Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/239

 be lucky if you see the radio room again in a fortnight.”

Henry saw his chance. “Let me take your turns at the key, Mr. Sharp,” he begged. “I promise you nothing more shall happen to the instruments when I am on watch. I'll never leave the room for a second, after this.”

When the chief electrician seemed to hesitate, Henry continued his pleading. “Mr. Sharp, you don’t believe that I had anything to do with damaging that coil, do you?”

“No, I do not,” said the chief electrician decisively. “And I’m perfectly willing to have you go back on duty, but I don’t know what the skipper will think about it.”

“Will you ask him if I may go back on duty?” begged Henry.

“Yes,” murmured Mr. Sharp weakly.

Henry fairly raced for the captain’s cabin and told the commander that Mr. Sharp was sick and would like to speak to him. Captain Hardwick at once went forward. Henry stepped outside the stateroom and the captain conferred with the chief electrician. The result of that talk was that Mr. Sharp, who was now suffering from pneumonia, went to the sick bay and Henry again went on duty in the wireless house.

The very first message he caught was an order from headquarters for the Iroquois to proceed to