e turns it made. Whoever
drove it learned fast, too. He was clumsy at the beginning, but he
learned. If we hadn't gotten in a lucky hit, he'd've had us where he
wanted us in a little while more. Our fifty-calibres just bounced off
that hull!"

The loud-speaker said curtly: "If that impression is justified, that's
the first business to be taken up. All but flying officers are excused.
Mr. Coburn can go, too."

There was a stirring everywhere in the room. Officers got up and walked
out. Coburn stood. The Greek general came over to him and patted him on
the shoulder, beaming. Janice went out with him. They arrived on the
carrier's deck. This was the very earliest hour of dawn, and the
conference had turned abruptly to a discussion of arms and tactics as
soon as Washington realized that its planes were inadequate for
fighting. Which was logical enough, but Coburn was pretty sure it was
useless.

"If anybody else in the world feels as futile as I do," said Coburn
bitterly, "I feel sorry for him!"

Janice said softly: "You've got me."

But that was less than complete comfort. It is inborn in a man that he
needs to feel superior. No man can feel pride before the woman of his
choice while there is something stronger than himself. And Coburn
especially wanted to feel that pride just now.

There were very probably discussions of the important part of what
Coburn had reported, of course, during the rest of the morning. But
there was much more discussion of purely military measures. And of
course there were attempts to get military intelligence. Things were
reported in the sky near South Africa, and from Honolulu--where nobody
would ignore what a radar said again, especially the juiced-up equipment
just modified on orders--and from other places. Not all the reports were
authentic, of course. If there were any observations inside the Iron
Curtain, the Iron Curtain countries kept them to themselves. Politics
was much more important than anything else, in that part of the world.

But Coburn need not have felt as futile as he did. There was just one
really spectacular occurrence in connection with the Invaders that day,
and it happened where Coburn was. Almost certainly, it happened because
Coburn was there. Though there is reason to believe that the newspaper
campaign on shore, declaring that the American fleet risked the lives of
all Naples by its mere presence, had something to do with it too.

It was very spectacular.