Japs realized what was going to happen. Instead of both
charging straight in on the MK-11, they both were streaking straight at
one another! Both Japs saw that a midair crash was about to take place,
and both frantically tried to swerve off into the clear. And perhaps
they might have succeeded if it hadn't been for the deadly aim of Freddy
Farmer. The English youth's guns snarled out their song, and one of the
Jap pilots was stone dead before he could turn off into the clear. And
his failure to do so spilled the beans for the other Jap. He couldn't
check his plane in time, and he flew straight into the other faltering
Zero.

To Dawson's ears, and to Freddy Farmer's, came the loud crashing sound
as the two high speed planes met about three hundred feet above the
MK-11. And then the whole sky seemed to be filled with seething flame.
Dawson cried out in impulsive alarm and slammed the nose of his
two-seater downward. Glancing back up over his shoulder, he saw the mass
of exploding flame that enveloped the two Zeros. Then there was even a
louder explosion, and the air was filled with falling slivers of flame.
Choking and gasping from the effort it caused him, Dawson hauled the
MK-11 out of its mad dive at about wave crest height and flew, level
while red and black dots danced around before his eyes again, and dull,
throbbing pain flowed through his chest.

"Nice, Dave!" he heard Freddy Farmer calling to him. "That was the most
perfect maneuver I ever saw. Man! Did you fool those two beggars. It was
absolutely wonderful."

"I'll just take half the credit, kid!" Dawson forced himself to call
back. "But for that sweet shooting of yours the stunt might not have
worked. And--Oh, for gosh sakes!"

Dave gasped out the last as he happened to glance at the instrument
panel. One of the bursts of bullets from one of the Zeros had made a
shambles of the instrument board. And the compass in particular was just
a heap of junk. With the compass gone they would have to depend entirely
upon celestial navigation. In other words, any hope they might have of
continuing on to find Admiral Jackson's task force was completely gone.
Because of the milling around in the fight they had, of course, lost all
track of their exact position. And they would have to know their
position exactly in order to set a true course for the area where they
believed the Yank task force to be. And without the aid of the compass
they wouldn't be able to hold to a