There was a glorious hour at sunset in every day of work when Sally was free to do as she chose. What she chose more often than not, in the days that followed, was to visit a certain radio lab in one of the school’s regular buildings. Here she found Danny waiting to help her with her problems. She discovered at once that he did know a very great deal about communication and about radio in particular.
When she complimented him on his knowledge he threw back his head and laughed.
“It’s no fault of mine,” he exclaimed. “I’ve had it drilled into me from the very start. We’re in the Navy. Don’t forget that. Most of us will be on aircraft carriers. That means we’ll be out over the sea in small planes.”
“Alone?” Sally asked.
“Sometimes, sometimes not. You may have a radioman and may not. Anyway, he may get killed. So you have to know all about radio, blinking lights, waving flags, and a lot more.
“Say!” he laughed. “I could propose to a good signal girl in ten different ways.”
“Wait till I get up on all the codes,” Sally laughed.
“Oh, yes. Well, then, let’s get busy.”
He picked up a booklet entitled, “International Code” and; turning to page twelve, said:
“Morse code isn’t half bad. See! Here it is.” Sally looked over his shoulder. “A is dot, dash; B is dash, dot, dot dot, and so on down the line. You can learn all that in about no time. But receiving takes longer. Those birds send out messages like greased lightning. You’ve got to think fast and be accurate at the same time. That’s tough. But it’s absolutely necessary, especially in your work. To read a message wrong, skip a dot here and miss a dash there, may sink a ship, or even a half dozen ships.”