Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/189

Rh "And the 'wireless' station which the police are to use is there?"

"Within twenty minutes, if we are on time," the Englishman pointed out the window at his side, "we should see the great mast of the new station on the hills to our left. The effective radius of the new station is, I understand, several hundred miles under all conditions, which gives the police still a comfortable margin before the Bahia can possibly pass out of communication.

"Had Mr. Manling been less confident of his cleverness, and been willing to wait before sending his impudent letter to the police, the Bahia might have passed beyond the radius giving her direct communication with the shore; and it would then be a rather doubtful and pretty business for her to send her messages from mid-ocean by relaying them from ship to ship to the shore.

"But as it is, the police need merely press the key at Polporru, call the Bahia somewhere a hundred miles off Land's End as simply as 167