The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Lost Liner

by John Henry Goldfrap

  Produced by Roger Frank and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  There was a sudden blinding flash from the instrumentsand a blaze of blue, hissing fire filled the room.]

  THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS AND THE LOST LINER

  BY

  CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON

  AUTHOR OF "THE BOY AVIATORS' SERIES," "THE DREADNOUGHT BOYS' SERIES,""THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC," ETC.

  WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES L. WRENN

  NEW YORK

  HURST & COMPANY

  PUBLISHERS

  Copyright, 1914

  BY HURST & COMPANY

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER I--AT SEA ONCE MORE CHAPTER II--WIRELESS CONVERSATIONS CHAPTER III--A STRANGE REQUEST CHAPTER IV--A PECULIAR COINCIDENCE CHAPTER V--THE INTERRUPTED MESSAGE CHAPTER VI--A DARING FEAT CHAPTER VII--QUARTERMASTER SCHULTZ VOLUNTEERS CHAPTER VIII--SAFE ONCE MORE CHAPTER IX--THE MIDNIGHT INTRUDER CHAPTER X--A MESSAGE IN SECRET CODE CHAPTER XI--WHAT SAM HEARD CHAPTER XII--A SUDDEN ALARM CHAPTER XIII--A DOSE OF SLEEPING POWDER CHAPTER XIV--THE WINKING EYE CHAPTER XV--SECRET SIGNALS AT DAWN CHAPTER XVI--S. O. S. CHAPTER XVII--A DERELICT OF THE SKIES CHAPTER XVIII--A LEAP FOR A LIFE CHAPTER XIX--A CALL IN THE NIGHT CHAPTER XX--TO THE RESCUE CHAPTER XXI--A TALE OF THE SEA CHAPTER XXII--A DECOY MESSAGE CHAPTER XXIII--FALSE FRIENDSHIP CHAPTER XXIV--KIDNAPPED CHAPTER XXV--SAM, A TRUE FRIEND CHAPTER XXVI--A WICKED PLAN CHAPTER XXVII--IN THE LION'S MOUTH CHAPTER XXVIII--A CLIMB FOR LIFE CHAPTER XXIX--FREEDOM ONCE MORE CHAPTER XXX--IN SEARCH FOR A CLEW CHAPTER XXXI--LOOK FOR A WHITE HORSE CHAPTER XXXII--A BOLD ROBBERY CHAPTER XXXIII--JARROLD AGAIN CHAPTER XXXIV--BAD NEWS FOR THE COLONEL CHAPTER XXXV--JARROLD GETS FRANTIC CHAPTER XXXVI--ADRIFT CHAPTER XXXVII--THE IRONY OF FATE CHAPTER XXXVIII--A BOLT FROM THE BLUE CHAPTER XXXIX--JACK'S RADIO CHAPTER XL--THE ANSWER TO THE WIRELESS CALL

  CHAPTER I

  AT SEA ONCE MORE

  The West Indian liner, _Tropic Queen_, one of the great vessels owned bythe big shipping combine at whose head was Jacob Jukes, the New Yorkmillionaire, was plunging southward through a rolling green sea abouttwo hundred miles to the east of Hatteras. It was evening and the buglehad just sounded for dinner.

  The decks were, therefore, deserted; the long rows of lounging chairswere vacant, while the passengers, many of them tourists on pleasurebent, were below in the dining saloon appeasing the keen appetitesengendered by the brisk wind that was blowing off shore.

  In a small steel structure perched high on the boat deck, between thetwo funnels of the _Tropic Queen_, sat a bright-faced lad readingintently a text-book on Wireless Telegraphy. Although not much more thana schoolboy, he was assistant wireless man of the _Queen_. His name wasSam Smalley, and he had obtained his position on the ship--the crackvessel of the West Indies and Panama line--through his chum, Jack Ready,head operator of the craft.

  To readers of the first volume of this series, "The Ocean Wireless Boyson the Atlantic," Jack Ready needs no introduction.

  Here he comes into the wireless room where his assistant sits reading infront of the gleaming instruments and great coherers. Jack has been offwatch, lying down and taking a nap in the small sleeping cabin that,equipped with two berths, opens off the wireless room proper, thusdividing the steel structure into two parts.

  "Hello, chief," said Sam Smalley, with a laugh, as Jack appeared; "gladyou're going to give me a chance to get to dinner at last. I'm so hungryI could eat a coherer."

  "Skip along then," grinned Jack; "but it's nothing unusual for you to behungry. I'll hold down the job till you get through, but leave somethingfor me."

  "I'll try to," chuckled Sam, as he hurried down the steep flight ofsteps leading from the wireless station up on the boat deck to the mainsaloon.

  "Well, this is certainly a different berth from the one I had on the old_Ajax_," mused Jack, as he looked about him at the well-equippedwireless room; "still, somehow, I like to look back at those days. Butyet this is a long step ahead for me. Chief wireless operator of the_Tropic Queen_! Lucky for me that the uncle of the fellow who held downthe job before me left him all that money. Otherwise I might have beenbooked for another cruise on the _Ajax_, although Mr. Jukes promised togive me as rapid promotion as he could."

  Readers of the first volume, dealing with Jack Ready and his friends,will recall how he lived in a queer, floating home with his uncle, Cap'nToby. They will also recollect that Jack, who had studied wireless dayand night, was coming home late one afternoon, despondent from afruitless hunt for a job, when he was enabled to save the littledaughter of Mr. Jukes from drowning. The millionaire's gratitude wasdeep, and Jack could have had anything he wanted from him.

  All he asked, though, was a chance to demonstrate his ability as awireless man on the _Ajax_, a big oil tanker which had just beenequipped with such an outfit. He got the job, and then followed manystirring adventures. He took part in a great rescue at sea, and was ableto frustrate the schemes of some tobacco smugglers who formed part ofthe crew of the "tanker." This task, however, exposed him to gravedanger and almost resulted in his death.

  At sea once more, after the smugglers had been apprehended and lockedup, Jack's keen wireless sense enabled him to solve a problem insurgery. The _Ajax_ carried no doctor, and when one of the men in thefireroom was injured, and it appeared that a limb would have to beamputated, a serious question confronted the captain, who, like most ofhis class, possessed a little knowledge of surgery, but not enough toperform an operation that required so much skill.

  The injured man was a chum of Jack's, and he did not want to see himlose a limb if it could be helped, or have his life imperiled byunskillful methods. Yet what was he to do? Finally an idea struck him.He knew that the big passenger liners all carried doctors. He raised oneby means of the wireless and explained the case. The injured man wascarried into the wireless cabin and laid close to the table. Then, whilethe liner's doctor flung instructions through space, Jack translatedthem to the captain. The result was that the man was soon out of danger,but Jack kept in touch with doctors of other liners till everything wasall right beyond the shadow of a doubt.

  This feat gained him no little commendation from his captain and theowners. Next he was instrumental in saving Mr. Jukes' yacht which was onfire at sea. In the panic Mr. Jukes' son Tom, who was the apple of theship-owning millionaire's eye, was lost. By means of wireless, Jacklocated him and reunited father and son.

  His promotion was the result, when the regular operator of the _TropicQueen_ went west to receive a big legacy left him. As the services ofthe retiring operator's assistant had been unsatisfactory, Jack wasasked to find a successor to him. He selected an old school chum, SamSmalley, who had owned and operated a small station in Brooklyn and wasan expert in theory and practice. The ship had now been at sea two days,and Sam had shown that he was quite capable of the duties of his newjob.

  An old quartermaster passed the door of the wireless cabin. He poked hishead in.

  "Goot efenings, Yack," he said, with easy familiarity. "How iss derbirdt cage vurking?"

  This was Quartermaster Schultz's term for the tenuous aerials swung faraloft to catch wide-flung, whispered space messages and relay them tothe operator's listening ears.

  "The bird cage is all right," laughed Jack. "Dandy weather, eh?"

  The old man, weather-beaten and bronzed by the storms and burning sunsof the seven seas, shook his head.

  "Idt is nice now, all righdt," he said, "but you ought to see derglass."

  "The barometer? What is the matter with it?"

  "Py gollys, I dink d
er bottom drop oudt off idt. You may have vurkaheadt of you to-night."

  "You mean that we are in for a big storm?"

  "I sure do dot same. Undt ven it comes idt be a lollerpaloozitz. Take myvurd for dat. Hark!"

  The old quartermaster held up a finger.

  Far above him in the aerials could be heard a sound like the moaningbass string of a violin as the wind swept among the copper wires.

  "Dot's der langwitch of Davy Chones," declared Schultz. "Idt says, 'Lookoudt. Someding didding.' I'fe heardt idt pefore, undt I know."

  The old man hurried off on his way forward, and Jack emitted a longwhistle.

  "My, won't there be a lot of seasick passengers aboard to-night! Thecompany will save money on breakfast to-morrow."

  Just then Sam came back from dinner and Jack was free to go below to hismeal. He was about to relinquish the instruments when there came asudden call.

  "To all ships within three hundred miles of Hatteras: Watch out for storm of hurricane violence.

  "Briggs, Operator Neptune Beach U. S. Wireless Service."

  CHAPTER II

  WIRELESS CONVERSATIONS

  Sam was looking over Jack's shoulder as the young wireless chief of the_Tropic Queen_ rapidly transcribed the message on a blank.

  "Phew! Trouble on the way, eh?" he asked.

  "Looks like it. But we need not worry, with a craft like this under ourfeet."

  But Sam looked apprehensive.

  "What is the trouble? Not scared, are you?" asked Jack, who knew that,excellent operator though he had shown himself to be, this was Sam'sfirst deep-sea voyage.

  "N-no. Not that," hesitated Sam, "but seasickness, you know. And I atean awful big dinner."

  "Well, don't bother about that now. Lots of fellows who have never beento sea before don't get sick."

  "I hope that will be my case," Sam replied, without much assurance inhis voice.

  "Here, take this to the captain; hurry it along now," said Jack, handinghim the dispatch. "I guess he'll be interested. Wait a minute," he addedsuddenly. "There's the _Tennyson_ of the Lamport & Holt line talking tothe _Dorothea_ of the United Fruit, and the battleship _Iowa_ is cuttingin. All talking weather."

  It was true. From ship to ship, borne on soundless waves, the news wasbeing eagerly discussed.

  "Big storm on the way," announced the _Tennyson_.

  "We should worry," came flippantly through the ether from the_Dorothea_.

  "You little fellows better take in your sky-sails and furl your funnels;you'll be blown about like chicken feathers in a gale of wind," camemajestically from Uncle Sam's big warship.

  Then the air was filled with a clamor for more news from the NeptuneBeach operator.

  "You fellows give me a pain," he flashed out, depressing and releasinghis key snappily. "I've sent out all I can. Don't you think I know myjob?"

  "Let us know at once when you get anything more," came commandingly fromthe battleship.

  "Oh, you _Iowa_, boss of the job, aren't you?" remarked the flippant_Dorothea_.

  "M-M-M!" (laughter) in the wireless man's code came from all the others,Jack included. The air was vibrant with silent chuckles.

  "Say, you fellows, what is going on?" came a fresh voice. Oh, yes, everywireless operator has a "voice." No two men in the world send alike.

  "Hello, who are you?" snapped out Neptune Beach.

  "_British King_, of the King Line, Liverpool for Philadelphia. Let us inon this, will you? What you got?"

  "Big storm. Affect all vessels within three hundred miles of Hatteras.This is Neptune Beach."

  "Thanks, old chap. Won't bother us, don't you know," came back from the_British King_, whose operator was English. "Kind regards to youfellows. Hope you don't get too jolly well bunged up if it hits you."

  "Thanks, Johnny Bull," from the _Dorothea_. "I reckon we can standanything your old steam tea-kettle can."

  The wireless chat ceased. Sam hastened forward to the sacred precinctsof the captain's cabin, while Jack went below to his belated dinner. Ashe went he noticed that the sea was beginning to heave as the dusksettled down, and the ship was plunging heavily. The wind, too, wasrising. The social hall was brilliantly lighted. From within camestrains of music from the ship's orchestra. Through the ports, as hepassed along to the saloon companionway, Jack could see men and women inevening clothes, and could catch snatches of gay conversation andlaughter.

  "Humph," he thought, "if you'd just heard what I have, a whole lot ofyou would be getting the doctor to fix you up seasick remedies."

  In the meantime Sam, cap in hand, presented the message to the captain.The great man took it and read it attentively.

  "This isn't a surprise to me," said Captain McDonald, "the glass hasbeen falling since mid-afternoon. Stand by your instruments, lad, andlet me know everything of importance that you catch."

  "Very well, sir." Sam, who stood in great awe of the captain, touchedhis cap and hastened back. He adjusted his "ear muffs," but could catchno floating message. The air was silent. He sent a call for NeptuneBeach, but the operator there told him indignantly not to plague himwith questions.

  "I'll send out anything new when I get it," he said. "Gimme a chance toeat. I'm no weather prophet, anyhow. I only relay reports from thegovernment sharps, and they're wrong half the time. Crack!"

  Sam could sense the big spark that crashed across the instruments atNeptune Beach as the indignant and hungry operator there, harassed byhalf a dozen ships for more news, smashed down his sending key.

  CHAPTER III

  A STRANGE REQUEST

  When Jack came on deck again, he thought to himself that it was entirelylikely that the warning sent through space from Neptune Beach would beverified to the full by midnight. The merriment in the saloon appearedto be much subdued. The crowd had thinned out perceptibly and hardlyanybody was dancing.

  The ship was rolling and plunging like a porpoise in great swells thatran alongside like mountains of green water. Although it was dark bythis time, the gleam of the lights from the brilliantly illuminateddecks and saloon showed the white tops of the billows racing by.

  Just as Jack passed the door leading from the social hall to the deck, amasculine figure emerged. At the same instant, with a shuddering,sidelong motion, the _Tropic Queen_ slid down the side of a big sea. Theman who had just come on deck lost his balance and went staggeringtoward the rail. The young wireless man caught and steadied him.

  In the light that streamed from the door that the man had neglected toclose, Jack saw that he was a thickset personage of about forty,black-haired and blue-chinned, with an aggressive cast of countenance.

  "What the dickens----" he began angrily, and then broke off short.

  "Oh! It's you, is it? The wireless man?"

  "The same," assented Jack.

  "Well, this is luck. I was on my way up to your station. On the boatdeck, I believe it is. This will save me trouble."

  The man's manner was patronizing and offensive. Jack felt his pridebridling, but fought the feeling back.

  "What can I do for you, Mr.--Mr.----"

  "Jarrold's the name; James Jarrold of New York. Have you had anymessages from a yacht--the _Endymion_--for me?"

  "Why, no, Mr. Jarrold," replied Jack wonderingly. "Is she anywhere aboutthese waters?"

  "If she isn't, she ought to be. How late do you stay on watch?"

  "Till midnight. Then my assistant relieves me till eight bells of themorning watch."

  Mr. Jarrold suddenly changed the subject as they stood at the rail onthe plunging, heaving deck. Somebody had closed the door that he hadleft open in his abrupt exit, and Jack could not see his face.

  "We're going to have bad weather to-night?" he asked.

  "So it appears. A warning has been sent out to that effect, and the seais getting up every moment."

  Mr. Jarrold of New York made a surprising answer to this bit ofinformation.

  "So much the better," he half muttered. "You are, of course, on dut
yevery second till midnight?"

  "Yes, I'm on the job till my assistant relieves me," responded the youngwireless chief of the _Tropic Queen_.

  "Do you want to make some money?"

  "Well, that all depends," began Jack doubtfully. "You see, I----"

  He paused for words. He didn't want to offend this man Jarrold, who,after all, was a first-cabin passenger, while he was only a wirelessoperator. Yet somehow the man's manner had conveyed to Jack's mind thatthere was something in his proposal that implied dishonesty to hisemployers. Except vaguely, however, he could not have explained why hefelt that way. He only knew that it was so.

  Jarrold appeared to read his thoughts.

  "You think that I am asking you to undertake something outside your lineof duty?"

  "Why, yes. I--must confess I don't quite understand."

  "Then I shall try to make myself clear."

  "That will be good of you."

  The man's next words almost took Jack off his feet.

  "When you hear from the _Endymion_, let me know at once. That is all Iask you."

  "Then you are expecting to hear from the yacht to-night?" asked Jackwonderingly. It was an unfathomable puzzle to him that this somewhatsinister-looking passenger should have so accurate a knowledge of theyacht's whereabouts; providing, of course, that he was as certain as heseemed.

  "I am expecting to hear from her to-night. Should have heard before, infact," was the brief rejoinder.

  "There are friends of yours on board?" asked Jack.

  "Never mind that. If you do as I say--notify me the instant you get wordfrom her, you will be no loser by it."