"What you going to do?" Jack whispered.
"Just a minute and I'll tell you," Bob whispered back as he drew from his pocket a pair of small pliers adapted for cutting wire.
He knew just where the lead in from the aerial entered the room and that just beside the door was a large insulator through which the wire passed. It was the work of but an instant to cut the wire just below this insulator. Then he pulled the upper part of the wire up about an inch and then stuck the piece, which he had cut off, up into the insulator, pushing it far enough so that it securely held but being careful that the two ends did not touch. In this way he put the apparatus entirely out of commission and in such a way that it would be likely to take a long time for anyone else to locate the trouble.
This was done in much less time than it takes to tell it and, taking Jack by the arm, he pulled him gently away from the door.
"He's welcome to all the messages he gets," he chuckled as soon as they were around in front of the wheel house.
"What'd you do?"
Bob explained how he had split the aerial.
"Fine," Jack praised him. "He'll never find out where the trouble is in a week of Sundays."
Just then they heard a faint snapping sound from behind them and Bob whispered:
"He's trying to send."