the wrong direction," Allison said.

Stan walked away and down the slope a bit. One of the Navy's NATS amphibian freight planes was down at the dock. Stan had learned to respect the Navy Air Transport Service. Those boys flew freight and mail from the United States to every part of the world where the Yanks were fighting, and they flew it on schedule. This plane probably was headed back to Tunis or Bizerte.

He passed the high officers at some little distance. The wind was blowing away from them and he caught the irritated voice of the general. 

"With this delay I'll have to go back. Action against Italy starts at dawn tomorrow." 

The wind whipped away the general's words and Stan did not hear any more, but what he had heard made him halt.

Invasion. The boys were going in for the kill and he was heading for a rest in Alexandria. Turning, he walked up the hill. Allison was chatting with the pilot. Stan motioned to him and they strolled down the slope. 

When they were out of hearing of the crew, Stan said: "I just overheard something."

Allison gave him a quick look. "Been eavesdropping?"

"An ill wind brought me a word from that general. We're hitting it back to Bizerte."

"I say, old chap, you know I'm going where I can have two hot baths a day. I'll have a barber shave me and I'll have breakfast served in bed. You run along back to Bizerte, but I'm going on to Alexandria."

"The attack on Italy is set for tomorrow morning. The general is going back and I'm going with him. O'Malley isn't going to hog this show."

Allison halted and stared at Stan. Suddenly his twisted smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. "If you put it that way, I guess I'm going back to Bizerte, too."

"The general has radioed for a plane to take him back. This delay has upset his schedule and he won't go on. We'll go back with him. Let's collar the old boy."

"We are under orders to report to Alexandria," Allison reminded him.

"The general doesn't know what our orders are. We can worry about little things like that after we get back," Stan said impatiently.

They walked across 

 Prev. P 10/107 next