The Commander lost no time in letting his men know that this battle was in the nature of an accident and that the real goal of the task force at that time still lay ahead.
All day they steamed rapidly toward the west.
“It’s Mindanao,” Kentucky, Ted’s flying partner, said to him. “We’re going to hit them where they live, in the Philippines. And will we take revenge!” Kentucky’s eyes were half closed as he looked away to the west. Ted knew that at that moment he was thinking of “the best pal I ever knowed,” as Kentucky had expressed it to him, whose grave had been dug the day after the smoke cleared from Pearl Harbor.
“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.
“Then Jack and Stew, if they made it, are on one of these three islands?” Ted pointed again.
“That seems probable.” Then, reading the look of longing on Ted’s face, the Commander added, “Everything in its time, son. We do not desert our boys if it can be helped. I am sure you shall yet play a part in the rescue of your buddies.
“But now,” his voice changed, “there is other work to be done—dangerous work. This island,” he pointed once again, “is our present destination.”