The Ocean Wireless Boys And The Naval Code

"Look out for the bear!"

"Get a gun, quick."

"Oh, he'll hug me," this last from the old maid, were some of the cries which the crowd sent up.

"He's mad, shoot him!" cried somebody. The Italian set up a howl of protest.

"No, no, no shoota heem. Mika da gooda da bear. No shoota heem."

"If you don't want him shot, catch him and get out of here. You'll have my hotel turned into a sanitarium for nervous wrecks the first thing you know," cried the proprietor of the place.

"Somebody playa da treeck," protested the Italian. "Mika da nica da bear, da gooda da bear."

"I guess he's like an Indian, only good when he's dead," said the hotel man. "I'm off to get my gun."

Noddy watched the results of his joke with mixed feelings. He had not meant it to go as far as this. He looked about him apprehensively, but everybody was too frightened to notice him.

Suddenly the bear headed straight for Noddy. Perhaps his red head was a shining mark or perhaps the creature recollected the prank-playing youth as the one who had given him the peppered bun. At any rate he charged straight after the lad, who fled for his life.

"Help!" he called as he ran. "Help, help!"

"Noddy's getting a dose of his own medicine," cried Jack to Billy.

"But we don't want to let the bear get him," protested Billy.

"Of course not, but he'll beat the bear into the hotel, see if he doesn't."

The hotel front door was evidently Noddy's objective point. It appeared he would reach it first, but suddenly he tripped on a croquet hoop and went sprawling. He was up in a minute, but the bear had gained on him. As he rushed up the steps it was only a few inches behind him.

Noddy gave a wild yell and took the steps in three jumps. The next second he was at the door and swinging it shut with all his might. But just then an astonishing thing happened.

Just as Noddy swung the door shut the bear made a leap. The result surprised Noddy as much as Bruin.

The edge of the door caught the big creature's neck and held him as fast as if he had been caught in a dead-fall. He was gripped as in a vise between the door and the frame. But poor Noddy was in the position of the man who caught the wild cat.

He didn't know how to let go!

CHAPTER IX.

NODDY AND THE BEAR

"I've got him!" yelled Noddy. "Help me, somebody!"

"Goodness, Noddy's caught the bear," cried Jack, as he and Billy streaked across the lawn, followed by the less timid of the guests.

"Hold him tight," shouted some in the crowd.

"Let him go," bawled others.

Perspiring from his efforts, Noddy braced his feet and kept the door tightly closed on the bear's neck. But the creature's struggles made the portal groan and creak as if it would be shoved off its hinges.

"Gracious, I can't hold it much longer. Can't somebody hit him on the head with a club?"

The negro bell boys and clerk, together with several of the guests who had been in the lobby, began to come back, now that they saw there was no immediate chance of the bear rushing in.

"Ah reckon ah knows a way ter fix dat b'ar widout hurting him," cried one of the negro boys.

He snatched a fire extinguisher off the wall of the office and squirted its contents full in the bear's face. The animal gave one roar of dismay and a mighty struggle that burst the door open and threw Noddy off his feet. He set up a yell of fright. But he need not have been afraid. The ugliness had all gone out of the bear, and besides being half choked he was temporarily blinded by the contents of the fire extinguisher.

The Italian came running up, carrying a chain and a muzzle.

"Gooda da boy! Gooda da Mika!" he cried ingratiatingly.

The bear was as mild as a kitten, but nevertheless the muzzle was buckled on and the Italian departed in search of his monkeys just as the manager appeared with his gun. It had taken him a long time to find, he explained, whereat Noddy, who had recovered his spirits, snickered.

"I'm going to pay the bill and get out of here," whispered Jack in Noddy's ear. "You'd better get away as quietly as you can. Several people saw you give those buns to the animals. If they find you here, they'll mob you."

"Being chased by a bear is quite enough excitement for one day," rejoined Noddy, "but my! It was good fun while it lasted. Did you see that old maid's hair, did you see Donald Judson, did you – "

"Get out of here quickly," warned Jack, and this time Noddy took his advice without waiting. It was just as well he did, for the elderly gentleman, whose shining bald head had been belabored by the old maid's parasol, came in, accompanied by the damsel. She had recovered her hair when the monkeys were caught and had tendered handsome apologies to the would-be gallant.

"Where is that boy who started all this?" demanded the old gentleman.

"It was one of that gang there," cried Donald Judson, who had followed them and whose face showed plenty of scratches where the monkeys had clambered up to demolish his hat.

"Oh, what a terrible boy he must be," cried the old maid. "He ought to go to prison. Where is he?"

"Ask them, they'll know," cried Donald, pointing to Jack and Billy.

"No, it wasn't either of them. They were back in the crowd," cried the old maid; "it was another boy, a red-headed one."

"I'm glad I told Noddy to get out," whispered Jack to his friends.

"Look, they are whispering to each other. I told you they knew all about it," cried Donald, who saw a chance of avenging himself for his treatment by the monkeys.

"Say, young man," said the manager, coming up to Jack, "I think your friend was responsible for this rumpus."

"What rumpus?"

"Why, that trouble with the bear, of course. You boys are at the bottom of it all."

"Why, the bear chased my friend harder than anyone else," said Jack, with assumed indignation.

"I guess we'll pay our bill and leave," struck in Billy.

"Think you'd better, eh?" sneered the manager.

"If you want your money you'd better be civil," said Jack.

"Yes, but – your bill is eight dollars."

"Here it is. Now don't bother us any more or I'll report you to the proprietor."

"I know, but look here."

"I can't see in that direction."

"I don't know if that man has caught his monkeys yet."

"No use of your worrying about that unless you're afraid one of them will get your job."

There was a loud laugh at this and in the midst of it the boys passed out of the hotel, leaving the clerk very red about the ears.

"I hope that will teach Noddy a lesson," said Jack, as they hurried down to the boat yard where Noddy had been instructed to precede them.

"It ought to. Being chased by a bear is no joke."

But when they reached the yard they were just in time to see the man who was working on the boat clap his hand to the back of his neck and yell:

"Ouch! A bee stung me."

Not far off, looking perfectly innocent, stood Noddy, but Jack detected him in the act of slipping into his pocket a magnifying glass, by which he focused the sun's rays on the workman's neck.

CHAPTER X.

"WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF IT?"

The Skipjack was all ready for them and no delay was had in making a start back to Musky Bay, where, it will be remembered, the boys had left their boat to be repaired. A brief stop was made at the Pine Island hotel and then the trip was resumed.

"Wonder where Judson and his crowd have gone to?" pondered Jack, as they moved rapidly over the water.

"One thing sure, they never started back home in the Speedaway this morning," said Billy. "The water is like glass, and there's not a breath of wind."

"Look, there's a handsome motor boat off yonder," exclaimed Jack presently. He pointed to a low, black craft, some distance behind them and closer in to the shore.

"She's making fast time," said Bill.

"Maybe she wants to give us a race," suggested Noddy.

"I'm afraid we wouldn't stand much chance with her," laughed Captain Simms.

They watched the black boat for a time, but she appeared to slacken speed as she drew closer, as if those in charge of her had no desire to come any nearer to the Skipjack than they were.

"That's odd," remarked Jack. "There is evidently nothing the matter with her engine, but for all that they don't seem to want to pass us. That's the first fast boat I ever saw act that way."

"It does seem queer," said Captain Simms, and suddenly his brow clouded.

"Could it be possible – " he exclaimed, and stopped short.

Jack looked at him in a questioning way.

"Could what be possible, sir?" he asked.

"Why, that Judson and the others are on board that black craft?"

"Ginger! That never occurred to me!" cried Jack; "and yet, if they were following us to find out where you are located that would be just the sort of way in which they would behave."

"So I was thinking," said Captain Simms thoughtfully. "However, we can soon find out."

He opened a locker and took out his binoculars. Then he focused them on the black craft.

"Well?" questioned Jack, as the captain laid them down again.

"There's a man at the wheel, but he isn't the least like your descriptions of your men," said the captain.

"What does he look like?" questioned Billy.

"He's rather tall and has a full black beard," was the answer.

"Then it's not one of Judson's crowd," said Jack with conviction.

"I guess we are all the victims of nerves to-day," smiled the captain.

They swung round a point and threaded the channel that led among the shoaly waters of Musky Bay. The point shut out any rearward view of the black motor boat and they saw no more of it. Captain Simms invited them up to the house he occupied, which was isolated from the half dozen or so small habitations that made up the settlement. It was plainly furnished and the living room was littered with papers and documents.

"What made you select Musky Bay as a retreat?" asked Jack.

"I come from up in this part of the country," rejoined Captain Simms, "and I thought this would be a good quiet place to hide myself till my work was complete. But it seems," he added, with a smile, "that I may have been mistaken."

"Oh, I don't know," replied Jack. "Those fellows would never think of trailing you here. I guess they think you are still in Clayton."

"Let us hope so, anyway," said the captain, and here the discussion ended.

Soon after they said good-by, promising to run over again before long. Their boat was all ready for them. A good job had been done with it.

"It looks as good as new," commented Jack.

"She's a fine boat," said Billy.

"A regular pippin," agreed Noddy.

"Well, young men, your-craft-will-carry-you-through many a blow yet. She's as nice a little-ship-as-I-ever-saw."

"I guess he says that of every boat that brings him a job," grinned Noddy, as Jack paid the man, and they got ready to get under way. A light breeze had risen, and they were soon skimming along, taking great care to avoid shoals and sand-banks. By standing up to steer, Jack was easily able to trace the deeper water by its darker color and they got out of the bay without trouble.

As they glided round the point, which had shrouded the black motor boat from their view when they entered the bay, Billy, who was in the bow, uttered a sharp cry and pointed. The others looked in the direction he indicated, realizing that something unusual was up.

"Well, look at that, will you?" exclaimed Jack.

The black motor-boat was anchored close in to the shore. Her dinghy lay on the beach, showing that somebody had just landed. Clambering up the steep and rocky sides of the point were three figures. When the boys caught sight of them the trio had just gained the summit of the rocky escarpment.

They crouched behind rocks, as if fearing that they would be seen, and one of them drew from his pocket a pair of field glasses. He gazed through these down at the settlement of Musky Bay, which lay below. Then he turned to his companions and made some remark and each in turn took up the glasses.

"What do you make of it?" asked Billy, turning to Jack.

The wireless boy shook his head dubiously.

"I'll tell you what I make of it," he said. "Just this. Those three figures up yonder are Judson, Donald and Jarrow. They trailed us here in that motor boat but were too foxy to round the point. When they saw us turn into the bay, they knew they could land and sneak over the point without being seen. They are spying on the settlement and watching for Captain Simms. At any rate, they will see his boat tied up there and realize that they have struck a home trail."

"What will we do?" asked Billy, rather helplessly.

"There's only one thing to do," said Jack with decision, "and that is to turn back and warn Captain Simms of what is going on."

The Curlew was headed about and a few moments later was in sight of Musky Bay again.

CHAPTER XI.

A SWIM WITH A MEMORY

"So they did find me out, after all?" said Captain Simms grimly, after he had heard the boys' story. "Well, it will not do them much good. I am well armed and the government is at my back. If I get the chance I will deal with those rascals with no uncertain hand."

"Why don't you have them arrested right now?" asked Noddy.

"Because it would be premature to do so at the present moment. The agents of several nations are keen on getting a copy of the code. If these men were arrested, it would reveal, directly, the whereabouts of the code and its author."

"It seems too bad such rascals can carry on their intrigues without being punished," said Jack.

As it was noon by that time, and the appetites of all were sharp set, Captain Simms invited the boys to have lunch with him. It was a simple meal, consisting mainly of fish; but the boys did ample justice to it, and finished up with some pie, which the captain had brought from Clayton to replenish his larder.

After dinner the capricious breeze died out entirely. The heat was intense, and the water glittered like a sheet of molten glass. The boys looked longingly at the bay, however. The idea of a cool swim seemed very attractive just then. Captain Simms had left them to their own devices while he took a nap.

"Tell you what," said Billy, "let's take a swim, eh, fellows?"

"Suits me down to the ground," said Jack.

"Suits me down to the water," grinned Noddy.

They had bathing trunks on their boat, and, having found what looked like a good spot, a little cove with a sandy beach, they disrobed and were soon sporting in the water.

"Ouch! It's colder than I thought it was," cried Noddy.

"You'll soon warm up," encouraged Jack. "I'll race you out to that anchored boat."

"Bully for you," cried Billy.

"You're on," echoed Noddy, not to be outdone. But, as a matter of fact, the red-headed lad, who had eaten far more than the others, wasn't feeling very well. However, he did not wish to spoil the fun, so he didn't say anything.

Jack and Billy struck out with long, strong strokes.

"Come on," cried Jack, looking back at Noddy, who was left behind, and who began to feel worse and worse. "What's the trouble – want a tow-rope?"

"I'll beat you yet, Jack Ready," cried Noddy, fighting off a feeling of nausea.

"I guess I went in the water too soon after eating," he thought. "It will wear off."

"Help!"

The single, half-choked cry for aid reached the ears of Jack and Billy when they were almost at the anchored boat, which was the objective point of the race.

"Great Cæsar!" burst from Jack. "What's up now?"

He turned round just in time to see Noddy's arms go up in the air. Then the red-headed lad sank out of sight like a stone.

"He can't be fooling, can he?" exclaimed Billy nervously.

"He wouldn't be so silly as to do that," rejoined Jack, who was already striking out for the spot where Noddy had vanished. Billy followed him closely.

They were still some yards off when Noddy suddenly reappeared. He was struggling desperately, and his eyes seemed to be popping out of his head. His arms circled wildly, splashing the water helplessly. Then he disappeared once more.

"Heavens, he is drowning," choked out Jack. "We must save him, Billy."

"Of course we will, old boy," panted Billy, upon whom the pace was beginning to tell.

Jack reached the spot where the disturbed water showed that Noddy had gone down for the second time. Just as he gained the place Noddy shot up again. He was totally unconscious and sank again almost instantly.

Like a flash Jack was after him, diving down powerfully. He grasped Noddy round the chest under the arms.

"Noddy! Noddy!" he exclaimed, as they shot to the surface. But the lad's eyes were closed, his face was deadly white, and his matted hair lay over his eyes. A terrible thought invaded Jack's mind. What if Noddy were dead and had been rescued too late?

"Here, give me one of his arms. We must get him ashore as quickly as we can," cried Billy.

"That's right; he's a dead weight. Oh, Billy, I hope that he isn't – "

A moan came from Noddy. Suddenly he opened his eyes and grasped at Jack wildly, with five times his normal strength. The movement was so unexpected that Jack was dragged under water. But the next moment Noddy's drowning grip relaxed and they rose to the surface.

"He's unconscious again," panted Jack. "He'll be all right, now. Take hold, Billy, and we'll make for the shore."

It was an exhausting swim, but at last they reached shallow water, and, ceasing swimming, carried Noddy to the beach. They anxiously bent over him.

"We must get that water out of his lungs," declared Jack, who knew something of how to treat the half-drowned.

Luckily, an old barrel had drifted ashore not far off, and over this poor Noddy was rolled and pounded and then hoisted up by the ankles till most of the water was out of his lungs and he began to take deep, gasping breaths.

But it was a long time before he was strong enough to get on his feet, and even then his two chums had to support him back to Captain Simms' house, where they received a severe lecture for going in the water so soon after eating.

"It was an awful sensation," declared Noddy. "It just hit me like an electric shock. I couldn't move a limb. Then I don't remember much of anything more till I found myself on the beach."

Noddy's deep gratitude to his friends may be imagined, but it was too painful a subject to be talked about. It was a long while, however, before any of them got over the recollection of Noddy's peril.

CHAPTER XII.

A TALE FROM THE FROZEN LANDS

Although Noddy had recovered remarkably quick, thanks to his rugged constitution, from the effects of his immersion, Captain Simms ordered him on the sick-list and he was, much against his will, sent to bed.

"He'd better stay there all night," said the captain. "We don't want to run any risks of pneumonia. I don't suppose your uncle will worry about you?"

"He's got over that long ago," laughed Jack; "besides, there's a professor stopping at the hotel who is on the lookout for funny plants and herbs. That's Uncle Toby's long suit, you know."

"So I have heard," smiled the captain. "Well, you boys may as well make yourselves at home."

"Thank you, we will," said Billy. Whereat there was a general laugh.

There was a phonograph and a good selection of records in the cottage, so they managed to while away a pleasant afternoon. Jack cooked supper, "just by way of paying for our board," he said. After the meal they sat up for a time listening to Captain Simms' tales of seal poachers in the Arctic and the trouble they give the patrol assigned to see that they do not violate the international boundary, and other laws. Before he had taken command of the Thespis, of the Ice-berg Patrol, Captain Simms had been detailed to command of the Bear revenue cutter, and had chased and captured many a sealer who was plying his trade illicitly.

The boys listened attentively as he told them of the rough hardships of such a life, and how, sometimes, a whole fleet of sealers, if frozen in by an early formation of ice, must face hunger and sometimes death till the spring came to release them from their imprisonment.

"It must take a lot of nerve and courage to be a sealer," said Jack.

"It certainly does," agreed the captain. "Yet I heard from one sealing captain the story of a young fellow whom it turned from a weak coward into a brave man. This lad, who was regarded as a weakling, saved himself and two companions from a terrible death simply by an act of almost sublime courage. Would you like to hear the story?"

"If you don't mind spinning the yarn," said Jack.

"Well, then," began the captain, "to start with, the name of my hero is Shavings. Of course he had another name, but that's the one he was always known by, and I've forgotten the right one. He was a long-legged, lanky Vermont farmer, with dank strings of yellow hair hanging about his mild face. This hair gave him his nickname aboard the sealing schooner, Janet Barry, on which he signed as a boat man. How Shavings came to St. Johns, from which port the Janet Barry sailed, or why he picked out such a job, nobody ever knew. He had, as sailors say, 'hayseed in his hair' and knew nothing about a ship.

"But what he didn't know he soon learned under the rough method of tuition they employed on the Barry. A mate with a rope's end sent him aloft for the first time and kept sending him there till Shavings learned how to clamber up the ratlines with the best of them. He learned boat-work in much the same way, although he passed through a lot of experiences while chasing seals, that scared him badly. He told the captain long afterward that, although he was afraid of storms and gales, still he sometimes welcomed them, because he knew the boats would not have to go out.

"One day, far to the north, they ran into an exceptionally fine school of seals. All the boats were sent away, and among them the one to which Shavings belonged. In command of this boat was Olaf Olsen, the mate who had taught Shavings the rudiments of his profession by means of hard knocks. Dark clouds were scurrying across the sky, and the sea looked angry, but that made no difference to the sealers. Lives or no lives, women in the States had to have their sealskin coats.

"So the boats pursued the seals for a long distance, and in the excitement nobody noticed what the weather was doing. Nobody, that is, but Shavings, and he didn't dare to say that it was growing worse, for fear of angering the mate. The hunters harpooned a goodly catch before the gale was upon the little fleet almost without warning.

"Then the storm broke with a screech and a massing of angry water. The boats had been under sail, and in a flash two of them were over-turned. Shavings saw all this with terror in his eyes and a cold clutch at his heart. He knew the men in those boats would never go sealing again.

"Then his eyes fell on the mate, Olaf Olsen. The man appeared to be petrified with fright. He made no move to do anything. Then something in Shavings seemed to wake up.

"Perhaps that yellow hair of his was a survival of some old Viking strain, or perhaps all those months of rough sea life had made him over without his knowing it. But he seized the mate and shook him by the shoulder:

"'Give an order, man!' he shouted. 'Order the sail reefed.'

"But the sight of the death of his shipmates had so unnerved the mate that he could no nothing. Shavings kicked him disgustedly, and went about the job himself. Clouds of spray burst over him. Time and again he was within an inch of being swept overboard, but at last he had the sail reefed down. Then he took the tiller and headed back for the schooner across the immense seas through the screeching gale.

"He handled that boat skillfully, meeting the big seas and riding their summits, only to be buried the next instant in the watery valley between the giant combers. But always he rose. He had the cheering sight of the schooner before him and it grew closer. The boat sailed more on her beam than on her keel, but at last Shavings, more dead than alive, ran her in under the lee of the schooner's hull, and willing hands got the survivors out of the boat.