“It seems almost unbelievable!” said the Commander. “Before I was assigned to the _Black Bee_, I was sent to England to study an English plane that was an exact duplicate of this one!” “But this is an all-American plane, sir,” said Jack. “The maker’s name is on each instrument.” “That means we are considering going into production, or would be,” the Commander corrected, “if this plane had been shipped to us for a tryout. But now—h’m—what are we to make of it? You say the first men who flew it seemed to be British?” “Yes, sir, and the last two were Nazis. They even had three Japs with them.” “Well, anyway,” the Commander said, “we have the plane. What to do about it, that’s the question.” “I’d like to fly her in the big push!” Jack leaned forward eagerly. “She’s a natural for scouting and bombing. No Zero could ever catch her. And in the stratosphere she’d bring you home faster than the wind.” “Tired? Had a hard day?” the Commander demanded. “Practically just rolled out of my berth, sir,” Jack grinned. “Then we’ll try her out right now. Night’s the time for that. We’ll not be spotted.” They did try the plane out. Jack went up alone at first with one pale light showing. The Commander, watching and listening on the deck, was sometimes on tiptoe and sometimes doing a jig as Jack put the screamer through its paces. An ardent enthusiast was the Commander. “Boy! What a plane!” he exclaimed the moment Jack leaped from the cockpit. “What a kite! Have her gassed. I’ll go get my flying jacket and we’ll go up together!” CHAPTER XXVI JACK’S JET PLANE WINS ITS WAY “I’ve used up all my kerosene, sir!” Jack declared in sudden consternation. “And I’m quite sure this jet plane won’t run on gas.” “Oh, don’t let that worry you!” was the Commander’s instant reply. “You’ve been around this old flat-top long enough. You should know that we carry a greater variety of goods and supplies than you’d find in a department store. We service the entire task force.” “Sure, I know. But kerosene—” “We carry that for land operations. You can’t set up an electric light plant overnight—you have to go back to the lamp-and-lantern age. Besides, many of the small island crafts burn kerosene in their motors. We’ll have a drum up from below at once.” “One thing I want to know,” said the Commander, “and that’s the range of this ship. I’ve heard they’re hard on fuel. We’ll have the boys rig up a belly tank on your jet plane. Then you and I will give the ship a good tryout together.” “That’s okay with me, sir,” said Jack. “It’s not just for fun, or to try out a new toy. I want to warn you,” said the Commander, “that if this jet plane has enough range she’ll be the first scout sent out over Mindanao. It’s going to be very important that we have accurate information regarding ships in the harbor. With this plane you should be able to get that information and come back alive.”