“I,I,I, (aye,aye,aye) Colodia!”
He repeated this over and over again. An hour passed before he got what seemed to be a direct answer. Then:
“Colodia! Help! Redbird!”
Belding fairly shouted aloud in his excitement. But when he turned to see Mr. Sparks and the others at the door watching him, he subsided and began to send calmly:
“Give position! Give position! Redbird, give position!”
This went on for some time, and then he caught the grating and uncertain sound of what he was confident was his sister’s sending. He tuned his instrument up and down the scale before getting the best adjustment. Out of the air he finally received letters which he wrote down falteringly and passed to Mr. Sparks and Whistler. While the message was being repeated the radio man and Phil Morgan made out the following paragraph:
“Ship Redbird for Bahia seized by German mutineers. Position, lat. 17, long. 59. Help!—L. Belding.”
“It’s Lilian, all right! Hurray!” exclaimed Whistler, and Belding heard him.
The latter was now repeating, again and again, the announcement that the Colodia heard the message and was coming. Sparks hurried away to seek Commander Lang with the news. The position of the sailing ship was within easy reach of the destroyer.
But the messages stopped suddenly. Not another word came from the Redbird. Belding came away from the instrument at last, feeling anything but hopeful.