Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/233

 is,” and he laid the bent nail before his commander.

“You look half sick, Sparks,” said the latter, looking at him keenly. “Be careful of yourself.”

“It’s that wretched cold I got from my ducking at Cape Cod,” laughed the chief electrician. “I’ll be all right soon.”

The captain picked up the nail and examined it curiously. “ Well?” he said inquiringly.

“That was in the grounded coil,” said the chief electrician. “That is what grounded it. Some one drove that nail into the coil.”

The captain stared at the nail long and fixedly. “It beats me,” he said at last. “You think that it was done maliciously, don’t you? Is there a possibility that it might have been done in an experimental way? Now, young Harper is very ambitious and desirous of learning. Might he have been experimenting, trying to learn some- thing, by fooling with the outfit?”

“In my opinion, Captain, whoever did this did it with perfect knowledge of what would happen. I cannot think it was done for any purpose except to put the wireless out of commission.”

The captain frowned. “I fear you are right, Sparks. But who would want to put the wireless out of commission? I can think of only two reasons why any one should do that. Some one