Jack jumped. He knew that voice. It was Ted Armour speaking. “In a cloud over a Jap task force.” Jack asked very quietly, “Where are you, Ted?”

“In a cloud over a Jap task force,” Ted laughed softly. “Picked up your message. I was quite a ways east, so I came on out. Thought you might need some help.”

“That—ah—that’s swell!” Jack swallowed hard. “We’re coming out for a look.”

“Good! I’m coming too. I’ll be seeing you.”

That was all, but Jack felt a great uplift of spirits as he headed for the edge of his cloud. “It’s a strange world,” he thought. “Friendly enemies. War is terrible and wonderful!”

CHAPTER IV A GLORIOUS FIGHT

CHAPTER IV

A GLORIOUS FIGHT

“Good old Ted!” Jack exclaimed without thinking as he headed for that dangerous fringe of mist. “He’s from my home town.”

“What?” Stew exclaimed. “You never told me.”

“I’ve told you now,” Jack snapped. “So keep it quiet. It’s our secret.”

They slid out into the clear blue sky to discover that while the main Jap task force continued to glide serenely on its way, the two cargo ships and three destroyers had lost themselves in a rain squall that reached right down to the surface of the sea.

“Tough luck!” Stew exclaimed. “We’ve just got to locate them and see where they’re going. They may be the grand prize. Very likely those cargo ships are loaded with ammunition, and one of them is a twenty-thousand tonner.”

Jack put his plane into a steep dive. Two thousand feet from the sea he soon lost himself in the top of the rain squall.

They went through the squall and were out on the other side in no time at all.

“There they are! Two ships, three destroyers!” Stew exulted. “Still going due east. I’ll get in a report, and then—”

He stopped short to grip his machine gun and exclaim, “Jack! Quick! Back into the cloud! Three Zeros are coming down at us from 5,000 feet.”

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