CHAPTER FIFTEEN
_Danger In The Dark_
For a long moment tingling silence settled over the trio. Then PierreDeschaud made a little gesture with his hands, and broke it.
"And now, the most dangerous part of all," he said, "your safe return toEngland with that very valuable paper. And you _must_ get back. Fiveother brave men came for the information you now possess, and they died._You_ must not die. If you fail, all is lost. There will not be enoughtime left for Colonel Fraser to send over another agent to contact me.It is up to you two, now."
The two boys nodded grimly.
"Colonel Fraser spoke of there being a few military air fields atAntwerp," Dave spoke up. "What is the nearest and best one for us totackle and try to steal a plane?"
"I will take care of that little matter, too," Pierre Deschaud said."Were you to try such a thing alone, you would not live ten minutes.That happened to two of those five. Two others were killed before theyeven reached a field. And the fifth, a fine lad not much older thaneither of you, was not fast enough. He was shot down to his death beforehe was out of sight of Antwerp. But you--you _must_ get through!"
"Can we get started now?" Dave asked, and nervously clenched andunclenched his fists. "The sooner the better is the way I see it."
"Right you are," Freddy echoed with a nod. Then, looking at PierreDeschaud: "There's no use wasting time unless we have to."
"But of course not," the Belgian patriot said, and rose to his feet. "Wewill start at once. Come with me, and be careful how you step."
The old Belgian turned to a door on the side opposite to that throughwhich they had entered. The door stuck a bit, and he was forced to puthis shoulder to it hard before it gave way. Admiration for the aged man,and something close to love, stirred in Dave Dawson. Pierre Deschaudmight be close to seventy, but he had the strength of two men, and thecourage of a brigade.
Deschaud flickered his light forward to reveal rotting bulkheadsamidships. The boat was well down by the stern and at a dangerous slant.Halfway along the port side, Dave suddenly made out the shape of a smallshallow rowboat. An instant later he noted that the oars were joined andfixed to swivel brackets so that one could row facing the bow instead offacing the stern as is the usual case. The Belgian sloshed through afoot of sluggish water, climbed into the boat, and motioned to them toget in.
"Sit near the bow," he directed. "That makes her ride better for the onewho does the rowing. And I will be that one."
The man paused, chuckled softly and patted the side of the boataffectionately with his hand.
"This is one boat in Antwerp that the Nazi pigs know nothing about," hesaid in a purring voice. "I made her with my own hands years ago. Beforethe Nazis arrived, I hid her here in this sunken hulk. She has beenworth many times her weight in gold to me. To lose her would be likelosing my dearest friend. Now, sit steady, for I am about to put out thelight. You will hear me moving, but do not be alarmed. I have a secretway to get her into the Scheldt. I remove but two or three loose planks,and we glide through as nice as can be."
"Where are we headed, sir?" Freddy whispered in the darkness.
"Directly across the river from this point," Pierre Deschaud said,"there is one of their military air fields. A mile of the shore isdangerous swamp ground, however; a man who did not know the way couldlose himself, and probably drown, before he even realized what hadhappened. But I have lived in Antwerp almost all of my life. I know thatswamp as one knows the palm of his hand. I will lead you through itsafely. And when we reached the edge of the field--but we will attend tothat matter when we come to it. Now, silence, please. Not even awhisper. They patrol the river all night long in their E-boats. And theyhave keen ears and eyes, these Nazi sons of the devil. Now, we start."
Dave and Freddy, crouched near the bow of the small craft, could hearPierre Deschaud moving, and could hear soft grating sounds like boardsbeing rubbed together. A moment later they felt the boat move underthem, and a moment after that the darkness was a little less, and achilly wind blew against their faces. They had slid out of the halfsunken houseboat and were now out in the Scheldt River.
Dave's nerves danced and twitched around, and his head felt light fromexcitement. He slowly turned and stared off into the blackness to hisleft. He thought he saw a couple of dim lights far away, but he was notsure. Then gradually his eyes became accustomed to the change of shadowydarkness, and he could make out the sprawling dark hulk that wasAntwerp, crouching like some motionless monster on the banks of theScheldt River. He tilted his head and looked up to see that cloud scudand fog still blotted out the stars. At that moment he heard thethrobbing drone of unsynchronized German aircraft engines far to theeast. He was not sure, but once or twice he thought he also heard thefaint _cr-rump_ of bursting anti-aircraft shells. However, though hepeered hard in that direction, he could not see any flashes of fire inthe dark sky.
Then suddenly there was a muffled roar of sound up the river in thedirection of the waterfront center of Antwerp, and a long beam of lightstabbed out across the water. Pierre Deschaud's command was like ashrill whistle.
"Face down on the bottom of the boat, quickly! Don't move a singlemuscle. Pray hard they do not catch us in that light!"
Dave and Freddy dropped flat and practically tried to press themselvesinto the wooden bottom of the boat. Pierre Deschaud also crumpled downinstantly. And as the throbbing of a speed-boat drew closer and closer,its sound was matched by the wild beating of three hearts in the bottomof that rowboat. Dave clenched his teeth in an effort to ease theterrible strain of just waiting there helplessly for the beam of lightto swerve and catch them in its brilliant glow. Each second was aminute, and the fifteen that ticked by while they crouched theremotionless were as a lifetime in a world of unforgettable torment andtorture. At the end of that time, the German river craft had roared pasttheir position and was streaking farther on downstream. Each of themrealized it at the same time, for they all straightened up together.
"Bless _Le Bon Dieu_ for saving us that time!" Pierre Deschaud breathedin a fervent whisper. "That is a trick of theirs. They slide alongwithout lights, and then suddenly switch on the searchlight, and raceforward at full speed, hoping to catch some poor devil where they haveforbidden him to be. A thousand curses on their souls. We will yet drivethe last of them from this part of the world!"
Pierre made a gurgling sound in his throat for emphasis, then fell to onthe oars again. He had greased them well, and had it not been for themovement of the boat, Dave wouldn't have been able to tell if the manwas rowing or not. There was not so much as a whisper of sound from theoarlocks.
Twice more they were forced to fall flat and hold their breath in fearas a Nazi river patrol boat streaked by. The last time its savage washcaught them amidships and rocked them about like a chip of wood in anangry sea. But they hardly noticed the tossing they received, they wereso thankful that they had not been caught in the searchlight's beam.Then suddenly dark shapes rose up on either side of the boat. Theyglided along between the dark blurs for a few moments, and then thenose of the boat nudged into a muddy bank and came to a stop.
"Don't move!" Pierre Deschaud whispered sharply. "That river was nothingfor its dangers. This is the beginning of the difficult business. Sitstill, and I will get out first. I know exactly where to step. And ifone does not step just so--"
The old Belgian left the rest hanging in mid-air as an additionalwarning to the two boys. He moved forward past them and climbed out. Atug or two brought the bow higher up on the mud. Then they heard hiswhisper again.
"One of you give me your hand, and with your other hand take the hand ofyour friend," he said. "Do not let go for a single instant. This is mosttreacherous. Ah, yes, many men are buried here in this swamp. Now, wemove very slowly. Put your foot where the man ahead has put his. If youslip and start to fall, do not cry out in alarm. Hold on tight to thehand you grasp."
As Freddy was closer, he grasped Pierre Deschaud's hand and reached theother hand back to g
rab Dave's. Then, Indian file style, they started tomove forward slowly foot by foot. In the distance Dave heard faintsounds, and it was all he could do to keep from lifting his eyes andpeering ahead. He did not do so, however, for he would most certainlymiss his footing and go pitching off into the deep muddy pools thatlined the row of swamp hummocks along which they walked at a snail'space.
Time and time again Pierre Deschaud turned to the left or the right, butalways it was in the general direction whence came the sounds. Dave'seyes smarted from peering down at Freddy's heels so constantly. But heblinked away the pain and kept doggedly onward. Every now and then someswamp animal would plop off a hummock into the water with a splash thatsounded like a cannon going off to Dave's strained nerves. And he couldtell from the sudden pressure of Freddy's hand gripping his that his palwasn't enjoying the journey, either.
For well over half an hour the old Belgian led them step by step throughthe swamp. Then finally they heard him sigh with relief, and a momentafter that they felt firm hard ground under their feet. Dave raised hisaching head and looked around. He saw nothing but darkness, but heplainly heard the throbbing purr of an aircraft engine in the distance.He stared hard in that direction, only to realize that they werestanding at the bottom of a slight slope of ground. The Belgian pulledthem close to him.
"Keep hold of hands," he whispered. "And walk as though your shoes weremade of feathers. When I stop, you must stop at once. Remember that. Ifyou don't, you will die, my dear young friends."
"How come?" Dave whispered as the Belgian paused for breath. "What'sahead?"
"These Nazis fear sabotage at their fields," Pierre Deschaud replied."So they have strung a wire fence about the entire area. The wire ischarged with high voltage electricity. If you should stumble against itin the dark--you would never know it."
"But how can we get near the planes, then?" Freddy asked.
"Do not worry," the Belgian murmured. "I will take care of that fence.Now, come. Bend over as you walk, so."
Hunched over forward, the trio crept stealthily up the slope and alongthe flat for some fifty yards. Then suddenly Pierre Deschaud stopped.Freddy and Dave froze in their tracks and peered ahead. Some three feetin front of them, they could just make out a five strand wire fencethat was about six feet high. Beyond was a field of tall, waving,sun-scorched grass. And beyond that was the level expanse of themilitary flying field. They could see dark shapes that were the hangarsand other buildings. And far over on the other side they could see aHeinkel night bomber in the faint glow of a single flare. Its prop wasticking over, and shadows walking past in front of the light indicatedthat mechanics were making night repairs. Then Pierre Deschaudwhispered.
"Get down flat on your stomachs," he directed, "one behind the other. Beready to crawl forward when I say so. Crawl as if you were swimming, butdo not lift your elbows. And keep your heads down. Now, wait just amoment."
As the boys got down flat on the ground, Pierre Deschaud pulled a forkedstick some two feet long from under his shirt. Then, crouching down, hehooked the bottom wire of the fence in the fork part and lifted itupward as high as he could.
"Now, one at a time worm your way under," came his strained whisper."Keep as close to the ground as you can. Now, go ahead."
Dave hesitated a fraction of a second, and then started to inch his bodyforward. He did so by digging his fists and his toes into the ground andshoving. He kept his face so close to the ground that his nose wasrubbing along it. Inch by inch he crawled forward, with air locked inhis lungs and his heart hammering against his ribs. Just a few inchesabove him was sudden and terrible death. If Pierre Deschaud's strengthshould fail! Or if the forked stick should break and the deadly wire sapdownward! Or if--
"There, you are through!" he heard Pierre Deschaud's whisper. "Now, turnaround and grasp your friend's outstretched hands and pull him under."
Trembling like a leaf, and his body dripping from nervous tension, Davegot up on his hands and knees and swiveled around. Freddy's head andshoulders were already under the wire, and his hands were outstretched.Dave bent down and grabbed them and slowly pulled his pal through tosafety. The instant Freddy's feet were clear of the wire, PierreDeschaud removed the forked stick and let the straining wire snap backinto place.
"And now you have only to hide in that grass and wait until it isalmost dawn," they heard him whisper through the wire. "Always justbefore the dawn they start up all their engines to remove the chill ofthe night. The nearest plane cannot be more than seventy yards fromwhere you are, now. Wait until the mechanics have started the planes andwalked away to let them warm up. Then dash for the nearest plane. Theswift fighters are hangared on this side of the field, so you need notworry about having to steal a huge bomber. And so, I leave you now."
The old man's voice faltered for a moment; then he got control of hisemotions.
"May God fly with you, my brave friends," he whispered. "It rests withyou, now. I must return to my boat and get back across the river beforeit is light."
"I wish you could go with us, sir," Dave whispered.
"No, although I thank you for the kind thought," Pierre Deschaudwhispered. "However, my place is here in Belgium. Here I must stay untilI die, fighting as best I can for the liberation of my country. And so,farewell, my courageous friends. May God fly with you!"
Dave blinked to drive away the tears that filled his eyes. When heopened his eyes again, there was nothing but darkness beyond the chargedwire. Pierre Deschaud had gone back to his boat. Dave felt Freddy's handgroping for his. He gripped it and squeezed hard.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
_Wings Of The R.A.F._
When the new dawn was but a faint streak low down in the east, the soundof a hundred airplane engines being kicked into life suddenly shatteredthe stillness of the surrounding countryside. The two boys lying flat ontheir stomachs side by side started violently, then looked at each otherand grinned.
"This is almost it!" Dave whispered. "Let's start worming closer. We'vegot to grab a ship before anybody else gets in the air. Here in thegrass, we could easily be spotted from the air."
"You're right!" Freddy whispered back. "And I'm sure whoever saw youruniform and my suit would jolly well land at once to find out what waswhat. Right-o. Forward we go."
Like two human snakes, the boys wiggled forward through the tall grassuntil they were but a few feet from the edge of the close cut, levelflying field. Through the grass ahead they could see the row ofMesserschmitt One-Nines, and One-Tens. And as luck would have it, aMesserschmitt One-Ten was the ship nearest them. It was not more thanthirty yards away at the most. Dave nudged Freddy and pointed.
"Just what the doctor ordered!" he breathed. "A One-Ten with plenty ofroom for two. Hot dog! Hoped I'd get a crack at flying a One-Ten someday. Or do you want to do the flying?"
Freddy smiled and shook his head and touched the pocket of his jacketwhere he kept Pierre Deschaud's detailed report of the Nazi invasionplans.
"The least I can do in return," he said. "Besides, you spoke first.Look! The mechanics have checked the instruments, and are walking away!"
It was true. Mechanics were climbing down out of cockpits and walkingalong down the tarmac in groups. In a moment or so there wasn't asingle man within seventy-five yards of the first Messerschmitt in theline. Dave gripped Freddy's arm, tried to speak, but couldn't get thewords out of his throat for a second. Then they came in a muted rush.
"Okay! Let's go! Luck to us both, fellow!"
Quick as a flash, they shot up out of the grass and started running withevery ounce of driving power in their legs. It was only some thirtyyards to that One-Ten, but Dave felt as though he weren't covering morethan a couple of inches of ground with every stride. A thousandtorturing thoughts whipped through his brain, and with every stride heexpected to hear the yammer and chatter of many machine guns blazingaway at him.
Not a single shot was fired, though. And not a single voice cried out inwild alarm, as he reached the tail of the plane a
nd dashed around ittoward the long three-man cockpit. Then suddenly a German mechanicseemed to rise right up out of the ground. Obviously he had been makingsome delayed check on the plane and was only just starting to join hiscomrades down at the other end of the tarmac. As he saw Dave, blankamazement flashed across his moon-shaped face. Then his eyes seemed tocrackle out fire, and his mouth flew open.
Decision and action were one with Dave Dawson. He dived forward the laststep and lashed out his right fist, putting every ounce of his strengthin the blow. Perhaps the mechanic tried to duck, but at any rate hedidn't do it in time. Dave's driving fist caught him flush on the jaw.His head snapped back, his feet left the ground, and he did a beautifulbackward somersault to crash down on the tarmac in a heap. Before theGerman had even hit, Dave was in the pilot's pit, reaching for thecontrol stick and throttles.
He kicked off the wheel brakes with his foot and jerked his head around.Freddy was already in and grinning from ear to ear.
"The beggar will sleep for a week!" he cried. "Right-o! Give her thegun!"
As though Freddy's voice was some kind of a signal to the Germans aboutthe field, shots suddenly rang out, and the air shivered with shoutingangry voices. Dave shoved the throttles forward and the twin 1,150 hp.Daimler-Benz engines thundered up in a mighty song of power. The planequivered and bucked for an instant, and then charged straight out acrossthe dawn light-shadowed field. Machine guns and rifles were nowcracking and banging away on all sides, and countless metallic wasps ofdeath were hissing past the plane as it rocketed forward.
An instant later he heard the Messerschmitt's rear guns rattling away,and Freddy's wild shouts and bellows as he sprayed the Germans swarmingacross the field. Dave grinned, tight-lipped, eased back on the stickand lifted the One-Ten clear of the ground and upward toward the dawnsky.
"R.A.F. coming up!" he shouted, and jerked his head around for a second.
Freddy was still drilling away with his swivel gun in the rear cockpitand yelling at the top of his voice. Dave turned front, leveled off theclimb and banked around toward the west and the English Channel. Hisheart sang a wild song of joy as the swift Messerschmitt One-Ten rippedalong through the air. Victory was in sight, now. Death and danger hadbeen defeated. In half an hour they would be over the English Channel.Another forty minutes or so and they would be well over English soil.Back to England! Back to England with complete information about thecoming Nazi drive. Names, dates, places--everything that the Nazisplanned. The number of troops to be used, the list of ports whereinvasion barges now waited to be sent out toward England under the coverof darkness. Everything! The whole works! And now the British could--
Dave didn't finish the thought. At that moment Freddy's fist banged downon his shoulder, and the English youth's voice shouted excitedly in hisear.
"To the right and up, Dave!" Freddy yelled. "Take a look! A swarm ofNazi planes trying to cut us off. The beggars back there must haveradioed to units already in the air, telling them about us swiping aplane. Get everything you can out of this blasted bus!"
"And you get back to your guns!" Dave shouted, as he found the flock ofsome twenty-five or thirty dots high up to his left. "We're going tohave trouble! Those birds have the altitude, and they can get the speedto cut in front of us by diving. Get set, Freddy! The final lap!"
Even as the last left Dave's lips, he saw the group of dots wheel towardthe east and then go slanting downward. Impulsively he jammed his freehand against the already wide open throttles, as though he might beable to get additional revolutions of the thundering Daimler-Benzengines. And although he didn't have more than three thousand feet underhis wings, he slanted his own nose down slightly to gain what extraspeed he could.
His prophecy came true, however, regardless of his frantic efforts toskip away and out-fly that cluster of Nazi planes. Their diving speedwas plenty for them to outstrip the One-Ten in the mad race for theChannel. And when Dave and Freddy roared out from the shore, the dotshad changed into deadly Messerschmitt single seater One-Nine fighterplanes. And they were now charging in at breakneck speed, their gunschattering out a mad song of hate and destruction.
Body braced, Dave kept the One-Ten tearing straight at the leadingGerman plane, and pressed the gun button on the top of his joy stick.The four 7.9-mm. machine guns mounted in the nose of the One-Ten spatflame and sound. The plane rushing in seemed to crash up against aninvisible brick wall. It went cartwheeling crazily off to the side, andthen curved over and down into the Channel.
"Good lad!" came Freddy's voice faintly above the roar of the engines.
A split second later Freddy emphasized his words with the chatter of hisrear gun. Out of the corner of his eye Dave saw a One-Nine swervecrazily and crash straight into another German ship before its pilotcould pull out of the way. The two ships fell downward, leaving behind along column of smoke and flame. Dave shouted words of praise, slicedpast yet another One-Nine charging in and then hauled back on the stick.The One-Ten power zoomed wildly toward the sky.
The maneuver, however, was not so successful as Dave had hoped. Therewere more Messerschmitts up there, and they opened up with a witheringfire. He kicked rudder and almost went into a complete "black-out" asthe terrific turning force seemed to roll his eyeballs back into hisbrain. He straightened out slightly, slammed down in a quick dive andcaught a One-Nine cold in his sights. He pressed the gun button on thestick, and German machine gun bullets put another German out of the war.
For every German those two boys dropped out of the sky, however, threemore seemed to come streaking out of nowhere. They were all around theOne-Ten, underneath it and above. Time ceased for Dave Dawson. Timestood still. He became a part of the plane he flew--a sort of mechanicalpilot who had no time to think or consider the next move. Every touch ofthe stick or rudder was both instinctive and automatic. There was smokeand flame and hissing bullets all about him. White pain ripped into hisside, but he hardly felt it. His One-Ten shook and shivered as burstafter burst ripped into it. His heart was cold and his brain was frozenwith the realization that it could not go on forever. The One-Ten wasbeing constantly raked from prop to tail.
Then, suddenly, it happened!
A long burst crashed into his port engine. It coughed and sputtered andthen passed out completely. Smoke belched out for an instant but therewere no licking tongues of flame. It was the end, nevertheless. Withonly one engine Dave couldn't possibly hope to get away from the swarmof Messerschmitt One-Nines wheeling and darting about them. And in thathorrible moment of realization he realized also that neither he norFreddy wore parachutes.
He jerked his head around to yell at Freddy to hang on tight, but thewords never left his lips. Rather, a cry of wild alarm came out instead.Freddy was slumped forward over his swivel gun. His eyes were closed,and there was blood trickling down from an ugly bullet crease along theleft temple.
Dave took one quick glance, then jerked his head forward and shoved hardon the stick. The nose dropped, and the single engine started to haulthe plane downward in a terrific dive. It took every ounce of Dave'sstrength on the left rudder to compensate for the useless port engine.With only one engine going, the plane fought savagely to veer off to theright and into a spin. But Dave somehow held it steady and wentrocketing down through the swarm of One-Nines before their pilotsrealized what was happening.
And then, as he suddenly cast his gaze downward and to the north, hisheart almost burst with joy. Cleaving the water southward was a Britishdestroyer. Black smoke lay back over her aft deck, indicating her speed.And Dave could tell from the countless tongues of flame leaping up fromher decks that her anti-aircraft "Pom-Pom" guns were blasting away atthe sky full of German planes.
"Hold on, Freddy!" Dave got out through clenched teeth. "Don't die onme, pal. Everything's going to be jake. They haven't licked us by a darnsight. There's a destroyer down there, Freddy, a British destroyer. I'llcrash in her path and make her pick us up. Hang onto everything, Freddy,old pal!"
Twenty seconds lat
er Dave flopped the crippled One-Ten down into thewaters of the English Channel. The jar flung him hard against theinstrument panel, and for a brief moment all the stars in the heavensswirled and spun around in his brain. The instant his vision cleared, hestood up on the seat and waved both arms wildly at the destroyer rushingtoward him. The Messerschmitt One-Nines tried to drop down and machinegun him murderously, but the destroyer's Pom-Poms kept them at arespectful altitude.
The destroyer swerved slightly and cut her speed down. In a few momentsshe had worked up close to the floating plane. Sailors on the low decksthrew Dave a line. He caught hold of it somehow and made the end fast tothe cowling brace. As the Pom-Poms continued to bark, the sailorspulled the plane close. Dave motioned one of them to jump down, andscrambled back to Freddy. Tears of joyful relief burned Dave's eyes whenhe found out that Freddy was still breathing. Two sailors took chargeand hoisted Freddy aboard. White pain stabbed Dave's side as hescrambled aboard in turn, and he would have toppled over backwards if asailor had not caught his arm.
"Easy does it, Fritz!" the sailor said.
"Fritz, nothing!" Dave gasped as the pain in his side started leaping upinto his chest. "R.A.F. Where's your commander? I've got to see thecommander at once! Get me the commander at once!"
A white blur appeared in front of Dave, and a voice said:
"I'm the commander of this craft! What's this all about?"
Dave clenched his teeth, staggered over to the two sailors who heldFreddy, and took the plan paper from out of Freddy's pocket. He reeledback across the deck and grabbed hold of the railing for support. Therewas a thunderous roaring in his head, and red hot knives were cuttinghis body to pieces. He raised haze-filmed eyes to the destroyercommander's face, and held out the folded sheet of dirty paper.
"Think I'm about to pass out, so listen plenty close!" he said with atremendous effort. "We're Pilot Officers Dawson and Farmer, R.A.F. Justescaped from Antwerp. Put into the nearest port. Radio Colonel Fraser tomeet you. Reach Colonel Fraser at once. These are Nazi invasion plans.The--the whole works! Put--into nearest--port. Radio--ColonelFraser--Chief--British Intelligence. Important--"
Dave knew that he was falling down into a great big black hole, but hewas too far gone to do anything about it.
When he next opened his eyes, he was in a hospital bed and all wrappedaround by three or four miles of bandages. At the foot of the bed stoodAir Vice-Marshal Saunders, Colonel Fraser, and a major in medicaluniform. He stared at their smiling faces for a moment, then turned andlooked at the next bed. Freddy Farmer had at least one mile of bandagewrapped about his head, but he was sitting up and grinning from ear toear.
"Going to sleep out the rest of the war, Dave?" he asked with a happychuckle. "Man, is it good to see you come around! How do you feel?"
"I don't know, yet," Dave heard himself say. Then a little light seemedto flash on in his head, and memory came racing back. He turned andlooked at Colonel Fraser. "The invasion attempt!" he gasped. "The plansPierre Deschaud gave us! What--"
The Intelligence chief stopped him with a gesture of his hand andstepped around to the side of the bed.
"Everything's fine, my boy," he said in a soothing voice. "You justrelax, and take it easy. You stopped a couple of bullets, you know. Takeit easy and get your strength back."
"But the invasion attempt?" Dave insisted.
"Thanks to you two, there wasn't any," Colonel Fraser said with a smile."We beat them to it and blasted the tar out of their invasion bases. Toobad you couldn't have seen it. Your pals shot down one hundred andeighty-five planes on the fifteenth. That was two days ago, by the way.It was a new R.A.F. record for a single day's bag of Goering's chaps.And that night the bombers made a mess of the invasion attempt, butbefore it was even attempted. So you see, there really wasn't anyinvasion attempt."
"But Hitler has jolly well been taught a thing or two," Air Vice-MarshalSaunders spoke up. "And it'll be a while before he thinks about tryingit a second time. As the Colonel said: Thanks to you two lads, we beatthem to it, and gave them a very bad trimming into the bargain, too. Andit will help you to get back to active duty sooner, let me say thatthere'll be a decoration for you two for the wonderful job you've done."
Dave looked at Freddy, and as their eyes met an understanding passedbetween them. The smile on Freddy's lips faded, and he shook his head.
"You tell them why not, Dave," Freddy said.
"Eh?" Air Vice-Marshal Saunders grunted. "What's that?"
"We'd rather not be given decorations, sir," Dave said quietly. "The manwho should get it, and really deserves it, is not here. He's PierreDeschaud. He was the man who did the tough job, and--well, Freddy and Iwere just sort of messenger boys, you might say. Right, Freddy?"
"Absolutely!" Freddy said. "Satisfaction that we helped pull off the jobis decoration enough for us."
Air Vice-Marshal Saunders looked at Colonel Fraser and smiled.
"I ask you," he murmured, "what chance has old Adolf got when he's upagainst chaps like these two?"
The End
* * * * *
_DAVE DAWSON
WAR ADVENTURE BOOKS_
Here are some of the exciting, up-to-the-minute, true-to-fact adventuresof American Dave Dawson and his English friend Freddy Farmer.
In various volumes, the boys get into the war at Dunkirk! They aredropped into Belgium by parachute! They scout the Libyan desert! Theyfoil an Axis submarine wolf-pack! They destroy a mysterious Nazi weapon!They pose as Gestapo agents in Singapore! They ferret out Axis spiesoperating in the Pacific! They balk a plot to blast the Panama Canal tobits! They are Commandos and kidnap two German High Command officers!
READ about these high-flying, clean-living, hard-fighting boys!
ASK your dealer for DAVE DAWSON WAR ADVENTURE BOOKS
_THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY_
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* * * * *
THE AUTHOR
R. Sidney Bowen, the youngest member of the Royal Flying Corps and theR.A.F. in World War I, was born in Boston and went to school there. Heleft high school to drive an ambulance for the French Army, but was soonsent home because he was under age. He lied about his age and enlistedin the R. F. C. The famous Vernon Castle was his instructor. Back inFrance as a scout pilot, he shot down a number of German planes andballoons. During and after the War, he saw service in England, France,Belgium, Germany, Italy, Egypt, India, and British Somaliland.
Then he became a newspaperman, test pilot, editor of an aviationmagazine, and finally a famous writer of flying, sport, and actionstories.
He holds the World's Schoolboy Record for the 1000-yard run.
He has 2675 flying hours in his logbook.
He is an expert in aviation, technical, and military matters.
_DAVE DAWSON WAR ADVENTURE BOOKS_
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