“It’s her brother,” Jack whispered to Stew. “She told me about him. War is wonderful,” he murmured. “Wonderful and terrible.”
The Black Bee held her position for the night. Early next morning, while Jack was pacing the deck, he saw a small craft flying the Union Jack come alongside. A rope ladder was let down and two men climbed aboard. One of the two men glanced about the deck. When his eyes fell on Jack, he said:
“Ah! There you are!” Staring, Jack made no reply. Then suddenly he recognized the men. They were the British pair he had first seen with the jet plane.
“We’ve come for our jet plane,” the man explained, advancing. “Those bloody Nazis and Japs stole her from us. We went after them with a boatload of fighting men, only to find that they were all dead and that you had gone off with our plane. But now here we are. Thanks for saving our plane, old boy! That was bully!”
“Oh! Gee!” Jack exclaimed. “Somebody’s always taking the joy out of life! I suppose there’s no way I can talk you out of it?”
“Not a chance,” was the smiling answer. “You see, this jet plane idea was all worked out in England. Then the United States asked for a chance to develop it. They were given the right and manufactured a few of them for experimental purposes. Australia asked for one of these and got it. My partner and I were given the task of testing the plane. We were traders before the war and so had a few caches of kerosene and other trade goods scattered among the islands.”
“That’s why you were on our island,” said Jack.
“Exactly why. But those Germans surprised us while we were on another island, and hijacked our plane. Now I’m afraid we’ll have to ask to have it returned. However, we’ve brought you a consolation award.”
“What’s that?” Jack stared.
“Twenty sacks of first-class mail for the men on your carrier. There should be a letter or two for you in that lot.”