VI BLIND EYES 71

VII DISCOVERED? 83

VIII EAGLE'S EYES 95

IX FATE IS FICKLE 103

X STEEL SHARKS 115

XI GIVE AND TAKE 128

XII HELPLESS HEROES 141

XIII HAYWIRE NERVES 155

XIV DEVIL EYES 167

XV MISSING IN ACTION 181

XVI LUCK OF THE DOOMED 190

XVII SATAN LAUGHS 200

XVIII DEAD WINGS 213

XIX FLIGHT'S END 229

CHAPTER ONE

_Canceled Orders_

Stretching out as comfortably as the gear-packed bomb compartment of the
Flying Fortress would permit, Dave Dawson lazily unwrapped a bar of
semi-sweet chocolate, and bit off a man-sized hunk.

"Ub glub dish blub ice," he grunted, and winked at Freddy Farmer, who
was sitting on a packing case of spare parts a few feet from him.
"Deferenally jice!"

The English-born air ace gave him a cold stare and a scowl.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, little boy!" he said. "In fact, don't
talk at all."

"And that from a guy I've often seen eat peas off a knife," Dawson
chuckled after he had swallowed. "But, as I was saying, this is my idea
of something nice. Definitely nice."

"You think so?" Freddy snorted, and glanced out the port at the broad
expanse of sun-flooded Indian Ocean beneath the wings of the B-17.
"What's nice about it, I'd like to know? Nothing but water down there.
And more water!"

"So what are you kicking about, Pal?" Dave shot at him. "You're only
seeing the top of it, you know. But I meant it's nice to be air
chauffeured around once in a while. Just sit back and relax and enjoy
yourself, while some other guy does all the work."

"I always suspected that you were born lazy," Freddy said. "And every
day in every way I'm becoming more and more convinced. I wouldn't relax
too much, old thing, if I were you. In case you don't remember, there is
still a world war going on. And particularly in this part of the world.
Just over there a couple of hundred miles or so are some islands called
the Dutch East Indies. Right now a mess of slant-eyed devils are in
control. And they have quite a few airplanes, too, for another