“Yes, I heard. I must get a dry change.” I went straight to my room, Pierce following on my heels.
“Freddy,” I said, as quietly as I could, “you had better get up to your wireless and send word to any ship within call to relay word to the nearest authorities that we need help.”
He merely stared at me without moving.
“Go on,” I said. “Send that message at once.”
“Aw, Brains,” he said gently. “Where’s your thinker; you know better’n that.”
“Do as I tell you. Don’t wait to hear the story; start your wireless at once.”
“You’re up in the air forty miles,” was his reply. “If you wasn’t you’d know that Brack’d never leave me here on the yacht without putting the wireless out of business.”
“What!”
“Yep. When they all turned up missing this morning, you with ’em, and there hadn’t been anything said about it, I began to feel kind of cold below the ankles and I sneaked up to slip some juice into the air and try to put the revenue-cutter, Bear, hep to something doing here. She ought to be down this way just now. Well, nothing doing. The whole works are gone; Brack’s put the wireless outfit on the bum.”
Somehow I managed to be calm.