CHAPTER SEVEN
_Discovered?_
As Dawson grated out the words he automatically checked to make surethat his guns were ready for action. They were, but in the next splitsecond the fear was his that he might not be able to use them. Thoseaboard the Kawanishi flying boat had obviously spotted his approach,because the huge craft had suddenly changed course and was racing upwardand eastward toward the safety of a towering bank of clouds. Daveinstantly nosed the Dauntless up for altitude, and shook his headsavagely.
"No, not even that way!" he shouted aloud into the thunder of his ownengine. "We'll smoke you out of there even if it takes all night. Nope!You rats are all washed up, and I don't mean maybe!"
With a vigorous nod for emphasis, Dawson hunched forward even more onthe seat and let fly with a short burst from his guns to warm them up.Perhaps the Japs heard his firing and accepted it as a challenge. Ormaybe the slant-eyed killer at the controls saw that he wouldn't be ableto make the safety of the clouds in time, and was veering around topresent less of a target to the oncoming Dauntless.
At any rate, the huge craft came curving around in the air, and itsblunt nose started spewing out a jetting ribbon of red flame. Davegrinned and inched his plane up a little more.
"Thanks for saving me the trouble of hunting you out!" he shouted. "Butyou'd be a flock of dead ducks, no matter what you tried. Me and Freddyhave been around, slobs, see? We sort of know most of the answers, now,when it comes to you baby killers. Okay! Try this one on your ricebowl!"
As the last left Dave's lips he pulled the nose of the DouglassDauntless straight up toward Heaven. He let the plane prop claw upwarduntil it was just this side of the stalling point. Then, with a kick onthe rudder pedal and a swift pass at the controls, he whipped thescout-bomber over and down at practically the vertical. As he had beengoing straight up, the Kawanishi had been rushing straight forward, andso as a result the big craft was almost directly below when Dawson camerushing down again. He had only to ease just a little out of his dive tocatch the top of the flying boat in his sights. And the instant he hadit pinned in his sights he let go with his forward guns.
For one brief instant nothing seemed to happen. Then suddenly the hugeKawanishi appeared to stand still in the air. Stand still and spew outjetting ribbons of red flame from a dozen different points from the noseof the hull clear back to the tail. The jetting ribbons of flame markedthe efforts of the Jap gunners aboard to get the diving Dauntless intheir sights. However, they might just as well have tried to pick off ahaywire comet rushing down at them.
And then, as the flying boat seemed to come to a dead halt in the air,the efforts of the Jap gunners came to a swift and abrupt halt. A tinytongue of flame shot up from the forward end. Then as though by magic itspread out fan-shaped and went sweeping backward to engulf everything ina raging inferno of flame. Eyes popping, and heart practically standingstill, Dawson stared in awe at the horrible sight. And then in the nickof time he snapped out of his trance, and hauled the plunging Dauntlessoff to the side and into the clear.
"About time, little man!" he heard Freddy Farmer shout. "I thought youwere going to run into the beggar, and tell him you were sorry. But youknow you're very hoggish, don't you. A very greedy beggar, if there everwas one."
Dawson didn't make any reply at once. He brought the Dauntless back ontoeven keel, and then turned in the seat to look back at the Kawanishi.That is, he turned in the seat to look back at what was _left_ of thehuge flying boat. And that was just a great ball of flame and smoke thathovered in midair for a moment or two before it started droppingearthward trailing behind a long column of fluffy black. Dave followedit all the way down until it smacked into the Southwest Pacific with amighty splash.
"What was that you were babbling about, pal?" he then demanded of hisflying mate.
"I was remarking that you are a rotter!" Freddy Farmer snapped. "Verydefinitely so. And twice as greedy, too. What do you think I'm back herefor, with guns of my own, eh?"
"I sure could answer that one, but skip it, pal!" Dave laughed at him."But it was just one of those things, Freddy, so help me. I must havenailed the pilot and one of the tanks first burst. Boy! Did he burn upand go down quick! Talk about shooting clay pigeons! That was certainlythe cinchiest thing I ever tackled. I--Holy smoke! Hold it a moment,Freddy! I should be reporting to the carrier."
Forgetting Freddy Farmer for the moment, Dave concentrated on raisingthe carrier on the radio, and made his report. His report wasacknowledged, and he was given orders to return to the surface vessel atonce. The orders had been short and sweet, and Dave broke off contactwith a faint frown.
"Now what, I wonder?" he grunted absently. "They didn't seem to be verypleased about it. What did they expect, anyway?"
"Good grief, what did _you_ expect?" Freddy Farmer snapped at him. "Acitation for a medal while you're still in the air? Use your head, oldthing. The carrier task force commander is pleased right enough, Ifancy. But undoubtedly quite worried, too. He wants us back in a hurryfor questioning."
"Huh?" Dave echoed, and started searching the surrounding skies. "Youmean, because maybe there's some more of those big babies around?"
"Oh my hat!" the English youth groaned. "At times I swear you absolutelyhave not a brain in your head, Dave. And this is one of them. Radio, mylittle man. Radio!"
Dave turned in the seat and gave Freddy a nasty stare.
"All right, wise guy!" he growled. "Stop playing riddles, and out withit. What do you mean, radio?"
"The Jap radio!" Freddy came right back at him fast. "The radio _on thatKawanishi_ that you just shot down so expertly. Perhaps they sighted ourtask force and radioed word to their base before you put the lot of themout of commission. Now do you see?"
Dave stiffened in the seat, let out a yelp, and clapped one hand to hisforehead.
"Knock me for an outside loop, am I dumb!" he cried. "Am I thick, anddumb, and stupid! Holy smokes, yes, Freddy! And I'm taking off my humblehat to you. That's right, pal. If they did sight our carrier task forceand got word of it back to their base in time, then we certainly are offto a terrible start, and how. Jeepers! I wonder just how far from homethat Kawanishi was?"
"We'll probably never know, but what does it matter?" the English youthgrunted. "The point is, _did_ they get word back about the Hawk and theCarson, or didn't they? I bet Colonel Welsh and Admiral Jackson arehaving a few very bad moments right now. That Kawanishi business couldturn everything upside down, you know. And worse luck, it probablywill."
Dawson just nodded, and let it go at that as he gave his attention togetting back to the task force as quickly as he could. It was aboutfifteen minutes before they spotted the force on the horizon. And it wasanother ten before they were safely aboard the Carson, and a juniorofficer was leading them to the Admiral's quarters. They found ColonelWelsh there, too. And also the ship's executive flight officer. TheAdmiral took the salute, but it was Colonel Welsh who spoke to them.
"Nice shooting," he said quietly. "Now let's have your report in detail.Did the Jap see you approach, or did you get him before he realized whatwas happening?"
Dave glanced at Freddy, got the sign to do the talking, and made alittle gesture with one hand.
"I'm afraid he saw us, sir," he replied. And then he reported in detailtheir flight from take-off to landing.
When he had finished a heavy silence hung over the Admiral's quarters.It was plain to see that the news was not what they had been hoping itwould be. And after a few moments Admiral Jackson looked at ColonelWelsh, and sighed heavily.
"Well, that changes our plans, I guess, Colonel," he said. "The Japsmust certainly know where we are, now, even though they don't know wherewe're heading. And by morning they're bound to have flocks of their longrange planes out looking for us. That makes it not so good."
Colonel Welsh nodded in unhappy agreement and chewed on his lower lip.
"Not good at all," he murmured. "A rotten bit of luck right at thestart. One hour sooner and we'
d have been covered by darkness. But whytalk about that now? He knows where we are, and so the next move is upto us. I'm afraid, Admiral, our only hope is to fall back on thesubstitute plan, and take our chances."
"Confound that Kawanishi!" Admiral Jackson grated, and banged a bunchedfist on the desk top. "Ten to one he was probably way off his patrolcourse, and just happened to bump into us by accident. Not the firsttime that sort of thing has happened, either. Yes, I guess you're right,Colonel. We've got to go back to the substitute plan, and pray. I'llinform the other carrier and the rest of the task force."
The Admiral sighed, shook his head in an unhappy gesture, and thenlooked at Dawson and Freddy Farmer.
"Don't take any of the blame for the rotten luck, you two," he said witha faint smile. "You did the best you could. At least it's something thatthey'll never go back to their base to report in detail. Very well,then, gentlemen. If you'll excuse me I'll give my orders to the signalofficer."
The others took the "hint" and filed quickly out of the Admiral'squarters. Dawson and Freddy Farmer went down onto the flight deck andover to where crew men were checking over their Dauntless.
"Any damage?" Dave asked the aviation machinist's mate in charge. "Didwe catch any lead?"
"Not a bit, sir," the other replied. "Not a scar any place. You musthave jumped on him fast, and plenty."
"Not too fast, I'm afraid," Dawson replied with a rueful grin. "Theywere just rotten shots, I guess."
"Maybe, sir," the machinist's mate said with a shrug. "But you smacked'em, and that's what they pay off on in this man's war."
Dave grinned and nodded silently, and started along the flight deckwith Freddy. However, they had progressed but a few steps toward thecompanionway leading down below decks when they heard their namescalled. They turned around to see Colonel Welsh striding toward them.
"I just want to repeat that it was a good job you did on that Jap ratsnooping plane," the senior officer said when he reached them. "Also,don't feel too badly that you didn't get to it sooner. After all, itwasn't your fault. Our own scouting planes should have been aloft andspotted it. It was just one of those things, so don't let it throw you,eh?"
The colonel cocked a brow and smiled as he spoke the last. Dave returnedthe smile and shook his head.
"I won't, sir," he said. "A tough break that just couldn't be helped.Maybe we'll have better luck next time."
As Dave spoke the last he looked hard at Colonel Welsh, and so didFreddy Farmer. The senior officer appeared not to notice for a moment ortwo. Then he grinned slowly.
"Neither of you would be curious, would you?" he chuckled.
"Could be, sir," Dave replied with a laugh. "Is that substitute plan youand the Admiral were talking about strictly hush-hush?"
"I guess there's no harm in telling you," the colonel said after a longpause. "Because of the size of this task force we were going to follow aroundabout route to the searching area. However, now that the Japs knowthat we're here, and have guessed our approximate course, they'llprobably have their torpedo planes and dive bombers out combing thisarea as soon as daylight comes tomorrow."
"And a jolly lot of good it would do them!" Freddy Farmer said grimly.
"Probably true," the colonel said with a faint smile. "No doubt thechaps here on the Carson and those over on the Hawk, could make it quitea disastrous affair for the Japs. But that isn't the point. Ouradvantage of surprise on this maneuver would be completely lost. Wemight even sustain some damage, and be forced to put back to port. Andthat, of course, is the one thing we can't afford to do. There isn't toomuch time on our side as it is. So the only thing we can do, now, is tocarry out our substitute plan. Just as soon as darkness settles downwe're going to change course to due north and sneak right up by theSolomons to the searching area. By light tomorrow we hope to be wellnorth of the Islands and out of sight of their patrol planes basedthere."
As the colonel stopped Dawson whistled softly.
"That'll be cutting it close!" he said. "Here's hoping we don't bumpinto a couple of their destroyers on the prowl, and get our handtipped."
"Yes, here's hoping!" the colonel said almost fervently. "If they spotus sneaking by the Islands our whole maneuver will go higher than akite. But we've got to take that chance, and pray as none of us has everprayed before."
"Amen!" Freddy Farmer breathed softly.