d up and the firing from
the woods ceased. Suddenly a machine gun began to blast. Its bullets
ripped into the ship and around it. Stan gunned the engines and they
caught, bursting into a perfect and unbroken stream of power.

On the ground Allison could tell by the sound of the engines that the
ship was ready. He began shouting to Arno. Stan throttled down to allow
Allison's shouts to carry.

Suddenly a flare blossomed. A few minutes later another flamed. Stan
waited impatiently for what seemed a long time. He could tell by the
stabs of flame from the rifles across the meadow that the Germans were
charging down upon Arno. Then the red flare burst into flame. Stan fixed
the spot in his mind, just in case a German got to the flare and put it
out. Allison was blistering the Germans rushing down upon Arno, but the
distance was too great for a tommy-gun.

Stan kicked the motors on, setting his brakes hard. The attackers were
now fanned out and charging across the meadow. Allison could not halt
them because they had spread out thinly over a wide front.

"Should we leave Arno?" Tony asked. "He would want more than anything
else that you men got away."

"We're not leavin' him!" O'Malley shouted. "I'll get down an' go help
him. He may have been hit by a bullet."

"No, we won't leave him," Stan agreed grimly.

Suddenly Allison climbed up. "They'll be on us in a minute!" he shouted.

"Here comes the boy!" O'Malley bellowed.

Arno's head appeared in the circle of light from the instrument panel.
Allison gave him a hand, dragging him into the cockpit.

Before the trap could be closed Stan gave the Mosquito her head. She
shot away like an arrow released from a bow as her brakes eased free.
Straight at the stabbing tongues of rifle fire she roared. The firing
ceased as the Germans leaped frantically out of the path of the charging
bomber.

Stan held her straight for the red flare. Long before they reached it he
hoiked her tail and bounced her off. She went up like a kite caught by a
gale. O'Malley, sitting beside Stan, looked over and grinned.

"That was sweet!" he shouted.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Stan shouted back. He leaned toward
O'Malley, "Have Allison get the radio set working."

A few minutes later Allison had established long-range communications
with the base at Messina and was reporting in. O'Malley went back to put
in an order for three huckleberry pies and a steak. Arno took his place.
Stan was le