Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/229

Rh from the shore to the ship any matter which may come up against any one on board.

"Formerly a man—even a criminal—could count upon at least a week's security if he could get safely to sea. But for all the freedom or refuge one can find now, even upon a transatlantic 'liner'—as you Americans say—in mid-ocean, one might quite as well be upon our Strand or your Broadway. For now you cannot shake a thing off, or escape it even for a week, though upon the high sea. The 'wireless' will send whatever there is to pursue you hot after you, and overtake you with it even in mid-Atlantic!"

The American pretended to shiver at the foreboding warning in the Britons words, but he shook himself up again and smiled easily.

"Some of you English certainly have the most inveterately cheerful way of bringing out the gloom in things. You almost convinced me for a moment that I actually had come to sea to escape something which is now sure 205