bird could understand."

"Well, I shall try," the littlest Bunker declared confidently.

Anyhow, it was decided that the sea-eagle would have to be released
before Mun Bun learned to talk the eagle language. The quartermaster who
was Russ and Rose's particular friend, came along with some raw meat
scraps for the big bird; but the children had to go to breakfast before
the bird gobbled these up. He was very shy.

Later in the forenoon Russ and Rose were walking along the deck near a
little house amidships and they heard a funny crackling sound--a
crackling and snapping like a fresh wood fire. They stopped and looked
all around.

"I don't see any smoke," said Russ. "But there's a fire somewhere."

"What is that mast with the wires up there for, Russ?" asked his sister,
looking upward.

"Oh! Daddy told me that was the wireless mast," Russ exclaimed.

"But that can't be," said Rose warmly. "It has wires hitched to it; so
it can't be wire_less_."

"You know, Rose, they talk from ship to ship, and to the shore, by
wireless."

"What does that mean?" returned the girl. "A telegraph?"