interesting was the game that for the time being they forgot both the clouds and the task force. But not for long. Suddenly Stew exclaimed:

“Say! Look! That Jap task force is smaller!”

Jack did not look, for suddenly he threw his plane into full speed.

“What the—”

“That fellow was sneaking in too close,” Jack exclaimed. “Tell you what. We’ll take him on!”

“Take him on!”

“Sure. Let him try another sneak, then I’ll whirl on him with our left wing lowered.”

“Say! You’re right! I’ll just swing this old twinflex gun around to the front and fire across our wing while—”

“While I pepper him with my two guns in the nose. Watch now. On your toes!” Jack warned.

He slackened his speed a little. The Jap pressed in. Suddenly Jack’s motor roared like an attacking lion. The left wing dipped. The plane cut a half circle. Its guns flashed in unison. The Zero faltered, fell away to the right, began to smoke, then went into a spin.

Twenty seconds later, just as three Zeros dropped at them from above, the boys lost themselves in one more cloud.

“Chalk up one Zero!” Stew exulted. “That’s one up for us!”

“And say!” he added, “that reminds me. I’ve got to get a message off.”

A few seconds later he was droning into his microphone:

“Ann to Mary! Ann to Mary! Task force split. Two cargo vessels, three destroyers, going due east. Remainder of force same as before.”

“We’d better stick to this cloud for a while,” was Jack’s decision. “It’s a good big one, and fairly thick. Those Zeros will be swarming round it like angry bees, but they’ll never find us in here.”

“All the same, we’ve got to find out what that break in their task force means!” Stew insisted.

Jack caught low words in his earphones:

“Jack! Where are you?”

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