CHAPTER XXI

BY A HAIR’S-BREADTH

The shouts of the Radio Boys were echoed by cries from other throats, for several of the officers and many of the crew of the _Meteor_ had been watching the oncoming steamer.

Up rose the vessel inch by inch, foot by foot, slowly but surely, the dripping slope of the hull that had up to now been below the waterline rising above the surface. It was as though some monster of the sea had gripped the keel and was pushing it aloft.

For a moment the boys stood stunned and paralyzed. They felt as though they were in a nightmare. They could scarcely believe their eyes. Were the laws of nature being reversed? What mysterious force was lifting this huge vessel with its cargo of freight and human souls? And what gigantic lever was this mysterious force pressing?

Bob was the first of the boys to grasp the meaning of the phenomenon.

“Look!” he shouted. “Look at the iceberg! It’s tipping the other way.”

The other lads followed the direction of Bob’s pointing finger and saw the peak of the great berg slowly careening in a direction opposite to that of the apparently doomed vessel. And as it dipped in one direction, the ship was lifted that much higher in the other.

Then they understood.

The captain, in running so close to the berg, had apparently forgotten for the moment that a great spur of the monster might be projecting horizontally under the surface of the water. This had happened to be the fact in this particular case. The ship had come so close that the wash from its engines had disturbed the delicate equilibrium of the berg and it had tipped. As it careened, the underwater spur rose with it, and as the vessel was passing over it at the time, the spur had come up like a mighty hand and lifted the ship with it.

“She’ll be thrown off!” cried Joe, pantingly.

“And probably turn turtle!” added Herb, horrified.

The boy’s faces were as pale as death as they sensed the nearness of tragedy. If the ship were upset, it might mean the loss of scores of lives.

Their agony of apprehension was increased by the certainty that they could do nothing to prevent it. They had to stand by helplessly, and perhaps see fellow men go to their death.

“Nothing but a miracle can save them,” muttered Bob, between his clenched teeth.

And at just that instant the “miracle” happened.

There was a sharp report, and the great pinnacle of the berg snapped off on the side opposite to the ship and fell with a thunderous splash into the sea. The berg, relieved of the weight on the side to which it was leaning, began to swing back again like a pendulum.

As it did so, the spur sank deeper, letting the ship down again into the water. Sliding, grating, rasping, the vessel slipped into deeper water until she again rode the sea at her regular water line.

Then, like a frightened deer released from the grasp of the hunter, the ship that had had such a narrow escape hastened away from the icy monster until it had got safely out of reach.

A gasp of relief broke from the boys and from all the witnesses of what was almost a tragedy.

“Gee!” exclaimed Bob, wiping away the sweat that had started from his brow under the tremendous mental strain. “That’s a case of looking death straight in the eyes and yet getting away from him.”

“I don’t want to see any shave so close as that again,” ejaculated Joe.

“They seem to have been injured,” remarked Herb. “The vessel is slowing down.”

“It would be surprising if they hadn’t been hurt,” observed Jimmy. “They didn’t have time to shut off steam, and their screws probably came in contact with the ice. But they haven’t any kick coming if it’s only an injury to the vessel they’ve got to worry about. They ought to be glad that they’re still alive.”

The vessel had now come to a stop, and signals were interchanged with the _Meteor_ by wireless that caused the latter to swing about in its course and steam toward the injured ship.

When within a few hundred feet, the _Meteor_ lowered a boat and sent over a party in command of Lieutenant Milton.

It developed that, as the boys had conjectured, the screw of the vessel had suffered from contact with the ice, and Captain Springer loaned the ship the services of some of his skilled mechanics to assist in putting it again in working order.

Several hours were thus consumed, and it was nearly dark before the damage had been sufficiently patched up to permit the vessel to continue the journey that had come so near to being cut short.

It was from Ensign Porter that the Radio Boys later learned the details of the occurrence.

“Just a case for the fool-killer,” the latter told them. “Only in that instance he didn’t happen to be on the job. The captain explained the whole matter sheepishly enough to Lieutenant Milton when he went over.

“The vessel’s a tramp freighter, but of pretty good size. This trip she is carrying as passengers some relatives of the owner.

“It seems that some of the passengers on board had never seen an iceberg before, and they were so crazy over it that they urged the captain to go close to it, so that they could have a better view. He was weak enough to yield to their pleadings, and nearly paid the penalty with his life and theirs. He confessed to the lieutenant that he had forgotten for the moment that a spur might be stretched out under the water.”

“I’ll bet that when he felt the steamer being lifted up he was scared stiff,” remarked Bob.

“That’s a safe bet,” replied the ensign, with a smile. “I shouldn’t be surprised if the carelessness cost him his position. Owners don’t like that kind of man to command their vessels. As for the passengers, it’s safe to say that they’ve lost all curiosity concerning icebergs, and will be content from now on to view them from a distance.

“It was not only the danger from the spur that should have kept him from getting so close,” went on the ensign, “but the possibility of part of the berg falling over on the ship. The bergs are breaking up all the time, and they only need something like the vibrations from a ship’s engine to set them going. The only safe thing with an iceberg is to give it as wide a berth as possible.”

“That underwater spur gives one the creeps,” said Joe. “You can see the iceberg, but you can’t see the spur. It’s like some great devilfish lying in wait to grip you.”

“That’s what it was that ripped the vitals out of the _Titanic_,” said the ensign. “The vessel didn’t come in contact with the part of the berg above the surface. She sensed that she was near the berg, and turned to escape it. But that deadly spur reached out and caught her.”

“I wonder if that disaster would have occurred if they’d known as much about radio as they do now,” observed Jimmy.

“Probably not,” was the reply. “At that time they relied chiefly upon the sudden chill in the air and upon the lookout to warn them of the nearness of the bergs. But both of those reliances were broken reeds. Sometimes the chill in the air under certain atmospheric conditions is scarcely perceptible, and in case of fog or darkness, the lookouts aren’t much good. Now, we on the _Meteor_ could shut our eyes and yet know when we were getting near a berg.”

“How is that?” asked Bob, with interest.

“We have what is called an iceberg alarm,” explained Ensign Porter. “It’s a modification of the apparatus recently used by the navy for ascertaining ocean depths by echoes.”

“Echoes?” said Joe, inquiringly.

“Yes,” was the reply. “You see, a sound wave is sent to the sea bottom by a transmitter, and when it returns as an echo is heaved in a receiver. The interval of time between sending and receiving determines the distance of the bottom from the ship’s hull, since it is known that sound travels at the rate of about one thousand one hundred feet a second.

“Now, by the same methods, echoes may be obtained from icebergs. Precautionary signals are being sent out all the time by the transmitter on board, and when the echoes come back, we can tell if there are any icebergs in the vicinity, just how far off they are, and govern the ship’s movements accordingly.”

“It’s a sort of comforting feeling,” said Herb, “to know that tonight and every night, even while we’re asleep, the iceberg alarm is on the job.”

“Never thought of it before, did you?” asked the ensign. “Uncle Sam’s a pretty good relative, and he looks after the safety of his nephews. This ship has a good many wonders packed between the bow and stern, and you’ll learn more of them before your voyage is over.”

“I guess that’s one of the things that Johnson meant when he was talking to us last night,” observed Joe. “He told us to come into the wireless room some time, and he’d show us what a busy place it is.”

“No time like the present!” exclaimed Bob. “Let’s go now.”