"Any other orders, Captain Ichi?"
"Watch the wireless. As soon as anything is received, let me know."
"Ay, ay, sir."
The swarthy little lieutenant withdrew, his slant eyes gleaming. A few minutes later he clattered to the bridge and repeated Captain Ichi's orders to the officer of the deck, then, descending, he walked to the door of the wireless room.
"Anything yet, Kaneko?" he inquired, lounging in the door.
A young man in his shirt sleeves bent over a table, the wireless "receivers" pushed close to his ears and held there by his fingers. At sight of the lieutenant, whose lips he could see moving, although his stopped ears had not allowed him to hear the question, Kaneko removed the helmet.
"Nothing yet, lieutenant," said he. "I have been two hours getting the instrument to spark properly. A damp helix and a feeble motor were the cause; but now I am ready, and waiting."
"Captain Ichi must know as soon as anything is received."
"I shall inform him immediately, lieutenant."
The lieutenant turned away from the door and passed to the port rail. The steamer was standing off and on the coast near the entrance to Magellan Strait. As the lieutenant peered landward, he surveyed the cape, and the long spit of low, sandy land stretching southward. He was somewhat familiar with the English coast, and this South American headland he likened to Berry Head, at the north of Torbay.