“——through the detector, which consists of two mineral points in very delicate contact.”
“But is the blamed thing of any real use?” Hank wanted to be informed.
CHAPTER XX.
HANK EXPLAINS.
Joe laughed at Hank’s last question.
“Of use? Why, man alive, since wireless has been introduced, it has averted some great sea disasters and been the means of saving thousands of lives, not to mention its commercial value.”
“Do tell! It’s saved a lot of ships, hey?”
Hank looked really interested now.
“It certainly has. Some time ago the Prinz Joachim, of the Atlas Line, from New York to the West Indies, grounded on a remote island of the Bahama group more than a thousand miles south of New York. In the old days she’d have stuck there, while the passengers took to the boats or played Robinson Crusoe on the island. But nowadays what happened? Why, Henry Muller, her wireless man, was sent for by the captain, and he at once began pumping out the call for the home office of the line in a Broadway skyscraper.
“Almost by the time the last of the passengers, aroused by the shock, had come on deck to learn the cause of it, the captain was able to assure them that New York had the news and that the home office had flung out a call for rescue ships along the whole length of the Atlantic Coast. At the same time, of course, the vessel’s own wireless was on the job, too.