CHAPTER XX
A SHIP FROM SOME OTHER WORLD
Realizing that matters must soon come to a head, Jack and Stew slept lightly that night, hidden away among the palms. Anything might happen on the morrow and they were prepared for the worst.
In the meantime, on board the Black Bee Lieutenant Commander William A. Brady, leader of the Navy Air Force, was briefing his men.
Before him on the wall were maps and blown-up air photographs.
“I need not tell you,” he said to the bomber pilots, fighters, torpedo men, gunners, radio men, and all the rest assembled before him, “what our next great objective is to be.”
There came a mingled murmur of words, “Mindanao—Mindanao, the Philippines. We’ll give it to ’em good this time.”
“Well now, here we have it,” said the air commander, pointing at the map. “Here is a map of the Philippine Islands. And right over here at the extreme east is Mindanao.
“We go in here.” He pointed again. “Behind this wide, deep harbor, where every fighting ship in our Navy might ride at anchor, is a large city. There the Japs have established a base of great importance.
“It is necessary that you study this chart with great care. Everything is plainly marked. Here,” he pointed once more, “is the air field, large enough for our heavy bombers. Here is the dry dock, there the docks for shipping, there the army barracks, and here their supply depots.
“You will each be given targets, and with your bomb sights you should not—must not—miss, for the people of this city are native Filipinos. You’ve heard of a brown boy named Joe?”