power. The plane swayed and shuddered as big
shells burst close to her.

Then the field of blossoming shells was above them and the deck below
was big. They could see men scrambling about, their faces white blobs as
they looked upward.

"Left a point," Stan shouted as he set the bomb sight. "Now right a bit
... left more."

"Ready!" O'Malley bellowed.

"Ready! Hold her steady!"

O'Malley released the bomb selection levers, both of them.

All Stan had to do was to press the button and the sticks of bombs were
off. He pressed it hard and almost instantly the ship zoomed upward as
though tossed into the sky by a mortar. As they wound upward with the
Wasp engine roaring Stan looked back.

Where the deck of the battleship had been there was now a great burst of
smoke and flame.

"That card will make 'em watch their course, me bye!" O'Malley crowed.

Stan could not tell whether they had put the pocket battleship out or
not. She shifted her course and moved more slowly, but she kept going.
Now the Messerschmitts decided the crazy ship was a bomber and not a
fighter. They swarmed upon her, which was exactly what the wild Irishman
wanted.

Stan went to work with his guns, but he kept track of the doings of his
crazy pilot. O'Malley seemed to have gone stark mad. He plunged up into
the path of the oncoming fighters and his banks of Brownings opened up.
Lead spattered all over the Hawk and a lot of it came through. But two
Messerschmitt One-Tens went down before the flock discovered that this
new ship had more wicked fire power than a Spitfire. They zoomed and
dived and circled like angry hornets.

"They need a bit of educatin'," O'Malley shouted. "An if they'll be
swarmin' around I'll give it to them."

Stan didn't answer because at that moment his hatch cover splintered
into a million tiny cracks and a maze of ragged holes, the line of
bullets moving across not six inches above his head.

O'Malley decided the only thing was to select a Messerschmitt and run
him down. He picked one and roared after it. The ME, confident that he
had superior speed, darted away. But he soon discovered this strange
ship had plenty more engine than his One-Ten. He banked and shot down.
O'Malley dived and was on his tail, slicing away great chunks of the
Jerry's ship.

When they came up they were well inside the enemy lines and no Royal Air
Force ships were in sight, though the air was full of assorted Jerries.

"Get back on our si