151CHAPTER XVIIVAULTING AMBITION
“Bang!” exclaimed Bob, with a laugh. “That was saying something, Jimmy. You surely hit the bull’s-eye plumb in the center that time. Guess that will hold you a while, Herb.”
“It was a terrible slam,” acknowledged Herb. “If I weren’t so busy eating this pie, Jimmy, I’d be tempted to make you take back those cruel words.”
“Nary take,” said Jimmy, positively. “I said ’em, and I’ll stick by ’em. Besides, it’s so. Isn’t it, Bob? I’ll leave it to you.”
“Well,” said Bob, “in the interests of truth I’ll have to admit that as a rule I’d rather have a stomach ache than listen to one of Herb’s home-made jokes. But on the other hand, some of them aren’t so awfully bad. If you took one and polished it up a bit here and there and changed it around a little, it might be good enough to raise a laugh in an insane asylum.”
“It seems to me I remember once, a long time152ago, when he made a joke that was so funny that we all laughed at it,” said Joe. “It hardly seems possible, but I’m almost sure I remember it.”
“Oh, you’re all bugs, anyway, so that doesn’t prove anything,” said Herb, calmly finishing the last of his pie. “But some day, when I become a world-famous humorist, you’ll realize how dumb you were not to appreciate my jokes. Now you get them free, but then it will cost you money to hear them.”
“It will never cost me any money,” said Bob, with conviction. “I wouldn’t give a plugged nickel for a book full of them.”
“Neither will anybody else,” said Joe. “If you have any idea of ever making a living that way, Herb, you’d better forget it. You’d starve to death, sure.”
“Well, it’s a cinch I won’t have to starve to death right now, anyway, so quit your croaking,” retorted the much abused Herb. “Whoever told you fellows that you were judges of humor, anyway?”
“A person doesn’t have to be an expert to judge your jokes,” came back Joe. “If he knows anything at all, he can tell that they’re rotten.”
“All your friends seem to have very decided views on the question, Herbert,” laughed Frank Brandon. “The popular vote seems to be heavily against you.”153
“Oh, their opinions aren’t worth worrying about,” said Herb, complacently. “As long as I know my jokes are good, I don’t care what they say.”
“That’s the spirit,” encouraged Brandon. “Remember, all great men have had to fight an uphill battle against criticism.”
“That’s true,” said Herb, with a melancholy sigh. “And what’s more, if you can judge by the amount of criticism, I must be going to be extra great. Still, that’s likely enough, I suppose.”
“Don’t stop him, fellows,” said Bob, with a mischievous grin. “Let him rave on. If he enjoys kidding himself that way, why should we wake him up?”
“Aw, you fellows who think you’re so smart are probably kidding yourselves,” said Herb. “Nobody could really be as smart as you Indians think you are and live to tell the story.”
“That’s one of the failings of human nature to rate ourselves too highly,” interposed Dr. Dale, with a smile. “But now, how would you all like to go in and hear the rest of the concert? We’ve missed only the first part, and there’s still quite a good deal to come.”
They all acceded to this proposal with alacrity, and found that, as the doctor had said, they had not missed much of the programme. The wireless154apparatus worked to perfection, and they could hear everything perfectly.
“The static isn’t nearly as bad to-night as it was a month or two ago,” said Dr. Dale. “At times last summer it interfered a good deal with my receiving.”
“Yes, it’s always a good deal worse in summer than in winter,” remarked Frank Brandon. “I always advise beginners not to start at wireless in mid-summer, as they sometimes get such poor results with their small sets that they get discouraged and give up the game altogether. It’s better to wait until fall, and then by the next summer they’ve had experience enough to know how to reduce the bad effects of static.”
“It used to get pretty bad sometimes at Ocean Point last summer,” observed Bob. “Once or twice our concerts were almost spoiled by it, while at other times we’d hardly notice it.”
“With that set, you ought to be able to get any broadcasting station in the Eastern States,” said Brandon. “And if you have luck, and conditions happened to be just right, you might even get something from the other side, although of course that isn’t very likely.”
“Oh, we’ve been talking about that, but we don’t really expect to,” said Joe. “We might be able to get the wireless telegraph signals from the other side, though, don’t you think?”155
“That’s likely enough,” answered Brandon. “The best time to get them is late at night, when the broadcasting and amateur stations are not sending. I’ve often sat and listened with Brandon Harvey to the big station at Nauen, Germany, or to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.”
“Jimminy!” exclaimed Herb. “We’ll have to bone down at our language courses at high school, fellows. I suppose that they send in whatever language the people speak where the sending station is located, don’t they?”
“As a rule they do, but not always,” replied Frank Brandon. “It depends to a great extent where the message is being sent to. If it is being sent to this country, it is often in English, while if it were being sent to France, it would be in French, naturally.”
“Yes, I suppose it would have to be that way,” said Bob, thoughtfully, “although I never thought about that side of it before. It won’t make much difference what language they’re sending in, though, so long as we know that we can get their signals. It will be a lot of fun, though, trying to make out what they’re saying.”
“It will be a good alibi, anyway,” said Jimmy. “If we can’t understand the dots and dashes, we can just say that they’re sending in German or French or Italian. Nobody could expect us to know all those languages.”156
“If they did expect it, they’d be badly disappointed,” said Herb. “I’ve been wrestling with French for three terms now, but I don’t seem to know much more about it than when I started.”
“I can believe that, all right,” said Jimmy. “Only day before yesterday you flunked your recitation in French, and the professor told you that you were forgetting your French faster than you were learning it. He was right, wasn’t he?”
“I’ll say he was,” said Herb, shamelessly. “At the rate I’m learning it, it would be strange if I weren’t forgetting it faster. I’ll have to do a lot of cramming to pass the mid-term exams.”
“You fellows had better quit your talking and listen to the music,” suggested Joe. “Here’s a swell quartette that has just been announced. Can the chatter and do a little listening.”
“That’s easy,” said Herb. “I’d rather hear a good quartette than almost anything else I know of.”
For another hour or so they listened to the concert, which turned out to be an unusually fine one. Then, when the last selection had been given, Mr. Brandon rose to go.
“I’ve had a wonderful afternoon and evening,” he said, “and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I hope the next time you give a party like this, Doctor Dale, that I’ll be invited again.”
“You surely will,” replied the doctor, heartily.157“The latch string always hangs outside the door for you, you know.”
The radio boys also expressed their appreciation of the entertainment they had received, and Doctor Dale invited them cordially to come again.
“I’d like to be at the station to-morrow to meet Larry,” he said. “But as to-morrow is Sunday, I shall be unable to get there. But don’t forget to give him my congratulations on his success, will you?”
This the boys promised to do, and then they and Mr. Brandon said good-night and started homeward.
“My, but this has been a full day,” said Bob. “We’ve certainly been moving some since this morning. And think of all we’ve accomplished. I’ll bet Larry will get well so fast now that he’ll surprise the whole lot of us.”
“I’ll bet Tim will be glad to hear about it,’” remarked Joe. “I wonder if he’s got an engagement yet.”
“He hadn’t, up to a few days ago,” said Bob. “Larry told me that in one of the letters he had received from him he said he had several prospects, but nothing definite. You know, of course, that Chasson wouldn’t keep Tim after Larry’s accident broke up the act.”
“Yes, Larry told me about that,” replied Joe. “I guess poor Tim has had pretty hard sledding158lately, too. But he has his health, and I guess he’ll land an engagement soon, if he hasn’t already got one.”
“He’s too clever a dancer to be out of work very long, it seems to me,” said Herb. “If I were manager of a show, you can bet I’d snap him up pretty quick.”
“That’s right,” agreed Jimmy. “He’s certainly a crackerjack dancer, but there is one thing about him that I never thought much of.”
“What’s that?” asked Bob, curiously.
“Why, haven’t you ever noticed what a light appetite he has?” asked Jimmy. “I’d be ashamed of myself if I couldn’t eat more than he does. He’s always through a meal before I’ve fairly got started.”
Frank Brandon laughed at this and interrupted.
“Guess I’ll have to say good-night, fellows,” he said. “Here’s my hotel, and I, for one, feel tired enough to sleep. I’ll try to be at the station to-morrow to meet Larry, but I won’t promise. I’m expecting instructions from the government that may change my plans at any time.”
“You don’t expect to have to leave Clintonia soon, do you?” asked Bob, anxiously.
“No, I hardly think so. Not right away, anyway,” answered the wireless man. “I may have to be away a few days, but I’ll be back again soon.”159
“We’re all hoping that you’ll be stationed here permanently,” said Bob, as all paused in front of Mr. Brandon’s hotel. “We’d hate to see you transferred away from here.”
“That’s mighty nice to hear,” said the radio expert, and his tone left no doubt that he was in earnest. “You may believe that I’ll do my best to stay here, anyway. This is the center of a pretty large territory, and the wireless business is growing so fast that it’s possible I’ll be able to. We’ll make the most of the time I’m here, anyway.”
“You bet we will,” said Bob. “We’ll be looking for you at the station to-morrow, anyway, but if you’re not there we’ll tell Larry why you couldn’t come.”
The boys said good-night to Frank Brandon, and started on the short walk to Main Street and their homes.
160CHAPTER XVIIINEW HOPE
“I told Larry to come on the twelve-fifty train to-morrow,” said Bob. “We can get together when we come out of church, and we’ll have plenty of time then to walk to the station. We don’t want to take any chances of Larry’s getting in without any one to meet him.”
“Not on your life,” agreed Joe, emphatically. “But how are we going to get him to the hotel, Bob? I know we can’t get dad’s car. He’s too awfully busy just now. It isn’t much of a walk from the station, but it’s too far for Larry just yet, isn’t it?”
“Let’s all chip in and hire a taxi,” proposed Bob. “It won’t cost us much, and I guess we can all squeeze into one easily enough.”
“I’m game,” said Joe. “I can hang onto the spare tire if there isn’t room enough inside.”
“I guess that won’t be necessary,” laughed Bob. “Of course, Jimmy takes up a little extra room, but then Herb brings it back to average again.”161
It was agreed that they should hire a taxicab according to Bob’s suggestion, and then the boys said “so-long” and dispersed to their homes.
The following day they met at the church door, as they had agreed, and walked rapidly down to the station. It was a glorious day, with just a hint of frost in the air, and all the boys were in high spirits. They found it hard to remember that it was Sunday and that they must act accordingly, but managed to get to the station with a due amount of decorum.
The train was a few minutes late, but the time did not seem long to them. They hired a taxicab in advance, and by the time that transaction was finished they could see the train in the distance. As it drew into the station, they eagerly scanned the alighting passengers. Larry was one of the last to alight, and the boys were almost beginning to fear that he was not on the train when they spied him on the last car. With one accord they rushed in that direction, and in a few seconds Larry found himself on the platform, with the boys bombarding him with questions and congratulations.
“How did it seem to be performing for the benefit of about half a million people at one time?” inquired Joe.
“Not very different from performing for only a few,” laughed Larry. “I wasn’t worrying162much about the half million. What was bothering me was to please just one—Mr. Allard.”
“I suppose that’s about the size of it,” agreed Bob, as they started toward the taxicab. “I guess he was satisfied, though, wasn’t he?”
“Well, he didn’t say much directly, but he took me on permanently, and is going to pay me almost twice as much as Chasson did; so I guess that’s a pretty good indication that he likes the act,” replied Larry. “But where are you Indians taking me to, anyway?”
“Don’t ask questions, but just come along,” said Bob. “We’ve got a taxi waiting here, and Mr. Brandon has hired a room for you at his hotel, so you see you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“It certainly looks that way,” agreed Larry. “Well, I’m in the hands of my friends. I’ll be good and do as I’m told.”
“You’d better, until you get your strength back,” threatened Bob. “We can lick you easily now, you know, so you’d better speak nicely to us.”
“Well, when people treat me to a ride in a taxicab, I speak nicely to them anyway, so that they’ll be encouraged to do it again,” said Larry. “So, you see, I have a double incentive.”
“You’d better make the most of this ride,”163laughed Joe. “When you begin to get your pay checks, we’ll expect you to hire the taxicabs, shan’t we, fellows?”
“You bet we will,” said Jimmy. “This is the life! Taxicabs must have been made especially for me, I like to ride in them so.”
“It’s too bad Tim can’t be with us now,” said Bob. “Have you heard how he is getting along lately, Larry?”
“Oh, that reminds me!” exclaimed Larry. “You can bet your bottom dollar I’ve heard from him lately. Not an hour after I had gone through my act last night I got a telegram from him congratulating me. It seems that he was listening in at a radio set somewhere, and I guess it must have pretty nearly knocked him off his pins when he heard the announcer give my name. As soon as I finished he must have rushed out and sent the telegram. Here it is, and you can read it for yourselves.”
He fished through his pockets, and at last produced the crumpled slip of yellow paper.
Bob took it up and read aloud.
“Fine work, old man. Keep it up. Have got engagement, too. More by letter. Tim.”
“Fine work, old man. Keep it up. Have got engagement, too. More by letter. Tim.”
“Good for him!” exclaimed Bob. “We were164speaking about him last night, and wondering how he was making out. I’m mighty glad to hear that he has landed an engagement.”
“So am I,” said Larry. “Although, now that I’ve got one, he would have had half of what I made until he did drop into something. It’s always been share and share alike with us.”
By this time the taxicab had reached the hotel, and the boys helped Larry out. He was regaining his strength rapidly now, and his friends were delighted to note the improvement in him.
“You won’t need that crutch much longer, Larry, I can see that,” Bob told him.
“I hope not,” responded Larry. “And won’t it be a happy day when I can throw it into the discard? Believe me, it’s a terrible thing to have to rely on one.”
“I hope we never have to make the experiment,” said Bob, soberly. “But you’re mighty lucky to be getting along the way you are. When they first took you to the hospital, the doctor didn’t think you’d pull through. He didn’t say so in so many words, but we could see that he thought it.”
“I don’t doubt it,” said Larry, as they slowly mounted the steps leading to the lobby. “You can believe that I felt as though the roof had caved in on top of me.”
At that moment a tall boy passed them rapidly,165going out of the door into the street. It was Buck Looker, and he had passed the others without recognizing them.
“Did you ever hear any more from Buck?” questioned Bob of Larry.
“No,” and Larry’s face clouded. “But I suppose he still thinks me guilty of that robbery.”
“Forget Buck!” cried Joe. “He isn’t worth worrying about.”
“Perhaps not. Just the same, I wish that matter was cleared up. I hate to have a cloud over my name,” answered Larry seriously.
166CHAPTER XIXLISTENING IN
Larry registered at the desk, and then they were whisked up in the elevator to the lad’s room. Bob had inquired at the desk for Frank Brandon, but was informed that he had left early that morning and had left word for the boys that he would not be back in Clintonia before the following evening.
Larry’s room was only two removed from that of the radio expert, and was fairly large and comfortably furnished. The young actor was delighted when he saw it.
“Say, this is great!” he exclaimed. “This has got the hospital beat a thousand ways. If the eats are only as good as the room, I’ll be in clover.”
“You won’t find anything the matter with the eats,” said Bob. “This hotel has a reputation for setting a good table, and I don’t think you’ll have any fault to find with it.”
“When I get my first pay check, we’ll try it out167together,” promised Larry. “You’ll all be my guests, for a change, and we’ll make the chef step around a bit.”
“Hooray!” crowed Jimmy, “that’s the kind of talk I like to hear, Larry. It certainly sounds like sweet music to me.”
“It is rather pleasant,” added Bob. “All you’ve got to do is set a date, Larry, and we’ll be there with nickel-plated appetites and cast iron digestions.”
“You fellows haven’t said much about your radio lately. How is it coming along? I’m afraid you’ve spent so much time on me lately, that you’ve gotten behind on that new set you were telling me about.”
“No, that’s coming along all right,” said Bob. “We haven’t set any hard and fast date to have it finished, you know. We’ve all had to bone down pretty hard at school this term, too.”
“Could you hear me plainly last evening?” inquired Larry.
“If you’d been sitting in the room with us, it couldn’t have sounded any different,” Joe assured him. “Doctor Dale has a good set for shorter ranges, but except under very favorable conditions he can’t get the distant stations, like Detroit, for instance.”
“Do you expect to be able to hear Detroit?”
“We’ll be able to hear any station in the Eastern168States,” Bob informed him. “This is going to be a set that is a set, Larry.”
“Well, so much the better,” said Larry. “If you can hear as far as that, you won’t have to live in fear of not hearing my performance only a few miles away. I know it would break your hearts if you couldn’t.”
“It makes me sad just to think of such a terrible thing,” sighed Herb. “Wait till I get my handkerchief, fellows, and mop up the flowing tears.”
“Aw, chase yourself,” grinned Larry. “The only thing that would bother you radio bugs if you didn’t hear me, would be the fear that your blamed old set wasn’t working just right. You’d be down under the table fussing around with a few thousand wires, but you’d never stop to think that maybe I’d been fired by the manager, or run over by a trolley car.”
“Oh, we’d never have to worry about you,” said Joe. “You’ve heard the old saying that ‘only the good die young.’”
“I certainly have,” admitted Larry. “And that probably explains why that stage scenery didn’t kill me outright. It’s been rather a mystery to me why it didn’t, but you’ve put me wise to the real reason.”
“It will do for want of a better one, anyway,’” laughed Bob.
“If we can once get you interested in radio,169Larry, you’ll be as stuck on it as any of us,” said Joe. “It’s interesting right from the beginning, but when you dig into it a bit, it gets more fascinating all the time.”
“Oh, I’m interested in radio all right, don’t male any mistake about that,” returned Larry, with a twinkle in his eye. “It’s my meal ticket now, you know.”
“Yes, but I mean in the way of recreation,” persisted Joe.
“Yes, I suppose it must be mighty interesting, for a fact,” admitted Larry, more seriously. “Just wait until I get strong again, and maybe I’ll take it up in earnest. I’ve seen enough of it to realize that there are wonderful possibilities in it, anyway.”
“Well, we’ll be glad to initiate you any time you say the word,” offered Bob. “We don’t know enough about it to keep us awake at night, but we can probably explain a few things to you.”
“Oh, I’ll ask questions until you wish you’d never mentioned radio to me,” laughed Larry. “If I do take it up, I’ll have to start at the beginning.”
“That’s where most everybody starts,” announced Jimmy. “You won’t be a bit worse off than we were, will he, fellows?”
“I should say not,” answered Bob. “When we started, we hardly knew the difference between an170antenna and a ground wire. We had our own troubles at first; and we’re still having them, as far as that goes. There always seems to be something new coming up that you have to work out.”
“If I keep on getting good pay from the broadcasting station, I’ll be able to buy a set, anyway,” said Larry. “What’s the use of working so hard over one, when you can buy them all made up? All you have to do is hook them up to a small antenna, and you get your music right off the bat.”
But the radio boys all scouted this idea.
“Of course you can buy one all made up,” said Bob. “But there’s not half the fun in operating that kind of set as there is in one that you’ve made yourself. And besides, you can get a lot better results when you’ve made the thing yourself and understand just what’s in it and how it works. If you don’t get good results some evening, you know where to look for the trouble.”
“It’s like driving an automobile when you don’t understand the mechanism,” added Joe. “As long as everything goes all right you go sailing along, but let something go wrong, and you’re up a tree right away. You haven’t any idea of where to look for the trouble.”
“All right, all right,” laughed Larry. “Don’t shoot, and I’ll promise never to mention it again.”
“See that you keep it, then,” said Bob, laughing.171“But anybody who buys a made-up set isn’t entitled to be called a real radio fan; at least, we don’t think so.”
“I suppose you’re right,” agreed Larry. “It must be half the fun of the game when you do the job yourself. But remember that everybody can’t build elaborate sets the way you fellows do, even if they want to. They haven’t got the knack.”
“I suppose that’s so,” conceded Bob. “But almost anybody that can drive a nail straight can do it. It’s mostly a matter of hard work and a little study.”
“Well, when I get a little stronger, maybe I’ll take a fling at it,” said Larry. “But just at present, the only thing I can think about is getting something to eat. I had a pretty early breakfast, and now I’m rather anxious to try some of that good cooking you tell me this hotel is famous for.”
“My!” exclaimed Bob, jumping to his feet. “I’m glad you mentioned dinner, Larry. I’ll have to take it on the run if I’m going to get home in time for dinner. They’re always sore if I’m late, too.”
“And to think that I overlooked such an important thing as Sunday dinner!” ejaculated Jimmy, searching frantically around for his cap. “I only hope I can last out until I get home,”172he went on. “If I do, it will only be on account of my strong will power. I’m afraid poor old Herb hasn’t much chance to pull through.”
“Huh!” snorted Herb. “If you had to depend on will power to get you home, you’d never get a block away from here. You’ll get home all right, but the thing that gets you there will be the thought of how good the chicken and apple pie are going to taste.”
“Well, nobody could have a stronger motive than that, after all,” said Jimmy. “Confound this elevator, anyway. I guess it’s never going to come up. You fellows can wait if you want to, but I’m going to walk down. I know I’ll get there, then.”
“Doughnuts does have a good idea once in a while,” said Joe. “I’ll do the same thing.” The others were nothing loath, so they shook hands with Larry and clattered down the long flights of stairs at high speed, for, as Bob said, it would never do to let the elevator beat them down after all.
173CHAPTER XXTHE WONDERFUL SCIENCE
The boys arrived at the street floor breathless but triumphant, and started in the direction of home at so brisk a pace that poor Jimmy had some difficulty in keeping up. He was in as much of a hurry as any of the others, however, and by great effort managed to keep up with his companions.
“After this, we all should be eligible to go in a walking race,” laughed Bob, as they paused a minute at his door. “Can you all get around this evening and listen to some radio? I’ve got to get out some lessons this afternoon, and I guess you have, too.”
“I should say so!” exclaimed Joe. “You know how much chance we had to do them yesterday, and I’ve got a good three hours’ work ahead of me. I guess I can get around this evening all right, though.”
Herb and Jimmy both said that they would be on hand, and then they went on, separating as each reached his own home.174
Shortly after supper that evening they all met at the Layton home according to appointment. As it was Sunday, they did not do any work on their new set, but the whole Layton family gathered around the loud speaker that evening, as a prominent preacher was to deliver a sermon by radio, and they were all eager to hear it.
Before the sermon there was an organ recital, and they heard this perfectly, after the boys had succeeded in tuning out one or two amateurs who sometimes made them trouble. Of course, everybody enjoyed the recital, and also the sermon, which was delivered in very effective style.
“This is certainly being up to date,” commented Mr. Layton, when the sermon was over. “When I was the same age as you boys, I was expected to be in church every Sunday evening without fail. But now it does not seem quite so necessary, when it is possible to have religious services right in the home, as we have had them this evening. I think the Layton family is indebted to you boys, as the chances are neither Mrs. Layton nor I would ever have become interested in it if Bob and you hadn’t introduced us to it.”
“I’ll bet you never thought much of it when we first started to build an amateur set, now did you, Dad?” accused Bob.
“As I don’t see any way out of it, I suppose I’ll have to confess that you’re right,” laughed175Mr. Layton. “But you must remember that you boys were among the first to take up wireless in Clintonia, and at that time nobody in town had thought anything about it. I guess we didn’t realize its possibilities.”
“It was a surprise to me when that first set that you boys made really worked,” admitted Mrs. Layton. “I remember that it sounded very nice right from the start, too.”
“Yes, that was a good old set,” said Bob. “It didn’t satisfy us for long, though. It was all right under favorable conditions, but you couldn’t do much tuning with it.”
“Not only that, but the range was pretty limited, too,” chimed in Joe. “When I think of all the planning we had to do before we got it made, I feel like laughing.”
“It was no laughing matter then, though,” said Herb. “If it hadn’t worked, we’d have been a pretty disappointed crowd.”
“I’ll never forget the sensation when that first music came in over our set,” said Bob. “It was certainly a grand and glorious feeling. I only hope our new set comes up to scratch as well as that one did.”
“I guess there isn’t much doubt about the new set,” observed Joe, confidently. “It will justhaveto work.”
“Look out,” laughed Mr. Layton. “Don’t forget176the old saying, that ‘pride goeth before a fall.’”
“Yes, we may have an awful bump coming to us, I suppose,” said Joe. “But we’d be awfully sore if it didn’t work, after all the labor we’ve put on it.”
“We’ll make it work, all right,” predicted Bob. “Maybe not on the very first trial, but we’ll get it going in the end, I’ll bet a cookie.”
“I surely hope it will be all right, because I know how bad you would all feel if it didn’t,” said Mrs. Layton. “I never knew boys would work so hard at anything, just for the sake of the fun they expect to get out of it.”
“They may get a good deal more than just fun out of it,” remarked Mr. Layton, seriously. “It looks to me as though radiophony were only just starting at present, and it seems certain that it offers a big field for any one who has the desire and ability to take up that line of work. It may turn out to be a fine thing for them later on.”
“I suppose that’s very true,” said his wife, thoughtfully. “Although that side of it never occurred to me before.”
After a little further conversation, Joe, Herb, and Jimmy said good-night and took their leave, thinking, as they walked home, of what Mr. Layton had said. They had all entertained the same idea before, but his words had encouraged them.177Why not? Surely there must be many openings in so large a field for bright and ambitious young fellows, and in their dreams that night the boys had visions of fame and fortune attained through the medium of wireless telephony.
They were discussing this the next afternoon on their way home from school, when their speculations were brought to an abrupt end by the sight of Larry hobbling down the street toward them as fast as he could travel with his crutch, his face flushed and his free arm wildly waving.
178CHAPTER XXITHE VANISHING CROOKS
The radio boys broke into a run, and soon reached their excited friend.
“What’s the matter, Larry?” asked Bob. “You look as though you had just seen a ghost. What’s the trouble?”
“I wish you’d gotten here a few minutes sooner!” panted Larry. “Confound this blamed crutch of mine. How can anybody hope to make any speed with one of these things?”
“He can’t,” said Bob. “But hurry up and tell us what’s eating you.”
“I just saw the fellows that were in that motor boat when it ran us down!” exclaimed Larry.
“You did?” cried the radio boys in chorus. “Did you try to stop them?”
“Of course I did,” replied Larry. “But they evidently recognized me, for they gave me one look, and then started off at top speed. I tried to run after them, but I’m too blamed crippled yet to do much speeding, and of course they got away179clean. If you fellows had come along three minutes sooner, we could have caught them, I think.”
“They can’t have got very far yet, then,” said Bob. “Which way did they go? It may not be too late to catch them even now.”
“They went around that corner,” answered Larry, pointing with his crutch. “I got there as soon as I could, but by the time I arrived there was no sign of them.”
“I’m afraid we haven’t much chance to catch them now, but we might as well try, anyway,” said Bob. “Judging from the direction they took, it looks as though they might have headed for the station. Suppose we each take a different street, and work down to the station, keeping our eyes open as we go along? Even if we don’t succeed in catching them, we may find somebody who knows them and can give us some information.”
“Sounds good to me,” agreed Joe, briefly, and the others also assented to Bob’s plan.
“I’ll go straight down High Street, then,” said Bob, decisively. “You take Jerome Avenue, Joe. You take Van Ness Avenue, Herb. And you take Southern Boulevard, Jimmy. They all run together near the station, and we can meet there. So-long, Larry. Whether we learn anything or not, we’ll come back to the hotel and let you know all about it.”
“All right, then, I’ll be waiting for you,” said180Larry, with a wave of his hand. “I only wish that I could help you, but I’m a lame horse yet. Good luck, anyway.”
The radio boys set out at top speed, each one hunting high and low along the street assigned to him, and asking questions of every one he met. But the strangers seemed to have vanished into thin air, for, hunt as they would, the boys could find no trace of them. At the railroad station they learned that a train had left for New York only a few minutes before, but the ticket agent said he did not remember selling tickets to any men such as the boys described.
“That doesn’t prove anything, though,” he said, as he noted their disappointment. “I sell so many tickets here during the day that I don’t notice who buys them much. The only time I’d be likely to notice anything would be if the parties were excited or nervous, and I don’t remember anything like that this afternoon.”
The boys thanked him, and left the station.
“That’s too bad,” said Bob. “I would have given a lot to have caught those fellows for Larry. People that are mean and selfish enough to upset a boat and then not even try to rescue the people in it, ought to get what’s coming to them.”
“I’d certainly have enjoyed taking a swift punch or two at them myself,” agreed Joe.
“Well, if we didn’t catch them, it wasn’t for181lack of trying,” said Herb. “People looked at me as though they thought I was crazy when I asked them questions about the fellows we were after. I didn’t even know enough about them to describe them.”
“My idea was that they’d probably keep on running even after they’d gotten away from Larry, and in that case somebody would have been sure to notice them,” explained Bob. “It looks as though they were wise enough to slow down as soon as they thought they were safely away, though.”
“No use crying over spilt milk,” said Jimmy philosophically. “Let’s go back to Larry and report ‘nothing doing.’”
“I suppose that’s about all we can do,” agreed Bob. “We’ll keep a sharp lookout on the way back, and we may find something, after all.”
But this hope was doomed to disappointment. There was no sign of the rascals they sought, and there was no help for it but to tell Larry of their lack of success.
The latter was naturally greatly disappointed, but he put a cheerful face on the matter.
“When they once got away from me, I gave up hope of catching them, for this time, anyway,” he said. “Clintonia is getting to be such a big town that it’s easy for people to lose themselves in it. The only thing to do is hope for better luck next182time. I’m mighty grateful to you fellows for trying so hard to find them, too.”
“Don’t thank us for doing nothing,” said Bob, a little ruefully. “If we had caught those rascals, it would have been different.”
“Oh, it was just hard luck that you fellows didn’t come along a few minutes sooner. We’d have got them then, sure. But I’ve got a hunch that we’ll run across them again.”
“I’ll bet you traveled faster with that stick of yours than you ever thought you could, didn’t you?” asked Herb, with a grin.
“I guess I did,” laughed Larry. “I must have looked funny hopping along there. But it won’t be long now before I’ll be traveling around on my own two feet again.”
“You’re certainly looking better every time I see you,” remarked Bob. “I guess you’ll be plenty strong enough to start in at steady work at the broadcasting station next week, won’t you?”
“Oh, sure,” responded Larry. “I could do it this week, as far as that goes.”
“Don’t get too ambitious,” said Joe. “A week’s rest here will do you all kinds of good.”
“Do you find the grub as good as we told you it would be?” asked Jimmy.
“It’s simply heavenly,” said Larry, solemnly.
“Say!” exclaimed Bob, suddenly, “have any of183you Indians happened to think what next Monday is?”
“Sure,” said Herb, flippantly. “It’s the day after next Sunday. Ask me something harder next time.”
“That’s right,” said Bob, giving him a withering glance. “As our friend Herbert says, it is the day after Sunday, but it also happens to be Columbus Day, and therefore a holiday. How did we ever come to forget that?”
“Hooray!” they shouted, and with one accord linked arms and executed an impromptu dance.
“That being so, let’s go with Larry when he reports for work,” proposed Joe. “Who’s game to do it?”
“I’m with you!” exclaimed Bob. “We can see that Larry gets there all right, and maybe Mr. Allard will show us over the station. We were in such a hurry when we were there before that we couldn’t see very much.”
“I’d like to go first rate,” said Herb. “But I’m so far behind on my French that I’m afraid I’ll have to stay at home and make up for lost time. I’m ’way back in math., too.”
“I won’t be able to go either, I’m afraid,” said Jimmy, dolefully. “Dad has just taken a big contract, and I’ve promised to help him all my spare time next week. I’d forgotten about Monday being a holiday, though,” he added, truthfully.184
“Well, if you can’t, that’s all there is to it,” said Bob. “Maybe you’ll change your minds before then, though.”
“I don’t want you to come just on my account, fellows,” said Larry. “Of course, I’d love to have you come, but I don’t want you to think you’ve got to.”
“It isn’t that at all,” Bob assured him. “In the first place, it will be fun to take the trip, and then, if we get a chance to look around the station, we may get some good tips for our new set.”
“Well,” said Larry, doubtfully, “since you put it that way, it will be great to have you come with me. I guess I’ve got influence enough around there already to show you the inside works.”
“All right, then, we’ll consider that settled,” said Bob. “Joe and I will call for you early in the afternoon. By that time Mr. Brandon will be back, and maybe he’ll come, too.”
The radio inspector returned the next day, but he could not promise to accompany the little party, as he had to attend a meeting at headquarters the following Monday.