l circuit, where it reaches
a mighty high potential at the free insulated end--"

"Hey! What d'you think I am--a walking 'cyclopaedia?" broke in Bob
indignantly. "Cut out that high-flown talk with me, Mart, and get down
to where I can collect on you. Going to send a message?"

"Golly, no!" returned Mart, busily, adjusting his current. "We'd have
the port officers down on us in a jiffy. It's all right to pick up
messages, but to do any private monkey-work by sendin' them is liable to
get a fellow in bad. No, I'm just going to see that the sparker's
workin' right--"

"Never mind a technical description," broke in Bob. "Just go ahead and
I'll be satisfied to watch. But when you get through, there's some stuff
down in the cabin that you might like to look over."

"All right," grunted the other, pressing down his key. The blue spark
leaped out for a long moment, but Mart was careful not to break it, and
with a satisfied nod he threw off the current. The _Seamew's_ wireless,
in spite of a year of disuse, was in splendid shape; like other merchant
ship stations of modern type, it was almost perfect in its conveniences.
The whole transmitting apparatus, from the generator to the aerial
tuning inductance, was in a special silence cabinet; this not only kept
the noise of the spark and generator down, but shut off all high-tension
apparatus from the operator. Mart explained this at some length to his
chum.

"It's strictly fool-proof, so I'll give you some lessons when we get out
in the ocean," he grinned. "We can send messages all we please there,
but not in port."

"Well, you come along down to the cabin," returned Bob ungraciously. He
had no knowledge of things mechanical, and no liking for them. His
tastes ran to athletics, and by careful cultivation of his body he had
made himself the physical equal, or nearly so, of Mart Judson, whose
strength and alertness were entirely natural.

Leaving the wireless house, which was on the upper bridge deck just
abaft the chart house and signal locker, the two boys slid down the
ladders to the lower deck. Cases of provisions and supplies were being
slung down the fore hold by the steam winch, and except for the two
mates and a couple of wharf hands, no one was in sight. The engine-room
crew was aboard, together with the Chinese steward, but the crew of a
dozen men would not come aboard until the next night.

Indeed, the principal use for a crew aboard the _Seamew_ was to keep the