A "FLASH" OF DISTRESS.
Having dispatched the message, Jack sat back in his chair and mused over the future of the Universal Detector. It was a fascinating subject to day-dream over, but his reverie was rudely interrupted by a sharp summons from space.
"Yes—yes—yes," he shot back, "who—is—it?"
"This is the Oriana," came back the reply, "Hamburg for New York. We are in distress."
"What's the trouble?"
The spark crackled and writhed, as Jack's rapid fingers spelled out the message.
"We struck a half submerged derelict and our bow is stove in. We believe we are sinking. This is an S. O. S."
Then followed the position of the craft and another earnest appeal to rush to her aid. Jack roughly figured out the distances that separated the two ships.
"Will be there in about two hours," he flashed, and then hurried to Captain Turner's cabin with his message.
The captain scanned the message with contracted brow.