they were sleepy, the staff crowded
about the sending key, and the little building at the foot of the
ring of great masts supporting the aerial shook with the crash of the
blinding sparks as the three, dots which form the letter "s" were sent
forth. Even greater was the tension on the Newfoundland coast, where
Marconi sat eagerly waiting for the signal. Finally it came, three
faint ticks in the telephone receiver. The wireless had crossed the
Atlantic. Marconi had no sending apparatus, so that it was not until
the cable had carried the news that those in England knew that the
message had been received.

Because Marconi had never made a statement or a claim he had not been
able to prove, he had attained a reputation for veracity which made
his statement that he had received a signal across the Atlantic carry
weight with the scientists. Many, of course, were skeptical, and
insisted that the simple signal had come by chance from some ship not
far away. But the inventor pushed quietly and steadily ahead, making
arrangements to perfect the system and establish it so that it would
be of commercial use.

Marconi returned to England, but two months later set out for America
again on the liner _Philadelphia_ with improved apparatus. He kept in
constant communication with his station at Poldhu until the ship was
a hundred and fifty miles from shore. Beyond that point he could not
send messages, as the sending apparatus on the ship lacked sufficient
power. Messages were received, however, until the sending station
was over two thousand miles away. This seemed miraculous to those
on shipboard, but Marconi accepted it as a matter of course. He had
equipped the Poldhu station to send twenty-one hundred miles, and he
knew that it should accomplish the feat.

A large station was set up at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and regular
communication was established between there and Poldhu. With the
establishment of regular transatlantic communication the utility of
Marconi's invention, even for work at great distances, was no longer
open to question. By quiet, unassuming, conscientious work he had put
another great carrier of messages at the service of the world, and he
now reaped the fame and fortune which he so richly deserved.

XVIII

THE WIRELESS SERVES THE WORLD

Marconi Organized Wireless Telegraphy Commercially--The New Wonder
at the Service of the World--Marine Disasters Prevented--The
Extension of the Wireless