“Why? What makes you think that?” Stew was startled. “That thing is not a torpedo,” Jack said, speaking slowly. “Nothing of the sort. It’s an airplane.” “But such a sound!” Stew protested. “You can’t hear the propeller or the motors either. Whoever heard of a plane that made a noise like that?” “Who knows?” Jack’s tone was thoughtful. “Perhaps a lot of people heard of it. We don’t know everything.” “What people? Japs?” “Perhaps. But I doubt that. Japs are clever imitators, but they don’t invent things.” “Oh! Then it’s all right,” Stew breathed. “If they’re white men they’re friendly to us. Perhaps they’ll take us off this island.” “We can’t be too sure of that.” Jack pricked Stew’s bubble of hope. “They might be Nazis. Don’t forget that there were a lot of Germans in these islands before the war—promoters, prospectors, traders, spies—all sorts. Now that Japan has the Malay Peninsula and the Dutch East Indies, do you think the Germans are staying away? Not on your life! They’re right in there getting theirs. You often hear of a German blockade runner being caught trying to sneak into Germany with badly needed raw materials. Where did the cargo come from?” “Right over there,” Stew pointed to the west. “We’ve got to be careful.” “You bet your sweet life we have! We’ll take turns keeping watch tonight.” “We certainly will,” Stew agreed. “All the same, before I leave this island I’m going to have a look at that squealer if it costs me a leg.” At that same moment back on the carrier, in the Commander’s cabin, Ted Armour was saying to the Commander: “I think, sir, that something should be done about those two boys, Jack and Stew. They did a magnificent job, sir, watching that Jap task force up to the minute our bombers arrived.” “Magnificent!” the Commander agreed. “I shall recommend that they be given a citation.” “But that’s not what I mean, sir.” Ted was in dead earnest. “Their plane was damaged, but they were not on fire when I last saw them. They couldn’t have had a bad crackup. My theory is that they made a try for those islands off to the east.” “We’ll hope they made it.” The Commander was pleased; for after all, he liked Jack very much and admired the courage the young Ensign had displayed that day. “But, sir, all the islands in this region are held by the Japs, are they not?” Ted asked. “Yes, all of them. But they are not all occupied by Japs. The smaller, rougher islands have been passed up by them as of little or no consequence.” “There are natives?” “Yes, perhaps.” “Wild natives, cannibals—” “Oh, I don’t know about that. There have been missionaries.” The Commander tapped his desk. “Don’t you think we should make a search for them, sir?” Ted asked. “A search at night is impractical. Tomorrow,” the Commander’s voice dropped, “we hope to be two hundred miles from here, bent on a dangerous mission. This Jap task force we encountered today was in the nature of an accident, a fortunate accident.”