Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/235

 what would result from driving a nail into a field coil.”

“Maybe so, maybe so, but he may not know half as much about wireless as you think. All I can do is to go according to the facts. They point to young Harper. But we shall have to have more evidence on the matter before I decide what to do. Furthermore, the situation is so very unusual that I am puzzled as to what should be done, even if I knew Harper to be the culprit. In a sense he was a regular operator. I made him one temporarily. But he is under age, and we did not have the consent of his mother to his enlistment. And finally, I should have to take into consideration the very real service he rendered us during the storm. Strictly, I suppose, he was only a volunteer that I put in charge for a time.”

“I can’t help feeling that the lad is innocent,” urged the chief radio man. “He undoubtedly knows a lot about wireless, and no one who knows anything about it would have done what he did unless he intended to cripple the service.”

“We must go by the facts, young man, not by theories,” said the captain a little testily. “But let’s get all the facts. Say nothing. Let no one know you have discovered the cause of the trouble. If the culprit thinks he is undiscovered, he may give himself away.”