"It's quite all right, Dawson, old chap," he said. "You won't be telling any state secrets. The Old Man acquainted us with the orders you received from Air Marshal Manners. Naturally some of us had to know, you see, in order to carry out our part of the assignment. Of course, though, if you'd rather not, then don't tell me a thing. I'll get it later from the Old Man's report."
"Oh, it's okay by me," Dave said. Then in a sudden excited voice, "Man, oh, man, am I slipping! That U-boat! We should have been hunting for it instead of standing here jawing!"
"Relax, Dawson!" Featherstone said with a good-natured laugh. "Really, man, give us credit for a little sense! I've been circling ever since we cleared the water and the crew has maintained a constant watch. Williams, here, too. See those headphones on him? Intra-plane communication, you know. What's the word, Williams?"
The co-pilot shook his head.
"Not the ghost of a sign," he said. "She probably went right down to sit on the bottom when she saw she'd missed us."
"And she'll probably stay there until dark," Featherstone added.
"Okay, okay, I'm over the jitters," Dave said with a gesture of one hand. "Well, here's what happened."
Beginning with the moment they opened their sealed orders Dave gave Featherstone a detailed account of exactly what had happened.
"Don't ask me what I think about it," he finished up, "because it sure has me in a flat spin. It stands to reason, though, that the Jerries knew more about our little trap than we did. Anyway, something went haywire."
Dave emphasized his words with a shrug and looked at Freddy Farmer.