Dave! Don't let the blighters get away with it! Fly
their confounded wings off, blast them!"

The words had come from Freddy's lips, but as far as Dave Dawson was
concerned they were just a waste of breath. He was well aware of the two
Zeros closing in for a cross-fire attack. And he was well aware of the
fact that he'd have to just about fly the wings off the Zeros in order
to skip free of this air trap. As a matter of fact, the only thing he
could possibly do was to play a long shot; to take a one in a million
chance, and pray as he had never before prayed in his life. Take a long
shot chance, and pray.

"Hold tight, Freddy!" he shouted. "I'm going to twist this baby plenty.
I--"

He cut off the rest of what he was shouting because his chest was filled
with sharp pains again, and his lungs felt as though they were
breathing liquid fire. It suddenly seemed to take every ounce of his
strength to move the control stick, and to kick on rudder. But somehow
he managed it, and he sent the MK-11 curving upward and around toward
the Zero on his left. And at the same time Freddy Farmer let fly with
his guns at the Zero on the right. Dawson's Jap saw him coming and,
rather than chance the full fury of the Yank's fire, he pulled off and
upward. In that same split second Dawson steeled himself to the effort,
slammed the stick over, booted opposite rudder and brought the MK-11
around and up in the opposite direction. In other words he cut off his
expected attack on the first Zero to cut in up at the Zero on the other
side. As a result of that double maneuver, which was carried through
with split-second accuracy, he not only broke up the two Zero plane
attack, but forced each Jap pilot to careen upward and away.

Too late the two