Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/267

 CHAPTER XIX

ight had come before the captain left the bridge. As he paced back and forth he turned over in his mind the problem of the finishing nail. Black could not have driven the nail into the field coil if he was really asleep at the time he was believed to have been. Was Black asleep or not? How was he ever to discover? Again and again the commander of the Iroquois asked himself that question, as he moved about the bridge. He could see no way to solve the problem.

Gradually the wind fell, and with its fall the sea grew less violent. The cloud rack thinned. Vigilantly the captain watched the sky. Finally what he was looking for appeared. The clouds parted for a space, revealing the purple vault of heaven, studded with shining stars. Quickly he seized his instruments and ascertained his position. Now he knew exactly where the Iroquois was. The position of the cutter was but little different from that in which his dead reckoning put her, The captain rectified his position on