Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/281

 pass shack, while Belford kept the watch. Again and again, as the Navy men talked to the Orient, Henry revolved his compass until he was certain he had the ship’s position, which he plotted on the map in the radio room. The Orient had also given her position. This time Henry saw she had told the truth. The position she gave agreed with that which he had caught on the radio compass. Evidently she didn’t care to play crooked with the Navy Yard. Eagerly Henry waited to see what the Navy Yard operator would report. His report, of course, would have to come by telephone. It would never have done to send it by wireless, lest the Orient might hear as well as the Iroquois. The captain sent Lieutenant Hill ashore to receive this telephone communication. When, finally, Henry learned what the Navy Yard operator had to report, he found that his own compass bearing agreed almost exactly with it. He was delighted that he had been so accurate.

According to the calculations from the Navy Yard, the Orient could not possibly arrive at the Ambrose Lightship before daybreak, but Captain Hardwick was not willing to take any chances with a man he knew to be as slippery as the commander of the Orient. Accordingly he got the custom inspectors who were to accompany him, dropped down the Bay during the night,