"Well, any more news? Don't be a mouldy messmate. Hand over half that paper--the part you've read."
"Take this one, Burgoyne," said Withers, the Second Engineer. "There's another boat missing--a week overdue. That's the second this month, an' both between 'Frisco and Kobe."
"Yes, the _Alvarado_," added the purser. "Wasn't that the vessel we sighted off the Sandwich Islands, Burgoyne?"
"Yes, I was officer of the watch," he replied.
"Well, she's gone without a trace as far as we know," said Withers. "And the _Kittiwake_ went in similar circumstances. If the _Alvarado_ had sent out an S.O.S. we should have got it, I suppose. What's the distance--ah, here's our Signor Marconi or our Mark Antony, whatever you please. Say, young fellah-me-lad, what's our wireless radius?"
This question was addressed to Mostyn, a tall slim youth who had just entered the mess-room. His uniform proclaimed him to be one of the wireless operators.
"Two hundred and fifty by day; six hundred by night," replied Mostyn, who then proceeded with the characteristic fervour of a wireless man to let fly a battery of technical terms and formulae.
"'Vast heaving, my lad," interrupted the Second Engineer, with a jovial laugh. "You've floored me. I feel like that young Canuk must have felt when he was shown over the ship last Monday."
"He showed great interest in my scrap heap," replied Withers. "The greatest interest. I explained every mortal thing in the engine-room--twenty-five minutes steady chin-wag. And when I'd finished he just asked: 'And do they work by steam or gasoline?' I've been off my feed ever since," he added pathetically.
"To get back to the _Alvarado_," said the purser "It's jolly strange for a vessel to drop out of existence nowadays and leave no trace. We can dismiss the mine theory. Fritz didn't try that game on in the North Pacific, and it's hardly likely that the mine laid by the Japs in '05 would be still barging about. Rammed a derelict? Blown up by internal explosion? Turned turtle during a hurricane?"
"A hurricane, perhaps," replied Burgoyne. "We had it a bit stiff just about that time--when Robert was lost overboard."
"Ships do vanish," continued the pessimistic purser. "Wireless and other scientific gadgets notwithstanding. I remember----"