CHAPTER VIITHRASHING THE BULLIESDoctor Dale manipulated the knobs for a few seconds, and suddenly they all heard the announcer from WEAF speaking.“The next number on our program will be a violin solo,” announced the sonorous voice, and the Radio Boys leaned back, prepared to hear something good.But they were disappointed. Before a single note could come floating in through the horn, the slight sibilant sound of the apparatus ceased abruptly. The set had suddenly “gone dead,” and, try as he might, the doctor could not coax a sound from it.“That’s very strange,” he said, after trying in vain to get some result. “Suppose you try it, Bob. Maybe you’ll have better fortune.”Bob was no more successful than the pastor had been, and after a few minutes he looked at Doctor Dale with a puzzled frown between his eyes.“That’s one of the queerest things I ever knew to happen to a radio set,” he said. “I guess we’d better go over the connections, and make sure that everything is tight.”This they did, but everything seemed to be in perfect order. All the connections were neatly soldered in place, and it was easy to see that the trouble did not lie here.“Well,” said Bob, at last, “it seems plain enough that the set itself is all right, unless one of the transformers has burned out. That’s so unlikely, though, that I think we’d better take a look at the antenna. Perhaps the trouble is in that or in the leading-in wire.”“That’s easy to find out,” remarked Joe, and they all went outdoors and around to the back of the house. Doctor Dale had a powerful little electric flashlight, and by the aid of this they could see that the antenna wire was all right. Having made sure of this, Doctor Dale turned the brilliant little shaft of light on the house, and followed the course of the leading-in wire down the wall. This wire entered the house through one of the dining-room window frames, and as the light neared this point, the doctor uttered an exclamation.“There’s our trouble!” he cried. “The wire is broken just outside the window. I wonder what made it do that.”“It does seem rather queer,” said Bob. “It looks to be a pretty heavy wire, and there’s no strain on it at that point.”“Yes, but it’s always the unexpected thing that happens, especially in radio,” remarked Joe. “Probably a couple of us could hang on that wire and it wouldn’t break, and yet it snaps with nothing but its own weight to hold up. Let’s splice it and give the set another try-out.”They were about to follow Joe’s advice, when suddenly Bob’s keen ears caught the sound of a suppressed laugh coming from the direction of Doctor Dale’s garage. Not only that, but he thought he recognized the voice, and suddenly the cause of the wire’s mysterious failure flashed over him. He had recognized the sound of Carl Lutz’s voice in the laugh, and a wave of hot anger surged up in him. His first impulse was to make a dash for the garage, but suddenly he thought of a better plan, and by an effort pretended that he had heard nothing.“Come on into the house and get some tools,” he said, in his usual tone of voice. “It won’t take a minute to twist the ends together and put a drop or two of solder over the splice. We’ll have it fixed up for you, Doctor Dale, inside of five minutes.”They all went into the house, and Doctor Dale went upstairs to get a couple of pairs of pliers and some tape. While he was gone, Bob swiftly outlined his plan to his friends.“That wire was deliberately cut by Buck, or possibly Carl Lutz,” he said. “I heard Carl’s mean laugh while we were outside. I was nearest to the garage, and I suppose that’s why I was the only one to hear it. Now, it’s pretty dark tonight, and we don’t want that pair to get away scot free if we can help it. My idea is to go out the front door, which they can’t see from where they are hiding, and then spread out and surround the garage. We ought to catch one of them, anyway, and then it will be up to us to teach him not to cut leading-in wires. How does that plan strike you?”“It sounds fine,” ejaculated Joe. “Up and at ’em, fellows. The sooner we start, the better I’ll like it. There’s a possibility they may have gone even by this time,” and at the thought his face fell.“No danger of that,” Bob reassured him. “They’ll hang around for the fun of watching us mending the wire. They’d enjoy that so much that they’re sure to wait.”Knowing Looker and his friend as they did, the Radio Boys thought this highly probable, and without further words they proceeded to put Bob’s plan into effect. As silently as Indians they stole out of the house and approached the garage. This was quite a large building, and was surrounded by shrubbery, so that it made an ideal hiding place.Everything was so quiet that the boys began to fear that Carl and Buck had taken the alarm and gone away, when suddenly the stillness was broken by a startled exclamation, followed by a crash of some heavy body falling.What had happened was that Jimmy, while feeling his way along in the pitch darkness, had inadvertently tripped over some projecting object, which proved to be Buck Looker’s leg. The exclamation was uttered by Buck, and the crash was the result of Jimmy’s falling through an evergreen plant and landing against the wall of the garage.Immediately all was uproar and confusion.At the first alarm, Buck and Carl had jumped to their feet and started as fast as their legs could carry them toward the street. Unluckily for them, both Bob and Joe were converging on the garage from that direction, and Buck and his friend ran squarely into their arms. By this time they were so near the street that the light from an arc lamp illuminated the scene, and by its aid Bob and Joe proceeded to administer summary justice on the meddlesome youths. The latter did not want to fight, but when they saw that there was no escape, they put up a defense that was not to be despised. They were both big fellows, but Bob and Joe were so indignant and furious over this last uncalled for outrage that the two bullies would have had little chance in any event.Nevertheless, for a few minutes the fight was fast and furious. Just at its height Joe slipped on the wet grass, and while he was down both Buck and Carl concentrated on Bob. Only for a moment, however, and then Herb, who had come running up by this time, stepped in and sent Carl reeling back under a fusillade of blows, while Bob pressed Buck hard, driving him back toward the garage. It would have gone hard with Buck and his friend had not Doctor Dale appeared on the scene just then. He was hatless and greatly alarmed at the uproar in his usually peaceful garden.At sight of him, the Radio Boys paused for a moment, and Buck and Carl took advantage of this momentary respite to make a dash for the street. Herb and Joe, who was now on his feet again, started in pursuit, but Bob called them back.“We’ve given them something to remember us by, fellows,” he said. “Besides, I think we owe some explanation to Doctor Dale. He must think we’ve gone crazy.”“I must admit that it looks somewhat that way,” the doctor said. “Who were those two fellows that I saw running away just now? Were they burglars?”“No, sir. Those were the fellows that cut your leading-in wire,” said Bob, quietly.“Cut it!” exclaimed the doctor, in amazement. “Who would want to do such a thing as that?”“They weren’t doing it to you, sir; that is, not directly,” explained Bob. “They wanted to make us trouble. They must have seen us go into your house, and they thought that would be a fine trick to play.”“Then they were your old friends, Buck Looker and Carl Lutz?”“Yes, sir. But I don’t think they’ll try it again very soon,” answered Bob.“We taught them a lesson that they’ll be likely to remember for a while,” added Herb.“Well,” said Doctor Dale, “as a rule I don’t believe in fighting, but I am a believer in swift justice, so I won’t lecture you boys. If you hadn’t administered punishment in your own way, I might have taken some other steps. As it is, I imagine it will be wiser just to let the matter drop. Was Jimmy in the battle, too?”“Not very much, I wasn’t,” said that lad, who had been ruefully rubbing various portions of his anatomy. “I was too busy picking myself out of the remains of an evergreen tree to do any fighting. I pretty nearly knocked a hole in the side of your garage with my head, Doctor Dale.”“It sounded like a young earthquake,” grinned Joe. “It was just luck that you didn’t scare them away, Doughnuts. Next time, see that you leave the garage and the shrubbery alone, so that the fighting men won’t be deprived of your help.”“Huh,” sniffed the fat boy. “It took me to find them, didn’t it? Probably you’d be looking for them yet, if it hadn’t been for me.”“Well, however that might have been, I think you boys had better come into the house and repair some of the damage to your clothes,” said Doctor Dale, with a twinkle in his eyes. “I’m expecting a friend to visit me this evening, who may have an interesting proposition to put up to you. You’d better hurry, too, as he is likely to be here at any moment now.”“What is the proposition?” asked Joe, as they turned toward the house.“I’m not going to tell you now, but I don’t mind saying that it has something to do with an automobile tour. Does that interest you?” and he smiled as he looked from one eager face to the other.
Doctor Dale manipulated the knobs for a few seconds, and suddenly they all heard the announcer from WEAF speaking.
“The next number on our program will be a violin solo,” announced the sonorous voice, and the Radio Boys leaned back, prepared to hear something good.
But they were disappointed. Before a single note could come floating in through the horn, the slight sibilant sound of the apparatus ceased abruptly. The set had suddenly “gone dead,” and, try as he might, the doctor could not coax a sound from it.
“That’s very strange,” he said, after trying in vain to get some result. “Suppose you try it, Bob. Maybe you’ll have better fortune.”
Bob was no more successful than the pastor had been, and after a few minutes he looked at Doctor Dale with a puzzled frown between his eyes.
“That’s one of the queerest things I ever knew to happen to a radio set,” he said. “I guess we’d better go over the connections, and make sure that everything is tight.”
This they did, but everything seemed to be in perfect order. All the connections were neatly soldered in place, and it was easy to see that the trouble did not lie here.
“Well,” said Bob, at last, “it seems plain enough that the set itself is all right, unless one of the transformers has burned out. That’s so unlikely, though, that I think we’d better take a look at the antenna. Perhaps the trouble is in that or in the leading-in wire.”
“That’s easy to find out,” remarked Joe, and they all went outdoors and around to the back of the house. Doctor Dale had a powerful little electric flashlight, and by the aid of this they could see that the antenna wire was all right. Having made sure of this, Doctor Dale turned the brilliant little shaft of light on the house, and followed the course of the leading-in wire down the wall. This wire entered the house through one of the dining-room window frames, and as the light neared this point, the doctor uttered an exclamation.
“There’s our trouble!” he cried. “The wire is broken just outside the window. I wonder what made it do that.”
“It does seem rather queer,” said Bob. “It looks to be a pretty heavy wire, and there’s no strain on it at that point.”
“Yes, but it’s always the unexpected thing that happens, especially in radio,” remarked Joe. “Probably a couple of us could hang on that wire and it wouldn’t break, and yet it snaps with nothing but its own weight to hold up. Let’s splice it and give the set another try-out.”
They were about to follow Joe’s advice, when suddenly Bob’s keen ears caught the sound of a suppressed laugh coming from the direction of Doctor Dale’s garage. Not only that, but he thought he recognized the voice, and suddenly the cause of the wire’s mysterious failure flashed over him. He had recognized the sound of Carl Lutz’s voice in the laugh, and a wave of hot anger surged up in him. His first impulse was to make a dash for the garage, but suddenly he thought of a better plan, and by an effort pretended that he had heard nothing.
“Come on into the house and get some tools,” he said, in his usual tone of voice. “It won’t take a minute to twist the ends together and put a drop or two of solder over the splice. We’ll have it fixed up for you, Doctor Dale, inside of five minutes.”
They all went into the house, and Doctor Dale went upstairs to get a couple of pairs of pliers and some tape. While he was gone, Bob swiftly outlined his plan to his friends.
“That wire was deliberately cut by Buck, or possibly Carl Lutz,” he said. “I heard Carl’s mean laugh while we were outside. I was nearest to the garage, and I suppose that’s why I was the only one to hear it. Now, it’s pretty dark tonight, and we don’t want that pair to get away scot free if we can help it. My idea is to go out the front door, which they can’t see from where they are hiding, and then spread out and surround the garage. We ought to catch one of them, anyway, and then it will be up to us to teach him not to cut leading-in wires. How does that plan strike you?”
“It sounds fine,” ejaculated Joe. “Up and at ’em, fellows. The sooner we start, the better I’ll like it. There’s a possibility they may have gone even by this time,” and at the thought his face fell.
“No danger of that,” Bob reassured him. “They’ll hang around for the fun of watching us mending the wire. They’d enjoy that so much that they’re sure to wait.”
Knowing Looker and his friend as they did, the Radio Boys thought this highly probable, and without further words they proceeded to put Bob’s plan into effect. As silently as Indians they stole out of the house and approached the garage. This was quite a large building, and was surrounded by shrubbery, so that it made an ideal hiding place.
Everything was so quiet that the boys began to fear that Carl and Buck had taken the alarm and gone away, when suddenly the stillness was broken by a startled exclamation, followed by a crash of some heavy body falling.
What had happened was that Jimmy, while feeling his way along in the pitch darkness, had inadvertently tripped over some projecting object, which proved to be Buck Looker’s leg. The exclamation was uttered by Buck, and the crash was the result of Jimmy’s falling through an evergreen plant and landing against the wall of the garage.
Immediately all was uproar and confusion.
At the first alarm, Buck and Carl had jumped to their feet and started as fast as their legs could carry them toward the street. Unluckily for them, both Bob and Joe were converging on the garage from that direction, and Buck and his friend ran squarely into their arms. By this time they were so near the street that the light from an arc lamp illuminated the scene, and by its aid Bob and Joe proceeded to administer summary justice on the meddlesome youths. The latter did not want to fight, but when they saw that there was no escape, they put up a defense that was not to be despised. They were both big fellows, but Bob and Joe were so indignant and furious over this last uncalled for outrage that the two bullies would have had little chance in any event.
Nevertheless, for a few minutes the fight was fast and furious. Just at its height Joe slipped on the wet grass, and while he was down both Buck and Carl concentrated on Bob. Only for a moment, however, and then Herb, who had come running up by this time, stepped in and sent Carl reeling back under a fusillade of blows, while Bob pressed Buck hard, driving him back toward the garage. It would have gone hard with Buck and his friend had not Doctor Dale appeared on the scene just then. He was hatless and greatly alarmed at the uproar in his usually peaceful garden.
At sight of him, the Radio Boys paused for a moment, and Buck and Carl took advantage of this momentary respite to make a dash for the street. Herb and Joe, who was now on his feet again, started in pursuit, but Bob called them back.
“We’ve given them something to remember us by, fellows,” he said. “Besides, I think we owe some explanation to Doctor Dale. He must think we’ve gone crazy.”
“I must admit that it looks somewhat that way,” the doctor said. “Who were those two fellows that I saw running away just now? Were they burglars?”
“No, sir. Those were the fellows that cut your leading-in wire,” said Bob, quietly.
“Cut it!” exclaimed the doctor, in amazement. “Who would want to do such a thing as that?”
“They weren’t doing it to you, sir; that is, not directly,” explained Bob. “They wanted to make us trouble. They must have seen us go into your house, and they thought that would be a fine trick to play.”
“Then they were your old friends, Buck Looker and Carl Lutz?”
“Yes, sir. But I don’t think they’ll try it again very soon,” answered Bob.
“We taught them a lesson that they’ll be likely to remember for a while,” added Herb.
“Well,” said Doctor Dale, “as a rule I don’t believe in fighting, but I am a believer in swift justice, so I won’t lecture you boys. If you hadn’t administered punishment in your own way, I might have taken some other steps. As it is, I imagine it will be wiser just to let the matter drop. Was Jimmy in the battle, too?”
“Not very much, I wasn’t,” said that lad, who had been ruefully rubbing various portions of his anatomy. “I was too busy picking myself out of the remains of an evergreen tree to do any fighting. I pretty nearly knocked a hole in the side of your garage with my head, Doctor Dale.”
“It sounded like a young earthquake,” grinned Joe. “It was just luck that you didn’t scare them away, Doughnuts. Next time, see that you leave the garage and the shrubbery alone, so that the fighting men won’t be deprived of your help.”
“Huh,” sniffed the fat boy. “It took me to find them, didn’t it? Probably you’d be looking for them yet, if it hadn’t been for me.”
“Well, however that might have been, I think you boys had better come into the house and repair some of the damage to your clothes,” said Doctor Dale, with a twinkle in his eyes. “I’m expecting a friend to visit me this evening, who may have an interesting proposition to put up to you. You’d better hurry, too, as he is likely to be here at any moment now.”
“What is the proposition?” asked Joe, as they turned toward the house.
“I’m not going to tell you now, but I don’t mind saying that it has something to do with an automobile tour. Does that interest you?” and he smiled as he looked from one eager face to the other.