Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rick Morris and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: Then, shoving the men aside, he dived from the edge of the dock.â_Page 8._] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC BY CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON AUTHOR OF âTHE BOY AVIATORSâ SERIES,â âTHE DREADNOUGHT BOYSâ SERIES,â ETC., ETC. _ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES L. WRENN_ NEW YORK HURST & COMPANY PUBLISHERS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright, 1914, BY HURST & COMPANY ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. LOOKING FOR A JOB 5 II. JACKâS HOME 13 III. CAPTAIN TOBY READYâDOCTOR-AT-LARGE 19 IV. THE REJECTED REWARD 27 V. THE WIRELESS BOYâS FIRST POSITION 38 VI. LEARNING THE ROPES 47 VII. IN THE TEETH OF THE STORM 55 VIII. SIGHTING THE WRECK 62 IX. A TALK ON WIRELESS 70 X. OIL ON TROUBLED WATERS 77 XI. TO THE RESCUE 87 XII. JACK DISOBEYS ORDERS 95 XIII. OLD ANTWERP 106 XIV. SIGHT-SEEING 115 XV. AN ADVENTUREâ 123 XVI. AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 130 XVII. RAYNORâS UNLUCKY POCKET 137 XVIII. IN DURANCE VILE 143 XIX. THE FIELD OF WATERLOO 155 XX. HOMEWARD BOUND 164 XXI. SURGERY BY WIRELESS 172 XXII. âYOU SAVED MY ARMâ 178 XXIII. A RIOT ON THE DOCKS 184 XXIV. A CALL FOR THE POLICE 192 XXV. IN THE NICK OF TIME 198 XXVI. A FRIENDLY WARNING 204 XXVII. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING 210 XXVIII. IN THE HOSPITAL 216 XXIX. JACK HAS VISITORS 224 XXX. THE REJECTED OFFER 230 XXXI. A WHISPER OF DANGER 237 XXXII. ICEBERGS! 244 XXXIII. THE COLLISION 250 XXXIV. QUELLING THE MUTINY 258 XXXV. A CALL FOR HELP 266 XXXVI. LOOKING FOR THE BURNING YACHT 272 XXXVII. THE MATEâS YARN 278 XXXVIII. IN SIGHT OF SMOKE 285 XXXIX. ADRIFT ON A LIFE RAFT 291 XL. THE RESCUE OF MR. JUKES 297 XLI. A JOYOUS REUNION 303 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Atlantic CHAPTER I. LOOKING FOR A JOB. Jack Ready was making his way home. He was a tall, well-set-up lad of sixteen, and when in a good mood was a wholesome, cheerful-looking youngster. But now, as he trudged along the rough, deeply rutted road that skirted the crowded wharves and slips of the Erie Basin, his attitude toward life was anything but amiable. âIt just seems as if I get turned down everywhere,â he muttered to himself as he turned aside to avoid a big automobile truck that was rumbling away from a squat, ugly-looking tank steamer lying at a dock not far off. âToo young, they all say. If only I could get a chance at a wireless key, Iâd show them, butâOh! whatâs the use! Itâs me for a shore berth till Iâm old enough to try again, I guess. Hullo, whatâs the matter over there?â His attention had been caught by a sudden stir on the dock alongside the home-looking âtank.â She was a type of oil carrier familiar to the boy, as many vessels of a similar sort docked in the Erie Basin, New Yorkâs biggest laying-up place for freight ships. This particular craft was black and powerful looking, with two pole masts bristling with derricks, and a tall funnel right astern painted black, with a red top. But it was not the appearance of the steamer that interested the boy. It was a sudden rush and stir on the wharf alongside that had arrested his steps. He could see the men, who had been engaged in various tasks about the vessel, running about and shouting and pointing down at the water between the shipâs side and the pier. Evidently something very out of the ordinary was occurring. Glad of any opportunity to divert his thoughts from his fruitless search for employment as a wireless operator, Jack ran toward the scene of the excitement. As he came closer he could distinguish some of the shouts. âThrow her a rope, somebody!â âSheâs still down there!â âNo, she isnât!â These and a dozen other agitated cries and contradictions were flying about from mouth to mouth, and on the faces of the speakers there were looks of the greatest agitation. âWhat is it? Whatâs the matter?â demanded Jack, running to the edge of the dock where the crowd of âlongshoremen and deck hands and sailors were clustered. âItâs Mrs. Jukesâ little girl. Sheâsheâs fallen overboard!â cried a man. âSheâs down there in the water,â explained another one. âShe was clinging to a pile a minute ago. Weâre trying to get a rope to her.â âWhat! Thereâs a child down there and nobodyâs gone after her?â cried Jack indignantly. As he spoke he stripped off his coat and removed his boots almost with one operation. Then, shoving the men aside, he dived from the edge of the dock into the strip of dark, dirty water that lay between the ship and the wharf. Clinging frantically to one of the piles supporting the dock was a little girl with a wealth of fair hair and a pretty, flower-like face. Too terrified even to scream, she was holding to the rough woodwork with all her little strength, but the expression of her face showed plainly that the struggle could not last much longer. In fact, as Jack, with a few strong, swift strokes, reached her side her grip relaxed altogether, and she slipped back into the oil-streaked water just in time for his strong arms to seize and hold her. It was all over so quickly that hardly a moment seemed to have elapsed from the instant that the lad sprang from the stringpiece of the dock to the time when the cheering crowd above beheld him clinging to the rough surface of the pile with one hand, while with the other he supported the child, who had fainted and lay white-faced and weak in his grasp. âThrow me a rope, some of you,â cried the boy, and in a jiffy a stout rope, with a loop in it, came shaking down to him. He gently placed the loop under the childâs arm-pits, and when this was done, and it was not accomplished without difficulty, he signaled to the onlookers above to hoist up the unconscious little form. They hauled with a will, and in almost as brief a time as it takes to tell it Marjorie Jukes, daughter of the owner of the Titan Line of tank steamers, was on the dock once more with a doctor, hastily summoned from another vessel, attending to her. Jackâs turn at the rope came then, and by dint of scrambling on his part and stout pulling from a dozen brawny arms above he, too, was presently once more in safety. Just as he reached the dock, dripping wet from his immersion, he heard the doctor asking how the child had come to go overboard. âHer dad, heâs Jacob Jukes, the big ship-owner, was ashore there in the warehouses with the captain, fixing up an invoice,â Jack heard one of the sailors explaining. âLittle Miss here was playing on the dock, waiting till her dad came back. âAll at once, afore any of us knowed a thing, there she was overboard. We all lost our heads, I guess. Anyhow, if it hadnât been for a lad that suddenly bobbed up from no place in particular she might have drown-ded.â âHereâs her dad coming now!â cried another. Someone had found the ship-owner, and, hatless and white-faced, he was racing down to the dock from the gloomy red brick pile of warehouses ashore. âSheâs all right, sir!â shouted one of the sailors. âSee, sheâs openinâ her eyes, sir!â âThank God!â breathed her father reverently. âI should never have left her. Get my automobile, somebody. I must rush her home at once.â In a few minutes a big limousine came purring down the dock from the rear yard of the storehouses. In the meantime Mr. Jukes, a handsome, florid-faced man of about fifty years of age, with a somewhat overbearing manner, as perhaps became his importance and wealth, had been informed of Jackâs brave rescue while he stood with his little daughter bundled up tenderly in his arms, the water from her wet clothing streaming, unregarded by him, down his broadcloth coat. âWhere is he? Where is that boy?â he demanded. âI want to see him. I must reward him handsomely.â But Jack had vanished. âHe must be found. Does nobody know his name?â asked Mr. Jukes as if he were issuing an order. âI want to see him at once. Who is he? Does he live hereabouts?â But nobody appeared to know. As for Jack, being satisfied that the child was out of all danger, and having no desire to pose as a hero, he had slipped off home at the earliest opportunity, shivering slightly in his wet clothing, for it was late fall and a chilly wind swept about the crowded docks and ship-filled slips. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER II. JACKâS HOME. It was an odd home for which Jack was bound. Tucked away in a quiet corner of the bustling Basin was a sort of ocean graveyard. Here old ships that had outlived their usefulness lay in peace until they were sold to be broken up or to be converted into barges or to meet some such end. Tall-sparred clippers that had once proudly swept the seven seas, rusty old tramp steamers, looking like the wrecks of marine hoboes that they were, and venerable ferryboats, all rubbed sides in this salt water cemetery. In the farthest part of this quiet corner of the Basin lay a derelict two-masted schooner of an entirely different type from the other craft. To begin with, she was much smaller, and then again, instead of displaying rusty iron sides, or gaping, bleached wooden ones, she was gayly painted, with red and green hull and bulwarks. Her deck-house astern was a veritable marine garden, and bright-colored blossoms of all kinds, even though the season was late, bloomed from numerous boxes placed on the roof and about the taffrail. A plank connected this queer-looking craft with the shore, and a column of smoke ascending from a pipe stuck through the cabin roof, as well as the curtained windows and general look of neatness, showed that someone made a home on this retired wanderer of the seas. It bore the name âVenusâ on either side of a dilapidated figurehead, doubtless intended to represent the goddess of love. The effigyâs one remaining eye sadly surveyed the deep-sea vagabonds about her. If the above evidences that the old schooner was used as a habitation had been lacking, there still would have remained proof that Captain Toby Ready made his home there, for, nailed to one side of the flowering cabin-house, was a large sign. On it in sprawling characters of white on a black background was the following inscription: CAPTAIN TOBY READY HERB DOCTOR AND COMMON-SENSE MEDICO-AT-LARGE TO THE SEA-GOING PROFESSION All sailors who want to be strong and be steady, Call âround to see Captân Toby Ready. Although the Captain is no M.D., Heâll fit you out quite _Ready_ for sea. Here it was that Jack had made his home since the death of his father, Captain Amos Ready, at sea some years before. His Uncle Toby was thus left his sole surviving relative, for his mother had died soon after Jackâs birth. So Jack had lived with his eccentric relative on the old schooner, bought by Captain Toby many years before as a Snug Harbor. The boy had helped his uncle compound his liniments and medicines, which had a ready sale among the old-time ship captains. They had more faith in Uncle Tobyâs remedies than in a whole shipload of doctors. Captain Toby had, in his day, commanded fast clippers and other sailing vessels. On long voyages he had amused himself by studying pharmacy till he believed himself the equal of the entire college of surgeons. At any rate, if his medicines did no good, at least they never did any harm, and Jack was kept busy delivering orders for Captain Tobyâs compounds to various vessels. With such a line of sea-going ancestry, it was natural that the boy should have a hankering for the sea. But, together with his love of a seafaring life, Jack had developed another passion, and this was for wireless telegraphy. Slung between the two bare masts of the old schooner was the antennÃ¦ of a wireless apparatus, and down below, in his own sanctum in the schoonerâs cabin, Jack had a set of instruments. It was a crude enough station, which is hardly to be wondered at, considering that the boy had constructed most of the apparatus himself. But Jack had a natural leaning for this sort of work, and his home-made station gave satisfactory results, although he could not catch messages for more than fifty miles or so. This, however, had not prevented him from becoming an adept at the key, and his one great ambition was to get a berth on one of the liners as a wireless operator. So far, however, he had met with nothing but rebuffs. Wireless men appeared to be as common as blackberries. âCome back when youâre older. We canât use kids,â the head of a big wireless concern had told him. And that was the substance of most of the replies to his applications for a job at the work he loved. That day he had tramped on foot to Manhattan and made his weary round once more, with the same result. Footsore and thoroughly discouraged, he had trudged back over Brooklyn Bridge and across town to the region of the Basin, where the air bristled with masts and derricks, and queer, foreign, spicy smells issued from the doors of warehouses. He walked, for the excellent reason that he was young and strong, and every nickel saved meant a better chance to improve the equipment of his station on the old _Venus_. He cheered up a bit as he came in sight of his floating home. He had grown to like his odd way of life, and he had a sincere affection for his eccentric old uncle. Determined not to let the old man see his disappointment, he struck up âNancy Lee,â whistling it bravely as he crossed the rickety gangplank, walked over the scrupulously scrubbed deck and dived down the companionway into one of the strangest homes that any boy in all New York ever inhabited. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER III. CAPTAIN TOBY READYâDOCTOR-AT-LARGE. As Jack entered the cabin he was greeted by a succession of shrill shrieks and whoops. âAhoy, my hearty! Never say die! Donât give up the ship! Kra-a-a-a!â âThat is good advice, Methusaleh,â laughed the boy, addressing himself to a disreputable-looking parrot that stood balancing itself on a perch in a cage that hung in one corner of this queer abode. The ports which the cabin had originally boasted had been enlarged and formed into windows, through which the light streamed cheerfully. Red cotton curtains hung at these casements and gave a dash of color to the dark wooden walls of the place. In the center was a swinging table and some rickety chairs; at one end was a sea-stove, a relic of the schoonerâs sea-going days, and at the opposite end of the cabin, at the stern portion of it, was a bulkhead and a door. From beyond this door came the clinking of glasses and the sound of pounding. It was Captain Toby hard at work in his sanctum compounding his medicines. Jack turned into another door alongside the stove, on the other side of which there was a similar portal. These doors led into the cabins respectively of Jack and his uncle. Jackâs cabin was a neat little combination workshop and sleeping place. On a shelf opposite his bunk was his wireless set, with the wires leading down to it from the aerials above. Another shelf held his stock of books, mostly of a scientific character, dealing with his favorite pursuit. The rest of the space in the not very large cabin was occupied by a work bench, cluttered with tools and stray bits of apparatus. Jack had no wish to worry his uncle with an account of the happenings of the afternoon, so, before seeking him, he slipped out of his wet clothes and donned the overalls in which he usually worked. There was another reason for this, too, for the suit in which he had dived to the rescue of little Marjorie Jukes was the only one he boasted. Having hung up his garments carefully, so that they would dry as free from wrinkles as possible, Jack left the cabin and made for his uncleâs sanctum in the stern. âWell, Jack, my hearty, what luck?â inquired the old man as the boy entered. Jack shook his head. âThe same old story, Uncle Toby. What are you busy at?â âAn order for the âGolden Embrocation and Universal Remedy for Man and Beastâ for Capân Styles of the _Sea Witch_,â rejoined his uncle in his deep voice, hoarse from many years of shouting orders above gales and storms. âIf you really want to go to sea, Jack, Iâll get you a berth with Capân Styles. The _Sea Witch_ is a fine old Yankee ship; not one of your smoke-eating tea-kettles.â âBut she has no wireless?â questioned Jack, gazing about him at the compartment, which was stocked with the tools of the captainâs trade: herbs in bundles, bottles, pestles and mortars and so forth. A strong aromatic odor filled the air, and the captain hummed cheerily as he poured a yellow, evil-smelling liquid from a big retort into half a dozen bottles, destined to cure the ills of Captain Styles. âWireless! Of course not, my hearty. What does a fine sailing ship want with a wireless? Take my word for it, Jack, wireless is only a newfangled idee, and it wonât last. Give a sailor sea-room and a good ship and all that fol-de-rol is only in his way.â âAnd yet I saw the news of another rescue at sea by means of the wireless when I was looking at a newspaper bulletin-board to-day,â rejoined the lad. âThe crew of a burning tramp steamer was rescued by a liner that had been summoned to their aid by the apparatus. If it hadnât been for wireless, that ship might have burned up with all hands, and no one ever have known her fate.â His uncle grunted in the manner of one unconvinced. âWell, I ainât saying that wireless maynât be all right for one of them floating wash-boilers, but for Yankee sailors, good rigging and canvas and a stout, sweet hull is good enough to go to sea with.â As he went on with his work, he began rumbling in a gruff, throaty bass: âCome, all you young fellers what foller the sea! Yo ho, blow the man down; And pay good attention and listen to me, Oh, give me some time to blow the man down.â âThatâs the music, Jack,â said he. âI wish youâd go inter sails instead of steam, and follow the examples of your dad and your uncle, yes, and of your granddaddy, Noah Ready, afore âem.â Jack made no rejoinder, but set about straightening up the litter in the place. The contention between them was an old one, and always ended in the same way. His uncle knew many seafaring men of the old school who would gladly have given Jack a berth on their craft. But they were all in command of âwind-jammers,â and the boyâs heart was set on the wireless room of a liner, or at any rate a job on some wireless-equipped vessel. Meantime the captain went on compounding and mixing and pouring, rumbling away at his old sea songs. He was an odd-looking character, as odd in his way as his chosen place of residence. Years of service on the salt-water had tanned his wrinkled skin almost to a mahogany color. Under his chin was a fringe of white whiskers, and his round headâcovered with a bristly white thatchâwas set low between a pair of gigantic shoulders. He was dressed in a fantastic miscellany of water-side slops which flapped where they should have been tight, and wrinkled where they should have been loose. Add to this an expression of whimsical kindness, a wooden leg and a wide, rough scar,âthe memento of a battle with savages in the South Seas,âand you have a portrait of Captain Toby Ready. Presently the captain drew out a huge silver watch. âTwo bells. Time to stand by for supper, lad,â he said. âThat stuffâll have to go to Capân Styles to-morrow. Thereâs plenty of time; he donât sail for goinâ on a week yet. Slip your cable, like a good lad, and set a course for the bakery. Weâre short of bread.â âAnd Iâm short of the money to get it,â said Jack. The captain thrust a hairy paw into his pocket and drew out an immense purse. He extracted a coin from it and handed it to the boy. âAnâ how much, lad, is a penny saved?â he inquired, peering at Jack from under his bushy white brows. âA penny earned,â laughed Jack. âCoâ-rect,â chuckled the captain, grinning at Jackâs quick reply to the almost invariable formula, âanâ if Captain Toby Ready had thought oâ that when he was young, he wouldnât be here on the craft _Wenus_ making medicines fer sea-capâns with a tummy ache. âIâve got an apple pie in the oven, Jack,â said he, as the boy left the âdrug-store,â as he and his uncle called it, âso cut along and hurry back.â âAye, aye, sir!â cried the boy, bounding up the cabin stairs with alacrity. Apple pies were not common on board the _Venus_, nor was Jack too old to appreciate his uncleâs announcement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER IV. THE REJECTED REWARD. When Jack returned, he was surprised to hear voices in the cabin. His uncle had a habit of talking to himself, but there was another voice mingling with the old sailorâs deep, rumbling tones. Wondering greatly who the visitor could be, for somehow the voice sounded different from the bellowings of the old sea cronies who visited the _Venus_ either on business or socially, Jack descended the cabin stairs. The swinging lamp was lighted and shone down on his uncle and another man, seated on opposite sides of the table. âBy the great main boom, the lad never told me a word of it!â his uncle was saying. âDived overboard anâ saved your little gal, eh? Well, sir, Jackâs a chip of the old block!â The man who sat opposite the captain was a portly gentleman with a bald brow, gold-rimmed glasses and close-cropped gray mustache. He spoke with curt, sharp emphasis, as if his minutes were dollars. âLucky that a watchman saw and recognized the boy as he sneaked away,â this individual replied. âIf it had not been for that, I might never have found him. But I must see him. Where is he?â âHere he is, sir, to answer for himself,â said the captain, as he heard Jackâs step on the stair. As the boy entered the cabin the ship-owner jumped to his feet. He crossed the place with a quick, rapid stride and grasped Jackâs free hand. âIâm proud to shake hands with a youngster like you,â he said in his swift, incisive way, âyes, sir, proud. If it had not been for you, my daughter might have drowned with those dolts all standing round doing nothing. Joveâââ He mopped his forehead in an agitated way at the very thought of what might have happened. âThatâs all right, sir,â said Jack, âIâm glad I was there when I happened to be. When I knew the little girl was all right, I came away.â The boy had recognized the shipping magnate from pictures of him that he had seen in the papers. Had he not come around another way from the bakery, he would have been prepared for this august visitor by the sight of his limousine, lying at the head of the dock. ââSarn it all, why didnât you spin me the yarn?â sputtered the captain in an aggrieved tone. âOh! there really wasnât much to tell,â said Jack. âThe little girl was clinging to a pile and I went down and got her up. Thatâs all there was to it. If I hadnât done it, somebody else would.â âThat is just the point,â roared Mr. Jukes, âsomebody else wouldnât.â He drew out a check-book and signed his name to a check. He shoved this across the table to Jack, who was standing by his uncle. âFill that in for any amount you like, lad,â he said in his dictatorial way. âMake it a good, round sum. Jacob Jukesâ account can stand it.â Jack colored and hesitated. âWell, whatâs the matter, boy?â sputtered the ship-owner, noting the boyâs hesitation. âThat check wonât bite you. I know a whole lot of lads whoâd have grabbed at it before it was out of my hand.â âI beg your pardon, sir,â rejoined Jack, âyouâre very generous andâand all that. Maybe youâll think me ungrateful, but I canât take that check.â âWhaâwhat! Canât take my check! Whatâs the matter with the boy?â âHev you slipped the cable of your senses, Jack?â hoarsely exclaimed his uncle, in what was meant to be a whisper. âI donât want money for just doing a little thing like that,â said the boy stubbornly. âYou donât mean it. Come, take that check at once. Donât be a fool!â urged Mr. Jukes with a very red face. âWhy canât you do as I tell you!â The magnateâs tone was almost angry. He was not used to having his commands disobeyed, and he was commanding Jack to take the check. But the boy resolutely shook his head. âWhy, confound it all, I canât understand it. Make him take the check at once, captain.â âDonât see how I can, if heâs so sot and stubborn about it,â rejoined the captain. Then, turning to Jack, he made another appeal. âWhy wonât you take it, Jack?â he growled. âShiver my timbers, what ails you?â âNothing; but I canât accept money from Mr. Jukes or anybody else, for doing what I did,â said the boy quietly. Mr. Jukes, with a crimson face, gave up the battle. He reached across the table, took the check and slowly tore it into fragments. âIt is the first time in my experience that I ever encountered such a singular lad as this. Hang me if I donât think thereâs a screw loose somewhere. But after what you did for me this afternoon, never hesitate to call on me if you need anything at any time. Hereâs my card.â He rose, and with a comical mixture of astonishment and indignation on his face, regarded Jack somewhat as he might have looked at some strange freak in nature. âThank you, sir,â said the boy, taking the bit of pasteboard, âI didnât mean to offend you; butâbut, well, I couldnât take that check, thatâs all.â âWell, well, weâll say no more about it,â said the great man testily. âBut remember, Iâll always stand your friend if I can.â He started to leave the cabin, when he suddenly brought up âall standing,â as the captain would have said, with a sharp exclamation of pain. âWhat is it, sir?â demanded that veteran with some concern. âYour figurehead looks like you had some sort of a pain.â âIt is nothing. Just a sharp twinge of my old trouble, rheumatism,â explained the great man. âThe damp air of the Basin may have brought it on.â âAnchor right where you are!â exclaimed the captain, and before Mr. Jukes could say another word, he had darted into the âdrug-storeâ and was back with a bottle full of a villainous-looking black liquid. âMy rheumatizâ and gout remedy,â he explained. âYes, but I am under medical treatment. Iâââ âKeel-haul all your doctors. Throw their medicine overboard,â burst out the captain. âTry a few applications of Capân Readyâs Rheumatiz and Gout Specific. Capân Joe Trotter of the _Flying Scud_ cured himself with two bottles. Take it! Try it! Rub it in twice a day, night and morning, and in a week youâll be as spry as a boy, as taut and sound as a cable.â âWell, well, Iâll try it,â said the magnate good-naturedly in reply to Captain Tobyâs outburst of eloquence; âhow much is it?â âOne dollar, guaranteed to work if used as directed, or your money back,â rattled on the captain, pocketing a bill which Mr. Jukes peeled off a roll that made Captain Toby open his eyes. And so, burdened with a bottle of the âRheumatiz and Gout Specific,â and with the memory of the first person he had ever met who was not willing to accept his bounty, the shipping magnate stepped ashore from the _Venus_. âHeâll be dancing a hornpipe in a week,â prophesied Captain Toby; âthe Specific has never failed.â But if he could have seen Mr. Jukes carefully drop the bottle overboard as soon as he reached the shore end of the dock, his opinion of him would have fallen considerably. As it was, the old seaman was loud in his praise. âThink of him, the skipper of a big corporation and all that, wisiting us on the _Wenus_!â he exclaimed. âWhy, Jack, thatâll be something to tell about. The great Mr. Jukes! Maybe thisâll all lead to something! If the Specific works like it did on Capân Joe Trotter, he may make me his physician in ordinary.â âLetâs hope it wonât work the same way on him that it did on Captain Zeb Holliday,â said Jack with a smile. âHuh! That deck-swabbing lubber!â cried the captain, with intense scorn. âHe drank it instead of rubbing it in, although the directions was wrote on the bottle plain as print. But, Jack, lad, why didnât you take that check? Consarn it allâââ âItâs no good talking about it, uncle,â said the boy, cutting him short; âI couldnât take it; thatâs all there is to that.â âConfound you for a young jackass! Douse my topsails, but Iâm proud of you, lad!â roared the captain, bringing down a mighty hand on Jackâs shoulders. âAnd now letâs pipe all hands to supper.â Two days later, Jack happened to pass the dock where the Titan liner lay. She was taking aboard her cargo from a pipe-lineâcrude, black oil destined for Antwerp. Because of the adventure in which he had participated alongside her, Jack felt an interest in the ugly, powerful tanker. As he was looking at her, he noticed some men busy at the tops of her squat steel masts. All at once they began to haul something aloft. What it was, Jack recognized the next moment. It was the antennÃ¦ of a wireless plant. They were installing a station on the ship, which bore the name â_Ajax_â on her round, whaleback stern. Jackâs heart gave a sudden leap. A great idea had come to him. Mr. Jukes owned the Titan Line. The ship-owner had said to him only two nights before: âRemember, Iâll always stand your friend if I can. Never hesitate to call on me if you need anything at any time.â And right then Jack needed something mighty badly. He needed the job of wireless operator on board the _Ajax_. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER V. THE WIRELESS BOYâS FIRST POSITION. The power of eight thousand horses was driving the big tanker _Ajax_ through the Lower Bay, out past Sandy Hook, and on to the North Atlantic. As the big black steel craft felt the lift and heave of the ocean swells, she wallowed clumsily and threw the spray high above her blunt bow. Very different looked this âworkmanâ of the seas from the spick and span liner they passed, just after they had dropped the pilot. Grim, business-like, and built for âthe job,â the _Ajax_ looked like a square-jawed bulldog beside the yacht-like grayhound of the ocean, whose whistled salute she returned with a toot of her own siren. Like all craft of her type, the _Ajax_ had hardly any freeboard. In the bow was a tall superstructure where the crew and the minor officers lived. Here, too, was the wheel-house and the navigating bridge. In the extreme stern was another superstructure, square in shape, whereas the bow-house was like a big cylinder pierced with port-holes. From the stern upper-works projected the big black funnel with the red top, distinctive of the Titan liners, and in this stern structure, too, dwelt the captain, the superior officers and the first and second engineers. From the stern superstructure and the chart-house to the crewâs quarters in the bow, there stretched a narrow bridge running the entire length of the craft. This was to enable the crews of the great floating tank to move about on her, for on board a tank steamship there are no decks when there is any kind of a sea running. The steel plates that form the top of the tank are submerged, and nothing of the hull is visible but the two towering structures at the bow and stern, the bridge connecting them, and the funnel and masts. But for all her homely outlines the _Ajax_ was a workman-like craft and fast for her build. In favorable weather she could make twelve knots and better, and her skipper, Captain Braceworth, and his crew were proud of the ship. On the day of which we are speaking, however, there was one member of the shipâs company to whom the big tanker was as fine a craft as sailed the Seven Seas. This was a young lad dressed in a neat uniform of blue serge, who sat in a small, steel-walled cabin in the after superstructure. The lad was Jack Ready, sailing his first trip as an ocean wireless boy. As he listened to and caught signals out of the maze of messages with which the air was filled, his cheeks glowed and his eyes shone. He had attained the first step of his ambition. Some day, perhaps, he would be an operator on such a fine craft as the liner they had just passed and with which he had exchanged wireless greetings. Jack had secured the berth of wireless man on the _Ajax_ with even less difficulty than he had thought he would encounter. Mr. Jukes, although a busy, brusque man, was really glad to be able to do something for the lad who had done so much for him, and as soon as Jack had proved his ability to handle a key he got the job. It had come about so quickly, that as he sat there before the newly installed instruments,âit will be recalled that the _Ajax_ was making her first trip as a wireless ship,âthe boy had to kick himself slyly under the operating table to make sure he was awake! âIâm the luckiest boy in the world,â said the young operator to himself, as gazing from the open door of the cabin, he watched the coast slip by and the rollers begin to take on the true Atlantic swell. His reverie was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Harvey, the first officer. âMessage from the captain to the owners,â he said briefly; âhustle it along.â It was only a routine message, but Jack thrilled to the finger tips as he sent out the call for the station at Sea Gate, from whence the message would be transmitted to New York. It was the first bit of regular business he had handled in his chosen calling. The air appeared to be filled with a perfect storm of messages coming and going. Newspapers were sending despatches of world-wide importance. Ships were reporting. Here and there an amateur,âJack was out of this class now, and held them in proper contempt,âwas âbutting inâ with some inquiry or message. And friends and relatives of persons outward or homeward bound across the ocean track added their burden to the mighty symphony of âwirelessâ that filled the ether. But at last Jack raised the Sea Gate station, and in a second his first message from shipboard was crackling and spitting from the aerial. He sent crisply, and in a business-like way. The operator at Sea Gate could hardly have guessed that the message was coming from a lad who had but that day taken his place at an ocean wireless station. When this message had been sent, Jack sat in for an answer. Before long, out of the maze of other calls, he picked his summons and crackled out his reply, adding O.K. G.ââGo ahead.â When he had finished taking the message, merely a formal acknowledgment of the captainâs farewell despatch, Jack grounded his instruments and went forward with the reply in search of the skipper. He found the _Ajax_ wallowing through a somewhat heavy sea. Looking down from the narrow bridge, he could see the decks with their covered winches, steam-pipes and man-holes only at times through a smother of green water and white foam that swept over them. Jack clawed his way forward and found the captain with his first officer on the bridge. The wheel was in the hands of a rugged, grizzled quartermaster, who stood like a figure of stone, his eyes glued to the swinging compass card. Occasionally, however, he gave an almost imperceptible move to the spokes of the brass-inlaid wheel he grasped, and a mighty rumbling of machinery followed. For the _Ajax_, like practically every vessel of to-day, steered by steam-power, and a twist of the wrist was sufficient to move the mighty rudder that was distant almost a tenth of a mile from the wheel-house. But the boy did not give much observation to all this. He was intent on his duty. Touching his cap, he held out the neatly written message,âof which he had kept a carbon copy on his file. âDespatch, sir!â he said respectfully. The captain took the message and read it, and then eyed the boy attentively. Captain Braceworth was a big figure of a man, bronzed, bearded and Viking-like. He was also known as a strict disciplinarian. Jack had not spoken to him till that moment. He decided that he liked the skipperâs looks, in spite of an air of cold authority that dwelt in his steady eyes. âSo youâre our wireless man, eh?â asked the skipper. âYes, sir. Mr. Jukesâââ âHumph! I know all about that. I understand this is your first voyage. Well, you have lots to learn. Do your duty and youâll have no trouble with me. If not, you will find it very uncomfortable.â He turned away and began talking to his first officer. Jack made his way back to his cabin with mingled feelings. The captain had spoken to him sharply, almost gruffly. He began to revise his opinion of the man. âHe is a martinet and no mistake,â thought the boy; âa bully too, Iâll bet. But pshaw, Jack Ready, whatâs the use of kicking? Youâve got what you wanted; now go through with it. After all, if I do my duty, he canât hurt me.â But as he took his seat at his instruments again, Jack, somehow, didnât feel quite so chipper as he had half an hour before. In his own estimation he had rated himself pretty highly as the wireless man of the _Ajax_. âBut I reckon I donât count much more than one of the crew,â he muttered to himself as the memory of the captainâs brusque, authoritative manner rankled in his mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER VI. LEARNING THE ROPES. Having sent his âT.R.ââas the first message from an outward bound ship is, for some mysterious reason known,âJack occupied himself by occasionally chatting with some other operator and exchanging positions. As the _Ajax_ forged on, the boy began feeling ahead with his key for the wireless stations at Sagaponack or Siasconset. Messages to and from Nantucket he had already caught, and had sent in a report of the _Ajax_ and her position. Supper time came and Jack ate his meal in company with the second and third engineers. The captain and the other officers were far too important to sit down with a wireless man on his first voyage. The second engineer was a lively youth with a crop of hair as red as the open door of one of his own furnaces. His junior was not more than two years older than Jack, a stalwart lad, with a bright, intelligent face, named Billy Raynor. Young Raynor and Jack struck up quite a friendship at supper, and after the red-headed second, whose name was Bicket, had left the table, they fell to discussing the ship and its officers. âI happened to be on the bridge,âmessage from the chief,âthis afternoon when you were talking to the old man,â said Raynor. âFrom the look on your face, I fancy you thought him a bit overbearing.â Jack flushed. He did not know that he had let his mortification be visible. âWell, I had expected rather a different reception, I must say; but Iâm not such a baby as to kick about anything like that, or even a good deal worse.â âThatâs the way to talk,â approved Raynor. âThe old manâs bark is worse than his bite, although I donât come much in contact with him. Mr. Herrick, the chief, is my boss.â He rose to go below to his duties. âSome time when Iâm off watch, Iâd like to come up to your coop and have a chat with you about wireless,â he said. âI wish you would,â said Jack, heartily glad to find,âfor he was beginning to feel lonely,âthat there was at least one congenial soul on the big steel monster, of which he formed a part of the crew. Jackâs day ended at eight oâclock, but before his time to go off duty, there came a peremptory message from the captain. The weather had been steadily growing worse, the sea was mounting and the wind increasing. Jack was to stay at his post and try to catch messages from vessels farther out at sea, concerning conditions on the course. As the night wore on, the gale increased in violence. The tanker wallowed through giant seas, the spray sweeping over even the elevated bridge linking her bow and stern. Her hull, with its cargo of oil and coal and the mighty boilers and engines that drove her forward, was as submerged as a submarine. The young wireless operator sat vigilantly at his key. The night was a bad one for wireless communication, although a storm does not, of necessity, interfere with the âwaves.â At last, about ten oâclock, he succeeded in obtaining communication with the _Kaiser_, one of the big German liners, some one thousand miles to the eastward. Back and forth through the storm the two operators talked. The _Kaiserâs_ man reported heavy weather, rain-squalls and big seas. âBut it is not bothering us,â he added; âweâre hitting up an eighteen knot clip.â âCanât say the same here,â flashed back Jack; âwe have been slowed down for an hour or more. This is a bad storm, all right.â âYou must be a âgreenyâ; this is nothing,â came back the answer from the _Kaiser_ man. âIt is my first voyage as a wireless man,â crackled out Jackâs key. âBully for you! You send like a veteran,â came back the rejoinder; and then, before Jack could send his appreciation of the compliment, something happened to the communication and the conversation was cut off. When he opened the door to go forward with his message for the skipper, the puff of wind that met the boy almost threw him from his feet. But he braced himself against the screaming gale and worked his way along the bridge. He wished he had put on oil-skins before he started, for the spray was breaking in cataracts over the narrow bridge along which he had to claw his way like a cat. âWell, whatever else a âTankerâ may be, she is surely not a dry ship in a gale of wind,â muttered the boy to himself, as he reached the end of his journey. On the bridge, weather-cloths were up, and the second officer was crouched at the starboard end of the narrow, swaying pathway. But pretty soon Jack made out the captainâs stalwart figure. The skipper elected to read the message in the chart-house. He made no comment, but informed Jack that in an hourâs time he might turn in. Nothing more of importance came that night, and at the hour the captain had named, the young wireless boy, thoroughly tired after his first day at the key of an ocean wireless, sought his bunk. This was in the same room as the apparatus, and as he undressed, Jack figured on installing, at the first opportunity, a bell connecting with the apparatus by means of which he might be summoned from sleep if a message came during the night. He had made several experiments along these lines at his station on the old _Venus_, which now seemed so far away, and had met with fair success. He believed that with the improved conditions he was dealing with on the _Ajax_, he could make such a device practicable. When he went on deck at daylight, he found that the storm, far from abating, had increased in violence. The speed of the _Ajax_ had been cut down till she could not have been making more than eight knots against the teeth of the wind. The white-crested combers towered like mountains all about her. Nothing of the hull but the superstructures were visible, and the latter looked as if they had gone adrift,âwith no hull under them,âin a smother of spume and green water. It was almost startling to look down from the rail outside his cabin and see nothing but water all about, as if the superstructure had been an island. He went back to his instruments and picked up a few messages concerning the weather. Two were from liners, and one from a small cargo steamer. All reported heavy weather with mountainous seas. âNot much news in that,â thought the boy, as he filed the messages and prepared to go forward with his copies. As he opened the cabin door, the man at the wheel must have let the ship fall off her course. A mighty wave came rushing up astern and broke in a torrent of green water over the gallery on which Jack stood. He was picked up like a straw and thrown against a stanchion, with all the breath knocked out of him. Here he clung, bruised and strangling, till the wave passed. âSeems to me that the life of an ocean wireless man is a good bit more strenuous than I thought,â muttered the boy, picking himself up and discovering that he must make fresh copies of the messages he had been taking forward. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER VII. IN THE TEETH OF THE STORM. An old German bosâun came by as Jack was picking himself up. âHullo! Almost man overboard,âvat?â he chuckled. âDonâd go overboard in dis vedder, Mister Vireless, aber vee nefer see you no more.â âDid you ever see a storm as bad as this?â sputtered the dripping Jack. âDis not amount to much,â was the reply. âVait till you cross in midt-vinter, den you see storms vos is storms.â He hurried off on his work, while Jack, having recopied his messages, started forward again. This time he met with no mishaps. On the reeling bridge he found Captain Braceworth. The captain was clinging to the railing, a shining, uncouth figure in dripping oil-skins. The clamor of wind and sea made speech almost impossible, but Jack touched the captain on the elbow to attract his attention. In spite of his feeling, almost of aversion to the grim, strict captain, Jack felt a sensation of admiration for this stalwart, silent figure, guiding his wallowing ship through the storm as calmly as if he had been seated at a dinner table. One thing was certain, Captain Braceworth was no fair-weather sailor. Martinet though he might be, he was a man to meet a crisis calmly and with cool determination. The captain took the messages silently and once more retired to the wheel-house to scan them. At the other end of the bridge the chief officer stood, an equally silent figure, looking out over the tempest-torn ocean. The captain was soon back on the bridge. He went over to the chief officer and Jack could see the two talking, or rather shouting. He stood waiting respectfully for orders, crouching in the lee of the weather-cloth for protection against the screaming gale. As soon as he saw that the captain had finished his conference with the officer, Jack came from the shelter and clawed his way to the skipperâs side. Captain Braceworth placed his hands funnel-wise to his mouth and shouted into Jackâs ear: âTry to
{'title': 'The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Atlantic by John Henry Goldfrap', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}