Thunderstruck

AN INTERCEPTED SIGNAL

FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS KENDALL heard nothing to indicate that Scotland Yard had received his message. He and his officers maintained their watch on the Robinsons and became more confident than ever that the two were indeed the fugitives Crippen and Le Neve—though none of them could quite imagine Crippen doing what the police claimed. He was polite and gentle and always solicitous of the needs of his companion.

Kendall did all he could to make sure the couple stayed relaxed and happy and unaware that their true identities had been discovered.

FOR CRIPPEN AND ETHEL, the hours passed sweetly. Compared to life before the departure of Belle Elmore, this was heaven. No one stared, and there were no furtive meetings in secret rooms. They felt free to love each other at last.

“The doctor was as calm as ever, and spent as much time in reading as myself,” Ethel wrote. “He was very friendly with Captain Kendall, and at meal times many amusing stories were told over the table, which kept us in a good humor. All the officers were very courteous to us, and used often to ask me how I was getting on.”

She imagined the letter she would write to her sister Nina once settled in America. “Oh! Such a letter! I had been saving up all my little adventures in Rotterdam and Brussels. How she would laugh at my boyish escapade. How she would marvel at my impudence!”

ON SUNDAY NIGHT, July 24, the Montrose’s Marconi operator, Jones, intercepted a message from a London newspaper meant for someone aboard another ship, the White Star Laurentic. The contents were intriguing enough that Jones passed the message along to Captain Kendall.

It asked: “What is Inspector Dew doing? Are passengers excited over chase? Rush reply.”

Only then did Kendall realize that his own message had gotten through and—far more amazing—that Scotland Yard was pursuing his ship across the Atlantic.

He understood, too, that the story was now public knowledge.