seen. The task force to which the ship belonged
and the attacking Jap planes had both vanished. The group of officers
responsible for the ship were dazed. Then, little by little, their long
training asserted itself and they fought off the panic threatening them.
Captain Higgins ordered the ship slowed until she was barely moving.
This was to protect them from the possibility of hitting submerged reefs
or shoals. The first question was--what had happened? Captain Higgins
ordered radio silence broken. The ship carried powerful wireless
equipment, strong enough to reach to the mainland of America, and
farther.

The radio calls brought no response. The radio men reported all they
could get on their receivers was static. No commercial and no radio
signals were on the air. This was impossible.

In growing bewilderment, Captain Higgins ordered a plane catapulted into
the air, to search the surrounding sea. Meanwhile routine reports from
all parts of the ship showed that the Idaho had suffered no damage of
any kind from the bombing. She was in first-class shape. The only thing
wrong with her was the men who manned her. They were bewildered. Defeat
in battle they would have faced. They would not have flinched if the
ship had gone down before superior gun power. They would have fought her
fearlessly, dying, if need be, in the traditions of their service.

Craig was still on the bridge with Captain Higgins and the other
officers. Although he did not show it, he was scared. Right down to the
bottoms of his bare feet, he was scared. He watched the scouting plane
catapulted into the air, and the grim thought came into his mind that
Noah, sending forth the dove from the ark, must have been in a similar
position. Like Noah, Captain Higgins was sending forth a dove to search
the waste of waters.

Besides Craig, there was another civilian on the bridge, Michaelson.
Nobody was paying any attention to him. Normally, if he had intruded
without invitation to this sacred spot, he would have been bounced off
so fast it would have made his head swim. But the officers had other
things to think about besides a stray civilian who had popped out of
nowhere. Michaelson, after fluttering vainly from officer to officer and
getting no attention, turned at last to Craig. Michaelson was waving his
note book.

* * * * *

"These men will pay no attention to me," Michaelson complained, nodding
toward the officers.

"