CHAPTER XVIITHE BULLY GETS A DUCKING
“Our man doesn’t have to eat another whole pie,” protested Bob. “If he just eats some of it he’ll win, Mr. Judge.”
“That’s right,” nodded the cook. “How about you, young feller? Are you able to tackle it?”
“Sure thing,” responded Jimmy. “Hand it over.”
He forced himself to cut and eat a small piece, and when he had finished, pandemonium broke loose. The judge declared him undisputed champion of the camp, and he was caught up and elevated to broad shoulders while an impromptu triumphal procession was organized that circled the camp with much laughter and many jokes at the expense of the defeated aspirants for the title.
After this was over, the boys held a little private jubilation of their own in the little cabin where they were quartered with Mr. Fennington.He had been away during the contest, but he returned shortly afterward, and laughingly congratulated Jimmy on his newly won honors.
“How do you feel?” he inquired. “Do you think you could manage another piece of pie? I’ll see that you have a large piece if you think you can.”
“No, sir! I’ve had enough pie to last me for a good while to come,” declared Jimmy positively. “I’ll be ashamed to look a pie in the face. For the next week or so I’ll have to stick to my favorite doughnuts for dessert.”
“Well, you did nobly, Doughnuts, and I love you more than ever,” declared Bob. “You were up against a field that anybody might be proud to beat.”
“And the best part of it, to me, is the feeling that our confidence in Jimmy’s eating powers was justified,” declared Joe. “After all the wonderful exhibitions he’s given in the past, it would have been terrible if he hadn’t come up to scratch to-night.”
“The way that fellow they call Jack started off, I never thought you had a chance, Jimmy,” confessed Herb.
“If he could have held that pace, I wouldn’t have had a look-in,” admitted Jimmy. “I figured he’d have to slow down pretty soon, though. ‘Slow but sure’ is my motto.”
“How would you like to take a nice three-mile sprint now?” asked Herb mischievously.
“Three mile nothing!” exclaimed Jimmy scornfully. “I couldn’t run three yards right now. I think I’ll lie down and give my digestion a chance,” and in a few minutes he was peacefully snoring.
The next morning he showed no ill effects from the prodigious feast, but ate his usual hearty breakfast. The others were forced to the conclusion that his table ability was even greater than they had suspected, and from that time on they firmly believed him to be invincible in his particular department.
By this time they were thoroughly familiar with the camp, and decided to make an excursion into the woods the following day, taking lunch with them and making it a day’s outing. The cook so far departed from his usual iron-clad rules as to make them up a fine lunch, making due allowance for Jimmy’s proven capacity.
They started out immediately after breakfast. Not being particular as to direction, they followed the first old logging road that they came to. It led them deeper and deeper into the forest that was alive with the sounds and scents of spring. Last year’s fallen leaves made a springy carpet underfoot, while robins sang their spring song in the budding branches overhead.
For some time the boys tramped in silence, breathing deeply of the exhilarating pine and balsam atmosphere and at peace with all the world. Soon there was a glint of water through the trees, and the boys, with one accord, diverged from the faint trail that they had been following and were a few minutes later standing at the water’s edge.
They found themselves on the shore of a large lake. It was ringed about with big trees, many of which leaned far out over it as though to gaze at their reflections in the water. The ripples lapped gently on a sloping sandy beach, and the invitation to swim proved irresistible to all but Jimmy.
“I know what lake water is like at this time of year,” he said. “You fellows can go in and freeze yourselves all you like, but I’ll stay right here and look after the things. Just dive right in and enjoy yourselves.”
“Well, we won’t coax you,” said Bob. “But that water looks too good to miss. It is pretty cold, but I guess that won’t kill us.”
Off came their clothes, and with shouts and laughter they splashed through the shallow water and struck out manfully. The icy water made them gasp at first, but soon the reaction came, and they thoroughly enjoyed their swim. They tried to coax Jimmy in, but he lay flat on his backunder a tree and was adamant to all their pleadings.
The others did not stay in very long, but emerged glowing from the effects of exercise and the cold water. As they were getting into their clothes they heard voices coming toward them, and they had hardly finished dressing when the voices’ owners came crashing through the underbrush close to where the boys were standing.
The two groups stared in astonishment for a few moments, for the newcomers were none other than Carl Lutz, Buck Looker, Terry Mooney, and another older fellow, who was a stranger to the radio boys.
Buck’s expression of surprise quickly gave place to an ugly sneer, and he turned to his friends.
“Look who’s here!” he cried, in a nasty tone. “I wonder what they’re up to now, Carl?”
“We’re not hiding from the cops because we broke a plate glass window and were afraid to own up to it,” Bob told him.
“Who broke a window?” demanded Buck. “You can’t prove that it wasn’t a snowball that one of your own bunch threw that broke that window.”
“We don’t throw that kind of snowballs,” said Joe.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Buck.
“Are you trying to say that we put stones in our snowballs?”
“I don’t have to say it,” retorted Joe. “You just said it yourself.”
Too late Buck realized his mistake, and his coarse red face grew purple as Herb and Jimmy grinned at him in maddening fashion.
“Don’t you laugh at me, Jimmy Plummer!” he exclaimed, picking on Jimmy as being the least warlike of the radio boys. “I’ll make you laugh out of the other side of your mouth in a minute,” and he started to dash past Bob to reach his victim.
But to do so he had to pass between Bob and the bank of the lake, which just at this point was a foot or so above the water.
As he rushed past, Bob adroitly shot out a muscular arm and his elbow caught the bully fair in the side. Buck staggered, made a wild effort to regain his balance, and with a prodigious splash disappeared in the icy waters of the lake.
For a few seconds friend and enemy gazed anxiously at the spot where he had gone under, but he soon came to the surface, and, sputtering and fuming, struck out for the shore and dragged himself out on to dry land.
He made such a ludicrous figure that even his cronies could not forbear laughing, but he turnedon them furiously and their laughter suddenly ceased. Then he turned to Bob.
“If I didn’t have these wet clothes on, I’d make you pay for that right now, Bob Layton,” he sputtered. “I’ll make you sorry for that before you’re much older.”
“Why not settle it right now?” offered Bob. “Your clothes will dry soon enough, don’t worry about that.”
“Yes, I know you’d like nothing better than to see me get pneumonia,” said Buck. “You wait here till I go home and get dry clothes on, and I’ll come and give you the licking that you deserve.”
“That’s only a bluff, and you know it,” said Bob contemptuously. “But if any of your friends would like to take your place, why, here I am. How about you, Lutz?”
But Carl muttered something unintelligible, and backed away. The others likewise seemed discouraged by the mischance to their leader, for they turned and followed his retreating form without another word.
“Some sports!” commented Joe.
“Game as a mouse,” supplemented Herb.
“That was a swell ducking you gave Buck,” chuckled Jimmy. “Just when he was going to pick on me, too. I owe you something for that, Bob.”
“Pay me when you get rich and famous,” laughed his friend. “You don’t owe me anything, anyway. It was a pleasure to shove Buck into the lake. I’m perfectly willing to do it again any time I get the chance.”
“Oh, it’s my turn next time,” said Joe. “I can’t let you hog all the fun, Bob.”
“All right,” replied his friend. “If we run into him again, I’ll leave him to your tender mercies. But I don’t imagine he or his friends will bother us any more to-day, so why not have lunch?”
“I was thinking the same thing,” remarked Jimmy, and they forthwith set to work to prepare what Jimmy termed a “bang-up lunch.”
CHAPTER XVIIIA STARTLING DISCOVERY
The cook had supplied the radio boys with a lavish hand, but their long walk and the swim had given them ravenous appetites, and by the time they finished there was little left of the lunch. Even this little was soon disposed of by the bright-eyed birds that ventured close in pursuit of the tempting bits. By sitting as still as statues the boys succeeded in enticing the little fellows almost within arm’s length, and derived no little amusement at the evident struggle between greed and caution.
But soon the last crumb was gone, and after a short rest the lads began to think of returning to camp. They did not want to go back by the same road over which they had come, however, so decided to follow the shores of the lake until they should find some other path. This was, of course, a roundabout way of getting home, but they had the better part of the afternoon before them, and were in no particular hurry.
“Come on over to the north,” suggested Joe. “I think there is another trail in that direction.”
“Yes, and I imagine the walking is better,” put in Herb.
“Say, you don’t want to go too far out of the way,” came hastily from Jimmy. “We’ve got to walk back remember.”
“Forward it is!” cried Bob. “Come on, Jimmy, you’ve got to walk off that big lunch you stowed away.”
“Gee, if I walk too far I’ll be hungry again before I get home,” sighed the stout youth.
“Wow! hear Jimmy complain,” burst out Joe. “He hardly has one meal down than he’s thinking of another.”
To find another trail was not as simple a matter as it had seemed, and they must have traveled over two miles before Bob’s keen eyes detected a slight break in the dry underbrush that might denote a path such as they sought. They found a dim trail leading in the general direction in which they wished to go, and set out at a brisk pace, even Jimmy being willing to hurry as visions of the loaded supper table floated before him.
Gradually the path widened out, as others ran into it, until it became a fairly well-defined woods road. It was thickly strewn with last year’s soft and rotting leaves, and the boys made little sound in spite of the rapidity of their pace. Bob andJoe and Herb were striding along in a group, Jimmy having dropped behind while he fixed a refractory shoe lace, when suddenly Bob halted abruptly and held up a warning hand. The others, scenting something amiss, stopped likewise, looking inquiringly at Bob.
Silently he pointed to a spot slightly ahead of them and several paces off the road. Even as the others gazed wonderingly, Bob beckoned them to follow and slipped silently into the brush that lined the road.
On the other side stood a big tree, its trunk and branches sharply outlined against the clear sky. At the base of this tree, with his back toward them, stood a man. Now, the surprising part of it all, and that which had caused the boys to proceed so cautiously, was the fact that the man wore headphones and was evidently receiving a message of some kind. Fastened to the tree was a box, which evidently contained telephonic apparatus. At first the boys thought he must be listening at an ordinary telephone, but the fact that he had no transmitter indicated that he was listening in on a radio receiving set.
The boys had hardly reached their place of concealment when the man turned sharply about, darting furtive glances here and there, evidently in search of possible intruders. The boys crouched lower behind the bushes and prayedfervently that Jimmy would not arrive before the man had gone. The fellow was of fair size, with a deeply tanned face, and wore a moustache. Fortunately, after they had been watching him a few minutes, he removed the earphones, placed them in the box, and, after locking it, started into the woods, following a dimly marked footpath.
It was well that he left when he did, for not two minutes later Jimmy came puffing along, looking anxiously for the others. He stopped in amazement when he saw his friends emerge from the bushes, and was about to raise his voice in vehement questionings when Bob leaped at him and clapped a hand over his mouth.
“Be quiet!” he hissed into his ear. “There’s some funny work going on here, and we want to find out what it is.”
Thus admonished, Jimmy was released, and in low tones the others told him of what they had seen and showed him the box fastened to the tree. While they were about it, they made a hasty search for the antenna, and found it strung close to the trunk of the tree, extending from the top almost to the roots. After this discovery they hurried after the man with the moustache, fearful lest they should lose his trail.
It was no easy matter to follow the dimly marked path, for it passed at times over stonyground and big boulders, where often it took much searching here and there before they picked up its continuation.
“We may be taking all this trouble for nothing,” said Bob, after one of these searches. “Maybe he’s just a lumberman receiving instruction by wireless from his employers. Big business firms are using radio more and more for such purposes.”
“I didn’t like the way he kept looking about him, as though he had something to conceal,” objected Joe. “It can’t do any harm to see where he goes, anyway. We may find out something important.”
“His hands weren’t those of a lumberman,” observed Herb. “Those hands never saw rough work nor, judging from the man’s face and manner, honest work. Come on, fellows.”
Accordingly the boys followed the difficult trail with untiring patience, and at last their perseverance was rewarded. The path widened out into a little clearing, and at the further side of this was a rough log cabin. The little shack had two small windows, and with infinite caution the boys approached until they could see into the nearest one.
The interior was rudely furnished with a heavy table and two crudely fashioned chairs, while inthe corner furthest from them two bunks had been built, one above the other. In another corner was a compact radio transmitting set.
At the table was seated the man with the moustache, intently studying a notebook propped up before him. From this he made notes on a sheet of paper, scowling at times like one engaged in a difficult task. At length he shoved back his chair, rose to his feet, and, striding across the little shack, carefully placed the notebook under a board on a shelf. Luckily he was so absorbed in what he was doing that he did not even glance toward the window where the radio boys were observing his every motion.
But Bob now judged that they had seen enough, and he wished to run no unnecessary risk of detection. At a signal from him they made for the underbrush at the edge of the clearing, where they could command a view of the door, and waited to see if the mysterious stranger would emerge.
In a few minutes the door opened and the man stepped out, stopping to fasten it securely behind him. Then, with a quick glance about the little clearing, he made for the path leading to the main road and in a short time the sound of his going died away.
The boys waited a few minutes, thinking that possibly he might return for something forgotten, but no further sound came from the path. Atlength they ventured to approach the deserted cabin.
The door had been fastened with a heavy padlock, but this was not sufficient to deter the radio boys. Searching through their pockets for some implement with which they could undo the lock, Jimmy discovered a stout fish-hook, and after they had ground off the barbs against a flat stone this made an ideal tool. With it Bob probed about in the interior of the padlock, and at length, with a sharp click, it sprung open. Ordinarily he would not have done this, but he had every reason to believe that he was dealing with a criminal and that he was justified in the interest of law and order in taking steps that would prevent any further depredations against society.
“More ways than one of killing a cat,” remarked Bob, as he pushed open the heavy door and entered the cabin. “We’ve got to know what’s in that notebook before we leave this place. Let’s have a look.”
The boys quickly brought the book from its place of concealment and carried it to the table, where they bent eagerly over it as Bob turned the pages.
“It doesn’t look like sense to me,” complained Jimmy. “I never saw such a lot of fool words jumbled together.”
“Yes, but something tells me there’s method in this madness,” said Bob, his brows knit as heconcentrated on the problem before him. “Say, fellows!” he exclaimed, as sudden excitement gripped him, “do you remember those nights we were listening to our big set and we heard the mysterious messages? They were just a lot of words, and we couldn’t make anything out of them at the time.”
“You bet I remember!” exclaimed Joe. “I think I could even tell you most of the words. Why, there’s some of them in that book, right now!”
“Exactly,” replied Bob, nodding. “I remember them, too, and this must be the key to the code. My stars, what luck! Let’s see how close we can recall the words we caught, and then we’ll see if we can make sense of them with the help of this key.”
“I’ll tell you the words as I remember them, and you check me up,” suggested Joe, and this they accordingly did.
Between them they managed to get it straight, just as they had heard it, “Corn-hay-six-paint-water-slow-sick-jelly.”
“I think that’s right,” said Bob. “Anyway, we’ll see if it comes right with the key. You read the words, Joe, and I’ll find them in this notebook and you can write them down. Shoot the first one.”
“Corn,” said Joe.
Bob hunted rapidly down the columns of code words and their equivalents, and soon found the one he was after.
“Motor truck,” he read out.
“That sounds promising!” exclaimed Joe. “The next word I’ve got is ‘hay.’ What’s the answer to that?”
“Silk,” said Bob, after a shorter search this time.
“Six,” read Joe.
“Castleton Road!” exclaimed Bob, his voice shaking with excitement as he traced down the columns of words. Herb and Jimmy were also excited; especially the former, as he realized better than the others how serious a loss the theft of his father’s truckload of silk had been and now thought he saw some clue in this message that might throw light on the whereabouts of the stolen goods.
CHAPTER XIXTHE ROBBERS’ CODE
“The next word is ‘paint,’” said Joe. “What does that stand for, Bob?”
“Just a minute, till I find it,” replied his friend, and after turning over several pages found the word he sought.
“It means ‘to-night,’” he said. “Read what we’ve got so far.”
“Motor truck—silk—Castleton Road—to-night,” read Joe. “That’s clear enough so far. The next code word is water.”
“‘No guards,’” said Bob. And so they went, until the completed message read as follows:
“Motor truck—silk—Castleton Road—to-night—no guards—hold up—take everything to usual place—notify when job is done.”
“That’s the message that caused the theft of my father’s merchandise!” exclaimed Herb, jumping to his feet. “If we had only had the key then, when there was still time, we could have prevented the hold-up.”
“Very likely we could,” agreed Bob soberly. “But we may be able to do the next best thing, Herb—get the stuff back again. If we make a copy of this key and then leave the book just where we found it, the thieves will never dream that anybody knows their secret, and they’ll keep right on using the same code.”
“I see,” said Herb slowly. “And then if we hear any more code messages we can translate them with this key, and likely get on the trail of the crooks.”
“Exactly!” replied Bob. “Now, I have a notebook here, and if one of you fellows will dictate that code, I’ll copy it down and we’ll get out of here while the getting’s good. There’s no telling what minute some of the gang will show up.”
“I’ll dictate,” volunteered Joe. “But while you and I are doing that, Bob, why can’t Jimmy and Herb act as lookouts? Then if any of the gang comes along they can give us warning and we’ll clear out.”
“That’s good advice,” agreed Bob, and Herb and Jimmy went outside and up the path a short distance, where they crouched, listening, with every muscle tense to warn their comrades if danger threatened.
Meanwhile, in the cabin, Bob’s pencil flew at furious speed as Joe dictated. The code was very complete, and consisted of over two hundredwords, each word, in some cases, standing for a whole phrase. Bob wrote as he had never written before, but in spite of his utmost efforts it took over an hour to copy the entire list. He and Joe expected every minute to hear Herb or Jimmy give the alarm, but the woods remained calm and peaceful, and they finished their task without interruption.
“There’s the last word, Bob!” exclaimed Joe, with a sigh of relief. “Let’s put that little book back on the shelf where we found it, and make a quick getaway.”
“Yes, we’ve got to make tracks,” agreed Bob. “It will be away after dark now when we get back to the camp. If we don’t hurry they will be organizing searching parties for us.”
With great care he placed the notebook back on the shelf, under the board, and then gazed searchingly around the cabin to make sure that no signs of their visit were left behind to warn the thieves. After assuring himself that everything was exactly as they had found it, he and Joe left the rude habitation, snapping the big padlock through the hasp.
“That’s a swell lock,” observed Joe, grinning. “It looks strong enough to discourage anybody, but Jimmy’s fish-hook licked it to a frazzle in no time.”
“That’s the way with a lot of padlocks,” saidBob, as the two started off in search of the others. “It would take dynamite to break them open, but they’re easy enough to pick.”
“If you know how, that is,” supplemented Joe, with a grin.
“Oh, that’s understood,” replied Bob. “It’s hard to do anything without the know-how.”
They soon picked up the two sentinels, who were greatly relieved to see them.
“I thought you were going to spend the night there,” grumbled Jimmy. “What happened? Did you both fall asleep in the middle of it?”
“You’re an ungrateful rascal, Doughnuts,” answered Joe. “Here Bob and I have worked like slaves for the last hour, while all you had to do was loaf around in the nice fresh air. Then instead of thanking us, you growl because we took so long.”
“Well, don’t get sore,” protested Jimmy. “I suppose we should all be so happy over this discovery that we shouldn’t mind anything. I’ll bet your father will be tickled to death, Herb.”
“I guess he will,” agreed Herb. “Although we’re still a long way from getting back the stolen silk. There’s no doubt that we’ve struck a mighty promising clue, that much is sure.”
Bob was about to make some remark when he checked himself and halted in a listening attitude.
“I think some one is coming!” he exclaimed,in a low tone. “I’m sure I heard voices. Let’s duck into the underbrush, quick!”
They were not a moment too soon, for they had hardly reached a place of concealment behind a great fallen tree when two men appeared around a bend in the path. One was the same whom they had followed a few hours before, while the other was a stranger to them. This man was of a desperate and unprepossessing appearance, and a bulge under his coat suggested the possible presence of a weapon.
The boys congratulated themselves that this formidable looking personage had not arrived half an hour sooner, for they were of course unarmed and would have been hard put to it had they been caught in the cabin.
They lay snugly hidden in their retreat behind the fallen tree until the voices of the two men had died away in the direction of the lonely cabin. Then they returned cautiously to the path and hastened toward the main road. This they reached without meeting any one else, and set out for camp at a pace that caused Jimmy to cry for mercy. But the shadows lay long athwart the path, camp was still an indefinite distance away, and they hurried the unfortunate youth along at a great rate in spite of his piteous protests.
“It will be the best thing in the world for you,Doughnuts,” said Joe unfeelingly. “What you need is plenty of exercise to take that fat off you.”
“Besides, think of what a fine appetite you’ll have when we reach camp,” laughed Bob.
“I’ve got all the appetite now that I know how to have,” groaned Jimmy. “You fellows haven’t a heart between you. Where other people keep their hearts, you’ve all got chunks of Vermont granite.”
“Flash a little speed, and don’t talk so much,” advised Herb. “Be like the tramp that the fellow met going down the street one day with an expensive rug.”
“Who wants to be like a tramp?” objected Jimmy.
“You do, when you want to loaf all the time,” retorted Herb. “But now I’ll tell you a good joke to make the way seem shorter. Jimmy got me started, and now I’ll have to get it out of my system.”
“Is it about a tramp?” asked Jimmy suspiciously.
“Yes. And it’s a pippin,” Herb assured him. “It seems this tramp was running down the street with an expensive rug over his shoulder, and somebody stopped him and began to ask questions.
“‘Where did you steal that rug from?’ asked the suspicious citizen.
“‘I didn’t steal it,’ answered the tramp, trying to look insulted. ‘A lady in that big house down the street handed it to me and told me to beat it, and I am.’”
“Say, that’s a pretty good joke, for you, Herb,” said Bob, laughing with the others.
“Oh, that’s nothing. I’ve got others just as good,” said Herb eagerly. “Now, here’s one that I made up myself the other day, but I forgot to tell it to you. Why——”
“Suffering tomcats!” exclaimed Joe. “Don’t tell us anything that you made up yourself, Herb! Or, at least, wait until we get back and have supper, so that we’ll be strong enough to stand it.”
“That’s what I say,” agreed Jimmy. “I’m so hungry that I can’t think of anything but supper, anyway. I know your joke is as good as usual, Herb, but I wouldn’t be able to appreciate it just now.”
“It’s discouraging to a high-class humorist to have to throw away his choice offerings on a bunch like this,” said Herb, in an injured voice. “Some day, when I am far away, you’ll wish you had listened to those gems of humor.”
“I’d like to believe you, but that hardly seems possible,” said Bob. “Can you imagine the day ever coming when we’d actually want to sit down and listen to Herb’s line of humor?”
“My imagination isn’t up to anything like that,”replied Joe. “But, of course, you don’t really ever have to ask Herb to spill some of those jokes. The hard thing is to keep him from doing it.”
“Oh, all right,” retorted Herb. “Only, remember that it is ‘easier to criticize than to create.’”
For some time after this they plodded along hoping to reach camp before it got entirely dark. Bob was the first to see a distant point of light through the trees, and he emitted a whoop that startled the others.
CHAPTER XXON THE TRAIL
“I can see the lights from the camp!” Bob exclaimed. “Use your eyes, fellows. A little to the left of us, through the trees.”
“Well, it’s about time,” groaned Jimmy, as they all looked in the direction indicated. “I was just getting ready to lie down and die peacefully. I couldn’t travel another mile if you paid me for it.”
“Oh, buck up, Doughnuts, and get a move on!” exclaimed Bob. “You never know what you can do until you try. Come on, let’s take it on the double.”
He and Joe and Herbert broke into a lively trot, and rather than be left behind Jimmy overcame his reluctance for further effort, and with much puffing and blowing and fragmentary complaint managed to hold the pace until they arrived at the mess house.
Luckily for them, supper had been delayed owing to the failure of some supplies to arriveon time, and the lumbermen had just started eating when the radio boys burst in through the door.
The lumbermen stopped eating long enough to welcome their arrival, and they found their places set as usual.
“Glory be!” exclaimed Jimmy, as he slid into his chair. “If there were a pie-eating contest on to-night, I could show you fellows some real class. I feel empty right down to my toes.”
“It’s lucky we got a head start, Champ,” remarked one of the men, with a grin. “Pass everything down this way, you amateurs. There’s a professional here wants to show us some fancy eating.”
By this time Jimmy was too busily occupied to make any answer, and the other radio boys were also showing good appetites. The long trip and the excitement of their discovery of the secret code had sharpened their naturally keen appetites until for once they all felt on equal terms with the lumbermen. Jimmy surpassed himself, and great was the admiration expressed for his ability as a trencherman.
After supper the boys sought out Mr. Fennington and told him of their discovery in the lonely cabin. Then Bob showed him the copy he had made of the code, and Mr. Fennington studied this a long time with knit brows.
“There seems little doubt that you boys have unearthed an important clue, and one that may easily lead to the discovery of the crooks who stole my merchandise,” he said, at length. “I suppose I should put this information in the hands of the police. And yet perhaps we had better say nothing until we learn something further. With your radio outfit you may be able to catch another code message that would give us more definite information, and then it would be time enough to call in the police.”
“I think that would be the best thing to do, Dad,” agreed Herb. “As soon as we get back home we’ll fix it so one of us will be at the set a good part of every afternoon and evening, and we’ll be almost certain to catch some more messages like the last one.”
His father nodded, and was still considering the matter when there came a knock at the door. Herb crossed over and opened it, and he and his friends uttered exclamations of astonishment and delight as they recognized the visitor. He was none other than Frank Brandon, the government radio inspector.
On his part, he was no less pleased to see them, and they all shook hands heartily, with many questions and explanations, after which the radio inspector was introduced to Mr. Fennington.
“I suppose you’re all wondering what I’mdoing up here,” he said, after the greetings were over.
“Yes, in a way,” admitted Bob. “Although we know that your position calls you all over, and we may expect to meet you almost any old place.”
“Yes, that’s a fact,” replied Brandon. “I’m up here on the same old business, too. Somewhere in this neighborhood there’s an unauthorized sending station, but in these thick woods it may prove a rather difficult place to locate exactly. However, it will only be a matter of time when we nail it.”
The boys glanced at one another, and the same thought was in all their minds. They remembered the radio apparatus they had seen in the lonely cabin, and had little doubt that this would prove to be the unauthorized station of which the radio man was in search.
He must have read something of this in their expression, for he looked searchingly from one to another.
“Looks to me as though you fellows knew something,” he remarked. “I might have known if there was anything going on in the radio line within fifty miles of where you are that you’d know something about it.”
“Well, I’ve got a hunch that we could lead you right to the place you’re looking for,” said Bob quietly.
“What?” shouted Brandon, leaping excitedly to his feet. “Do you really mean that? Tell me all about it.”
For the second time that evening Bob recounted the happenings of their eventful excursion, while the radio inspector listened intently, throwing in a question here and there. When Bob had finished he made no comment for a few minutes.
Then he took the copy of the code and examined it intently, jotting down phrases here and there in his own notebook.
“Well,” he said at length, “this looks to be a much bigger thing than I had supposed. Of course I heard of the robbery of the motor-truck, but I never for a moment connected that with this sending station we’ve been looking for. It seems fairly evident, though, that if we can lay our hands on the operators of the unauthorized sending outfit, we’ll also have the perpetrators of that hold-up. This is a case where we’ll have to think out every move before we act.”
“Just before you arrived I was considering the advisability of putting the matter into the hands of the police,” said Mr. Fennington. “What would you do?”
“Keep the whole thing to ourselves for the present,” said Mr. Brandon decisively. “I’ll send for a couple of good men to come up here and help me, and we’ll keep a watch on that cabinfor a few days. If this thing got into the papers, it would put the crooks on their guard, and probably spoil our chances of catching them and getting back the loot. I’ve got a small but extremely efficient receiving and sending set in my car, and if any more code messages are sent out we’ll catch them.”
His confidence was contagious, and the boys felt almost as though the capture of the criminals had already been accomplished.
“What puzzles me, though,” remarked Mr. Fennington, “is how you knew that there was an unauthorized radio sending station in this neighborhood, Mr. Brandon. I should think it would be almost impossible to locate such a station, even approximately.”
“On the contrary,” replied Frank Brandon, “it is little more than a matter of routine. Probably any of these radio fiends here could explain the method as well as I can, but I’ll try to make it plain to you.
“There is a certain type of aerial that has what we call ‘directional’ properties, that is, when it is shifted around, the incoming signals will be loudest when this loop aerial, as it is called, is directly in line with the sending station. The receiving antenna is wound on a square frame, and when the signals are received at their maximum strength, we know that the frame is in a practicallystraight line with the sending station we’re after.”
“Yes, but that still leaves you in the dark as to whether the station is one mile away or a hundred miles,” observed Mr. Fennington, as Brandon paused.
“That’s very true,” answered the other. “And for that reason we can’t stop at using just one loop aerial. What we actually do is to have three stations, each one equipped with a loop. These three stations are located a good many miles apart. Now, with these three loops, we have three lines of direction. We lay out these lines on a chart of the territory, and where they intersect, is the place where the unlicensed station is located. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly,” said Mr. Fennington. “But what looks like a point on the map may be a large space on the actual territory.”
“Oh, yes, our work isn’t done by any means after we have got our first rough bearings,” continued Brandon. “Having determined the approximate position, we take the loops and receivers to what we know is a place quite near the station we’re after, and then we repeat the former process. This time it is much more accurate. Gradually we draw the net tighter until we find the antenna belonging to the offender, andthen—well, we make him wish he hadn’t tried to fool the government.”
“You certainly have it reduced to an exact science,” acknowledged Mr. Fennington. “I don’t wonder that everybody interested in radio gets to be a fanatic.”
“We’ll make a ‘bug’ out of you before we get through, Dad,” declared Herb, grinning.
“If my load of silk is recovered through the agency of radio, I’ll be enthusiastic enough over it to suit even you fellows,” said his father. “It will mean the best set that money can buy for you if I get it back.”
“We’ll hold you to that promise,” threatened Herb. “Radio can do anything,” he added, with the conviction of a devotee.
“Well, pretty nearly everything,” qualified Mr. Brandon. “A little while ago it was considered marvelous that we could transmit the voice by radio, and now the transmission of photographs by radio has been successfully accomplished.”
“What!” exclaimed Mr. Fennington incredulously. “Do you mean to say that an actual recognizable photograph has been sent through the air by radio? That seems almost too much to believe.”
“Nevertheless, it has been done,” insisted Frank Brandon. “I saw the actual reproduction of onethat had been sent from Italy to New York by the wireless route, and while I can’t claim that it was perfect, still it was as plain as the average newspaper picture. And don’t forget that this is a new phase of the game, and is not past the experimental stage yet.”
“Well, after that, I am inclined to agree with Herbert that ‘radio can do anything,’” admitted Mr. Fennington.
“I don’t think we’ll have much trouble making a convert of you,” laughed the radio inspector. “No doubt the quickest way, though, will be to recover your stolen shipment, so we’ll start working in that direction the first thing in the morning.”
And in this he was as good as his word. He was up betimes, getting in touch with headquarters by means of his compact portable outfit. He kept at work until he had received the promise of two trustworthy men, who were to report to him at the lumber camp as soon as they could get there. Then he routed out the radio boys, and after a hasty breakfast they all set out to locate the cabin where the boys had found the code key.