. Look at the time, will you?"

As Dawson spoke he thrust out his wrist watch. Ferry Farmer didn't
glance at the radium-painted dial. He simply nodded.

"I know," he said. "I didn't enjoy our little nap at all. If you really
do feel up to it, Dave, what say we get on along back, what? Major
Parker may be wondering about us."

"Yeah," Dawson said, and stopped short. "Major Parker, Freddy?" he said
after a long pause. "He knows that code of the colonel's. He delivered
that message to us, but swears he read only the signature. And he is the
only one, outside of those two Air Transport Command pilots, that we've
spoken to here. But heck! I'm just plain nuts. It just couldn't be!"

"And I don't think it is, Dave," Freddy Farmer murmured. "I'd bet my
life it wasn't Major Parker. He--Half a minute, Dave! Here comes
somebody along the path! I can see two flashlights!"

"Me, too!" Dawson answered quickly. "I can--" He stopped as the silence
of night was suddenly broken with a loud hail.

"Hello-o-o-o-o! Dawson and Farmer! Where are you? Hello-o-o-o! Dawson
and Farmer-r-r-r!"

"That's Parker!" Dawson cried. "Out looking for us. Let's go, Freddy!"

Dawson took a couple of steps, then stopped and cupped his two hands to
his mouth.

"Hello-o-o there, Major!" he bellowed. "We're coming!"

As his call died away, he could tell by the movement of the beams of
light far back along the path that whoever held the flashlights was
coming on the run. He and Freddy walked toward the approaching lights,
and after a couple of minutes one of them was playing over him at close
quarters. Major Parker's dumbfounded comments were splitting the night
air.

"Good grief, what happened to you two? I waited mess for you, but when
you didn't show up I got worried for fear you'd got lost. Somebody said
they saw you heading up this path, so we came after you. Good grief!
What happened? Are you badly hurt?"

By "we," Major Parker meant himself and one of the field pilots, who was
carrying the other flashlight. On impulse Dawson gave the man, whose
name was Tracey, a searching look, but he saw only bewildered amazement
and sympathy in the sun-and-wind bronzed face.

"We don't exactly know, sir," Dawson answered the major. "We were
heading back to the base when suddenly the lights went out. Somebody
jumped us from the sugar cane. When we woke up, we were as you see us,
but nothing was missing."

"Nothing?" Major Parker asked sharply.

"Not a