a wireless set of my own," Tom ventured. "It's just a small
one--for boy scouts. It hasn't got much sending power."

"_He_ used to be a boy scout," said the operator pleasantly. "That's
where he first picked it up."

"The other operator?"

"Yup."

"I learned some myself," said Tom.

The operator did not seem inclined to talk more, and Tom went along the
deck where a few early risers were sauntering back and forth enjoying
the fresh morning breeze. He noticed that life preservers were laid
across the rail loosely tied and that others stood in little piles at
intervals along the deck, loosely tied also.

He ate his breakfast in messroom No. 2 with the deck stewards and their
boys and greatly enjoyed it, though his thoughts more than once turned
enviously to the wireless operator. After breakfast he went down into
his own domains, where, according to instructions, he took from a
certain meat-hook a memorandum of what he was to bring up from below.

Descending the dark companionway, he turned on the electric light, and
stood puzzled for a moment, paper in hand.

"That's just exactly like me," he said. "I got to admit it."

The fact was that despite his tour of initiation under the butcher's
guidance he was puzzled to know which of the two doors opened into the
room from which supplies were for the present to be drawn. At a hazard
he opened one of them, and on entering did not immediately perceive the
room to be the wrong one.

Sliding open one of the screen doors, he stooped and lifted out a couple
of cans from a lower shelf. As he did so he heard the usual, unmuffled
ticking which was pretty sure to accompany the stooping posture with Tom
and which always notified him that his big trusty nickel watch was
dangling on its nickel chain.

But it was not dangling this time, and Tom paused in surprise, for the
ticking continued quite audibly and apparently very close to him. He
took out his watch and held it to his ear, and was surprised to find
that its sound was quite distinct from another and slower ticking
somewhere near by.

He looked about for a clock, but could see none.

"Huh, that's funny," he said, still listening.

Then, of a sudden, he lifted several more cans from the shelf and knelt
down, holding his ear close to the space. From somewhere behind the
cans came the steady tick, tick, tick, tick, tick....

For a moment he knelt there in surprise. Then hurriedly he lifted out
can after can until the