Darkness came down like a black curtain. Through this curtain the task force plowed on. “What’s our destination?” was the question passed from man to man. Mindanao was often mentioned, but only one man—the Commander—knew what lay ahead, and he wasn’t telling.
On being told of Jack’s discoveries—the book that gave him so much information about the jet plane, the note of warning attached to a tree, and the native girl who paraded in an Army nurse’s uniform—Stew found himself torn between two desires: one to fit out the Jap raft and leave the island immediately; the other, to remain to help Jack try to commandeer the jet plane and fly away.
“Must be a marvelous new invention,” he commented excitedly. “Think of doing the stratosphere at 500!”
“And then dropping down upon some unsuspecting Japs!” Jack added.
In the end Stew decided that it would be wise to put the Jap raft into condition for immediate escape, if flight became necessary.
“Who knows what might happen?” he argued. “If those men speak German, they could easily be Nazis, and they may bring in a whole boatload of Japs to hunt us down.”
Jack was not so sure of all this. Those men in charge of the jet plane had been friendly enough and did not seem like Nazis. Nevertheless he did realize that it was best to be prepared for any emergency. So, after a rather cheerless breakfast of cold fish and coffee, they spent the morning putting the raft in order.
When they returned at lunchtime, they found that the bananas had not yet begun to ripen, so they lunched on chocolate bars.
“But just you wait!” Stew exclaimed. “I’m going to have a real dinner tonight, if I have to run down a wild pig.”
“Okay,” Jack agreed. “I’ll gladly join you. In fact, I’ll even roast the pig. But you’d better take the fishline with you. There are worse meals than fish.”