But to let the man out of his prison was not easy. Dowd found that two long spikes had been driven through the door and frame above and below the doorknob. He was some time in getting Rollife to listen to this explanation.
“Who is it? Dowd?” demanded the angry radio man at last.
“Yes,” replied the first officer. “Who did this?”
Whoever it was who pinned the man into the room was threatened with a good many unpleasant happenings during the next few moments. Finally Dowd’s voice penetrated to the operator’s ears again.
“Hold your horses! There’s a lady here. How shall I get you out, Sparks?”
“I don’t give a hang how you do it,” snarled the other. “But I want you to do it mighty quick—and then lead me to the man who nailed me up.”
“Wait,” said Dowd. “I’ll get a screwdriver and take off the hinges of the door. Then you can push outwards.”
“What the deuce has happened, anyway?” demanded Rollife, as the first officer of the Admiral Pekhard started away.
Ruth thought she would better answer before the imprisoned radio man broke out afresh. She told him simply what had happened, and why it had happened, as she presumed.
“It was Dykman nailed me up—the cur!” growled the radio man. “Then he monkeyed with the wires outside there. He put the radio out of commission, all right. That was before the explosion. My door was nailed almost on the very minute the old ship was hit. But why doesn’t she sink?”