Then their talk turned on the more detailed problem of the personnel directly concerned with radio engineering and other communication duties. Commander Rich, it seemed, was as firmly entrenched as ever in the esteem of both Mortimer and Admiral Bishop, the Bureau Chief. Evans, having nothing tangible to support his feeling of uneasiness, did not dwell on that subject.
“I believe, Sam,” said Evans, “it would be a very good thing to send Elkins out to be fleet radio officer. He’s just the man for the job; and, coming from the Bureau of Engineering, he would have the latest developments fresh in his mind. He’d appreciate the chance to get into the game, and he deserves it. White, who has that job now, is a good man, but he hasn’t the brains or the force that Elkins has. I think it would be a good move just to have them swap places. White, coming fresh from the fleet, would be of great value to the Bureau; it always helps to have some one there who is thoroughly familiar with conditions afloat. White has been afloat a good while and might not mind the change, and, anyway, if emphasis is given to the fact that his point of view is needed in the Bureau, rather than that the best brains are now needed in the fleet, he needn’t feel that he’s being put on the shelf.”
“I’ll have to find some billet for Brigham where he’ll be comparatively harmless;—perhaps commandant of the Great Lakes District or of the Naval Prison,” said Mortimer.
“Yes,” said Evans. “Or put him in command of the old Constitution tied up in her tomb at the Boston Navy Yard, where they show off the relics and hoist the flag every morning at eight-bells to set the pace for the Yard. He’d make them get the flag up on time, all right. Put him in charge of a bunch of incompetents who’ll be no good, anyway, and let him teach them an officer-like bearing.
“As to White, I wouldn’t transfer him at the same time as Brigham, it would draw too much attention to the sweeping change; besides, it would be too tough on White to bracket him with that old dummy. Get Brigham out first; then in a week or so you could let Elkins go out to relieve White.”
The next day Mortimer set the machinery in motion to promote Fraser from commander to captain in order that he should have the necessary rank, and then to make him chief of staff in place of Brigham.
When the news of this change reached the fleet, it caused a considerable commotion. Speculation as to the occasion of it constituted the burden of the wardroom gossip for several days. Some few officers tried to connect it in some way with the sudden and mysterious departure of the destroyer for Hampton Roads, but their ingenuity failed them, and the idea was dismissed as quite impossible.
On the journey home in the destroyer a somewhat new problem had engaged Evans’s attention. It is a recognized principle that secret codes must be changed frequently. Enemy experts are constantly at work studying the radio messages which their operators have intercepted, and it is granted that in time they will gather sufficient data to work out any code. It has been said that ten days is as long as it is safe to use one code. Evans had time to spare on this destroyer trip, and he found a fascinating occupation in trying to devise a new system of codes more baffling to the enemy. He finally hit on a scheme which would render the codes so difficult to unravel that he felt sure they could be trusted for fully twice as long as those then in use.
When in Washington, after his conference with Mortimer, he sought Commander Barton, of the Intelligence Bureau, with whom he had worked in London over the establishment of communication with Heringham, and laid his scheme before him. Barton was well pleased with the plan and requested Evans to work out the details of his system. For the next fortnight, Evans was busily engaged in this task, first devising and planning the system and then arranging for the printing of the necessary code books. Not content with one system, he devised another so different that even should the enemy become thoroughly acquainted with the first, it would give them no clue at all to the second. In fact, his productivity in this line reached such a point that a less enthusiastic and enterprising man than Barton would have begged him to give o’er.
During these days Evans also gave a large share of his time to the Bureau of Engineering where he got his finger once more in the pie of radio engineering progress. His experience with the fleet had given him a somewhat new point of view which led to a number of practical suggestions. Many bright ideas which had developed in the planning rooms had to be snubbed because utterly unsuited to conditions afloat.