with the urge to see what
lay beyond the farthermost horizon.

"So you were prospecting for gold?" Captain Higgins asked.

"Yes."

"What are you going to do now, if I may ask?"

"Well," Craig said, "I was on my way back to the States, to join up
again, if they would take me."

Higgins grinned. "If they would take you? They will grab you with open
arms. They could use a million like you."

"Thanks," Craig said.

A knock sounded on the door.

"What is it?" Higgins said to the aide who entered.

"One of the men we picked up in the life-boat wants to see you, sir."

"What about?"

"He would not say, sir. He insists it is of the utmost importance. His
name is Michaelson, sir. Shall I show him to your quarters?"

"Very well. I'll see him immediately."

The aide saluted smartly and left.

"Who is this Michaelson?" Higgins said to Craig.

"I don't know," Craig shrugged. "Just one of the passengers in the
life-boat. We didn't ask each other for pedigrees. About all I can say
about him is that he is a queer duck." Craig explained how Michaelson
had been constantly studying the contents of the notebook he carried.

The captain frowned. "There is a Michaelson who is a world-famous
scientist," he said. "I don't suppose this could be he."

"Might be," Craig said. "This is the south seas. You never know who is
going to turn up down here or what is going to happen." Abruptly he
stopped speaking. A new sound was flooding through the ship.

It had been years since he had heard that sound yet he recognized it
instantly. The call to action stations! It could have only one meaning.
The Idaho was going into action. Something thrilled through Craig's
blood at the thought. He turned questioning eyes toward the captain.

Higgins was already on the phone.

"Flight of Jap bombers approaching," he said, flinging the phone back on
its hook. "Come on."

This was probably the first time in naval history that a bare-footed,
bare-headed man, whose sole articles of clothing consisted of a pair of
dirty duck trousers, joined the commanding officer of a battleship on
the captain's bridge. Captain Higgins didn't care what Craig was
wearing, and his officers, if they cared, were too polite to show it.
They didn't really care anyhow. They had other things on their minds.

Far off in the sky Craig could see what the officers had on their minds.
A series of tiny black dots. They were so far away they looked like
gnats. Jap bombers.