CHAPTER XX: JACK TRIES OUT HIS INVENTION.
“Icebergs ahead.�
The look-out in the crow’s nest of the Thespis sang out the warning sharply. Officers and men of the smart revenue cutter were instantly on the alert.
“Where away?� came from the bridge.
“Two points off the starboard bow, sir,� was the response.
The officer leveled his binoculars on a huge mass of ice about two miles off. It glittered like polished steel. It rose into two huge points like the steeples of a cathedral. Jack emerged from his wireless cabin and secured from the officer the latitude and longitude.
Then he returned to his instruments, and within half an hour every ship within reaching distance on the Atlantic track knew of the great berg and its position, rate of progression and probable course. For some days this had been Jack’s daily work.
He went forward to the bridge to make his report on the ships he had warned. Captain Simms was there eyeing the steely blue ice mountain.
“I’d like to dynamite that fellow just as I would a derelict that imperiled navigation,� he said.
“I’ve been thinking the same thing, sir,� said Jack respectfully, “and I’ve thought up a new method of doing it.�