head once more over the problem in
navigation he was wrestling with. Jack saluted and hurried back to his
quarters.

He was highly elated over the success of his Universal Detector. The
threats of the government man did not alarm him, for he did not propose
to place his invention on the general market, but to sell it outright to
the government, whose secret it would then remain.

He resolved to test it again. A moment after he had put the receivers to
his ears, a broad grin came over his face. The air was literally vibrant
with the calls of the navy men, flinging their high-powered currents
through space.

"... he's a cheeky beggar, whoever he is, but he's got the goods," was
the first he heard.

"Hum, that's Mr. Washington," thought Jack. Then, from some other point
came another message.

"Great Scott! Uncle Sam won't let him get away with anything like that."

"I should say not. The Secret Service department is already at work
trying to find out who the dickens he is."

"That will be a sweet job," came the naval station at Point Judith.

"Talk about a needle in a haystack," sputtered the U. S. S. _Alabama_.

"Not a patch on it," agreed the great dreadnought _Florida_.

Then came Washington again.

"I'll tell you it's stirred up a fuss here," he said. "I wonder who it
can be."

"Maybe that Italian fellow who invented the sliding sounder," suggested
the _Florida_.

"Or Pederson, out in Chicago," came from a land station. All the navy
men appeared to be joining in the confab.

"Gracious, what a fuss I've stirred up," thought Jack, with a quiet
smile. "They'd never guess in a million years that it's a kid of an
operator who's causing all the trouble."

"No; both the men you mentioned are in Europe," declared Washington.
"The department's been trailing them since they got my news."

"Well, the wireless men are going to be a happy hunting ground for the
Secret Service fellows for this one little while," chuckled the
_Florida_.

"Wonder if he's listening now?" struck in the _North Dakota_, which had
not yet talked.

"Shouldn't wonder," remarked the _Idaho_.

Jack pressed down his key and the spark began to flash and crackle.

"You fellows are having a grand old pow-wow," he said. "Sorry I can't
give you any information. I know you're dying of curiosity."

"You've got your nerve, I must say," sputtered Washington indignantly.
"Have you been listening right along?"

"Yes; that Secret Service hunt