"Got it!" he shouted, and bent down to retrieve the slip. "I really have. See?"
He jumped around on first one foot and then the other and wildly waved the little slip about over his head.
"I say, land, will you, Farmer?" Group Captain Spencer shouted at him good-naturedly. "I'm sure you're not pulling our leg, but let's have a look at the thing, anyway."
Freddy stopped jumping around and held out the slip so that all could see the X marked on one side.
"That's it, right enough," Group Captain Spencer said, and tossed the cap with the remaining folded slips back on the table. "Well, congratulations, Farmer. And I guess we don't have to guess whom you want to take along with you, eh?"
Dave's disappointment at not having drawn the slip blew away into nothing when he saw the X on Freddy's slip. He looked at his pal and grinned, and waited to hear Freddy ask him to go along on the dangerous venture. A couple of moments later, though, a cold wave seemed to spread through him, and his heart became a hard lump in his chest. Freddy had passed his eyes right over him and was studying the faces of the other pilots. Could it be that Freddy—? Was Freddy going to choose somebody—?
"I don't know, sir," he heard Freddy say through a dull rumbling in his ears. "It's a very important job, and a chap must be sure of the fellow he takes along with him. Yes, sir. Must give it a bit of serious thought, you know. Now—let me see. Blessed if it isn't a hard job to choose the right man."
Dave could hardly believe his ears as he heard the words that fell from Freddy Farmer's lips. And he could hardly believe his eyes as he saw the English youth almost deliberately turn his back on him and look at the other pilots. He was conscious, too, of the general air of stunned amazement that pervaded the Ready Room. It was obvious that everybody else had expected Freddy to ask Dave at once.
"As difficult as that, Farmer?" Group Captain Spencer presently asked with a puzzled frown on his face.
"Oh yes, sir, quite difficult," Freddy said, turning to him. Then, with a wink at the group captain that everybody saw, he turned to look at Dave, and asked, "Would you like to go along, my little man?"