Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/201

 thus suddenly and unexpectedly, under less harrowing circumstances, he doubtless would have felt the responsibility far less poignantly. But for hours past he had been watching the fight against death, and even death itself. He was nervously keyed up to a fearfully high pitch. His nerves would not let down. Doubtless it was the sense of responsibility that kept them taut. Again and again he told himself that it was his business to go to sleep and rest, so that he might be fit for duty when his turn came. But his arguments had no effect upon his nerves. He was unable to sleep.

For an hour or two he tossed in his bunk restlessly. Again and again he fell asleep, only to wake a few minutes later. The situation preyed on him. He could not keep his thoughts away from the radio shack. Suppose all was not right there. Suppose young Black was taking this time to defy orders and fool with the wireless key. Suppose when Henry woke up he should find the wireless out of commission. And suppose the Iroquois should break her rudder, or crack her shaft. She might, with such a strain on it, in such a sea. Suppose the captain should go wrong in his reckoning and the cutter should pile up on the sands, as the Capitol City had done. Suppose—suppose A hundred terrifying suppositions came into Henry’s mind.