Evening star., 1954-12-05

How far off course do you think we are?" Brady asked
Tyler checked the map the pad his knee About
fifty miles north, figure"
The position still guess. ifty-mie might
be hundred miles by the time they reached the location of
the crash And he had the lives of everyone aboard think
about For minute he hesaed but ahead the looked
smoother
Wed better plot heading rescue area he said
AN later they the crash The
stretched fatty every direction The first of their square
search pattern lasted for ten minutes Every eye the PBoa
strained against the grayness looking for tefoot
yellow life raft somewhere below They turned for the second
leg then the third and the fourth each time lengthenng the
pemeter -Four hours of gas left - would take least
three hours to buck their way back to the base About enough
gas for two more legs
Brady settled back in his 1t almost over They'd
done their job made the search Nobody could done
1t bad about that C-54 crew. but if they
still aoat ship ought to be out search the IN day
Brady reached back of the and grabbed his heavy
flight jacket Getting colder out he thought He looked down
the below the foam chmned up by the wind
shvered Then he glanced ahead Tyler banked the plane
into the final leg of the search.
sudden red glow reached up the gray sky for minute
before snued Brady stened his seat 1t could be
only thing Very she'll He took the controls and
headed for the spot angling toward the At fifty feet the
oceans surface restless Long rolling swels moved under
the wind-criven the surface.
The plane passed the raft before the the after
weakly
the plane cd Another man lay motioness face down.
Brady ready give the order for drop of supplies and
raft stopped Supplies and another raft wouldn't help much
Brady crced lower At fifteen feet the reached up and
licked the hull of the seapane Brady felt the waiting
1t was his decision, his responsibility There wasn't
alive who would blame him for dropping what supplies he
could and returning to the base report the ras position
ship could be here within hours pick up the
There five in his crew. What right had
he to risk open-sea landing?
Brady felt his skin tighten and the cold sink through his
fight jacket 1t would be tough land the plane safely in the
angry water below And with two weighing down
the plane, would be tougher making the taeo In
weather like this almost impossible Too many things
could 60 wrong.
liz the raft again. The below waved
tainy As Brady watched water poured the raft and
the dropped his hand to hold Brady knew the
then seemed if he'd known all along only he had been
afraid to admit it. Two in the below in raft
Two who didn't have chance against the approaching
storm. He had to help them there choice Brady
felt the chill of the cold spray sgnaed for Floats
Down.
Fifty feet away Tyler the copilot the throes and
Brady hugged the yoke to his lap The plane broke full
stall and dropped onto the with agonizng jolt
Tyler unfastened his safety belt and crawled aft with the
line The plane suddered swept against the cock
pit In the navgator compartment the radoman and the
two mechanics ankle deep in water trying plug the
leaks in the hull where line of rives had loose Brady
heard the faint report of the gun and the line fly
the raft.