As the spring wore on and the men on the patrolling craft learned how large the ocean was and how seldom any trace of a submarine could be found in its expanse, enthusiasm for the chase gave way to ennui and discouragement. A little success was sorely needed to put heart into both officers and men, worn as they were by the tedium of the long, dreary watches at sea.
Late in May, Evans and Mortimer motored out into the country some miles from Washington, and went for a walk together.
“I think I’m rather wasting time here in Washington,” said Evans. “I believe I’d find more to do now in the Azores.”
“I don’t see how we can spare you here, Jim,” answered Mortimer. “Seems to me we need you in the Bureau to help all these engineering developments;—not to mention your glittering generalities which I find rather helpful now and then.”
“I guess you can get along all right without any ‘glittering generalities’ from me. As for engineering developments, I find that I can’t get much of anywhere with Rich in charge of the Radio Division.”
“Still at odds with your chief? Forget it; buck up, and play the game with the organization as you find it.”
“I can’t help it,” said Evans. “There’s no use my trying to work here in the Bureau with him. He apparently stands for efficiency and progress; he agrees heartily to every constructive suggestion for improvement, yet somehow the necessary orders don’t get issued, or, if issued, don’t go into effect. I keep feeling that my hands are tied. But in spite of all this we’ve got enough material out to the Azores, so that if I could get there, I could shape it into what I want, unhampered by the obstruction that’s hindering me here. I know how it is from what I saw in 1918. There’s always less red-tape at the scene of actual warfare than there is in the Bureaus here. I’m sure that if I can get to Punta Delgada I shall be more nearly on my own, and can work to better advantage. There are lots of engineering possibilities there, and I can fix things up to my liking without this officious interference from above.
“Besides, it’s at Punta Delgada that the communication storm-center will be from now on. I feel sure I can be more useful tinkering with the apparatus in the fleet, and seeing that the boys use it right, than I can imparting spare calories to a swivel chair here in Washington. In particular, there are the radio-compass shore stations that we are installing in the various islands; the regular work of installation is going on all right, but there’s always a possibility of their not working as they should, and it’s really a physicist’s job to take care of that sort of thing. Then the apparatus must be accurately calibrated, and the personnel taught to use it quickly, and the machinery for transmitting the intelligence rapidly to headquarters and thence to the ships that can use it, must be organized, and organized well. For all that sort of work, I think it’s time to be moving a good many of your men of engineering ability out to the Azores where things are going on.”
“There’s no doubt,” said Mortimer, “that there’ll be plenty of engineering work to be done out there, and more and more as time goes on; and I can see the importance of having you as a physicist look over those radio compasses. But I should like to be able to keep in touch with you, and frequent messages from a warrant officer in the fleet to the Secretary would look kind of funny; you might get uncomfortably snubbed by some one.”
“I think I can get round that,” said Evans. “I’ll work out a method of dropping you a hint or a glittering generality now and then without even ruffling the surface. I learned one or two tricks from those fellows in London about faking telepathy. We could arrange a flying trip home if the occasion arose.”