As the destroyer had combed the sea for her prey, so she combed the air by her wireless for news of the raider. And when the news came it was as unexpected as it was welcome. The men were offering wagers that the destroyer would end in seeing New York again rather than sighting the _Sea Pigeon_, when just after the wheel and lookout were relieved at four bells of the morning watch, the radio began to show much activity. Messengers passed, running to and fro from the station to the officers’ quarters. There was not usually much radio work at this hour, and the watch on deck began to take notice. George Belding slid around to the radio room and showed a questioning countenance to Sparks who was himself on duty. “What’s doing, sir?” he asked the radio chief. “Well, we haven’t picked up your particular S O S; but there is trouble somewhere dead ahead.” “I can feel that the engines are increasing speed, sir,” Belding said. “Does it mean that we may have a scrap with a sure-enough Hun?” “The message sounds like it,” admitted the radio man softly. “There’ll be trouble, I reckon. You’ll hear all about it, soon enough.” Commander Lang himself appeared on the bridge, and this was a surprisingly early hour for him. Other officers gathered, and there began a somewhat excited conference. The boatswain’s mates failed to pipe the clothes lines triced up. Half an hour earlier than usual the hammocks were ordered stowed. Ikey Rosenmeyer, who loved to sleep till the last minute, was tumbled out unceremoniously and had to stow his hammock in his shirt! The hammock stowers likewise stopped down the hammock cloths early, and the whole crew had their mess gear served out long before the galley was ready to pipe breakfast. During the meal hour word was passed to shift into uniform instead of work clothes. “It’s extra drill, I bet,” declared one of the boys pessimistically. “More work for the wicked.” “There is something doing, sure enough,” Phil Morgan declared. “I think we shall be piped to stations before long.” He had not seen George Belding then. When the latter reported what he had heard at the radio room Whistler was more than ever confident that there was something of importance about to take place. It was some time, however, before the real fact went abroad among the members of the crew. The radio had indeed brought news at last of the raider. She was supposed to be lurking near a point not more than two hours’ run ahead of the _Colodia_. A report from a cattleship had been caught, stating that she was chased just at daybreak by a steamship that was heavily armed with deck guns, and that she surely would have been overtaken by the enemy had fog not shut down and given the cattle boat a chance to zig-zag away on a new course. The description of the attacking vessel fitted that of the raider, _Sea Pigeon_. Commander Lang and his officers believed that there was a chance of meeting the German--of approaching her, indeed, unheralded.