"That is an airplane!" Dave cried and slung1 his parachute pack up into the pit. "That's a dream. The sugar in my coffee. The moonlight on a summer night. The smell of a lovely rose. The goal from the field in the last ten seconds of play. The whozit of the whatzit. And how!"
Freddy looked at him and sighed unhappily.
"And he was such a bright chap before he took that Mark Five up for a test hop2!" he murmured. "He could count all the way up to ten. He could write his own name. And he even knew what day of the month it was. But, now.... O well! They say his kind last just so long. And, of course, he's a blinking Yank at heart. So.... Hey! Ouch!"
The swinging Mae West life preserver jacket caught Freddy on the ear, and almost toppled him off his feet. He caught himself in time, ducked as the Mae West came sailing around again, and charged at his best pal4. Dave backed up and stepped quickly to the side.
"You had that coming to you, my little man," he said sternly. "You should learn to understand expressions of beauty."
"Sugar in his coffee!" the English youth snorted. "Moonlight on a summer night! Good grief! Whoever heard of such things?"
"Oh, I've got lots more of them," Dave chuckled5. "Better ones, too. Listen."
"Don't!" Freddy groaned6.
Dave ignored him and stuck one hand inside his tunic7 and extended the other palm up toward the nearest Spitfire.
"A Mark Five is the lace in your shoe!" he cried. "It is the frosting on mother's cake. It is the apple in her dumpling pie. It is the breath of spring. It is the kiss of your girl. It is...."
Dave stopped short and shook his head.
"No, that's wrong," he said. "No girl would kiss that map of yours, Freddy. They'd.... Hey! So I'm talking to myself, huh?"
It was true. Dave was simply throwing beautiful words at free air. Freddy had left him cold and walked over to Flight Lieutenant8 Barker, who had led the test hop patrol. Dave went over there scowling9.
"Fine business!" he growled10. "I try to better his education and he walks out on me!"
Freddy snorted in disgust and Flight Lieutenant Barker grinned.
"You've got a bite, Dawson?" he asked. "Fleas11, perhaps?"
"Huh, me?" Dave echoed, and then turned beet12 red.
He still had one hand stuck inside his tunic. He pulled it out and they all laughed.
"No kidding, though, Flight Lieutenant," he said. "Isn't that Mark Five the best thing that ever came down the pike?"
"Down the pike?" the senior officer murmured. Then brightening, "Oh yes, I get what you mean. Quite! Best bus in the R.A.F. I'm all for having a go at a Jerry or two right now. I think we'll sweep the skies with the Mark Fives. But I hear that even better planes are on the drafting boards right now."
"Phew, that's hard to believe!" Freddy breathed. "I mean, that anything could be better than the Mark Five."
"Shame, Farmer!" Barker said with a grin. "And that statement from the lips of an Englishman!"
"Is he?" Dave asked with a mock gasp13.
"Is he what?" Barker wanted to know.
"Is Freddy really and truly an Englishman?" Dave replied and set himself to jump fast. "From the way his eyes slant14 up, I'd always thought that he was a little bit...."
Dave didn't finish the rest. And it was not Freddy making a dive for him that choked off his words. On the contrary it was the wail15 of the alarm siren mounted atop the Operations Office. As one man the three spun16 around and dashed over to the little hut that was the nerve center of the Squadron. And so did every other pilot on stand-to duty.
The Operations Officer met them at the door. He waved a slip of paper at them.
"Zone Ten Spotters!" he snapped. "A single Messerschmitt One-Ten sneaking17 in from the coast. Altitude twenty one thousand. Course, due west. Intercept19 and teach the beggar a lesson. Chap's balmy to try it alone these days. Off with you. I'll give you further spotter reports in the air."
The half dozen pilots turned from the Operations Office door and raced back to the line of Spitfires. Mechanics already had the propellers22 ticking over. Dave skidded23 to a halt by his ship and practically jumped into the parachute harness and Mae West that his own mechanic held up for him. Then in a single leap he vaulted24 into the pit, snapped his safety harness in place, plugged in his radio jack3, and reached for the throttle25.
"Get one of the dirty beggars for me, sir!" the mechanic cried out. "I come from Coventry, you know, sir!"
"Fair enough!" Dave yelled and sent the Mark 5 Spitfire streaking26 straight out across the field. "One Messerschmitt coming up, for Coventry! I mean, coming down!"
Split seconds after the words popped off his lips he was in the air with wheels up, and curving up and around toward Zone 10. He did not have to glance at his map to determine the location of Zone 10. Its location, like the locations of all the zones that Eighty-Four guarded, was stamped indelibly on his brain. Zone 10 was on the coast south of Harwich, and he headed in that direction at top speed.
Out the corner of his eye he saw the other planes of the flight streaking along in the same direction. He grinned and jammed his hand against the already wide open throttle as though in so doing he might get more power out of the singing Rolls-Royce in the nose. And he knew that Freddy, Flight Lieutenant Barker, and the three other Spitfire pilots were doing the same thing. If the alarm had said two or more enemy aircraft were sighted the Eighty-Four lads would have dropped into formations of flights of three with Barker giving the orders for attack and so forth27. That wasn't necessary, however, with just one lone20 Jerry plane in the offing. Instead, it was a case of first come, first crack at the Jerry. And so the six Eighty-Four lads were hopping28 their planes along as fast as they could so that they might be the one to get first licks at the Messerschmitt. True, that sort of thing wasn't strictly29 regulations, but the R.A.F. lads did it ... and often.
"Ten shillings says you guys are wasting your time!" Dave shouted happily into his radio mike.
"Ten shillings says you've forgotten there's lots of radios in England, Dawson!" Flight Lieutenant Barker snapped back at him in the earphones.
Dave gulped30 and went beet red to the roots of his hair. In his excitement he had clean forgotten that ground stations are tuned31 in on aircraft aloft all the time. Whatever is said up there goes right into the ears of the big shots, if they happen to be listening.
"I mean when the formation reaches the objective!" Dave said hurriedly. "One Mark Five is more than enough for any One-Ten!"
Barker's laugh came over the radio.
"That's nice quick thinking, Dawson," he said. "No wonder you've got more than a couple of the beggars in your bag."
"Luck! Absolutely nothing else. I was present each time!"
The voice was Freddy Farmer's. Dave opened his mouth to make a fitting retort, but checked himself. At that instant he heard the voice of the Operations officer back down on the field.
"Tiger Flight!" he called, using the code name for the patrol in the air. "Change course twenty degrees north. Clouds ahead of you. Enemy aircraft climbing to twenty-four thousand. Operations to Tiger. That is all!"
"Tiger to Operations!" Dave heard Flight Lieutenant Barker check back. "Changing course. Right you are!"
Dave had already swung his ship around more to the north, and was hunched33 forward over the stick staring hard at the mountain cloud bank looming34 up ahead. His eagle eyes swept it from side to side and from top to bottom. But he failed to see a single moving dot that could be the Messerschmitt One-Ten trying to climb up over the stuff. He saw nothing but that bank of clouds and the crazy shadows that marked nature's nooks and crags in the stuff.
And then he heard Freddy Farmer's excited voice coming into his earphones.
"Enemy aircraft sighted! Five more degrees northward35. Just under the tip of that finger of the stuff on the left!"
Dave snapped his gaze in the direction indicated, and then suddenly saw the blurred36 dot curving upward and to the north. He grinned and gave a little shake of his head.
"Old Sharp Eyes Freddy Farmer!" he grunted37. "Boy! How does he do it?"
"Simple!" the radio's earphones told him instantly. "I jolly well fly with my eyes open. Try it sometime, old bean. You'll be surprised at the difference."
Dave didn't make any comment. At that instant the moving dot moved right into the billowy clouds and was completely lost to view.
"Spread out, chaps!" came Barker's orders. "Don't think the beggar is turning back. Spread out and keep your eyes skinned. And bear northward."
As he was flying on the extreme left Dave cut around sharp north, and stuck his nose down for additional speed. The dot had entered the cloud bank at approximately the same altitude as that of his own Spitfire, but he had the sudden hunch32 that the Jerry pilot was going to stop climbing. That he was going to go down and try to sneak18 out from under the cloud bank while the lads of Eighty-Four fruitlessly hunted for him at high altitudes.
"Maybe I'm wrong," Dave murmured. "And that won't be anything new, and how. But if he sticks to those clouds it'll mean he isn't on photo reconnaissance. And if he goes down under the stuff it'll mean the same thing. Right! There's nothing down there that Goering's little dopes haven't taken a million pictures of since they started this cockeyed war. Yeah! It's my hunch that lad is over here on other business."
With a nod for emphasis he steepened the Spitfire's dive a bit and went cutting down across the English sky like a comet gone haywire. In less than practically nothing flat he was down below the altitude of the belly38 of the stuff. He pulled out and let the Mark 5 prop21 claw straight forward at an even keel. At the same time he threw back his head and raked the underside of the cloud bank with his eyes.
He saw nothing, however. Nothing but clouds and more clouds. Seconds ticked by to form a minute. He banked slightly and glanced back to see if any of his pals39 had the same hunch. His was the only Spitfire to be seen, however. The others were way up above him and completely out of sight.
"A horse on you, Dawson," he grunted, "if they smack40 the guy down, and buzz back for a spot of tea, leaving you to hunt the little man who isn't there. Yeah! It would be.... Hold it! So there you are, my little Jerry!"
A war painted Messerschmitt One-Ten had cut down out of the belly of the cloud bank about half a mile ahead of him and perhaps the same distance to the left. It leveled off immediately once it was in clear air and started streaking to the west again.
"Not today!" Dave shouted and kicked his Mark Five around in a flash half turn. Then into his flap-mike he bellowed41, "Tally-ho, gang! Downstairs with you!"
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1
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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2
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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3
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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5
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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7
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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9
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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10
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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11
fleas
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| n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 )；爱财如命；没好气地（拒绝某人的要求） | |
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12
beet
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| n.甜菜；甜菜根 | |
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13
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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14
slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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15
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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16
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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17
sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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18
sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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19
intercept
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| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
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20
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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21
prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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22
propellers
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器( propeller的名词复数 ) | |
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23
skidded
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| v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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24
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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25
throttle
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| n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压 | |
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26
streaking
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| n.裸奔（指在公共场所裸体飞跑）v.快速移动( streak的现在分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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27
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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28
hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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29
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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30
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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31
tuned
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| adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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32
hunch
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| n.预感，直觉 | |
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33
hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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34
looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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35
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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36
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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37
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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38
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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39
pals
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| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
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40
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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41
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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