  “Boy, oh boy!” Stew exulted as they slid into the cloud. He set his radio with trembling fingers. “Here’s where we score a scoop!” “Wait!” Jack warned. “We can’t risk a false alarm. Might pull the entire task force off its course for nothing!” Jack was thinking. What a lovely cloud this is! There’s sure to be a carrier in that Jap convoy down there, if they’re really Jap ships—a carrier and Zeros. There’s sure to be a fight, and this ship of ours is good for only 260 M.P.H. at most! But this is what she was built for, and what we were trained for. This is our zero hour. He drew in three deep breaths of air and felt better. Jitters, he decided. They all get them. Old Ironsides says we’d be no good if we didn’t. Stew had not advised going into a cloud without a reason. They were still some distance from the task force—too far to be sure of anything. By following it in the cloud they could obtain a better view. The cloud was miles long and appeared to dip down toward the sea. They were constantly running into thin filmy fringes and being obliged to drop lower. They didn’t want to be spotted by a Zero. Not yet. They must make sure that this was really a Jap task force, and get in a report. Then let the Zeros come if they would. They’d give them a grand exhibition of cloud hopping and, if need be, a glorious shooting match as well. “No shooting if we can help it,” Jack told himself. “Our job is to spot the enemy task force and sit above them, sending in reports until our bombers and torpedo planes come to attack. We—” His thoughts broke off sharply. What was this he was hearing? A high-pitched whistle like a country fire alarm. No doubt about it. It was on the same key as the one they had heard the night before. Stew had heard it too—Jack could tell by the look in his eyes. “Some Jap trick!” Jack exclaimed, gripping the controls hard. “Got to be ready for anything!” Stew was swinging his gun about as a ballplayer swings his bat before a try at the ball. The screaming noise increased. It filled the air, and seemed almost upon them. Acting by instinct, Jack went into a sudden steep dive. The next instant he looked up to see a shadowy bulk shoot through the misty clouds above them to lose itself at terrific speed in the distance. “That,” said Stew, with a shudder, “was a torpedo. The Japs shot it at us. If it had connected we wouldn’t be here.” “I wonder,” said Jack. There was little time for wondering, for suddenly they were out of the clouds, not far from the sea. And directly beneath them lay the enemy task force. So near was it that it looked almost like a cardboard display against a field of blue. “Zeros!” Stew warned suddenly. “Three of them over to the left!” Jack dipped a wing, touched the accelerator, cut an astonishingly short circle, and re-entered the same cloud. “Ann to Mary! Ann to Mary!” Stew repeated in a strained voice, talking into his mike. “Enemy task force southeast, hundred and eighty miles. One carrier, five cruisers, eight destroyers, and three cargo ships.” He waited ten seconds. He, you have guessed, was Ann. The operator on the carrier was Mary. Twice, at brief intervals, he repeated the messages. “Watch it!” Jack exclaimed, banking his plane so sharply it stood on a wing. In his excitement he had come so close to the edge of the cloud that he had sighted a shadow. The shadow had a voice, a sudden rat-tat-tat that made small round holes in his right wing. A Zero had nearly winged them. “Close,” he murmured. “Got to have a care.” They circled about in the cloud for fully five minutes. “What’s your idea about that screamer?” Stew asked. “I know what it can’t be,” was Jack’s reply. “What?” “It can’t be a meteor. You can see a meteor.” “Probably a rocket from a plane. The Jerries have them.” “I wonder!” Jack said once more. “Well, guess we’ll slip down for another look. Tell you what—we’ll zoom out of this cloud full speed. That’ll take the Zeros by surprise. By the time they close in we’ll be safe in another cloud.” Jack’s idea was a good one. Stew had one more good look at the task force. He corrected his report—one less destroyer than he had thought, and one more cargo vessel. The distance was shorter, perhaps nearer one hundred and seventy miles. Their trick of dashing full speed from cloud to cloud fooled the Japs. But they would soon run out at an edge of the cloud they had just entered, small-circle it as they might. “The Nips will corner us like rabbits in a hayfield,” Stew grumbled. “Let ’em try it!” Jack’s spirits were rising. This was their day. “We’ll come out shooting. We’ve just got to cut one notch in the handle of your gun before this hour gets away.” “Here’s hoping.” Stew patted his gun. Despite his rising courage Jack’s knees began shaking when, for a second time, they barely escaped a blast of fire from a Zero. At last he exclaimed, “Shucks! This cloud is too thin and ragged. We’ll make another run for it.” Another run it was, and this time two Jappies were right after them. But to his surprise Jack found the enemy unwilling to press home the attack. They would make a run, then as soon as they were close enough for a possible shot, circle away. The first time one did this Stew gave him a short quick burst of fire, without result. “Huh!” he grunted the second time, “I know their game. They want me to shoot out my belts of ammunition. Then, while I’m reloading, they’ll slip in for the kill. Oh no you don’t, Jappie!” He withheld his fire. So interesting was the game that for the time being they forgot both the clouds and the task force. But not for long. Suddenly Stew exclaimed: “Say! Look! That Jap task force is smaller!” Jack did not look, for suddenly he threw his plane into full speed. “What the—” “That fellow was sneaking in too close,” Jack exclaimed. “Tell you what. We’ll take him on!” “Take him on!” “Sure. Let him try another sneak, then I’ll whirl on him with our left wing lowered.” “Say! You’re right! I’ll just swing this old twinflex gun around to the front and fire across our wing while—” “While I pepper him with my two guns in the nose. Watch now. On your toes!” Jack warned. He slackened his speed a little. The Jap pressed in. Suddenly Jack’s motor roared like an attacking lion. The left wing dipped. The plane cut a half circle. Its guns flashed in unison. The Zero faltered, fell away to the right, began to smoke, then went into a spin. Twenty seconds later, just as three Zeros dropped at them from above, the boys lost themselves in one more cloud. “Chalk up one Zero!” Stew exulted. “That’s one up for us!” “And say!” he added, “that reminds me. I’ve got to get a message off.” A few seconds later he was droning into his microphone: “Ann to Mary! Ann to Mary! Task force split. Two cargo vessels, three destroyers, going due east. Remainder of force same as before.” “We’d better stick to this cloud for a while,” was Jack’s decision. “It’s a good big one, and fairly thick. Those Zeros will be swarming round it like angry bees, but they’ll never find us in here.” “All the same, we’ve got to find out what that break in their task force means!” Stew insisted. Jack caught low words in his earphones: “Jack! Where are you?” Jack jumped. He knew that voice. It was Ted Armour speaking. “In a cloud over a Jap task force.” Jack asked very quietly, “Where are you, Ted?” “In a cloud over a Jap task force,” Ted laughed softly. “Picked up your message. I was quite a ways east, so I came on out. Thought you might need some help.” “That—ah—that’s swell!” Jack swallowed hard. “We’re coming out for a look.” “Good! I’m coming too. I’ll be seeing you.” That was all, but Jack felt a great uplift of spirits as he headed for the edge of his cloud. “It’s a strange world,” he thought. “Friendly enemies. War is terrible and wonderful!” |
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