“It’s a date,” Sally agreed.

That evening Barbara went to a movie with one of the girls who had come in on the same train. Left to herself, Sally sat for a long time in her dark room just thinking.

Those were long, long thoughts. She had been there long enough to realize as never before what a change was to come into her life.

“I’m in for the duration,” she thought with a thrill and a shudder. How long would the duration be? No one knew that. One thing was sure. Life, all kinds of life, grows broader.

“It’s like a river on its way to the sea,” she thought. The life of the WAVES was sure to be like that. Just now they were not asked to go outside the United States. How long would this last? Not long, perhaps.

“I almost hope it won’t,” she told, herself. And yet she shuddered afresh at the thought of life aboard a transport or a destroyer with wolf-packs of enemy subs haunting the black waters.

“But there’s C. K.’s radio,” she told herself. “A sea trip would give me a grand chance to try it out.”

That this radio was a marvelous invention she did not doubt, yet the modest, over-careful old man had forbidden her to mention it to a single person who might be interested in its use and promotion.

“I may discover flaws in it,” had been his word. “There is always plenty of time. You just take these two sets and try them out, test them in every way you can. Then let me know what you discover.”

“‘Let me know what you discover,’” she whispered. She had made a discovery of a sort, that very afternoon. Something very like a radio message in code had come in on her secret wave length, where it was thought no messages had ever been sent.

“I’ll try it again,” she told herself. Springing to her feet, she dragged the black box from its hiding place.

With the lights still off, she turned on a switch to watch the many tubes glow red. After twisting two dials and adjusting one of them very carefully, she listened intently and, after a moment’s wait, was thrilled once again by the low “put—put—put (wait) put—put (wait) put—put—put” again.

After turning a dial half around, she listened again. The sound came, but this time very faintly.

Yes, even as she listened, there came another 

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