31CHAPTER IIIAT THE WIRELESS STATION
“Why, it’s this way,” explained Larry. “We are vaudeville performers. Tim’s specialty is dancing, and I can tell you, because he’s too modest to say it himself, that he’s a peach. Whenever he appears, he just knocks them off their seats. He’s a riot.”
“Cut it out,” protested Tim. “Leave that to the press agent.”
“It’s straight goods, just the same,” declared Larry. “As for little me, I’ve got a knack of twisting myself into knots, and then, too, I do a little whistling. And because of that they call me on the posters and in the theater programs the Canary Bird Snake. Kind of mixed up, isn’t it?”
The radio boys were tremendously interested. The stage had for them the touch of mystery and glamour that appeals to youth, and it was an unusual treat for them to be talking on familiar terms with characters such as they had32only seen hitherto in the glare of the footlights.
“It must be great,” said Bob, “to go all over the country as you do and see all there is to be seen.”
“Oh, like everything else, theatrical life has its ups and downs,” replied Larry. “It’s all right when they hand you applause, but not such fun when they throw eggs, especially if the eggs are old. We’ve never had that experience yet though, and here’s hoping that we never shall. There’s lots of hard work connected with it, and Tim and I have to work a good many hours each day to keep ourselves in trim. Then, too, when you’re playing one night stands and have to get up before daylight to catch a train, which in rube towns often turns out to be just a caboose attached to a freight, it isn’t any fun. And it’s less fun when you happen to get snowed in for a day or two, as has happened to us several times. But you get paid for all that when your turn goes big and the audience is friendly and gives you a good hand. Oh, it isn’t all peaches and cream, but take it altogether we have a pretty good time.”
“That is, when we’re working,” put in Tim. “It isn’t much fun though when the ghost doesn’t walk every Saturday night.”
The boys looked a little puzzled and Larry undertook to enlighten them.33
“Tim means when the pay check doesn’t happen to come along,” he said. “In other words, when we’re out of a job. You see we’re both pretty young in the profession and we aren’t as well known as we hope to be later on. We have to take what we can get on the small-time circuits, and we know that if we make good there we’ll get on the big-time circuit sooner or later. Just now things are slack in the theatrical line as they always are in summer. We’ve got our lines out for a job in the fall, but nothing definite has come of it yet. So we thought we’d come down to the seashore for a few weeks and get a little of the sea air into our lungs.”
“But we didn’t figure on getting as much sea water into our stomachs as we did this afternoon,” laughed Tim. “I can taste it yet. I don’t think I’ll want any salt on my victuals for a month to come.”
Just then Mrs. Layton appeared and announced that supper was ready, and they all obeyed the call with alacrity, Bob’s chums being included in the invitation.
The meal was excellent, as Mrs. Layton’s always were, and there was a great deal of jollity as it progressed. Larry was very droll and kept the boys in roars of laughter as he told of some of the funny incidents in his experience, and Tim was not far behind him.34
After the meal was over, nothing would do but that Larry and Tim should go through some of their performances for the entertainment of the company. This they did, and though they were handicapped by the absence of the usual stage properties, Larry not having his stage suit with him and Tim being without his clog dancing pumps, the spectators were delighted. Larry tied himself into a mystifying tangle of knots, and his whistling was so sweet and melodious that it roused his audience to the heights of enthusiasm. And Tim’s graceful dancing was a revelation of the possibilities of the Terpsichorean art.
Then the radio boys took their turn and gave their visitors a radio concert that was wonderful in its variety and beauty. The night happened to be unusually free of the annoying static that is the bugbear of the wireless, and every note of the music was as clear and sweet as though the performers were only a few yards away. Tim and Larry listened as though they were entranced, and when the concert was finished they were as enthusiastic “fans” as the radio boys themselves.
“It’s simply wonderful!” exclaimed Larry. “It’s the first time I’ve ever had the chance to ’listen in,’ but you can bet it won’t be the last.”
“I’ll tell you what,” proposed Bob. “We’re35going over to the wireless sending station to-morrow morning to see the operator there, Mr. Harvey. He’s the finest kind of a fellow, and he’ll be glad to see you. Suppose you and Tim come along with us.”
“Surest thing you know!” ejaculated Larry, and Tim acquiesced with equal enthusiasm.
They parted for the night with a feeling on both sides of warm liking and esteem and a looking forward to a most enjoyable time on the following day.
The next morning the radio boys set out shortly after breakfast, met Larry and Tim at a point previously agreed upon, and together took their way toward the wireless station.
Mr. Harvey was alone when they entered, and jumped to his feet with hands extended in greeting and a face beaming with welcome.
“What good wind blew you over here?” he exclaimed, as he shook their hands heartily.
“We came because we wanted to see you, and also because we wanted to show our friends here something of the way the wireless works,” said Bob.
He introduced Larry and Tim and Mr. Harvey welcomed them so warmly that they felt at once at home.
“So these are the young men you boys pulled36out of the water yesterday,” he said. “It’s mighty lucky for them that you happened to be around.”
“I’ll say it was,” agreed Larry, and Tim nodded vigorously.
“How did you happen to hear of it?” asked Bob.
“Hear of it?” Brandon Harvey repeated. “All the beach is ringing with it. All the hotels are buzzing with it. If you’ll look at the morning papers from the city, you’ll find they all have a full account of it with comments on the pluck and presence of mind of the fellows who did it. You can’t get away with that stuff without having it known, no matter how modest you are.”
“Making lots of fuss about a trifle,” muttered Bob.
“Trifle,” laughed Harvey. “Just the same kind of a trifle as that you pulled off the night you saved the ship and captured the man who had knocked me out. Have they told you about that?” he asked, turning to Larry and Tim.
“Not a word,” replied Larry.
“Never breathed it,” declared Tim.
“Just like them,” asserted Brandon Harvey, and then went on to tell them of that dreadful night when the storm was raging; how they had found him knocked senseless on the floor and the safe looted; how they had sent the signals37that had saved the ship from destruction; how they had pursued the robber and captured him after a hand to hand tussle and recovered the loot.
“Well, now about the wireless,” interposed Bob, anxious to change the subject. “These friends of ours are a new addition to the army of fans and we want to put them next to some of the wonders of radio.”
“It’s a great army all right,” laughed Harvey, “and we’re always glad to welcome new recruits. They’re coming into the ranks by thousands every day. Nobody can keep count of them, but they must run into the millions.
“And they’re great in quality as well as quantity,” he continued, warming to his favorite subject. “The President of the United States has a radio receiving set on his desk. There’s one in the office of every one of the ten Cabinet members. The Secretary of the Navy is sending out wireless messages every day to vessels scattered in all parts of the globe. The head of the army is keeping in touch by radio with every fort and garrison and corps area in the United States. On last Arbor Day the Secretary of Agriculture talked over the radio to more people than ever heard an address in the history of the world. But there,” he said, breaking off with a laugh, “if I once get going on this line I’ll never know38when to stop. So I’ll say it all in one sentence—the radio is the most wonderful invention ever conceived by the mind of man.”
“You don’t need to prove it to us,” laughed Bob. “It’s simply a miracle, and we become more convinced of that every day. I’m mighty glad I was born in this age of the world.”
The boys crowded around Mr. Harvey as he explained to Larry and Tim in as simple a way as possible the radio apparatus of the station.
“When I press this key,” he said, “an electrical spark is sent up into the antenna, the big wire that you see suspended from the mast over the station, and is flung out into space.”
“Travels pretty fast, doesn’t it?” asked Larry, to whom all this was new.
“Rather,” laughed Mr. Harvey. “It can go seven and a half times around the world while you are striking a match.”
“What!” exclaimed Larry incredulously. “Why, the circle of the earth is about twenty-five thousand miles.”
“Exactly,” smiled Harvey. “And that spark travels at the rate of one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles a second.”
“You’re sure you don’t mean feet instead of miles?” suggested Tim dubiously.
“It’s miles all right,” laughed Harvey. “Electricity39travels at the same rate as the light that comes to us from the sun and stars.”
“What becomes of this electrical impulse after it gets started on that quick trip?” asked Larry. “How does the fellow on the other end get what you’re trying to tell him.”
“That fellow or that station has another antenna waiting to receive my message,” replied Harvey. “The signal keeps on going through the ether until it strikes that other antenna. Then it climbs along it until it reaches the receiving set and registers the same kind of dot or dash as the one I made at this end. It’s like the pitcher and catcher of a baseball battery. One pitches the ball and the other receives the same ball. At one instant it’s in the pitcher’s hand and the next it has traveled the space between the two and is resting in the catcher’s hand. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?”
“Sounds simple when you put it that way,” laughed Larry. “But I have a hunch that it isn’t as simple as it sounds.”
“Well, to tell the truth, it isn’t quite as simple as that,” confessed Harvey. “There’s a whole lot to learn about receiving and transmitting and detectors and generators and condensers and vacuum tubes and all that. But my point is that there’s nothing of the really essential things that40are concerned in getting entertainment and instruction from radio that can’t be learned with a little application by any one of ordinary intelligence.”
“I wonder if I’m in that class,” said Larry quizzically, and there was a general laugh.
Another half hour was spent with great profit and interest in the sending station and then the boys arose to go.
“How are you getting along with that regenerative set?” asked Mr. Harvey of Bob.
“Pretty well, thank you,” answered Bob. “It’s the proper adjusting of the tickler that’s giving me the most trouble.”
“Be careful not to increase it too far,” warned Harvey. “If you do, the vacuum tube oscillates and becomes a small generator of high frequency current and in that way will interfere with other near-by stations. Then, too, the speeches and music will be mushy instead of being clear. Drop in again when you have time and we’ll talk the matter over a little further.”
The visitors bade their host farewell and trooped out into the bright sunshine. Larry and Tim were enthusiastic over the new world into which they had been introduced.
“The most wonderful thing in the world,” was their verdict.
They spent the rest of the morning on the41beach, and before they parted, Larry had secured a promise from the radio boys to come over to a dance that was to be held the next night at the hotel where he and Tim were stopping.
“Jolliest kind of fellows, aren’t they?” said Joe.
“They sure are,” agreed Herb. “I should think that free and easy life of theirs would be just one round of enjoyment.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say that,” remarked Bob. “Two or three times I have noticed a look of worry in Larry’s eyes as though something were weighing on his mind.”
This arrow, shot at a venture, was indeed correct, for Larry was far from being as care free as the boys imagined. The fact that he was out of work at present worried him, naturally. But this would have but little weight with him had it not been for his sick mother at home. That mother had worked for years in his behalf, following the death of his father, whose affairs were so involved at his death that there was little money left to support his wife and child. The mother had kept up a brave heart, however, and done the best she could for herself and her idolized son. The strain of being both bread-winner and mother had told, however, and now she was in ill health. Larry, since he had entered upon a profession, had sent to her all that he possibly could in order to maintain her in comfort, but42just now the source of supply had stopped and there was no knowing at what time it would be resumed. He knew that his mother had very little money on hand at the time, and her condition of health made Larry her only resource.
The radio boys kept their engagement, and the dance was a jolly affair at which they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The only drawback to a perfect evening was the fact that Buck Looker and Carl Lutz were there also, but this did not bother them much in the early part of the evening.
The last dance had just been concluded and the ardent dancers were clamoring for one more encore, when a disturbance rose at one end of the room that attracted general attention. The radio boys hurried to the spot in question to find Buck and Lutz talking excitedly while Larry and Tim were standing near them with flushed and indignant faces. The manager of the hotel and a house detective were also in the group.
“I tell you that those are the fellows who did it,” Buck was vociferating, while he pointed to Larry and Tim. “They were the ones closest to me when I missed my watch and stickpin, and I had just looked at my watch the minute before. If you search them you’ll find the goods on them. My friend here lost his at the same time.”
“It’s false!” cried Larry.43
“If there weren’t ladies here, I’d cram the story down your throat!” exclaimed Tim, his eyes blazing.
“That’s a serious charge you’re making, young man,” said the manager to Buck.
“They’ve got them,” said Buck sullenly. “Search them and you’ll find I’m right.”
“See here,” cried Larry. “If this fellow were the only one concerned I wouldn’t condescend to satisfy him. But I have some friends here,” indicating the radio boys, “and for their sakes I’m going to establish my innocence beyond any doubt. Come right in to one of the private rooms here and search me thoroughly. As for this fellow,” glaring at Buck, “I’ll settle with him at another time.”
The party adjourned to a room, and a thorough search resulted in showing that none of the missing articles was on Larry or Tim.
“Now I’ll settle with you,” cried Larry, making a rush at Buck. But he was restrained by the house detective who held him while Buck and his crony slunk away.
The radio boys gathered around their new friends and condoled with them over the unfounded accusation.
“He’ll pay me for that yet,” declared Larry, who had been wrought up to a high pitch of excitement.44
“Here’s hoping you’ll get a hack at him,” said Joe. “Did you notice that there wasn’t a word of apology for having made a false charge against you?”
“Did you ever know him to do a decent thing?” asked Bob scornfully. “That’s Buck Looker to a dot.”
The next morning Bob was over at Joe’s bungalow when Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell called with Mary to thank the Atwoods for the care they had given Mary when she was brought from the water, and also to express their gratitude to the boys, whose quickness and resource had saved her life.
Mary, a pretty girl, had entirely recovered, and was profuse in her thanks to Bob and Joe, which were echoed by her parents, who laid so much stress upon their bravery that the boys blushed to the ears.
“You are making altogether too much of it,” Bob protested, and Joe agreed.
“It is impossible to do that,” said Mr. Rockwell, and Mrs. Rockwell nodded her head vigorously.
“The only thing I am sorry about,” said Bob, “is that we have not been able to catch the fellows in the motor boat who ran the rowboat down. They ought to be sent to jail on the double quick.”
“It turns out,” said Mr. Rockwell, “that they45were not only heartless brutes, but thieves as well. We found out yesterday that the boat had been stolen from Mr. Wentworth, who is one of the guests at the hotel where we are stopping. They left an old rowboat in its place. Mr. Wentworth has put the police on the track of the thieves, but as yet nothing has been heard of them. I am afraid they have made good their escape.”
“I only hope,” declared Bob, “that I may live long enough to get my hands on the throat of one or both of them.”
“I’d like that privilege,” returned Mr. Rockwell warmly, “but I am afraid the chances are slim. They may be hundreds of miles away by this time.”
“Well,” said Joe, “the arm of the law is long and it may reach them yet.”
“Here’s hoping,” said Bob.
46CHAPTER IVRADIO PLANS
Shortly after the unfortunate affair at the dance Larry and Tim came to the Layton bungalow, overjoyed at a letter they had just received.
“Bob, our streak of bad luck must be broken at last,” exulted Larry. “It was beginning to look like the bread line for ours, but now maybe we’ll be able to eat heartily again.”
“You don’t look very hungry just at present,” grinned Bob. “But what does it say in that letter that you’re waving around, anyway?”
“We’ve got an engagement, at last,” put in Tim. “And, oh, boy! make out it doesn’t seem like money from home!”
“Well, that’s certainly fine,” said Bob, heartily.
“It’s with Chasson’s vaudeville show,” explained Larry. “It’s a traveling show, and we probably won’t show more than one or two nights in a town. Of course, it isn’t as swell an outfit as we would like to connect up with, but it will keep the wolf from the door for a little while.”47
“It will tide us over until we can hook up with something classier, anyway,” said Tim. “The chances are we’ll play in all the towns around this part of the country, and if we land in the one you fellows live in, we’ll expect you to applaud our act harder than any of the others, no matter how bad we are.” And he grinned.
“If you come to Clintonia, you can bet we’ll give you the glad hand, all right,” promised Bob. “I suppose we all get free passes, don’t we?” with a twinkle in his eye.
“You’d get all you want if Tim and I had the say-so,” said Larry, “but the manager probably won’t be able to see it that way.”
“Some day we’ll have a show of our own, maybe,” said Tim. “Then we’ll give you all passes, you can bet your boots on that.”
“Don’t try to hold your breath until then, though,” said Larry. “The way things are breaking for us lately, we’ll be more likely to be inviting our friends to come and visit us in the poorhouse.”
“Over the hills to the poorhouse,
It’s not so far away,
We may get there to-morrow,
If we don’t get there to-day,”
chanted Tim, immediately afterward breaking48into a lively jig to express his indifference to that mournful possibility.
“Well, if you ever do land in that cheerful place, you’ll be very popular,” laughed Bob. “But now that you’ve both got an engagement, you won’t have to worry about that for some time to come. I know the other fellows will be glad to hear about it, too. They went down to town this morning, but they ought to be back pretty soon now. Stick around till they come, and we’ll tell them the glad news.”
“Surest thing you know,” acquiesced Larry. “We don’t have to report to Chasson until day after to-morrow, anyway. How’s the wireless coming along these days?”
“Fine and dandy,” responded Bob. “After we get back to Clintonia we intend to build some big sets so that we can receive signals from all over the country.”
“But where do you get all the money to buy that stuff?” asked Larry. “Some of it must be pretty expensive, isn’t it?”
“Not as expensive as you might think, although some of the apparatus, like audion bulbs, certainly run into money,” replied Bob. “But we can easily sell the apparatus that we already have, and make enough on that to buy the new things with. There are plenty of people ready and anxious to buy our sets, because we can sell them for49less than the store would charge, and they work as well or better than some store sets.”
“Who’s talking of selling our sets?” broke in a well-known voice, as Joe, Herb and Jimmy came, pellmell, into the room.
“I was,” said Bob, in answer to Jimmy’s question. “I was thinking of selling your set to the junkman, for what it would bring.”
“Huh!” exclaimed Jimmy, indignantly. “I’ll bet a junkman wouldn’t even buy yours. He’d expect you to pay him to take it away.”
“Say, you fellows must have a high opinion of each other’s radio outfits,” broke in Tim, laughing. “But if you want to give one away, here’s Tiny Tim, ready and waiting.”
“No chance,” said Jimmy, positively. “I worked too many hot nights on mine to give it away now, and I guess Bob thinks he’d like to keep his, too, even though it isn’t really much good.”
“It was good enough to take the Ferberton prize, anyway, which is more than some people can say of theirs,” Bob replied, grinning. “How about it, Doughnuts?”
“That was because the judges didn’t know any better,” said his rotund friend. “They should have made me the judge, and then there’s no doubt but what my set would have won that hundred bucks.”50
“We can believe that easily enough,” laughed Larry. “But you radio bugs forget your hobby for a few minutes and listen to the glad news,” and then he told them about the engagement he and Tim had secured.
All the boys congratulated them on their good fortune, and after some further conversation the two actors departed, first promising to drop in for a visit before going away to start their engagement.
“I like those two fellows first rate, and would be mighty glad to see them succeed,” said Bob, after they had gone. “It seems to me they ought to make a big hit, too. They’re a regular riot all the time they’re with us.”
“Yes, they’re certainly funny,” agreed Joe. “What were you telling them about selling our sets, just as we came in?”
“Oh, I was just saying that we could get money to buy new apparatus, audion bulbs, and that sort of expensive stuff, by selling one or two of the sets we’ve got now, and whacking up the proceeds,” said Bob. “My dad spoke of that last evening, and it struck me as a mighty good idea. I know of several people in Clintonia who would like nothing better than to have a good set, and having made them ourselves, we can sell them cheaper than the stores, and still make money on them.”51
“Say, that’s a pretty good stunt,” said Joe. “I was trying to figure out the other day where we could get the necessary cash. The cheapest audion bulb you can buy costs about three dollars.”
The other boys, also, were pleased with this idea, and said so. They agreed to sell two of their sets as soon as they got back to Clintonia. This was their last week at Ocean Point, for the fall term of the high school started the following Monday, and they were to leave Ocean Point on Saturday.
“It will be pretty hard to bone down to lessons again, after a summer like this, but I suppose there’s no help for it,” said Jimmy, mournfully. “I feel as though I’d forgotten all I ever knew.”
“That isn’t much, so you don’t need to worry about it,” said Joe, with pleasing frankness.
“I suppose you think you’re a regular Solomon, don’t you?” retorted Jimmy. “Nobody else does, though, I can tell you that.”
“Quit your scrapping,” admonished Herb. “You don’t either of you know a single good joke, while I’m just full of wit and humor. Why, here’s a joke I thought up just the other day, and I don’t mind admitting that it’s a pippin, not to say peacherino. I thought it up while I was watching some fellows play tennis, and I just know you’re all crazy to hear it.”
“We’d have to be crazy to want to hear it,”52said Bob. “But probably you’ll feel better after you get it out of your system, so fire ahead, and we’ll do our best to stand the strain.”
“This won’t be any strain; it will be a pleasure,” said Herb. “Now, this joke is in the form of a humorous question and an even more humorous answer. Oh, it’s a wonder, I’ll say.”
“We’ll say something, too, if you don’t hurry up and get the agony over with,” threatened Joe. “Make it snappy, before we weaken under the strain and throw you out the window.”
“Well, then,” said Herb: “Why does the tennis ball? And the answer is: Because the catgut on the racquet.” And he broke into a peal of laughter, in which, however, his friends refused to join.
“Well, what’s the matter?” asked Herb, cutting short his laughter as he saw that the others only shook their heads despondently. “Why in the name of all that’s good don’t you laugh? Wasn’t that a peach of a joke?”
“Herb, the only reason we don’t kill you right away is because you will be punished more by being allowed to live and suffer,” said Bob. “That was a fierce joke.”
“Oh, get out!” exclaimed Herb, in an injured tone. “You fellows don’t know a clever joke when you hear it.”
“Likely enough we don’t,” admitted Joe. “We53don’t get much chance to hear clever jokes while you’re around.”
“Oh, well, if you don’t like my jokes, why don’t you think up some of your own?” asked Herb, in an aggrieved tone. “There’s no law against it, you know.”
“There ought to be, though,” put in Jimmy.
“Oh, what do you know about it?” asked Herb, incensed at the laughter that followed this thrust. “All you can think of, Doughnuts, is what you’re going to get to eat when the next meal time comes around.”
“Well, I enjoy thinking of that so much, that I’d be foolish to think of anything else,” said Jimmy, serenely.
“You win, Jimmy,” said Bob, as he and Joe shouted with laughter at Herb’s discomfiture. The latter was inclined to be sulky at first, but he soon forgot his ill humor, and was as gay as the others as they discussed their plans for the fall and winter months.
Contrary to the predictions of some of their neighbors in Clintonia, their enthusiasm for radio work had increased rather than diminished, and they were anxious to become the possessors of sets capable of hearing any station in the United States, and perhaps even the large foreign stations. Of course, this meant that their apparatus would have to be much more intricate and54expensive than any they had constructed hitherto, but the realization of this did not deter them. On the contrary, the thought that the task would be one to tax their skill and knowledge to the utmost only served to make them more eager to begin. They examined numberless catalogues and circulars in an effort to determine where and at what cost they could obtain their necessary supplies, jotting down notes as they went along. By supper time they had acquired a pretty good idea of what their new equipment would cost, and were pleased to find that it came within the amount that they thought they could get by selling two of their present complete sets.
“Well, then,” said Bob, in conclusion, as they heard the supper bell ring, “the first thing we do when we get back home will be to sell the two sets, and then we’ll get busy on making the new ones.”
With this the others agreed.
55CHAPTER VBACK FROM THE BEACH
“Good-bye, old bungalows, we hate to leave you. Here’s hoping we see you again next summer.”
It was Herb speaking, as the radio boys and their families left the group of cottages where all had spent such an eventful and pleasant summer. Brilliant sunlight beat down on the yellow sand, but its heat was very different from the torrid rays that had kept them running to the ocean to cool off all that summer. There was a clear and sparkling appearance to the air and sky, and the wind that came sweeping over the level sands had a nip in it that made even Jimmy walk fast to keep warm.
They were to return home by train instead of automobile, and all the ladies had gone to the station in the big motor omnibus, but the boys had preferred to walk, as the distance was not great and there was still plenty of time before the train was due.
“We’ve had a wonderful time here, there’s no56doubt of that,” said Bob, commenting on Herb’s apostrophe to the bungalows. “But it will seem nice to get home again, too. I’ve almost forgotten what the old town looks like.”
“It will seem good to see the old bunch at High once more, too,” added Joe. “I’ll bet there aren’t many of them have had the fun that we’ve had ever since we landed at Ocean Point.”
“Not only that, but we’ve learned a lot, too,” said Bob. “We were running in luck when we met Mr. Harvey and had the run of that big station. It was a wonderful opportunity.”
“You bet it was,” agreed Herb. “It’s a wonderful place to think up jokes in, too. I don’t think I ever thought of so many good ones in a single summer before.”
“I didn’t know you thought of any good ones,” said Joe. “All those that we heard were punk. Why didn’t you tell us some of the good ones for a change?”
“So I did, you poor boob,” retorted Herb. “My one regret here was that we didn’t have a sending set. Then I could have broadcasted some of those jokes, and everybody could have had the benefit of them free of charge.”
“It would have to be free of charge,” said Jimmy, cruelly. “You don’t suppose anybody would pay real money to hear that low brand of humor, do you?”57
“Chances are they’d pay real moneynotto hear them,” put in Joe, before Herb could answer. “But I suppose if Herb ever started anything like that the Government would take away his license before he could do much harm.”
“Never mind,” said Herb resignedly. “You can knock all you want now, but when I get to be rich and famous, like Mark Twain, for instance, you’ll be sorry that you were so dumb that you couldn’t appreciate me sooner.”
“Well, we won’t have to worry until you are rich and famous, and that probably won’t be for a year or two yet,” said Bob. “But here we are at the station. They all look glad to see us. I’ll bet they were afraid we wouldn’t get here in time.”
This was indeed the case, as was evidenced by much gesturing and waving of parasols and handkerchiefs by the feminine members of the party. They had heard the whistle of the train in the distance, and had firmly persuaded themselves that the boys would be delayed and lose the train. As it turned out, however, the boys had plenty of time, and were on the platform and waiting as the engine puffed into the station.
As the train pulled out, they all gazed back regretfully at the little village that had become so familiar to them. Many of the shops were closed and shuttered for the season, and the main street58wore a deserted air. However, as the train rounded a curve and the village was lost to view, they regained their usual spirits.
“It’s a wonder you boys didn’t miss the train altogether,” said Agnes, Herb’s sister. “I don’t see why you didn’t hurry a little. We were on pins and needles all the time until you showed up.”
“Aw, what’s the use of standing on an old station platform for an hour and spending your time wondering why the train doesn’t show up?” said Herb. “We could have left the bungalows ten minutes later and still caught the train. I don’t enjoy riding on a train unless I’ve had to run to get it, anyway.”
“If this train had been on time, you would have had a fast run to get it, I can tell you,” said Amy, Agnes’ younger sister. “It was about fifteen minutes late, and that’s the only reason you got it at all.”
“Oh, we could run almost as fast as this train goes, anyway,” boasted her brother. “And speaking of slow trains, that reminds me of a good story I read the other day.”
“Oh, please tell us about it,” said Agnes, with mock enthusiasm. “You know we always love to hear your jokes, brother dear.”
Herb glanced suspiciously at her, but was too59glad of an opportunity to tell his story to inquire into her sincerity.
“It seems there was a man traveling on a southern railroad——” he began, but Jimmy interrupted him.
“Which railroad?” he inquired.
“It doesn’t matter which railroad,” said Herb, glaring at his friend. “It was a railroad, anyway, and a slow one, too. Well, this man was in a hurry, it seems, and kept fidgeting around and looking at his watch. Finally the train stopped altogether, and a moment later the conductor came through the car.
“‘What’s the matter, Conductor?’ asked the traveler.
“‘There’s a cow on the track,’ answered the conductor.
“Well, pretty soon the train started on again, but it hadn’t gone very far before it stopped once more. ‘Say, Conductor, why in blazes have we stopped again?’ asked the traveler. ‘Seems to me this is the slowest train I ever rode on.’
“‘It can’t be helped, sir,’ answered the conductor. ‘We’ve caught up with that pesky cow again.’”
They all laughed at this anecdote, which pleased Herb immensely.60
“I know lots more, any time you want to hear them,” he ventured, hopefully.
“Better not take a chance on spoiling that one, Herb,” advised Joe. “That was unusually good for you, I must admit.”
“Herb’s jokes wouldn’t be so bad if he’d stick to regular ones,” said Bob. “It’s only when he starts making them up himself that they get so terrible.”
“Yes, and just think of his poor sisters,” sighed Agnes. “In the summer it isn’t quite so bad, because he’s out of the house most of the time, but in winter it’s simply terrible.”
“Well, this winter I won’t have much time to waste on you and Amy, trying to develop a sense of humor in you,” said Herb. “I’m going to build a radio set of my own that will be a cuckoo.”
“Hurrah for you!” exclaimed Bob. “That’s a better way to spend your time, and what a relief it will be for all of us.”
“I suppose you think you’re kidding me, but you’re not,” said Herbert. “I’ll make a set this winter that will make you amateurs turn green with envy. You see if I don’t!”
“It will be fine if you do,” said Bob. “There’s no reason why you shouldn’t if you really want to.”
The time passed quickly, and before they61realized it they heard the conductor call the name of their own town.
“Goodness gracious!” exclaimed Agnes, “are we really there so soon? And I haven’t got any of my things together yet!”
There was great bustle and confusion for a few moments, and then the whole party found themselves on the familiar platform of the Clintonia station. Several taxicabs were requisitioned, and they were all whisked away to their respective homes, after the radio boys had agreed to meet at Bob’s house that evening.
62CHAPTER VIRADIO’S LONG ARM
“Well, fellows,” said Bob, when they were together that evening, according to agreement, “this is the last evening we’ll have without lessons for some time to come, so we’d better make the most of it.”
“Don’t mention lessons, Bob,” implored Jimmy. “Oh, my, how I hate ’em!” and he groaned dismally.
“You’ll soon be doing them, old timer, whether you like them or not,” said Joe. “It’s going to be a tough term for me, too. I’ll be taking up geometry this term, and they say that’s no cinch.”
“Nothing’s a cinch for me, worse luck,” said Jimmy, dolefully. “Everything I do seems to be hard work for me.”
“That’s tough luck, too,” said Bob, gravely, “because you hate work so much, Doughnuts.”
“There isn’t anybody in the world hates it more,” confessed Jimmy, shamelessly. “But that’s all the good it ever does me. Why wasn’t I born rich instead of good looking?”63
“Give it up,” said Bob. “You’ll have to ask me easier ones than that, Jimmy, if you expect to get an answer. But as far as I can see, people that are rich don’t seem to be especially happy, anyway. Look at old Abubus Boggs. He’s probably the richest man in Clintonia, but nobody ever accused him of being happy.”
“I should say not!” exclaimed Joe. “He goes around looking as though he had just bitten into an especially sour lemon. Everybody hates him, and I don’t suppose that makes any one happy.”
“Maybe that does make old Abubus happy, there’s no telling,” said Jimmy, reflectively. “But I know I wouldn’t change places for all his money.”
“There you are!” exclaimed Bob, triumphantly. “You don’t realize how well off you are, Doughnuts.”
“Maybe not,” conceded Jimmy. “School isn’t so bad after you once get started, but I hate to think of settling down to the old grind after that wonderful summer at Ocean Point.”
“But we’ll have the radio just the same,” Joe pointed out. “That’s one of the good things about it; you can take it with you wherever you go.”
“Yes, I was reading an article in one of the radio magazines a little while ago about that,” said Bob. “The article was written by a trapper64in the northern part of Canada. He told how he had set up his outfit in the center of a howling wilderness and had received all the latest news of the world in his shack, not to mention music of every kind. He said that the natives and Indians thought it must be magic, and were looking all over the shack for the spirit that they supposed must be talking into the headphones. That trapper was certainly a radio fan, if there ever was one, and he wrote a mighty interesting letter, too.”
“I should think it would be interesting,” said Herb. “I’d like to read it, if you still have it around.”
Bob rummaged around in a big pile of radio magazines and finally found what he was looking for. The boys read every word of the letter, and were more than ever impressed by the wonderful possibilities of radiophony.
No longer would it be necessary for an exploring expedition to be lost sight of for months, or even years. Wedged in the Arctic ice floes, or contending with fever and savage animals in the depths of some tropical jungle, the explorers could keep in touch with the civilized world as easily as though bound on a week end fishing trip. The aeroplane soaring in the clouds far above the earth, or the submarine under the earth’s waters, could be informed and guided by it.65Certainly of all the wonders of modern times, this was the most marvelous and far-reaching.
Something of all this passed through the boys’ minds as they sat in ruminative silence, thinking of the lonely man in the wilderness with his precious wireless.
“I suppose we should feel pretty lucky to be around just at this stage of the earth’s history,” said Bob, thoughtfully. “We’re living in an age of wonders, and I suppose we’re so used to them that most of the time we don’t realize how wonderful they really are.”
“That’s true enough, all right,” agreed Joe. “When you step into an automobile these days, you don’t stop to think that a few years ago the fastest way to travel was behind old Dobbin. The old world is stepping ahead pretty lively these days, and no mistake.”
“It can’t step too fast to suit me,” said Herb. “Speed is what I like to see, every time.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Jimmy, lazily. “Why not take things a little easier. People had just as much fun out of life when they weren’t in such a rush about everything. I take things easy and get fat on it, while Herb is always rushing around, and it wears him down until he has the same general appearance as a five and ten cent store clothespin.”66
“I wouldn’t want to look like a three and nine cent store pin-cushion, anyway,” said Herb, indignantly. “That’s about your style of beauty, Doughnuts.”
“Well, I never expect to take any prizes in a beauty show, so that doesn’t make me mad,” said Jimmy, calmly.
“If you weren’t so blamed fat, I’d have half a mind to throw you out the window, you old faker,” said Herb, threateningly.
“Couldn’t do it,” said Jimmy, briefly. “In the first place, I’m too heavy; and in the second place, Bob wouldn’t let you.”
“I’ll bet Bob would be glad to see you thrown out. How about it, Bob?” and Herb appealed to his friend.
“I wouldn’t want you to throw him out of either of these windows,” answered Bob, seriously. “There are valuable plants on the lawn below, and I’d hate to see them damaged. But if you want to take him out and drop him from the hall window, I’m sure nobody will have any objections.”
“Oh, I can’t be bothered carrying him that far,” said Herb. “Guess I might as well let him live a while longer, after all.”
“That’s very nice of you,” said Jimmy, sarcastically. “But you know you couldn’t do it, anyway. All I’d have to do would be to fall on you,67Herb, and it would be curtains for little Herbert.”
“I think they’re both afraid of each other, Joe,” said Bob, turning to his friend. “What’s your opinion?”
“Looks that way to me, too. They remind me of a couple of cats that stand and yell at each other for an hour, and then walk off without mixing it after all.”
“Well, we’re not going to go to mauling each other just to amuse you two Indians, that’s certain,” said Herb. “Let’s shake hands and show the world we’re friends, Jimmy.”
“Righto!” agreed his good-natured friend, and they laughingly shook hands.
“We’d better save our scrapping for Buck Looker and his friends,” said Bob. “I suppose they’ll be up to some kind of mischief as soon as we get back to school again. They seem never to learn by experience.”
“They’re too foolish and conceited to learn much,” observed Joe. “They probably think they know all there is to know already.”
“In spite of that, we may be able to teach them a trick or two,” said Herb. “But whether you fellows know it or not, it’s getting pretty late, so I think I’ll go and hit the hay. Who’s coming my way?”
“I suppose we might as well all beat it,” returned Joe, rising. “If we don’t see each other68to-morrow, I suppose we’ll all meet at the dear old high school on Monday morning. Three silent cheers, fellows.”
“Consider them given,” laughed Bob. “But we’ll have plenty of fun, too, so why mind a little hard work?”
After hunting in odd corners for their caps, the boys finally found them all and departed gayly on their way, only slightly depressed by the imminence of the fall term at high school.