“Did the Commander tell you it was going to be Mindanao?” Ted asked.
“No. But I’m plumb certain it has to be from the course we’re taking,” was the answer. “Just you wait an’ see! Some evening about sundown we’ll be meetin’ up with another task force. An’ then, man! You’ll really see some fightin’ ships!”
They did fulfill a rendezvous at sunset, but the force they met did not fit into Kentucky’s picture. It consisted of four transports, three cargo vessels and their escorts, two cruisers, and three destroyers.
The two forces moved into position, then steamed on toward the west. Two hours later the Commander called Kentucky into the chart room. Since Ted was with him at the time, he invited him to accompany them.
“You too may be in on this,” he said to Ted as they entered the brightly lighted cabin. “So you might as well know what it’s all about.”
Wasting no time, he led the boys to a large chart spread out on a table.
“This is where we are,” he said, pointing to a spot on the chart with a pencil.
“And this is about where we were during the battle with the Jap task force, is it not, sir?” Ted too pointed.
“Right,” said the Commander.
“Then Jack and Stew, if they made it, are on one of these three islands?” Ted pointed again.