"Cras-ssh! Ash! Ash! Asssh!" the spark roared, as the door closed behind the young Americans and shut out the crowd once more.
This signalling continued steadily and without response for some moments. One of the Plymouth police inspectors, who had taken his place quietly beside young Preston and the girl, explained the delay.
There was no doubt that the Bahia was still within signalling distance, he said; for another ship, far out at sea and bound for Southampton, had heard the call and volunteered that she had passed the Bahia barely half an hour before and that she must still be well within communication.
The freight-clerk operator was obviously busy with his other duties; but he would soon answer. And indeed, after the very next series of signals from his key, the man who had been calling the Bahia stopped his current, stooped suddenly, and clamped the receivers of his recording apparatus over his ears.
"The Bahia is acknowledging, sir!"
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