The pink cloud faded away and became a white bunk in some ship's whitewashed sick-bay. And the soft, soothing music faded out, and became the quietly coaxing voice of a human being. In other words, he slowly regained consciousness to find himself staring up into the face of Freddy Farmer, and into the face, also, of Colonel Welsh. And it was the Chief of Combined U. S. Intelligence who was speaking to him.
"Easy does it, son," the colonel was saying. "Try and hang on this time, Dawson. You're all set, son. Everything is fine and dandy. Not a thing to worry about. Just try and relax and be calm, son."
"That's right, Dave, old thing," Freddy Farmer echoed with a catch in his voice. "Gosh, but it's good to see your eyes really clear. You look fine, really. Feel a fair bit better, what?"
Dawson blinked, started to mumble a question, and then gasped as complete memory came flooding back into his brain like water over a broken dam.
"Hey, hey!" he got out. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here, Freddy? Sasebo's task force! Holy smokes, Freddy! Didn't you—?"
Dawson would have said more, but Colonel Welsh gently put a hand over his mouth, and shook his head from side to side.
"Now, now, son," he said with quiet firmness. "Try and realize what I'm telling you. Everything is all right, see? That Jap task force is spread all over the ocean, and a good many of its ships sunk, too. Now, try hard, Dawson, and really get hold of yourself. You've been raving out the complete story of what happened to you and Farmer for two days now. I'm trying to tell you that everything has been taken care of. Everything is fine!"
Dawson blinked again and tried hard to absorb the full meaning of the colonel's words. But there was one part that just didn't seem possible.
"Two days, Colonel?" he echoed. "You mean that I've been like this, out cold for two days? Jeepers!"
"That's right," the senior officer said, and smiled. "Now, just relax and I'll bring you up to date, briefly. You went cold right after you landed that Jap plane on the Carson. So it was up to Farmer, here, to explain everything. When he had told the story we got busy at once. We figured out the course that Sasebo must have followed after you and Farmer took off. Well, our scout-bombers found him. We caught him with his planes on the flight deck. Thanks to you and Farmer, we were able to do a good job on him. One of his carriers sunk, and the other two badly damaged. The last seen of one of them it was on fire. Two troop ships were sunk, and the rest of the force sent flying for bases where they would be safe. In short, we certainly ruined him for a while. By the time his force can put to sea again there won't be a Jap left on Guadalcanal for him to reenforce. And by the way, that attack went off according to schedule. The Marines landed, and as usual they have the situation in hand. And now you're aboard a cruiser bound for Australia and a good spell in a hospital. Frankly, you haven't any right to be alive, Dawson. Did you know that?"