“What else?” Dave demanded, and pointed a finger at the locker with the blown off door. “He swears that locker was empty. I believe him. So you tell me how an empty locker can explode, blow off its door, and splash that weird-looking blue-white fire all over the place?”
Freddy Farmer stared down at the explosion-damaged locker, too, and shivered slightly.
“Of course, you’re right,” he muttered. “A time set incendiary bomb, with just enough explosive in it to blow off that door so the flames could spread. Good grief, Dave, if it had reached that flare compartment with all those flares—”
The English youth stopped and shuddered violently.
“Yes, it wouldn’t have been fun!” Dave said grimly. “It would have been a sweet mess, or worse. We’d—”
Dave cut off the rest. Major Hawks, in command of the ferry bomber, was hurrying aft. The senior officer took a few more steps, then pulled up short and stared wide-eyed at the fire damage. His jaw was set like a chunk of granite, and his eyes glittered like highly polished steel. After a moment or so he glanced up and sought Dave’s eyes. The corners of his mouth twitched in a faint grin, and he gave a little nod of his head.
“Lieutenant Kelley says we owe you a vote of thanks, Captain,” he said. “And by Jove, we certainly do!”
“That has to include Lieutenant Kelley, and Farmer, too, sir,” Dave said. “I’d never have put it out alone. I just happened to see the smoke first, and got first crack at it. As a matter of fact, it was Lieutenant Kelley who attracted my attention by saying he smelled something funny. Personally, I’m thankful he came aft to get some eats ready. If he hadn’t, we probably wouldn’t have noticed anything until it was too late to do much about it.”
The Major grunted, started to say something, but checked himself, and took a step toward the explosion-damaged locker. Sticking out one foot, he toed out a small black object from the floor of the flame-blackened locker. When he bent down to examine it both Dave and Freddy were right there with him. The black object was about two inches long, round, and about as thick as a man’s middle finger. It was open at both ends, and it was obviously made of metal.
“What in thunder?” Major Hawks breathed, and tried to touch it with a finger, but found it was too hot. “This looks like a piece of small pipe.”