"By the by," observed Captain Restronguet, as he entered the cabin, "I have already sent a reassuring message concerning you to the British Admiralty."
"You have! How?" asked Hythe in astonishment. "You are not fitted with wireless?"
"And why not? As a matter of fact we are; with one of the latest type of Raldorf-Holperfeld instruments, which, as you know, do not require out-board aerials. The message is received by an automatic recorder."
"And, might I ask, with whom do you communicate?"
"That need not be kept a secret from you, Mr. Hythe."
"Because I wish to detain you on board the ’Aphrodite’ until I have no further use for secret correspondents. My wish is law, Mr. Hythe, and please to remember that. At the same time I wish to make your period of enforced detention pass as pleasantly as possible, and you will have complete facilities, up to a certain point, of gaining valuable information that will in time to come amply recompense you for any slight inconvenience that might arise."
"But my career? Remember, sir, I’m a naval officer."
"Of course. That is one reason why I think fit to keep you. Had you been an ordinary or even an able seaman, I should have taken the first opportunity of putting you ashore, with hardly any chance of your seeing anything on board the vessel that might be put to my disadvantage. As soon as I learned that you were a naval sub-lieutenant I made up my mind to retain you as my guest for awhile."
"Then you are going to release O’Shaunessey?"
"Not at present. He, too, will serve a good purpose. He will be able to corroborate my statement that you will be honourably treated."
"But that will be unnecessary. Surely my word----"
"I have every confidence in the word of an officer and a gentleman, Mr. Hythe. But my proposals are rarely influenced by circumstances other than the workings of Providence. You asked me a question concerning my shore agents. The answer is this: so long as the Government bestows licences upon private individuals to dabble in wireless telegraphy experiments it is a simple matter to keep in touch with events ashore. My principal agent lives in Highgate. He is a skilled operator, but he has contrived to keep his capabilities masked under the role of a harmless amateur. By advancing or retarding the spark of the powerful coil of his instrument he can ’tap’ any messages, whether from British or foreign warships, within seven hundred miles, while on occasions he has accurately read messages from Cape Race. Of course, most of the naval messages are in code, and are unintelligible to the uninitiated. Nevertheless I can learn all outside news from this particular agent even when in the Mediterranean. For short distances we make use of wireless telephony, and by this means I can communicate with trusty agents in Devonport, Portsmouth, Sheet-ness and Chatham, and under certain circumstances with Rosyth and Dundee."