In the meantime Ted was growing impatient. Having taxied his plane through the gap into the open sea, he had made a practice run and found her perfect. Then he had sent the plane gliding back into hiding.

But what had become of Jack and Mary, and now Stew? When he heard the wail of the jet plane he feared the worst. They had been killed or taken prisoner. Only the fact that six husky natives armed with powerful rifles were hidden away in the shadows beyond his small harbor kept him there.

Then suddenly he heard a loud “Yoo—hoo! Yoo—hoo! I’m here! Taxi over!” He recognized the voice. It was Mary.

When he slid in close to a flat rock he found her surrounded by a score of natives. She was embracing them and calling them pet names as if they were her brothers and sisters.
208

At last, grabbing up a battered overnight bag and Jack’s violin, she called out a native word that Ted thought must mean “good-by,” then made a flying leap for his left wing, which very nearly touched the rock.

From the rock came a roar of farewells. Then two bronze giants leaped into the water to push the plane away.

Ted set his motor roaring, slowed it to a crawl, then sent his fighter gliding out onto the moonlit sea.

A moment later, like wild birds separated for a time, two planes—one a fighter, the other a freak—came close to one another, then streaked away toward the western night skies.

Ted was in the lead. From time to time Jack banked this way and that, testing the jet plane. He went into a short spiral, then righted the plane to climb back into position.

“Boy!” he exclaimed. “This is the smoothest flying kite I ever hope to see!”
209

He wanted to tilt her nose and aim at the stars, to try out the plane in the stratosphere, but he could not be sure of the oxygen, and besides, he did not wish to lose contact with Ted. Ted had the chart showing the course the task force was taking. It would be easy to become lost on the vast Pacific, to run out of gas and fall into the sea. What a climax to an exciting adventure that would be!

The sky had cleared. The moon shone in all its glory. “No trouble finding the task force on such a night,” he said to Stew.

“None at all,” Stew agreed.

They zoomed along until Jack’s dial indicated that they had passed the halfway mark in their journey. Should overtake the Black Bee in another hour at the most, he thought.

Meanwhile in the plane ahead a transformation was taking place. The battered overnight bag that Mary had taken aboard contained all the small civilian articles she had possessed before leaving Corregidor—also her nurse’s uniform.

While Ted watched his instruments, consulted his chart, and thought of many things, her fingers had been busy. First, to be sure, she had performed quite an unfeminine duty—she had studied the swinging machine gun before her, making sure that it was properly loaded and that, if necessity demanded, she could do her full duty by it.

Then she had turned to lighter tasks. A bottle of dye-remover, which had been furnished her, came first. This made her white again. After this came face cream, a manicure set, and cosmetics.
210

When this was done, by worming and wriggling like a snake coming out of its skin, she succeeded in completing her transformation from a South Sea native to an Army Nurse. That the transformation was quite complete was proven by the “For Pete’s sake!” that exploded from Ted’s lips when at last, having solved all the problems of the universe, he turned to see if she were really there.

“Smile!” he commanded. She smiled.

“That’s swell. Thanks,” he exclaimed. “I just wanted to see if you were real.”

He was to know much more about that a few moments later.

“Listen! I think I hear the roar of a heavy plane!” Mary exclaimed suddenly.

Ted listened. The drone of his own motor was in his ears. He heard nothing else. “Guess you imagined that,” he said. “Strange things happen to you in the sky. There are mirages of sound as well as of sight.”

She made no reply. The steady drumming was still in her ears. She was tired. It had been a long, exciting day. She wondered vaguely what they would do with her when she got aboard the Black Bee, if she ever did. She hoped there was a tiny cabin where she could sleep forever and ever. Thinking of this, she nearly fell asleep when Ted exclaimed:
211

“Look at that! The light of the moon blinked out and there’s not a cloud in the sky!”

“But it’s on now!” she laughed.

“Yes, it came right back, but—”

“There!” she exclaimed. “It’s off again! No! Now it’s on—”

Ted did not answer. He was beginning to think he knew what was up. He hoped the moon would blink again. And he was not disappointed.

“Look at the moon! Quick!” He was all excited.

“It’s out!” she protested.

“Look closer! There’s a Jap snooper between us and the moon. Now it’s below the moon! Once you get it spotted, you can see it anywhere.”

“What’s a Jap snooper?” she asked.

“A big four-motored flying boat looking for a U. S. convoy.”

“Oh!” she breathed. “We have to get that one, don’t we?”

“I’ll say we do! Wonder if Jack’s radio works?” Then, “No matter. Don’t dare call him. We’ll get after that snooper alone.”

The girl’s hair seemed to rise and stand up like a fuzzy-wuzzy’s, but she was game. “Get them!” she hissed. She was thinking of the horrors of Corregidor and Bataan.
212

Giving his ship the gun, keeping an eye on the giant’s shadow, Ted began to climb. The big ship was slow. They gained rapidly. At just the right moment Ted came racing down upon the snooper. They were almost upon it when Ted let out a burst of murderous fire.

He shot past the big ............