With a last careful survey of the grass runway he was off. The Spitfire rocked and dipped her wings and swayed drunkenly, but she lifted and cleared the stone fence. Now that he was in the air Stan had to decide what he should do about Arch Garret. As he circled for altitude, he tried to figure it out.
He had a hunch Garret was just a cog in a bad machine. He was the logical man to shove into the middle of things and the British were eagerly picking up overseas pilots. The Royal Air Force was well filled with Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, and others from the empire at large. Garret was a Canadian citizen, even though he had spent his last few years in the United States. Now it was very clear why Moon Flight had missed the bombers until they had done their work of destruction.
The question was whether he should fly back and report—or whether he should call Wing Commander Farrell and have secret agents put on Garret’s trail. Garret would undoubtedly have an airtight alibi. And he certainly had backing that went high up. Stan might just make a fool out of himself. After all, the whole thing sounded like a tall story.
He finally decided to go on to the navy base and then send for Allison and O’Malley at once. They would believe him and help him. He would have a good crew of mechanics at the field to slap the Hawks together quickly and might be able to get them off in one day. Then there was one other thing that tipped the balance in favor of going on. This was pretty much a personal matter between himself and Arch Garret. This was the second time Garret had tried to wipe him out.
Heading north he drove along and did not see any more Heinkels. He was hailed by a scouting squadron from the fleet arm.
“Where to, Spitfire?” called a very English voice over the radio.
“Navy base. Shetlands,” Stan called back.
“Good luck and cheerio, Yank,” came back the English voice.
Stan grinned broadly. His western accent sure marked him well. He bored ahead, his eyes seeing far into the distance, his mind working upon the crooked plotting of Arch Garret.
He spotted the naval base and circled around to give the boys at the batteries a chance to see who he was, then set down and turned the Spitfire over to a ground crew. Taking his file of papers he headed for the commander’s quarters.
The commander was an affable man, ruddy-faced and square-jawed. He had heard about Stan and O’Malley’s attack upon the pocket battleship.
“I was so inquisitive about those ships I had them unloaded and uncovered. They are beauties, sir. But I can’t see what you’ll want with so much motor.”
“I’ll show you,” Stan promised. “Now I want to make a call back to London and then I want a squad of your best mechanics. I have to get these Hawks into action at once.”
“You will get all the help you can use,” the commander promised.
Stan got Wing Commander Farrell on the wire and talked to him. He did not report the brush with the Heinkel, though he would have to mention it in his written report. And he did not mention Arch Garret. When he asked that Allison and O’Malley be sent up at once, the O.C. hesitated.
“We have been having poor luck keeping the bombers out,” he said. “I’ll have to replace you three and add six more Spitfires, if I can get them.”
“I need them at once. The sooner you get them up here, the sooner we’ll be back to help you.”
“I have an old Defiant they can both pile into,” the O.C. finally said. “I’ll get them off tomorrow before daylight.”
Stan waited a few minutes, then put in a call for Allison. Presently the Britisher’s drawl came in over the wire clearly:
“What’s the matter, Yank, grounded in some cow pasture?”
“I landed in one but didn’t like it,” Stan said with a laugh. “I’m calling from the navy base.”
“What’s up?”
“Just this. I’m sending for you fellows and you will get orders to leave just before daylight. Look out for clouds. Fly that old Defiant low and watch for Heinkels. And tonight, if there’s a raid, just you duck in the opposite direction from the way the Squadron Leader orders. I’ll spin you a yarn when you get up here. Keep mum but pass the word to the boys to follow you if there’s a raid.”
“Well, really, old man, you know O’Malley and I can keep still and we can get orders mixed up badly.”
“See you tomorrow.” Stan hung up.
That night Stan slept soundly. He was still snoring away when the bugler outside his window blew first call. The moment his eyes opened he tossed aside the blankets and jumped out of bed. He wolfed his breakfast and was out on the field and headed for the hangar where the three Hawks were taking flying shape.
Allison and O’Malley came in before nine o’clock. Allison was flying the ship. He smiled thinly at Stan as he climbed out.
“I brought her up here. When you mentioned Heinkels, O’Malley was for hunting in the clouds a bit.”
“I hated to waste a good trip,” O’Malley complained.
“The boys at the factory sent the Hawks out almost ready to fly. We’ll be in London tonight,” Stan said.
O’Malley’s eyes were on the three Hawks which had been rolled out into the sunshine in front of the hangar.
“’Twill be swell flyin’ a ship that hasn’t been all daubed up and smeared with messy paint,” he said.
“We’ll fly them in without camouflage,” Stan agreed.
Five minutes later O’Malley and Allison were helping with the Hawks. O’Malley was burning up to be off, but the fighters had to be carefully checked. As they worked Allison told Stan how they had been chased by three Messerschmitts.
“If you hadn’t warned us, and if we hadn’t decided to change our time of departure, we might have had plenty of trouble,” Allison said.
Stan came around from behind one of the Hawks. “I might as well tell you the whole yarn while the boys are tuning up the motors,” he said.
They sat on a bench in the sun while Stan told what had happened to him on his trip over. When he came to the part about making the Jerry talk, and name Garret, O’Malley leaped to his feet.
“Splinter me rudder!” he shouted. “I’m fer kitin’ back this minnit. Wait till I get me hands on that spalpeen!”
“No use to go off half-cocked,” Stan warned. “We need to catch Garret red-handed. I figure we’ll get a few real spies along with him. But we won’t be on schedule. Garret has a way of finding out what’s going on in the O.C.’s office. He will tip off the Nazis and they’ll be waiting to gang up on us.”
“Sure, an’ that’s just what we want,” O’Malley broke in. “They gang up an’ we spatter the smithereens out of them.”
Stan shook his head, but he had to laugh, O’Malley looked so wild. “We’ll be doing much better service trapping Garret and his rats.”
“Stan is right, old fellow,” Allison said grimly.
“I want to know what you fellows think of our handling this just among ourselves? We can keep Garret from sidetracking Moon Flight when a raid comes over. And we can round up the snakes he’s working with at the same time.”
“How about tonight? Suppose the Jerries hit tonight?” Allison asked.
“We’ll get off early and be there for any raid. I’ll ask the naval commander not to report us out until midnight. That will throw Garret off,” Stan said.
“How soon can we hit the trail?” O’Malley asked.
“Two or three hours will have them in shape. You come with me and I’ll show you all you need to know about a Hawk to make her do things,” he said to Allison.
Stan and Allison headed toward the nearest ship. O’Malley stretched himself out in the sun and closed his eyes. He figured he already knew more about a Hawk than the Hendee aeronautical officials.