Chapter ELEVEN

Day after day had passed in continuous patrol by the aircraft units without event. The concentrated destroyer and cruiser patrol discussed by the President and his cabinet in Washington had not been established, as the experts of the naval staff had considered it would be ineffectual in the circumstances. By this time practically all the aircraft of the aerial patrol developed in detail at the conference in Washington had been placed at their respective posts over the Pacific Ocean, and the whole plan was functioning well. The airway had remained clear so far as anything of piratical intent was concerned, and the aerial transit lines were very close to normal again.

So the daily round of routine passed until one morning, about ten weeks after the pirate had made his conspicuous advent, the operator at the Honolulu naval wireless station was suddenly moved into intensive concentration by strange signals in the receivers about his ears. Although they were continuous wave signals and lacked the individuality of the old type spark signals, there was nevertheless a very familiar aspect about the sending itself that caused the operator to pay the closest attention to the signals.

Switching hurriedly to the Direction Finder apparatus he began to work feverishly with the searching coil, moving it around slowly within the radius of a narrow arc as he adjusted the delicate receiving instruments connected with it. While he worked with excited but skillful haste, he turned around to his assistant and exclaimed:

“I’ve got the pirate. Get Manila and Guam on the cable quick. Tell them to get a bearing on him. He’s using a five thousand meter wave. Rush it before he stops sending.”

The assistant jumped to the table where the cable apparatus was located and in a few seconds had flashed the news across the Pacific that set the operators at the other two control stations busy.

“Gee!”, yelled the chief operator in delight after a few more seconds intensive work, “I’ve got my bearing on him. If the other fellows hurry up they can get one too before he stops. Get Mr. Heathcote on the ’phone. Tell him we’ve got the pirate, and that we’ve got a bearing on him. My bearing reads W by S 78. Rush it quick now. This looks like the best chance we may get.”

In response to the telephone message Commodore Heathcote came rushing over to the wireless station personally.

“Have you heard from Manila or Guam yet?” he inquired.

“Not yet, Sir,” replied the operator.

“Is the pirate still sending?”

“No Sir, he stopped just before you came in.”

At this moment the cable instruments began to work, and the assistant operator read out aloud each word from off the tape as it came in:

“Guam--got--bearing--on--pirate--just--before--he stopped--sending--but not--finally--adjusted--for maximum--signals--bearing--as--obtained--is--E by S 82.”

“Fine,” said Commodore Heathcote, “you say yours was W by S 78. Alright, give me that chart.”

Quickly and steadily the air officer worked out the triangulation of the bearing on the chart, first obtaining the bearing line on the Honolulu reading, then one from the Guam bearing. When this was completed he continued the resulting lines across the chart until they crossed one another.

“That puts him roughly in latitude 16.50 N. and longitude 179 W.” he mused to himself, “Let’s see now, that’s about 700 miles from Wake Island, and--er--about 500 miles from Johnston Island.”

Turning to the operator he said: “Get Commander Fitzgerald on the cable at Wake Island quickly. Tell him we have heard the pirate sending by wireless from Latitude 16.50 N. and Longitude 179 W. Tell him to rush to that position at full speed with every available machine in his squadron. Tell him that we will advise him by wireless code of any change in the pirate’s position we may get. If he doesn’t hear from us again, tell him to make a general search of that vicinity as soon as he arrives there. By the way you haven’t heard from Manila, have you?”

“No, Sir.”

“Alright, get Wake Island first, then when you have sent the message call up Manila and ask him if he got a bearing. If he did we may be able to work out a more definite position.”

The assistant operator at the cable complied with the Commodore’s request, and in a few moments got an acknowledgment of the receipt of the message from Wake Island. Then he called up Manila. After a short conversation with the operator at the latter station, he told the Commodore that Manila had not been able to get his instruments adjusted properly before the pirate stopped sending.

“Alright, never mind, we’ll do the best we can with this,” said Commodore Heathcote, “Let’s see now, there’s no cable at Johnston Island is there? Well, I don’t know whether it would be advisable to notify the squadron there by wireless or not. The position that we would have to give with the message would tip the pirate off that we were on his trail. Wait a little while till we hear from Fitzgerald, and then I’ll tell you what to do. In any case it will not take the machines at Johnston Island so long to get to the position as it will Fitzgerald’s squadron.”

About five minutes later a cable reply was received from Commodore Fitzgerald at Wake Island. It said that fourteen airplanes of the squadron stationed on the island were ready to take off and would start out immediately to the position given.

“That’s fine,” said Heathcote, “it will take them about three and a half hours to get there. Fitzgerald will undoubtedly use his judgment in spreading his forces so as to cover as wide an area as possible. Keep our ears open for the pirate, and if he sends again get a bearing on him if possible so that we can get an idea of the course he is following. Tell Manila and Guam the same thing over the cable. Don’t use your wireless at all. I’ll be back again soon and let you know when to advise the Johnston Island squadron. If you get another position let me know immediately.”

“Alright sir,” replied the operator.

Before Commodore Heathcote got to the door, the operator at the cable instruments called to him to wait a moment as a message was coming. A few seconds later, he said:

“It’s from Wake Island, sir, he says that Commander Fitzgerald with fourteen airplanes has just left in pursuit of the pirate.”