Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/247

 ing wave lifted it and flung it aft. The sailors turned to seek shelter. A cross comber broke over the side of the ship, drenching everybody. Henry alone was not in oilskins. He was soaked to the skin. Quick as thought he darted to the stateroom and grabbed up a dry jacket. He didn’t know whose it was. Back in the radio shack, he drew off his own dripping coat and slipped on the borrowed garment. In the warm radio shack he knew he would soon dry out.

Steadily the Iroquois headed into the wind. That outlying shoal that had all but caught the Iroquois was the eastern tip of Long Island. Well enough the captain knew that, and now he corrected his course. Somewhere to the southeast of this point the Rayolite would likely be.

When he had worked far enough offshore, the captain changed his course again, heading west of south. All the while Henry was trying, from time to time, to pick up the Rayolite again with the wireless. For a long time he got no answer to his messages. Then came an almost inaudible reply. The Rayolite could hear the Iroquois plainly and had answered all her calls. Once more Henry instructed the Rayolite to sound the letters MO while the Iroquois tried to get a compass bearing. While Henry sat at his key, Belford made his way to the radio compass room. This was a little, squarish structure amidships.