hat Southampton had for the _Prinzsessin Ottilie_ three
messages and that the time was 9:50 o'clock Greenwich.

Fritz glanced at the clock above his desk.

"Time OK. GA," he signalled, the "GA" being radio for "Go ahead."

"MSG one," went on Southampton. "Eight w Gary. DKA. Directors have
command of situation. Morrissy.

"MSG two. Nine w Gardenshire, DKA. Missed boat will follow by
_Carmania_. Hickle.

"MSG three. Eleven w Hodges, DKA. Coffee will go thirteen Thursday shall
I sell. Perkins."

Fritz had taken it all down with religious care. At the last word he
snapped open his key.

"OK. Thanks GN," he ticked off, the "GN" being, of course, "good-night."

He waited a moment, but there were no other calls for the _Ottilie_, and
he took off his receiver. Pachmann followed suit.

"That was a great pleasure," said the latter. "The signals are very
clear to-night."

"If you could come in later on, sir," Fritz suggested, "you could hear
the news service from Poldhu. There is a station for you!"

"At what hour does the service start?" asked Pachmann.

"Poldhu always calls at eleven-thirty, sir, and starts the news service
as soon as the commercial business is out of the way."

"I shall try to be here," said Pachmann. "This long-distance service is
a great delight to me, especially when it works so clearly as it does
to-night. You will not forget about my incognito?"

"I shall not forget, sir," Fritz assured him, and with a short nod,
Pachmann left the house. Fritz sat down again to copy out his messages
and to send three or four which the captain's steward at that moment
brought in. That done, he thrust his head out for a breath of air,
noticed with a grin the couples who had already discovered the
advantages of the boat-deck benches, and then went back to his key for
a little gossip with such other Marconi men as might be within reach. It
was nearly eleven-thirty, and all of them were sitting at their tables,
waiting for the far-flung signal which would tell that the operator at
Poldhu, that lonely station on the last sheer cliff of Cornwall, was
ready for his night's work. And a minute later, the door opened and
Pachmann came in.

"I could not resist your invitation, Fritz," he said. "This gets into
one's blood," and he adjusted the extra receiver and sat down.

Almost at once came the CQ, CQ, CQ, ZZ, ZZ, ZZ, which told that Poldhu
was calling for all stations and on every ship within a thousand miles
of