It turned out that there were fifteen letters for Jack. The one he prized most came from Patsy. In part it ran: Oh, Jack! Do take care of yourself and come back soon. It’s only since you’ve been gone that I’ve learned how much you mean to my young life. You’re the only boy I ever really cared for, and the only one I ever shall. “Boy!” Jack exclaimed. “That fixes things just about hunkydory! ‘Take good care of yourself.’ That’s just what I’ve been doing. ‘Come back soon.’ Wouldn’t I love it! Even just for a day!” Did a good gremlin whisper, “Sooner than you think”? If he did, he spoke the truth. The old _Black Bee_ had been tied to the repair dock at Pearl Harbor for three days. Ted, who was practically himself again, and Mary, who was enjoying a new lease on life, had been making good use of the Hawaiian moonlight. One morning Jack and Stew were taking in the sights, when Jack was called back to the ship by his commander. “Get your things together,” the Commander ordered. “You’re going back to the States by plane.” “What’s that, sir?” Jack stared. “What have I done now?” “Plenty!” The Commander smiled. “It happens you’re the only living man who has flown a jet plane in actual combat! Since our people are soon to put this new type of plane into production—” “They want my expert advice, sir?” Jack laughed. “Why not, sir? It will be a real pleasure!” “You leave by plane in three hours, so you’d better start packing. Good-by and good luck.” The Commander extended his hand. “The _Black Bee_ will be shipshape about thirty days from now. We shall hope to have you back by then. And if you can talk them out of about ten of those jet planes for our carrier, I’ll recommend your promotion to a Lieutenant’s rank.” “Then I’m as good as a Lieutenant right now, sir!” Jack’s arm went up in a snappy salute and, executing a right-about-face, he went off to pack; though he hated the thought of leaving the _Black Bee_ and all the splendid men aboard, he could not still the song in his heart as he visioned the excitement of his next adventure. Transcriber’s Notes --Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public domain in the country of publication. --In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.) --Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and dialect unchanged. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Jet Plane Mystery, by Roy Judson Snell