That was not all. They reached the prison camp, knocked down the gates, and set free more than five hundred prisoners who had not looked on the Stars and Stripes for two long years. Two hundred of the prisoners were put aboard the _Black Bee_, for she would be the first ship to reach Pearl Harbor. The hole in her side had been shored up, making her safe for a journey, but not for combat. As Jack watched the prisoners—ragged, unshaven, and lean-faced, with hungry looks in their eyes—line up on the deck, he recalled a song he had sung back in school days: Tramp! tramp! tramp! the boys are marching, Cheer up, comrades, they will come, And beneath the starry flag We will breathe the air again Of the freeland in our own beloved home. Others watched too. All of a sudden Mary let out a cry: “Tom! Tom! Oh! My dear!” She threw her arms about a slim, bearded youth who could have been but a boy on Bataan. “It’s her brother,” Jack whispered to Stew. “She told me about him. War is wonderful,” he murmured. “Wonderful and terrible.” The _Black Bee_ held her position for the night. Early next morning, while Jack was pacing the deck, he saw a small craft flying the Union Jack come alongside. A rope ladder was let down and two men climbed aboard. One of the two men glanced about the deck. When his eyes fell on Jack, he said: “Ah! There you are!” Staring, Jack made no reply. Then suddenly he recognized the men. They were the British pair he had first seen with the jet plane. “We’ve come for our jet plane,” the man explained, advancing. “Those bloody Nazis and Japs stole her from us. We went after them with a boatload of fighting men, only to find that they were all dead and that you had gone off with our plane. But now here we are. Thanks for saving our plane, old boy! That was bully!” “Oh! Gee!” Jack exclaimed. “Somebody’s always taking the joy out of life! I suppose there’s no way I can talk you out of it?” “Not a chance,” was the smiling answer. “You see, this jet plane idea was all worked out in England. Then the United States asked for a chance to develop it. They were given the right and manufactured a few of them for experimental purposes. Australia asked for one of these and got it. My partner and I were given the task of testing the plane. We were traders before the war and so had a few caches of kerosene and other trade goods scattered among the islands.” “That’s why you were on our island,” said Jack. “Exactly why. But those Germans surprised us while we were on another island, and hijacked our plane. Now I’m afraid we’ll have to ask to have it returned. However, we’ve brought you a consolation award.” “What’s that?” Jack stared. “Twenty sacks of first-class mail for the men on your carrier. There should be a letter or two for you in that lot.” “Oh, a dozen, I hope!” Jack exclaimed. “We haven’t had any mail for a month.”