ch, sir," Colonel Welsh mumbled, and
followed the other off the flight bridge.

When they were settled in the Admiral's quarters, and had been served
coffee, the Chief of Combined U. S. Intelligence glanced over at the
Navy officer with a faint apologetic smile.

"I'm afraid I'm not acting the good soldier very well, sir," he said. "I
hope you'll accept my apologies. But this is getting me where it hurts
the most."

"I quite understand, Colonel," the other said quietly. "It gets me, too,
to have pilots reported missing in action, whether I know them
personally or not. You just can't help feeling it deep."

"And those two I knew so well!" Colonel Welsh breathed sadly. "I
couldn't know them any better if they were my own sons. And in a way I'm
directly responsible for whatever has happened to them. I was the one
who assigned them to this carrier. As I told you, they had just
completed a very dangerous mission in China. They had postponed leave to
carry out the mission for me. And if any two in this war rate leave,
they certainly do. But--well, it struck me I needed them badly on this
job. They both have all what it takes, and--well, they performed more
than one absolutely impossible miracle in the past. So I decided to
order them to take a hand in this job. And--"

As the colonel paused he couldn't stop the groan this time.

"And they are the only two that we have lost," he finally completed the
sentence. "If only I had an idea of what happened, I don't think it
would be so bad. Death comes swiftly and suddenly in this war, so we
constantly have to steel ourselves on that subject. If they were killed
in action, then that's something different. But just plain missing--and
when no other pilot has reported a blessed thing. Well, that is the part
so hard to take. But forgive me for rambling like this, sir."

"Think nothing of it, Colonel," the Admiral said, and added a drop more
of cream to his coffee. "Frankly, I've been giving the puzzle more than
a little thought. For two days, now, we've combed every square mile of
this area, and no pilot has seen a trace or sign of anything. Not so
much as a thread of smoke on the horizon. It has me worried, Colonel."

The Chief of Combined U. S. Intelligence stuck out his lower lip and
gave a little half twist of his head.

"I'm very much worried, too, sir," he said. "If that reported Jap force
is in these waters, it must be at the bottom of them. It certainly isn't
in the are