Dave Dawson at Truk

by Robert Sidney Bowen

"What the heck!" he heard his own voice mumble. "What happened, and what am I doing in a hospital?"

"Well, it's jolly well time you woke up!" spoke the voice of Freddy Farmer in his ear. "Don't tell me you got hit that hard. You've been snoring for hours. How are you, old thing?"

Dawson turned his head to the other side and blinked in amazement at young Farmer propped up on one elbow in a bed next to his. Freddy's face was slightly pale around the edges, and there was a patch of surgeon's plaster just above his right eye, but the English-born air ace was grinning from ear to ear.

"Boy, what did you stop with that iron skull of yours, kid?" Dave mumbled. "But never mind that. First tell me what gives around here, anyway? The old brain seems to have gone off on a little solo flight. I can't seem to remember a single thing that.... Hey! Wait a minute! That shack! We ..."

"Quite!" Freddy Farmer interrupted with a grimace. "And here we are. You and I are a couple of dopes, Dave. We were so blasted interested in what was going on inside that shack that neither of us gave a thought to what was going on outside. And so we got bashed good and proper. The blighter wearing civilian clothes did it, I'm sure. The one who was a Jap. I got just a flash look at him before the gun he held in his hand bounced off your head and connected with mine."

"The dirty rat!" Dawson grated, as more memories came flooding back. "He must have heard us, or seen us through the crack in those wall boards, and slipped out while that other guy was looking at the map. Hey, Freddy! That other guy! He was a Navy pilot! An ensign!"

"I know," Freddy replied grimly. "I saw that, too. And the dirty beggar's Nazi. Gosh, we sure made a mess of things, Dave. I feel like a blasted fool for being caught so easily."

"You don't feel any worse than I do!" Dawson muttered, and gingerly fingered the patch of surgeon's plaster that he discovered on his left temple. "But how did we get here? And it's full daylight outside! Have we been out cold this long, or did we come to and walk back to here? This is the Naval Base Hospital, isn't it? And ..."

"Slow up, old chap!" Freddy Farmer stopped him with a raised hand. "Don't ask so many questions at once. In fact, just shut up and I'll tell you all I know. I woke up earlier this morning, and an hour or so later Vice-Admiral Carter came in to have a talk with me, and ..."

"Vice-Admiral Carter?" Dawson gasped, and half sat up in spite of the stab of white pain that cut through his left temple. "Do you mean the base commandant?"