# 4 Always Be Alert

Waiting in a steamship office to be interviewed  for a job as a wireless operator, a group of applicants filled the room with such a buzz of conversation that they were oblivious to the dots and dashes that began coming over the loudspeaker. 

About that time another man entered and sat down quietly by himself. Suddenly he snapped to attention, walked into the private office, and a few minutes latter came out smiling with a new job.

"Say," one of the group called out, "how did you get in ahead of us? We were here first."

"One of you would have gotten the job," the successful applicant replied, "if you had listened to the message from the loudspeaker." 

"What message/" they asked in surprise.

"Why the code," the man answered. "It said: "The man I need must always be on the alert. The first one who gets this message and comes directly into my private office will be placed on one of my ships as an operator.