Bert Wilson, Wireless Operator

ing

running amuck! Qui

unning feet, of hoarse yells, a shriek of pain and terror as a knife b

reamed in the wind, his eyes were lurid with the wild light of insanity, his lips were parted in a savage snarl, and he was foaming at the mouth. He had lost all semblance of humanity, and as he stood there looking for another victim, he might have been transported bodily from one of Doré's pictures of Dante's Inferno. Su

espeaks splendid physical condition. They had been laughing and jesting and were evidently on excellent terms with life. Their eyes were bright, their faces tinged with the bronzed red of perfect health, the blood ran warmly through thei

t they looked up curiou

e now at flood. He had made all his preparations for death, had prayed to his deities, blackened his teeth as a sign of his intention, and devoted himself to the infernal gods. Then by the use of maddening drugs he had worked himself into a state of wild delirium and started forth to slay. They had sought to stop him as he rushed out from the cook's galley, but he had slashed wildly right and lef

fists, had always proved sufficient, and they shared the healthy American repugnance at relying on anything else than nature had given them. There was no way to evade the issue. Had they turned, the madman, with the im

, and the next instant the would-be murderer was thrown headlong to the pier, his knife clattering harmlessly to one side. The three were on him at once, and, though he fought like a wildcat,

t was the dandiest tackle I ever saw, and I've seen you make a good many. If you'd done that in

now, I never had so much at stake before. Even at that I guess it would have been a

was on the side of the knife hand and so got there first. But it was a fearfully close shave

ort of thing goes a great way. If this is a sample of what we

ean, you're going to find it a different proposition from sailing on a mill pond, and I shouldn't

summoned rattled up to the pier, at top speed, and took charge of the wounded sailor, while a patrol wagon carried the maniac to the city prison. The throng melted

fore now, but never yet on this side of the big pond. That fellow has been sullen and moody for days, but I've been so busy getting ready to sail that I didn't give it a second thought. I had a bead drawn on the beggar when he was making toward you, but did

sman. "My name is Wilson, and these are my

se. "Why, not the wireless operator that the com

replied Be

g would take place under such exciting circumstances. You can't complain that we didn't give you a warm re

had been a momentous year for him in more ways than one. He had won distinction in his studies-a matter of some satisfaction to his teachers. But he had been still more prominent on the college diamond-a matter of more satisfaction to his fellow students. He had just emerged from a

he looked up from some papers, "

and then whirled about in his offic

ummer, Wilson?" he asked. "Hav

earn some during the vacation, to help me cover my expenses for next year. I've written to my Congressman at Washington to try to get me work in one of the wireless stations o

reless operator. The last one was careless and incompetent, and the line had to let him go. Mr. Quinby is an old grad of the college, and an intimate personal friend of mine. He knows the thoroughness of our scientific course"-here a note of pride crept into the Dean's voice-"and he wri

uddenly made a splendid possibility. China and the islands of the sea, the lands of fruits and flowers, of lotus and palm, of minarets and pagodas, of glorious dawns and glittering noons and spa

ort and saw the Dean regardin

d I should like so well. That is," he added, "if you are sure I can d

des, and that you are quicker to detect and remedy a defect than any boy in your class. From theory to practice will not be far, and he is confident that before your ship clears the Golden Gate you'll know every secret of its wireless equipment from A to Z. I don'

can't thank you enough for your kindness and co

ils of time and place had been settled, Bert took the extended hand of

back. More than once they had faced serious injury or possible death together, in their many scrapes and adventures, and the way they had backed each other up had convinced each that he had in the others comrades staunch and true. During the present year, they had all been members of the baseball tea

Tom grabbed his hand and clapped him on the ba

es-and the tomtoms-and the bazaars-and the jinrikishas-and all the rest. By the time he g

good American, and probably all I'll see abroad will only make me the more glad to see the Star

ttle, and a slight sense of constraint fell upon them. All were thin

how I wish that Dick an

asked Dic

looked at him

"You don't really thi

But Father promised me a trip abroad at the end of my course, if I got through all right, and, under the circumstances, he may be willing to anticipate a little. Then too, you know, he's a red-hot baseball fan, and he's tickled to death at th

t made things hum on the Overland Limited, as it climbed the Rockies and dropped down the western slope to the ocean. The world smiled upon them. Life ran riot within them. They had no inkling of how closely death would graze them before