Part 5 (1/2)
”Use that to have the man placed under close arrest at once!” he said harshly ”And get in radiophone communication with me as soon as possible _If_ the man tries to evade arrest, tries to escape--shoot him dead on the spot! Yes, that's an unusual order, but this is an unusual mission Now, the other question, Dawson? What is it?”
”When we reach Natal, sir,” Dave said, ”what do we do? Fly back and report to you?”
”No,” the senior officer said with a shake of his head ”I'ht to Brazil That should get you in Natal by the fourteenth, the fifteenth at the latest Put up at the Pan-Am Hotel I will join you there on the fifteenth I'll have another little et there Well, any other questions?”
Dawson and Farmer looked at each other Then they looked at Colonel Welsh, and each shook his head The senior officer stood up, and as though the Gods had waited for that exact instant, the Vultee's Wright-Cyclone outside broke forth with its song of hty power
”Then that's that,” Colonel Welsh said ”There's soear over there on the wall Select what you want, and then let's get outside to the plane I'll stakeabout, but four walls always get on my nerves I like it better out in the open where I can see in all directions, and for some distance, too But don't pay any attention toits darnedest to get et out to the plane God bless you, and all kinds of happy landings until we ain in Natal, Brazil”
If they happened to be listening to the colonel's parting words, the Gods of war, and death, and dooh for the Death_
shi+fting to a slightly more comfortable position in the Vultee's cockpit seat, Dave Dawson absently druers of one hand on the side of the cockpit and stared down at the sky-blue Caribbean Sea rolling far beneath his wings Behind him was Puerto Rico, and a considerable way ahead of him was the British-owned island of Trinidad Severaltip were the Leeward and Windward islands of the West Indies jutting up out of the blue water High above hiold in the center
All in all, it was a scene that would have made poets rave, and the hardest of hearts melt However, if the truth must be known, it left Dawson cold Not because he did not possess an eye for Nature's beauty; it was rather because, though he was looking at it, he wasn't actually seeing it His hts
The previous night he and Freddy Far Field and had flown directly to the Ar sure, they had delivered the first of the sealed envelopes
Later they had flown on to the base at San Juan, on Puerto Rico, and delivered the second envelope Now they inging their way farther south to the Air Transport Command base at San Fernando on Trinidad
”After Trinidad, Paramaribo, and Belem, and Natal,” Dawson said, and scowled down at the beautiful Caribbean ”That's just the point, too A couple of air-mail pilots, that's all we are!”
”What's that, Dave?” he heard Freddy Far about?”
”Mu with joy! I' overboard And now that I think of it, ht ahead, old thing,” the English youth in the rear pit chuckled ”Nothing I want more than for you to have your oay, you know”
”Don't look right now, but you can go fly a kite to thethis here-to-there hop in the sky?”
”Well, I _have_ seen better piloting,” Freddy ca and all, I' I mean--”
”YouinFarmer replied
”But--well, after that little talk with the colonel last night, I was quite stea, and possibly dangerous, if you get what I runted ”But all it is to me now is er, if any I'uess After some of the close shaves you and I have had, routine stuff just gets ht spots in this thing so far, thank goodness”
”Bright spots?” Freddy Far the other way at the time What do you mean?”
”At Miami and San Juan,” Dawson replied ”The way those two co officers tried to pump us as to what the sealed envelopes contained It was nice to look very wise and not tell the around in the dark Misery loves company
Say! Knohat I hope, Freddy?”
”I wouldn't even dare guess!” the English-born air ace replied ”What do you hope?”