“Ah! Got ’em,” Danny breathed.
“And it’s so much louder, so much more distinct!” Sally was delighted. Danny scarcely heard for he was busy recording dots and dashes.
Soon Sally was at it, too, for by now she too could read code very well. From time to time, however, by turning that certain dial, she switched from one sender to another. She located six in all.
But, even as they continued to listen and record, there came a change. At first the messages were sent in a slow, methodical manner. But now they came in close together, excited, irregular and jerky. At the same time they appeared to draw closer to one another.
“Sally.” Danny dropped his pencil. “Once I watched a pack of wolves chase an old and disabled moose. Their barks and howls were just like this radio business we’re hearing. At first there was the regular yap, yap of the chase. But when they closed in they became greatly excited. Their barks, howling, and snarls came from excited minds and bloodthirsty throats. They were in for the kill.”
As Sally listened, she seemed to see six subs closing in on a ship carrying supplies of food, guns, or ammunition to our soldiers in Africa and at the end caught the excited “put-put-put” of their radios as they closed in for the kill.
“Perhaps tomorrow we will hear on the radio of another ship sunk off our shore,” she whispered hoarsely.
“Who knows?” was the sober reply. “Tonight they seem very close.”
“Danny, we must hurry!” She gripped his hand. “We must learn more. I must go to sea, somehow, I must. I am sure that will help most of all.”
“Perhaps you will go,” was his quiet reply.