Jack wondered who Steve was, but more than that he wanted to know what made that high-pitched, screaming whistle that had increased in volume until it fairly filled the sky.

“It’s a bomb!” he exclaimed at last. “Sounds just like the ones those Jap dive bombers threw at us!” He wanted to race down the companionway to seek a safer spot. And then again he did not, for was not this a first-class mystery? And was not the Commander standing by? You had to be a real sailor.

“Could be a bomb from some stratosphere plane,” the Commander, who had returned to his post, agreed. “But I doubt it.”

“What is it then, sir?” Jack asked.

“Some Jap trick I’d say,” the Commander rumbled. “They may be closer than we think. The Germans claim they’ve got planes loaded with TNT that they guide by radio. It might be one of those.”

From below came the murmur of many voices. All over the ship men were calling, “What is it?” “What’s going on?” “Here it comes!” “Here she comes!”

Jack wondered if they would be ordered to battle stations, but no order came.

“It’s high up and coming fast.” There was a suggestion of huskiness in the Commander’s voice.

“It will pass over quickly, sir,” Jack declared. “Unless....”

“Yes,” the Commander agreed.

To Jack, whose mind often conjured up strange things, all that lay about him—the night, the black sea, the tiny lights blinking in from nowhere, and the eerie scream from the night sky—seemed part of another world.

The Commander took a more practical view of it. “Maybe a meteor,” he grumbled.

“A meteor!” Jack was startled.

“Yes, a shooting star that’s burned its way through the earth’s atmosphere.”

“But I don’t see—”

Jack did not finish, for all of a sudden he realized that the thing, whatever it might be, had passed directly over their heads and was now speeding east.

“It—it’s gone by!” Jack exclaimed. “Danger’s over.” He experienced intense relief.

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