He examined the set with the eye of an expert, and Bob was delighted with the keen appreciation the visitor showed of the high degree of perfection to which he had brought his set almost entirely by his own endeavors, except for what assistance he had secured from his comrades and Doctor Dale.
“Put on the ear pieces and see how perfectly you can hear anything that happens to be going on,” urged Bob.
“All right,” replied the captain, suiting the action to the word. “Though with this terrible storm that’s come up, old man static will be getting in his fine work.”
As a fact, the wind outside was whistling along at a rate of seventy miles an hour. A sudden storm had come up within the last two hours, and a gale was sweeping in from the Atlantic, accompanied by sheets of blinding rain.
For a minute or two the captain listened, adjusting the mechanism, but apparently unable to distinguish anything clearly. Then suddenly a look of interest, not unmingled with alarm, flashed into his face. The alarm deepened as he listened.
“What’s the matter?” asked Bob, quickly.
“Matter enough,” replied the captain. “The biggest dirigible of the United States Navy has been torn from her moorings and is adrift in the storm!”
CHAPTER V
BUFFETED BY THE GALE
“You mean the Shooting Star?” asked Joe, breathlessly.
“Yes,” was the reply. “And she’s sending out radio messages. I caught one just now. She’s fighting the storm somewhere up in this section of the State.”