COMMENCE SEARCH WITH ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES STOP INFORM IMMEDIATELY OF ANY DEVELOPMENTS WHATSOEVER

It’s also worth noting that the Sydney Morning Herald had, during this period of time, somehow obtained the details of the accident and duly broke the news in its early edition, which carried the following headline:

PILOTS MISSING OVER PACIFIC!

Aircraft Disappears During the Night

U.S. Navy Sends All Available Ships in Search of Flying Pair

Possible Crash Landing at Sea; Rescue May Take Weeks

Australian Navy Gallantly Offers Assistance

The news electrified the world.

Back on Howland Island, the Flying Pair at the center of all these radio transmissions and newspaper headlines were busy unloading cargo from the fuselage of the Centauri, which was heating rapidly under the scorching sun. They made an inventory of supplies. There were five gallons of drinking water in a lightweight aluminum canister, specially designed by the Carnation milk company in exchange for promoting the many nutritional properties of Carnation condensed milk, of which they also carried a dozen cans. (Mr. Morrow had made this arrangement, of course.) Before their departure from Honolulu, the head chef of the Moana Hotel had personally prepared two dozen Hawaiian ham sandwiches, with his compliments. Sam and Irene, pausing for lunch, each ate one and pronounced it delicious. That’s some ham, Sam said, licking his fingers, and in fact this became the slogan for the Hawaiian Canned Ham Company after the whole affair was over, except that Irene’s photograph appeared in the first advertisement, tanned and smiling as she held up a sandwich. (The terms of this deal were also negotiated by Mr. Morrow, on Irene’s behalf.)

Beyond the water and the condensed milk and the sandwiches, there wasn’t much in the way of emergency supplies. Difficult decisions had had to be made as regards that all-important trade-off between comfort and weight, and once they’d committed to carrying a radio set equipped for both short- and long-range transmission, they’d had to sacrifice other items. Already they’d drunk the remaining coffee in the Thermos containers, which had turned lukewarm anyway. They had a bottle of concentrated lime juice, as recommended by an expert on diseases of nutritional deficiency; two pounds of chocolate, supplied by the Hershey Company; two pounds of powdered eggs; five pounds of ship’s biscuits, courtesy of the navy; and a can of peanut butter from the Pond Company, made according to a new process that churned the butter smooth and kept the oil from separating. Irene had never tasted peanut butter, but Sam said it was delicious, rich in protein and vitamins, a fine choice for emergency rations.

“I’ll take your word for it,” said Irene.

Sam shrugged and held out the tin to Sandy, who sniffed it delicately and thoroughly before lashing out her pink tongue for a sample. “Sandy likes it,” he said.

“That’s because she’s hungry.”

“You might be pretty hungry yourself in a few days.”