and
to snap a quick glance at the major. The senior officer was standing a
few feet off the right wing tip in the perfect attitude of an old crank
waiting to make sure that a couple of trespassing kids got off the
property. Turning front, Dave smothered a grin and released the wheel
brakes, and inched open the throttle enough to get the Vultee rolling
forward. Then when the tail came abreast of the major, Dave opened up
the throttle wide and tapped the left wheel brake just enough to swing
the tail over to the right. Then he banged the throttle the rest of the
way open and took off in a hurry. As he cleared the ground, he looked
back and hooted. The major was flat on his back in a cloud of dust, with
his feet straight up in the air. And his officer's cap was spinning
along the edge of the field like a runaway spare wheel.

"Oops, so sorry, Big Shot!" Dawson shouted. "Darned if I didn't forget
you were there. Better go wash your neck. The Army must always look
clean and tidy, you know, Major. So long, chump!"

"And the Military Police will probably be waiting for you, old thing, at
Sydney!" Freddy Farmer sang out between spells of laughter. "There's
such a thing as radio, you know."

"And that'll be okay, too!" Dave chuckled. "They can bring me back here,
so's I can do it all over again. Make cracks about my wings, huh? Too
had he wasn't a captain, or I wasn't a major, too. I think I would enjoy
very much pasting that make-believe in the nose. Well, here we go again.
On again, off again--as usual!"

CHAPTER THREE

_Flight To Nowhere_

The sun was sliding down over the western lip of the world in a hurry
when Dawson sat the Vultee down on the Sydney field after a
trans-Australia flight from Broome. As soon as they taxied into the line
and mechanics took over, a sergeant of the Military Police came hurrying
over to them. For just a brief moment Dave's heart floated up to the
region of his throat. It was just a wasted sensation, however. The M.P.
was simply doing his duty of informing all pilots landing from other
bases to report first to the operations office.

Dave and Freddy legged out, collected their stuff, and went over to
operations. They were obviously expected, for the officer on duty
greeted them with a grin and a nod, and jerked a thumb at the motor
transport building next door.

"A car and driver are waiting, Captains," he said pleasantly. "Over
there in front. He'll take you to Headquarters at