“It may not take so long as you think to do that. The chief electrician should be aboard in a few moments.”
Already the Iroquois was at her anchorage. Her engines were no longer running. Against a strong tide she was fast coming to rest.
“Let go your anchor,” said the captain suddenly.
The anchor slid into the water, and the ship swung in the tide and came to rest. Immediately the launch was lowered. In a moment it was skimming over to the landing. A few moments more saw it on the way back, laden heavily with sailors.
The chief electrician was aboard. Like many of the others, he was suffering from a terrible cold, but he declared he was fit for duty. At once the captain sent him to the radio shack. Henry and his friend Belford went with him. Like a finished workman, the head radio man set about his task of finding the difficulty. He threw on the current and tested his motor. To all appearances it was in perfect condition. It operated with perfect smoothness, and the speed was normal and perfectly sustained, but when Mr. Sharp looked at the voltmeter of his generator, there was another story to tell. The meter showed no voltage whatever. There was an open circuit either in the generator or in the field.
At once the chief electrician attempted to adjust the field strength by shifting the field rheostat. To his surprise he found the handle of the rheostat was warm.
“The rheostat is burned out,” he said, “and there is likely an open field circuit.”
“Then one of the field coils must have gone bad,” said Henry.
“Right. I see you do know something about wireless,” observed the chief electrician.
Henry reached forward and began to examine the field coils. There were four of them. The bottom one and the two on the sides were warm, but the top coil was cool.