The next few days Evans spent going continuously from ship to ship inspecting and testing the radio compasses in all that were to participate in the maneuver, and satisfying himself that the operators were proficient in their use. The necessary testing of apparatus and quizzing of men took all his time from morning till night, and, as he sank into bed after the second day, dead tired, the feverish activity pursued him into his sleep. In his dreams he was still restlessly whirling the coils in a search of the elusive bearing—never quite satisfactorily obtained; or trying over and over again to drive into a stupid operator’s mind an intangible something which he couldn’t crystallize in his own. Ill refreshed by his sleep he rose and plunged into the task anew, questioning operators searchingly, drilling them when necessary, explaining to them points on which they were not clear. Before the week was over, he was able to rest with the assurance that the men would not fail him in this crucial test.
The ships put to sea, the two battleship divisions going first to their allotted places of waiting where with the usual drills the minds of all were kept occupied, none but the communication officers being apprised of the nature of the tests to be made. Admiral Johnson, flying his flag on a scout cruiser, then led the cruiser force into the designated area, laying a course that would put the direction-finding procedure to a real test. The visibility was low; barely two miles could a battleship be seen through the low-lying haze. The stream of radio traffic between the leading scout and the cruiser at the rear end of the line was begun and duly maintained. For thirty miles the column steamed northward after entering the designated area; twice they changed course, to render the task of the battleships more difficult. Then at last the signal was given for the battleships to deploy inward. When the forms of the battleships loomed up through the haze both east and west almost simultaneously, Admiral Johnson knew at once that they could not have been far from the positions assigned; and when their reports were all in and the laying-out of the day’s work on the plotting-board revealed that each division had held its relative position to within half a mile throughout the maneuver, he knew that he had in truth a powerful weapon in his hand.
Immediately after this convincing demonstration, Admiral Johnson showed his worth by vigorously sweeping aside all objections on the part of the more conservative admirals and insisting that the new method of tactical coördination should be developed to a high degree of perfection; and in this he relied largely on Fraser. With the increased hope of gaining an advantage through surprise, the Admiral’s eagerness for a decisive action increased, and he cudgeled his wits to think how this desired end could be attained. Fraser, himself able to assimilate at a single meal the three ideas which had developed in his conversation with Evans, knew better than to feed them to Admiral Johnson more than one at a time. He now met the Admiral’s desire to draw out the enemy by suggesting various ways of presenting an outlook that would appear favorable to the enemy Intelligence Service.
Frequent conferences followed between Fraser and Barton; and consultations with Jeremy on the weather problem. Conferences also occurred between Barton and Evans, unknown even to Fraser. The fleet engaged in an increasing number of practice cruises at sea on which they worked out various problems of group maneuvering by means of radio-compass triangulation, and yet all of the ships’ companies except those directly concerned were kept busy at their own tasks, and remained in complete ignorance of this new feature of the fleet’s activity.
As the month of March drew to a close, a subtle feeling diffused through the fleet that something of moment was in the air. In wardroom conversation remarks were dropped that vaguely reflected this quickening of the spirit of impending adventure. Yet no one could trace this feeling to its source. Was it, after all, anything more than the magic influence of spring which even to the worker within brick walls comes and permeates the core of his emotional being with a strange elation and a sense of universal expansion? Perhaps even in these semi-tropical islands, where there is little of the rotation of seasons as we know it in the North, the approach of April filled the men with a yearning that found its expression in this general sense that some great event was about to happen.
CHAPTER XI
INTRIGUE AND MISCHIEF
Throughout these days Evans maintained vigilant and nerve-racking watch over the personnel with a view to detecting any leakage of information by radio which might give the enemy a hint about the code. For more than one reason he now began to contemplate with increasing uneasiness the incumbency of Commander Rich as head of the Radio Division of the Bureau of Engineering in Washington. When Captain Brigham had told Commander White, the preceding August, about Commander Rich’s advice to him on the subject of the radio equipment on the flagship, White had, of course, carefully refrained from repeating the remarks of his chief to Evans. But when in the autumn he was relieved by Commander Elkins, White had explained the situation to his successor and told him how Brigham’s attitude had been responsible for virtually putting the most important part of the radio equipment out of commission. In the course of his explanation White had quoted Captain Brigham’s remark about his conversation with Rich, which revealed the fact that this high official had actually encouraged the dismantling of apparatus whose value, though unknown to Brigham, was well understood by Elkins. In the course of the winter Elkins placed ever-increasing confidence in Evans as they worked together in the nerve center of the fleet. One day he told him of this remark of Captain Brigham’s which White had passed on to him. Elkins mentioned it as evidence of ultra-conservatism in the Bureau, constituting a difficulty with which they were obliged to reckon. To Evans it appeared not merely as a troublesome obstacle, but as a cause of grave uneasiness.
Another thing which enhanced this feeling was the fact that he had found several important pieces of radio apparatus, recently shipped from the navy test shop in Washington, seriously defective. What was more, the defects did not appear to be such as could be ascribed to sheer carelessness of workmanship; they were in vital parts of the apparatus, always where most difficult to discover, and most inaccessible and troublesome to remedy. The frequency with which these conditions were found was greater than could be laid to the common perversity of complex apparatus. Yet nothing of this sort had been definite enough to arouse in him much more than a vague sense of uneasiness, nor to make him feel justified in mentioning his fears to either Elkins or Barton. One night, as he lay in his berth pondering the significance of these defects which kept coming to light, there flashed on his mind the recollection that when last in Washington he had often seen Wellman going to see Commander Rich in his private office. At the time, this had not added much to his uneasiness about Rich, for, being already convinced that Wellman was a spy, it seemed only natural that he should be assiduously cultivating the head of the Radio Division; but now it began to haunt him. The malignant look he fancied he had seen in Rich’s face came back to him. At the time, he had persuaded himself that it was a trick of his imagination provoked by pique. Now the memory of that look returned and would not be set aside. Late into the night he tossed on his mattress, devoured by ominous conjectures. When sleep came at last, the face of Rich, its malignity horribly intensified, haunted his dreams.
It was near the end of March; the preparations in the fleet were daily assuming a more momentous import, and efficiency in the flagship’s center of communication was more vital than ever. Radio Gunner Long now arrived at Punta Delgada from Washington, and presented himself aboard the flagship with orders from the Bureau of Engineering to make certain changes in the radio apparatus, changes which were the result of secret developments just made in the laboratories of the Bureau. Evans recalled having seen Long occasionally in the Bureau at Washington, though he had scarcely made his acquaintance. Now he received him with cordial attention, and asked him all the news from Washington, showing especial interest in the new developments which Long had come to introduce. In this he met a rebuff. Long answered his questions with generalities, evading any disclosure of the nature of the changes he was going to make. These were confidential, and his duty to the Bureau of Engineering constrained him from revealing their nature to any one.
It was nearing the noon hour when Long first began looking over the gear in the radio room in preparation for commencing alterations. Evans and the chief radio electrician were both in the radio room about their various duties, and offered to help Long at his task. He declined their offers; the job he was going to do was one that he could manage better by himself. He spent a good deal of time getting out pliers and other tools and looking them over; he stopped to examine this and that piece of apparatus, and altogether seemed to be very slow in getting to work. Eight-bells struck, and Evans asked Long if he wasn’t coming down to lunch.