more than about four minutes when the
spluttering of the wireless began.

"I'll bet that's some one in trouble," said Eric.

"Probably," his friend, the second lieutenant said, overhearing him.
"Haven't you been expecting it?"

"Hadn't thought of it, sir," said the boy. "We'd plenty to do to get in
here ourselves. Yes, there goes Mr. Keelson down to the captain. Could
we find out what's up, sir?"

The two young officers sauntered to the wireless operator's cabin.

"Somebody in trouble, I suppose, Wilson," the lieutenant said.

"Yes, sir," the operator answered, "two-masted steamer _Union_ reported
in distress, partly dismasted and with her engines disabled, anchored in
deep water off the Lookout Shoal."

"Probably dragging, sir?" queried Eric, knowing that his companion knew
the coast well.

"Most likely," the lieutenant answered. "If she's off Lookout, and the
wind veers round to the south'ard--which it's doing--that'll send her to
Cape Hatteras and Davy Jones' locker in a hurry. We may get there in
time, but there's not much we can do while this weather lasts."

"Hatteras is called the 'graveyard of ships,' isn't it?"

"There are a good many places in the world thus honored," said the
lieutenant, "and, so far as America is concerned, there are two, Cape
Cod and Cape Hatteras. There are five times as many wrecks between
Barnegat Point and Seguin Island as there are in all the other coasts of
the United States put together, but in proportion to the amount of
shipping that passes, Hatteras is the worst point in the world."

"Worse than the Horn?"

"A great deal," was the reply. "Shipmasters know the dangers of Cape
Horn and give it a wide berth--though steamers nowadays generally use
the Straits of Magellan--but Cape Hatteras is different. It juts right
out in the path of vessels running down the coast so that a ship makes
almost a right angle at that point."

"It's a wonder they don't build a lighthouse out on the shoals."

"It can't be done," said the other, shaking his head. "The contract was
awarded once, but the project fell through. The builder found it
impossible to carry it out. There's a New York firm that has been after
the Lighthouse Department for a long time to get a contract for the
building of a lighthouse on the shoals of Hatteras, but it wants four
million dollars, and the government thinks that a bit steep. A
first-class lightship can be kept in commission on the station for a
fraction