Henry went up to the bridge and told the captain. The captain considered a moment, and Henry looked about while he waited. The storm had abated not a particle. The view was still veiled by shifting, swirling curtains of snow, but the fog had lifted. The waves were tremendous, but as the Iroquois was no longer bucking them, they did not seem so terrifying. Yet the sea was appalling enough to one so little accustomed to it as Henry was.
Suddenly the captain spoke. “Henry,” he directed, “tell the Rayolite that her signals are getting weaker, and that her battery is evidently going bad. Tell her to save her battery. I’m going to fire a gun every twenty minutes. Tell her to indicate whether or not she hears it. A single word will answer.”
Henry returned to the radio shack and flashed the message to the tanker. A moment later there was a terrific explosion that made him fairly jump in his chair. He began to make the sparks fly under his key. “Iroquois just fired gun,” he flashed. “Did you hear?”
A long pause followed. Then came the faint reply, “No.”
Twenty minutes later another shot was fired. Once more Henry called the Rayolite and asked if she had heard it. And again came the answer, “No.”
Three times every hour the Iroquois fired a shot, but for a long time the sound of the reports did not reach the struggling ship. Meantime the day was passing fast. Late afternoon came, and still the Iroquois had not found the helpless tanker. But as dusk was descending there came the joyful word from the Rayolite, “Heard your shot faintly.”
Again the captain called for a compass bearing. This time the signals from the tanker came much more distinctly, and the captain accordingly altered his course. The first faint call had given Belford a bearing not quite correct. The Iroquois continued to fire her gun. Forty minutes after the course was changed the Rayolite reported that she heard the shot from the Iroquois clearly.
When Henry sought the bridge with this cheering news, the commander said, “Tell the Rayolite operator to set his watch with yours. At five o’clock I will fire another shot. At the same instant you are to notify him by wireless. Tell him to note how many seconds elapse between the time he gets your flash and the time he hears my gun.”
Once more Henry called the Rayolite and explained the captain’s plan. “At five exactly we will fire,” concluded Henry.
Five o’clock came. Henry sat at his desk, switch thrown over, finger on his key. “Bang!” crashed the gun. Flash, went Henry’s signal. Then he sat in silence, waiting almost breathlessly for the reply. Five, ten, fifteen seconds elapsed. Half a minute went by. There was no reply. Another half minute passed and the wireless was silent. Henry looked worried.