Men of the Secret Service were scattered about the room as well as department officials. The air was tense with expectancy. At last Thurman's message came.
"Tell him he will be liberally rewarded," ordered the naval official. "Tell him to give us the information at once. That fellow has been playing with us all day, and we've been powerless to outwit the Universal Detector, or whatever device it is he uses. The man must be a wizard to have solved a problem that has baffled the keenest minds in the Navy Bureau."
"Reward is assured you," flashed back the naval operator. "Now give us your information. Time is precious."
But Thurman's answer proved disappointing to those in the room.
"Impossible to do so now. Inventor is on the high seas. Will wireless you later when he will return."
"Confound it," grumbled the naval official. "I thought we would have had our hands on the fellow before daylight. Now it seems we shall have to play a waiting game."
"If the man is on the high seas, it is not unlikely that he is the wireless man on one of the liners," put in Burns, a spare, grizzled man and Chief of the Secret Service.
"That's probable, Burns," rejoined the navy official.
"More than likely, I think," put in another member of the group, "but it's impossible to find out which one."
"Yes, we are at the mercy of our unknown informant," said Burns. "Why the deuce was he so mysterious about it?" He tugged at his gray mustache as a sudden thought struck him.
"Jove!" he exclaimed. "You don't think it's a put-up job to get money out of the government? Put up, I mean, by an agent of the inventor himself."
"I don't know, Burns," was the official's reply. "It's all mighty mysterious. I confess I can't hazard a guess as to the man's identity. We've looked up all the most prominent wireless sharps all over the country. I am satisfied this fellow is not one of their number."
"Some obscure fellow, I guess," said a Secret Service man.
"Well, he won't remain obscure long," remarked Burns, "if he has brains enough to turn the navy department topsy-turvy for forty-eight hours."
Two days later the monotony of the voyage, which was broken only by the radiograms which were posted daily concerning the race between the American and British liners--the _Columbia_ being in the lead--was rudely shattered by an incident in which Jack was destined to play an important part. Jack had been on a visit to Raynor during the young engineer's night watch in the engine-room. They had stayed chatting and talking over old times till Jack suddenly realized that it was long after midnight and time for him to be in his bunk.