Gordon McCreagh

“ Given a beautiful girl, a hammock, and the impending prospect of an indefinite separation, three o’clock in the afternoon arrives all too soon. When Ensign Rankin came to the officers’ mess, hurrying to make up for lost time, and trying to carry off an air of innocence as if he had been looking for his chief for quite a while, a couple of juniors looked furtively at him. ”

“ Out at sea you’d lose yourself in ten minutes. And when you’ve missed her, how are you coming back? Two hundred out and two hundred back, to say nothing if another hundred or so lost in overhauling her and scouting around. Why, man, there’s not a machine in the service capable of making that. Certainly not without special preparation. No, sir; the chance is too desperate for me to order any man out on a thing like that.”
Rankin’s enthusiasm, fell with a cruel slump, and all the happy eagerness died out of his face. ”

“ Instead, she rushed back and forth and up and down like a questing terrier and every now and then she barked viciously as one gun crew or another fired at anything which appeared to them to have the remotest chance of being a shark’s fin.
For a full half hour she hunted, and then at slower speed she steamed for the soggy, slowly sinking raft. ”

“ Official dignity relaxed just a trifle before the bitterness of the young man’s disappointment.
“I’m sorry,” the commandant said again. “But this flying business is dangerous enough as it is without our adding to it by overlooking the slightest imperfection in the human machine. The service requires a full twenty in eyesight, and your test measures up only eighteen. Therefore you have been judged ‘unfit for aviation.’”
The hundred and sixty pounds of hard, lean athlete stiffened yet further with the fighting spirit.
“Then, with your permission, sir, I shall appeal for a waiver. ”

“ Under their practised handling the machine was ready for its great task in record time.
“I swiped a Sperry synchronized driftset and compass from the yard, Jim,” panted Rankin.
“You did!” shouted Jim, and his face lit. “That’s the first slim chance I see, then, of our picking up your darned ship. Mighty like hunting the needle in the haystack anyway. How far’s she out?”
“Commandant said two hundred miles.”
“Good stuff! If any bus in the country can do it, mine will. She makes just over the hundred per hour, and she’s fitted with every mechanical improvement there is.” ”

“ I can’t charge these summer sports more than fifteen dollars a jump; upkeep is something fierce; and I’m still in the hole for about three thousand bucks. I figured to clear by the end of the season.”
“But don’t you see, Jim,” Rankin appealed piteously, “it’s the only way! And she’s running right into deadly danger! My ship! A United States fighting-ship, Jim. ”

“ That great man’s usually impassive face was flushed with uneasiness. The sheaf of decoded messages was clutched into a crumpled ball in his hand.
It must surely be something of the most extreme urgency, thought Rankin, which would bring the lord of all the navy-yard universe hurrying to the radio station in person. The commandant’s whole attention, in fact, was directed fiercely at the operator.
“Get me that bearing!” he shot at him. “I must have that bearing! Seventy-two west, you say; is that correct? But the latitude, man; what’s the latitude?”
“Correct as I can catch it, sir. ”

“ Evans continued. “Only don’t get lost. Stick around the yard somewhere; because we’re under orders to hold ourselves in readiness to put out at a moment’s notice, and all leave has been cut short.”
“Very well, sir.”
“All right. See you around three o’clock then.”
Rankin’s was a war commission. That is to say, his rating in the naval militia had been accepted at its face value by the navy. He was therefore a full-blown ensign, just the same as any Annapolis graduate, much to the indignation of those same graduates, who had spent many toilsome years in qualifying for the same rank. ”

“ The operator’s face went blank at the thought.
“Destroyer Woodruff? Sorry, sir. Can’t pick her up. Been trying for an hour. Wireless must be out of commission.”
“You can’t pick— My God! Dead in her course, too!” The flush of excitement on the commandant’s stern face had paled. “Call again, man! Keep on calling, and don’t stop!”
The tenseness was broken by the flashing crackle which streamed again from the sender. The commandant waited, tapping his foot in his agitation. Into his ferment Rankin with all his inexperience of official propriety intruded. ”

“ We’ll be sorry to lose you now.”
“Lose me?” wondered Rankin.
“Well,” Commander Evans spoke with slow deliberation. “I suppose you’ll be reassigned to aviation after this. It’s not every day that one saves a United States destroyer, you know.”
Rankin’s heart jumped and he felt his color rising; and since it is not seemly for an aviator to display emotion he saluted hastily and turned to go. The deliberate voice stopped him.
“Better put in a claim for that machine. Since she’s been in active service I guess the navy’ll take her over.”
“Thank you, sir.” ”

“ Yes, sir; somebody’s all excited up somewhere; coding like mad. Trying to give a bearing, but I can’t get it. There she goes again! If you’ll wait a bit, sir, I’ll try your ship again soon’s I’m clear.”
Rankin waited, feeling vaguely uneasy about the breakdown of his ship’s wireless. The key crackled on, harsh, powerful, suggestive of imminent mystery somewhere. Rankin’s elementary study of the international Morse presently recognized the recurring dash-dot, dash-dot as “repeat.” Suddenly the operator sprang to his feet and stood to rigid attention.
Rankin wheeled, and saw—the commandant! ”

“ The older man, keen old veteran, with practised anticipation of all possible eventualities, had put his finger with unerring accuracy on each of the weak spots. Nor did he magnify their weakness at all. ”

“ Militia commissions were always looked upon with disfavor by the Annapolis men. Rankin, for instance, had put in just two months with the naval militia of his State, and had been elected to a commission by his fellows on account of his happy popularity and his superior experience in flying. ”

“ The commandant’s eyes were steely.
“It will do you no good to appeal to Washington for a waiver, Mr. Rankin. There have been a few cases, I admit—a very few, like Williams and Steffanson—but only after the men concerned have proved themselves to be expert beyond all question in spite of their physical shortcomings. ”

“ He made the radio station in just two jumps. The operator saluted him quite hastily.
“Yes, sir. Crowded with official business just now, sir; but I’ll be able to put your message through in about fifteen minutes. Where can I send the answer, sir? I guess I’ll have no trouble pickin’ up your ship.”
“His ship” again. The words jarred with an indefinable sensation. It conveyed an impression of irrevocable divorce from his ambition—aviation. Everybody seemed to regard him already as a part of the line organization. ”

“ Easy of explanation; but for an aeroplane flying over water with no landmarks to guide, a considerable calculation. And time! Every minute of time counted so vitally! To arrive at a correct conclusion many factors had to be taken into consideration, the least error in the smallest of which would mean many miles of difference.
The main factors, of course, were actual speed through the air and wind speed. ”