CHAPTER SIX
_Blind Eyes_
The Chief of Combined U.S. Intelligence seemed purposely to allow threeor four moments for the importance of his statement to have its effectupon his listeners, and then he made a little gesture with one hand, andflashed them a brief smile once more.
"And the reason you gentlemen have been selected for this job," he said,"is because your commanding officers consider you best fitted andequipped to tackle it. To put it another way, you pilots are the creamof the crop. Perhaps some of you may be wondering why you were not askedto volunteer for the job. Well, the answer to that is easy. In the firstplace we would have been forced to reveal somewhat the nature of thejob, and it was our desire to keep everything a secret right up to thelast minute. And in the second place, and just as important, asking youto volunteer would be just a matter of routine. Your war records showthat no matter whether you volunteer for a job, or receive orders toperform it, you go at the job all out just the same. However, before Igo any further, just for the sake of the record I'd better say righthere that any pilot who does not wish to take part has my fullpermission to withdraw right here and now. No questions will be asked,and his withdrawal will not be held against him in any way."
The colonel stopped talking and let his eyes wander about the Ready-Roomagain. Nobody said anything. Nobody even so much as moved. They all justsat there in their seats waiting patiently for the colonel to continue.He did, with a grin and a little hunch of his shoulders.
"See what I mean?" he said. "Just a waste of time finding out if youfellows _want_ a crack at this thing. Incidentally, I'm very proud ofall of you, and very grateful in the name of your country. But to get onwith this thing. As you've probably come to realize by now, we've notonly picked crack pilots for this job, but also crack flying teams. Byselecting pairs that have had considerable experience together againstthe enemy, we believe that we will get far better results than if wehad simply picked a crack pilot from one squadron, a crack pilot fromanother squadron, and put them together in the same plane. There isn'tenough time for you to get to know one another in the air. And so wehave selected teams instead of individuals."
The colonel paused, half turned to glance at the commander of the taskforce, and then faced the pilots again.
"You will probably not take off on the first phase of this vitallyimportant Jap hunt until tomorrow afternoon, at the earliest," hecontinued. "However, I want all of you pilots to remain on constantalert, just in case the unforeseen does happen. Right after I finishthis little talk you will be assigned to your planes, and you will alsobe given instructions about take-off orders, take-off rules and signals,and communication code-words to be used while in flight. And, of course,before each patrol the team of each plane will be given completeinstructions as to the patrol course to be flown, _and_ exactly what isto be done in the event any units of the enemy are sighted. AdmiralJackson, here with me, and the executive flight officer, will havecharge of those details. My job--"
The colonel paused and half grinned.
"Call me the team coach, if you wish," he said. "I'm the coach givingyou the old pep talk before the big game. And believe me, it _is_ thebig game. If we don't find this Jap force reported moving southward;don't find it and do something about it, our initial offensive againstthe Japs in the Southwest Pacific can easily be turned into a mostdisastrous defeat for our forces. That possibility you must not forgetfor a single instant, and act accordingly."
The Chief of Combined U.S. Intelligence took another couple of momentsout, and Dawson, watching him intently, saw the corners of his mouthtighten, and a hard, steely look come into his eyes.
"And let's not try to kid ourselves either," he suddenly said in a low,quiet voice that contained just a faint ring of steel against steel. "Itis going to be the hardest job any of you have yet tackled. And some ofyou, only a few I hope to God, will not be coming back. We are playingfor surprise one hundred per cent, but we've got to remember that theJaps have not thus far shown themselves to be stupid and dumb when itcomes to the question of pulling a fast one. For that reason, we've gotto be on the alert against any surprises they might pull out of the hat.Frankly, nobody knows where this carrier force is right now, or whereit's headed. Not even our own Navy Department. This maneuver is strictlyhush-hush. And that's just as it should be, everything considered. Wehave a tough job ahead, and there's no sense making it any tougherthrough being careless and not on the alert. And now, just one morething. You can consider it an honor to be selected to take part in thismaneuver, but don't let it go any farther than that. I mean, there arepilots, and air crews aboard this carrier, and the Hawk, who will nottake part in your work. That, however, doesn't mean they won't have ajob to do, and a mighty important one, too. So just don't get the ideathat you are something special--even if you are. See what I mean? Allright, then. Thanks for listening, and a million in luck. Very good,sir. Your turn."
The colonel spoke the last to the carrier task force commander seatedbeside him. The high ranking naval officer rose to his feet, spoke a fewwords of greeting to the pilots, assured them that they were mostwelcome aboard the ship, and expressed the hope that they would findtheir stay aboard pleasant for themselves, and profitable for the causefor which they were fighting. Then the Naval officer turned them over tothe executive flight officer. He in turn led them out into the deckhangar, and with the aid of a few junior officers assigned the planes tobe used on the Jap hunt.
The plane given to Dawson and Farmer was a Wright "Cyclone" poweredDouglas "Dauntless." That suited them both right down to the ground. Orrather, right down to the deck. It did because they both had flown thattype of carrier-based plane quite often. And in their combined opinionit was the very latest thing in long range scout-bombing planes.
"Nice, very nice!" Dawson breathed happily, as he ran his eyes over thesleek, yet powerfully built aircraft. "I was worrying a little aboutwhat they were going to give us to fly. But I'm not worrying any more.This baby is all that I'd ask for."
"Quite; me, too!" Freddy Farmer echoed. "It's got the range, and thepower."
"Also, it has the what it takes, in case we bump into Zeros and such,"Dave reminded him. "Gee, I wonder if they're going to let us try out theships before they send us off on the hunt job?"
"Naturally," Freddy Farmer replied, as though he considered such aquestion quite unnecessary. "After all, you know, even aircraft of thesame type are different in lots of little things."
"Yes, I know," Dawson grunted. "But--"
And that's as far as he got. It was almost as though his question abouttest flying the Douglas Dauntless had been overheard, because at thatmoment a junior officer came up with the announcement that most of theaircraft were about to be taken up onto the flight deck so that theycould be test flown before darkness set down for the night.
And just twenty-five minutes later by Dave's watch he was seated in thepilot's pit of the Dauntless buckling his safety harness, and making theone hundred and one last minute preparations for flight. Seated in thepit in back of him was Freddy Farmer, making ready himself. The CarrierCarson had turned slightly into the wind and was rushing through theSouthwest Pacific at full knots to give the pilots every take-offadvantage possible.
"Okay, Freddy?" Dave called back. "All set?"
"Been waiting for hours!" the English youth shot back at him "Right-o!Any time you get the signal."
Dave grunted and fixed his eyes on the flight bridge. The officer theresuddenly turned and pointed his flag at Dave. Dawson gunned his engineslightly, and with the aid of a crew man on each wing he wheeled theDauntless forward and into take-off position. The flight officer raisedthe flag, looked at Dave, and then brought the flag down fast. Dawson'shand on the throttle shoved it forward. The Wright Cyclone in the noseroared up in its song of power and the Dauntless moved forward down thedeck. It picked up speed with every rev of its three-bladed steel prop,and Dave had it clear of the deck in no time at all. He went cutting upand off to the left to m
ake room for the next plane taking off.
"Well, pal, how's it suit you?" he called back to Freddy when there weresome five thousand feet of air under the wings.
"What suits me?" the English youth echoed back. "This plane, or yourflying, or what? Of course, if you mean your flying, why--"
"Save it, sweetheart, save it!" Dave growled. "No. This pip of a plane,and _my_ expert flying, go without saying. What I meant was, how doesthis Jap hunt shape up to you?"
"Could be worse, I fancy," Freddy replied. "Truth to tell, though, Icould do with a whole lot more details. The colonel didn't say verymuch, you know."
"Well, for cat's sake, what else could he say?" Dawson demanded."Somewhere in an area of about a hundred thousand square miles issupposed to be a big Jap force on its way south to make plenty oftrouble. Maybe it isn't going south. The colonel doesn't know. Oranybody else, for that matter. However, the colonel can't take chanceson our Guadalcanal and Tulagi attack going haywire. I mean, having thisJap force bump into them right at the beginning of the attack. See whatI mean?"
"Rot!" Freddy snorted. "As if a ten-year-old child couldn't reason_that_ out? Certainly! Of course, you silly blighter. Naturally thecolonel doesn't know _where_ this Jap force is. But I meant, moredetails on how, and when, and how long we're to patrol, and stuff? Heonly touched on that part by saying that we're to find the Jap force."
"Okay, okay, fire horse!" Dave grunted. "Just be patient. I promise you,I'll refuse to take off on a single patrol until your craving fordetails is completely satisfied. Will that be all right, fussy pants?"
Freddy Farmer made some remark, but Dave didn't hear it. He didn'tbecause at that moment he heard the call signal from the carrier in hisearphones. He answered at once, and his heart started hammering againsthis ribs as the crisp spoken orders came through from the carrier farbelow and several miles to the north of his position.
"Proceed due east from your position, Tiger!" the carrier officer said,using the Dauntless' code name. "Scout for unidentified aircraft.Proceed at full throttle. If it is an enemy aircraft, attack and destroyat once. Repeat! Attack and _destroy_ at once!"
"Orders received and understood, Swordfish!" Dawson called backinstantly. "On course, now!"
As Dave had spoken the words he had heeled the Dauntless around onwingtip, opened up the Cyclone wide, and was now streaking across theSouthwest Pacific sky toward the east. Their headphones being connected,Freddy Farmer had heard the orders at the same time. And so, naturally,he asked no questions about Dave's sudden and violent maneuver. As amatter of fact he said nothing. He simply sat tight in his pit, and likeDave riveted his eyes on the eastern sky ahead.
The east was a little smudgy because night was approaching. Also therewere some cloud banks hanging in the sky that cast all kinds of crazyshadows. As a matter of fact, half a dozen times Dawson was dead sure hespotted the shadow of a moving plane hugging close to the clouds. Buteach time he opened his mouth to call out to Freddy Farmer the "shadow"just melted away into nothing.
Eventually, though, Freddy Farmer's eagle eyes scored a hit on somethingthat wasn't just a shadow that melted away the next time he looked. Hecalled out sharply to Dave, and pointed with his hand.
"A lone aircraft ahead and about ten degrees to starboard, Dave!" heannounced. "See it? Just under that cloud that's shaped like a pear. Seeit? See...? By Jove, Dave, get us more speed! That's a blasted Japsnooper! Good grief! And this far south? Wait! Yes, Dave, yes! It is oneof their four-engined Kawanishi flying boats, just as sure as you're afoot high. Blast them! Way down here snooping on us!"
For some four or five seconds Dawson didn't make any reply. He leanedforward in the seat, as though that would aid his vision, and staredhard at the heavens ahead and ten degrees to starboard. But for thosenumber of seconds he couldn't see a single thing that increased hisheart beat. Then, suddenly, he did see it. He saw the huge four-enginedlong range flying boat type of craft that the Japs had copied from thetype of flying boat that the French had used before the war on the mailand passenger run between Dakar and Brazil. Now that he could see it hewas amazed that he hadn't seen it much sooner because of its tremendoussize. The wing span was a good one hundred and thirty-two feet, and thehull made him think of a good sized destroyer. And as he peered at itand impulsively tried to force the Dauntless on to even greater speed bypressing the heel of one palm hard against the already wide openthrottle, he realized without getting any closer that the huge flyingboat was well armed.
"Don't you see it yet, Dave?" Freddy Farmer's voice cut into thisthoughts. "It's just under--"
"Don't worry; I spot it, eagle eyes!" Dawson cut him off. "I'm justselecting which part of it to smack first. Come snooping down here onus, huh? Not today, my little Jap rats. At least, not any more. Justanother couple of shakes, now, and you're going to only have eyes thatare blind! And how!"