Part 20 (1/2)

Eastward and then southward the nazi planes flew, and then at the end of soed their course to the east again, and then northward Most of the Atlas Range was out of sight now Ahead lay barren country that looked as though nothing, not even a blade of grass, had ever lived there Farther ahead was the border line between Morocco and French Algeria, but of course there was nothing to , for as far as the eye could see there was only wasteland These barren lands of the western rim of the Sahara Desert see heat of the sun Even the banks of clouds were gone now They had been left over the Atlas Mountains, and the sun blazing down made Dawson's throttles feel like red hot pokers, despite the fact that he was some twelve thousand feet in the air

As a lare of the sun, and the intense concentration on the nazi formation ahead and below hian to see crazy objects and shapes that were no longer there when he took a second look

It was because of this that he paid little or no attention to a gray-green blur that appeared on the barren earth just ahead of the nazi planes That is, he gave it scant attention until he suddenly realized that the nazi pilots had cut their throttles, and in follow-the-leader style were circling around and doard that gray-green blurr

Shoving up his goggles, he dug knuckles into his sh that bit of movement would afford him a better look

But whether or not it did, he certainly saw reen blur was a sht up out of the desert That it was soreen here and there

One thing was definite, however To Dawson it was the only thing that ly li Sahara was the secret base of Goering's Snoopers! He had found it! There it was! The first two of the boe of the gray-green patch They looked like beetles as they ed up in Dawson as he stared down at the place, but when he happened to glance at his fuel gauges, a tiny icy shi+ver went through him, and his joy was tempered by cold, hard reality He had fuel for about another half hour in the air Fuel enough to take him a fraction of the distance back to his Casablanca base What he had expected had happened, but only now did the full significance of it descend upon him

”But we found it!” he shouted wildly as he put his lips to his flap mike and reached out to tune his set to the Casablanca Base wave length ”And that's what matters most Now to tell Casablanca and--”

At that e yauns and air cannon, above and behind hi Doom_

One, two, three seconds slipped by before Dawson could h invisible hands of steel held him powerless

Only his eyes and brain seemed able to function in that short space of tilass hatch ic His brain told him the shambles that was suddenly made of his instrument board and radio panel would never in all this world peroldenalive was his pri to cut life short for one Yank air ace!

In three seconds Dave Dawson beca madman Instinct, and instinct alone, caused him to whirl the Lockheed up, over, and down in a half roll Hardly had he started theand caht up toward the sun-filled sky Not until he had reached the peak of his power zoom did he take so much as a second for a look around But now he did race his eyes about the sky, and rage boiled up within hi out of furious power dives, and prop clawing around and up in an effort to ”box” him in a perfect cross fire

”Not today!” he thundered wildly, and dropped the nose of his Lockheed

”You had one swell chance, because I was too du eyes in the back of et

You didn't ht!

How do you like _this_ for a tasty dish?”

As he shouted the words, he touched right rudder a bit and slaht for one of the power-zooht that ra was the one idea Dawson had in mind, because the nazi plane suddenly fell over on its side and started to circle away to avoid awas not Dawson's idea No, not while he had slugs for his aerial uns and shells for his air cannon However, he waited until the last second before he gave the nazi aircraft everything the Lockheed had The almost instantaneous result indicated that it was h Oneaway, and the next it just wasn't there anyand s away to the sun-scorched Sahara far below

”One!” Dawson bellowed, and cut his fire

Yes, one! And that left two others in the sky However, those tere crafty veterans of the _Luftwaffe_, and they had not been wasting ti away frole On the contrary, they had simply maneuvered to await their time And that time came as Dawson cut his fire and started to wheel up out of his thunderous power dive

As he started up, those two let fly at him Maybe both hit the mark, or maybe one of them missed completely But what did it matter? The mark was hit, and the ”mark” was Dawson's plane The air all about him seehtning acted as though it was about to fly right out froainst the headrest with a force that filled his head inking stars Then the Lockheed whipped up over on its back, dropped its nose and headed straight down like a one berserk Thunder roared in his ears, and before his eyes exploded and flashed all the color combinations in the world In his nose was the acrid stench of smoke

”Your turn, this ti doard ”No! No, it isn't, darn it! _You're_ not hit

_You're_ okay! Hit the silk, you dope! Bail out! Hit the silk! If you--”

He choked off the rest, or rather fear choked off his words, as he suddenly heard the renewed bursts of savage aerialto earth in fla death at him