“Excellent!” came back the hearty commendation. “Results better than expected. But ruse will soon be known, so return and report. Darrin’s new orders will also be ready for him on arrival.”
“Home, James!” said Dan, jovially, to the officer of the deck, when he had deciphered the coded instructions.
That night he and Dave took an extra long sleep, though both remained fully dressed, ready for summons at any moment.
[CHAPTER XXI—THE S. O. S. FROM THE “GRISWOLD”]
“Belle on her way, and due soon to arrive!” Dave Darrin cried, joyously, as he read the cablegram that had been handed to him on his arrival at the American admiral’s headquarters.
That cablegram had lain there for days, having arrived the same forenoon that Darrin had put to sea on the voyage of the “Prince” with Dalzell in command.
Belle was his wife, his schoolboy sweetheart, whom he had not seen in many months. He had known that she was trying to induce the Red Cross authorities to send her to France, but had had no word to the effect that she had been successful.
Now he knew, from the number by which the expected ship was designated in the cablegram, that she was on the passenger liner “Griswold.”
“When is the ‘Griswold’ due?” Dave asked a clerk at headquarters.
“Arrival date hasn’t been reported,” answered the clerk, “but it should be in to-day. I’ve an idea, sir, that the ‘Griswold’ cannot be far out now.”