"Well, if it was a ship or a plane, it's gone now," he grunted. "So it looks like we'll have to keep each other company for a spell longer, pal."
"Oh, yes, quite," Freddy Farmer murmured, and nodded absently. "A blasted funny business this, though. I still can't make up my mind if those seaplane beggars were Japs. Why did they just force us down, and then let us alone? That's definitely not Jap style. And to say that that seaplane was—But, man! That's impossible! Definitely!"
"What is?" Dave wanted to know.
"That it was one of our planes, and they shot us down by mistake," Freddy said. "But that couldn't be. Our markings were as plain as day for anybody to see."
"Yeah," Dave said, and sighed. "But maybe we look like Japs, and they figured we'd swiped the Dauntless."
Freddy Farmer's comment on Dave's wisecrack was a pronounced snort. Then both lapsed into brooding silence and stared more or less unseeingly out across the limitless expanse of ocean.