CHAPTER VITUNING IN“It’s theShooting Star!” cried Jimmy. “She’s been driven back and fallen on the roof!”Appalled by the possibility, Captain Springer and the boys rushed up the stairs, followed by the others in the house.But the sight of a crushed-in roof that they half-expected to see was spared them. It was intact, but the glass of the skylight had been shivered, and across the open sash lay a heavy bough of a tree that had been torn by the gale from the parent oak near by and flung to the roof.“Bad enough, but it might easily have been worse!” exclaimed Bob. “If that had been the airship, it would have been good-bye house.”Mr. Layton and the boys boarded up the skylight temporarily, and, immensely relieved, all went downstairs. The captain looked at his watch with a start.“I’ve stayed too long!” he exclaimed.“You can’t stay too long,” declared Joe.“Or come too often,” added Bob.“That’s mighty good of you,” said Captain Springer, with a smile. “And I’ll never forget that if it hadn’t been for you boys, I shouldn’t be here at all.”The boys were still enthusiastic about his visit when they met the next morning.“Isn’t the captain a dandy?” demanded Bob. “When he got to talking last night, I could have listened to him until morning. I’d like nothing better than to be with him on the iceberg patrol.”“I wouldn’t mind taking a whirl at iceberg hunting myself, if I wasn’t tied down to school all the time,” grumbled Herb. “Seems as though I’d never be through school and be able to do what I want to.”“Maybe if you spent more time thinking about Latin and math, and less about jokes, you’d get through sooner,” remarked Jimmy, taking a huge bite out of a big red apple.“Listen to Socrates talking!” exclaimed Herb, in disdain. “You haven’t got even the beginnings of a sense of humor, but I don’t see that you’re getting through high school any sooner than I am, on that account.”“Perhaps not,” agreed Jimmy, complacently. “But I’m not making people miserable by springing ancient jokes on them all the time.”“Ancient!” exclaimed Herb, in an injured tone. “That’s the last thing in the world you can say about my jokes. Why, I think of most of them myself, so how can they be ancient?”“Well, they seem that way, at any rate, after we’ve heard them five or six times,” retorted his rotund friend.“Jimmy’s right there,” observed Joe. “Even hearing them once is hard on anybody.”“Just for that I won’t tell you the latest joke,” said Herb. “It was a swell one, too.”“Thank goodness for that!” exclaimed Joe, so fervently that Bob and Jimmy laughed heartily. Herb, however, appeared to have temporarily lost his vaunted sense of humor, for he seemed unable to see anything humorous in the situation.“Never mind, Herb,” consoled Bob, seeing that Herbert was slightly “peeved.” “We’ll tune up the old radio set tomorrow night and listen to some of the broadcasted jokes. I’ve heard lots of them that were worse than yours.”“Yes, and I’ve heard lots that were better, too,” retorted Joe.“That’s just your opinion,” said Herb, loftily. “As you are no good as a judge of humor, though, I won’t worry about what you think.”“That’s the spirit,” laughed Bob. “Joe really enjoys your jokes, anyway, Herb, only he won’t admit it. Why don’t you own up to the truth, Joe, and make Herb happy?”“Oh, sure, I like them—just about as much as Jimmy would like a doughnut famine,” retorted Joe, grinning.“There you are—back at me again,” said Jimmy, plaintively. “When in doubt, soak Jimmy. He’s got no friends. I notice though, Joe, that when I have a bag of doughnuts, you’re pretty keen about getting your share.”“Quit your squabbling, you fellows,” counseled Bob. “And, by the way, don’t forget that we’re due at Doctor Dale’s house this evening. He’s been making a new crystal set that he thinks is dandy and he wants us to listen in on it.”“A crystal set!” exclaimed Jimmy, in some surprise. “What’s he going back to that for? The tube lies all over the crystal, to my way of thinking.”“Of course it does in many ways,” agreed Bob. “But the crystal is coming back into favor again for some purposes, and the doctor says it’s surprising what results he can get from it.”Soon after supper they were at the doctor’s house, and as they were all anxious to see the new set, Doctor Dale showed it to them almost immediately after their arrival.“You see, boys, this set uses the old reliable galena crystal for detection,” he pointed out. “Not so very long ago people all turned up their noses at the humble crystal detector, but now it is being used more and more—with modifications, of course.”“Yes, but that’s partly due to the fact that you can get such good artificial crystals now, isn’t it?” asked Bob.“That has a lot to do with it,” replied the doctor. “The natural crystal was nowhere as good as the manufactured variety.”“Why is that?” inquired Jimmy.“Well, you see, galena is really a natural crystalline sulphide of lead. In some mineral veins it is found in perfect cubes. As a rule, though, it occurs in big chunks, and most of the natural crystals are just little bits chipped off. The natural galena crystals, as you boys know, are fine if you can strike a sensitive spot, but sometimes such a spot is rather hard to find. Now, with the artificial crystal almost any spot on it will give a fair result.”“I read somewhere that that was due to so many of the impurities having been eliminated from the artificial galena,” observed Bob.“Yes, that’s it,” assented the doctor. “The easiest way to get a good crystal is to melt the natural crystals, and then let them solidify again. Galena melts at about one thousand degrees Fahrenheit, and the melting process seems to get rid of most of the impurities. Some time we can make the experiment, if we all feel inclined that way.”“That would suit me first rate, for one,” asserted Joe. “I’ve found out that if you want to get a good article, the best thing to do is to make it yourself, if you can.”“Wouldn’t it be a bit hard for us to heat anything up to a thousand degrees?” asked Herb.“Not a bit of it!” exclaimed Doctor Dale. “Why, the coal fire in a kitchen range will heat up to that temperature easily, or we could reach it over a good gas flame. The main difficulty is, not to heat the galena sufficiently, but to cool it off properly. If it cools too fast, the galena in the crucible will be made up of very small grains with only a few sensitive surfaces.”“How could you tell when you had reached the proper heat?” asked Jimmy. “I should think it would take a pretty good thermometer to register that high.”“It would take a better one than I have ever seen,” replied Doctor Dale, with a smile. “As it happens, however, it would not be necessary to depend on any heat-measuring device. The color of the crucible would be an accurate enough guide for our purposes.”“How is that?” put in Herb, deeply interested.“When it showed a dull red,” was the answer, “you could safely estimate a heat of about seven hundred degrees, and at one thousand degrees it will be somewhere between a bright red and a deep orange color. When it gets to this point it should be kept there for about an hour, after which you can begin a very slow cooling process.”“Wouldn’t that be hard to do?” asked Joe.“The best way, if your crucible is in a coal fire, is simply to let the fire go out; but if you are using a gas flame, you can turn it down very gradually and get the desired result just the same,” was the reply.“Let’s try it tonight!” exclaimed Herb, with his usual impulsiveness.“I’m afraid we are not equipped for the experiment this evening,” returned the doctor. “If you would really like to try it, however, I’ll have the necessary apparatus here the next time you boys come to see me.”“That will be fine,” remarked Bob. “We’ll not only make an interesting experiment, but if it turns out all right, we’ll have some fine crystals on hand.”“I know it’s pretty hard to buy good ones lately,” agreed Herb.“Sometimes I have to fuss around a long time before I can find a sensitive spot,” added Joe.“It’s no fun, either, when you’re in a hurry to listen in on a good concert,” put in Jimmy, plaintively.“All right, then, we’ll consider that settled,” said the doctor. “But we don’t want to spend all the evening talking, even if it is interesting talk. Let’s see what we can pick up on my new set,” and he switched on the batteries and started manipulating the knobs, while the Radio Boys waited eagerly for the first sounds to issue from the loud-speaker.
“It’s theShooting Star!” cried Jimmy. “She’s been driven back and fallen on the roof!”
Appalled by the possibility, Captain Springer and the boys rushed up the stairs, followed by the others in the house.
But the sight of a crushed-in roof that they half-expected to see was spared them. It was intact, but the glass of the skylight had been shivered, and across the open sash lay a heavy bough of a tree that had been torn by the gale from the parent oak near by and flung to the roof.
“Bad enough, but it might easily have been worse!” exclaimed Bob. “If that had been the airship, it would have been good-bye house.”
Mr. Layton and the boys boarded up the skylight temporarily, and, immensely relieved, all went downstairs. The captain looked at his watch with a start.
“I’ve stayed too long!” he exclaimed.
“You can’t stay too long,” declared Joe.
“Or come too often,” added Bob.
“That’s mighty good of you,” said Captain Springer, with a smile. “And I’ll never forget that if it hadn’t been for you boys, I shouldn’t be here at all.”
The boys were still enthusiastic about his visit when they met the next morning.
“Isn’t the captain a dandy?” demanded Bob. “When he got to talking last night, I could have listened to him until morning. I’d like nothing better than to be with him on the iceberg patrol.”
“I wouldn’t mind taking a whirl at iceberg hunting myself, if I wasn’t tied down to school all the time,” grumbled Herb. “Seems as though I’d never be through school and be able to do what I want to.”
“Maybe if you spent more time thinking about Latin and math, and less about jokes, you’d get through sooner,” remarked Jimmy, taking a huge bite out of a big red apple.
“Listen to Socrates talking!” exclaimed Herb, in disdain. “You haven’t got even the beginnings of a sense of humor, but I don’t see that you’re getting through high school any sooner than I am, on that account.”
“Perhaps not,” agreed Jimmy, complacently. “But I’m not making people miserable by springing ancient jokes on them all the time.”
“Ancient!” exclaimed Herb, in an injured tone. “That’s the last thing in the world you can say about my jokes. Why, I think of most of them myself, so how can they be ancient?”
“Well, they seem that way, at any rate, after we’ve heard them five or six times,” retorted his rotund friend.
“Jimmy’s right there,” observed Joe. “Even hearing them once is hard on anybody.”
“Just for that I won’t tell you the latest joke,” said Herb. “It was a swell one, too.”
“Thank goodness for that!” exclaimed Joe, so fervently that Bob and Jimmy laughed heartily. Herb, however, appeared to have temporarily lost his vaunted sense of humor, for he seemed unable to see anything humorous in the situation.
“Never mind, Herb,” consoled Bob, seeing that Herbert was slightly “peeved.” “We’ll tune up the old radio set tomorrow night and listen to some of the broadcasted jokes. I’ve heard lots of them that were worse than yours.”
“Yes, and I’ve heard lots that were better, too,” retorted Joe.
“That’s just your opinion,” said Herb, loftily. “As you are no good as a judge of humor, though, I won’t worry about what you think.”
“That’s the spirit,” laughed Bob. “Joe really enjoys your jokes, anyway, Herb, only he won’t admit it. Why don’t you own up to the truth, Joe, and make Herb happy?”
“Oh, sure, I like them—just about as much as Jimmy would like a doughnut famine,” retorted Joe, grinning.
“There you are—back at me again,” said Jimmy, plaintively. “When in doubt, soak Jimmy. He’s got no friends. I notice though, Joe, that when I have a bag of doughnuts, you’re pretty keen about getting your share.”
“Quit your squabbling, you fellows,” counseled Bob. “And, by the way, don’t forget that we’re due at Doctor Dale’s house this evening. He’s been making a new crystal set that he thinks is dandy and he wants us to listen in on it.”
“A crystal set!” exclaimed Jimmy, in some surprise. “What’s he going back to that for? The tube lies all over the crystal, to my way of thinking.”
“Of course it does in many ways,” agreed Bob. “But the crystal is coming back into favor again for some purposes, and the doctor says it’s surprising what results he can get from it.”
Soon after supper they were at the doctor’s house, and as they were all anxious to see the new set, Doctor Dale showed it to them almost immediately after their arrival.
“You see, boys, this set uses the old reliable galena crystal for detection,” he pointed out. “Not so very long ago people all turned up their noses at the humble crystal detector, but now it is being used more and more—with modifications, of course.”
“Yes, but that’s partly due to the fact that you can get such good artificial crystals now, isn’t it?” asked Bob.
“That has a lot to do with it,” replied the doctor. “The natural crystal was nowhere as good as the manufactured variety.”
“Why is that?” inquired Jimmy.
“Well, you see, galena is really a natural crystalline sulphide of lead. In some mineral veins it is found in perfect cubes. As a rule, though, it occurs in big chunks, and most of the natural crystals are just little bits chipped off. The natural galena crystals, as you boys know, are fine if you can strike a sensitive spot, but sometimes such a spot is rather hard to find. Now, with the artificial crystal almost any spot on it will give a fair result.”
“I read somewhere that that was due to so many of the impurities having been eliminated from the artificial galena,” observed Bob.
“Yes, that’s it,” assented the doctor. “The easiest way to get a good crystal is to melt the natural crystals, and then let them solidify again. Galena melts at about one thousand degrees Fahrenheit, and the melting process seems to get rid of most of the impurities. Some time we can make the experiment, if we all feel inclined that way.”
“That would suit me first rate, for one,” asserted Joe. “I’ve found out that if you want to get a good article, the best thing to do is to make it yourself, if you can.”
“Wouldn’t it be a bit hard for us to heat anything up to a thousand degrees?” asked Herb.
“Not a bit of it!” exclaimed Doctor Dale. “Why, the coal fire in a kitchen range will heat up to that temperature easily, or we could reach it over a good gas flame. The main difficulty is, not to heat the galena sufficiently, but to cool it off properly. If it cools too fast, the galena in the crucible will be made up of very small grains with only a few sensitive surfaces.”
“How could you tell when you had reached the proper heat?” asked Jimmy. “I should think it would take a pretty good thermometer to register that high.”
“It would take a better one than I have ever seen,” replied Doctor Dale, with a smile. “As it happens, however, it would not be necessary to depend on any heat-measuring device. The color of the crucible would be an accurate enough guide for our purposes.”
“How is that?” put in Herb, deeply interested.
“When it showed a dull red,” was the answer, “you could safely estimate a heat of about seven hundred degrees, and at one thousand degrees it will be somewhere between a bright red and a deep orange color. When it gets to this point it should be kept there for about an hour, after which you can begin a very slow cooling process.”
“Wouldn’t that be hard to do?” asked Joe.
“The best way, if your crucible is in a coal fire, is simply to let the fire go out; but if you are using a gas flame, you can turn it down very gradually and get the desired result just the same,” was the reply.
“Let’s try it tonight!” exclaimed Herb, with his usual impulsiveness.
“I’m afraid we are not equipped for the experiment this evening,” returned the doctor. “If you would really like to try it, however, I’ll have the necessary apparatus here the next time you boys come to see me.”
“That will be fine,” remarked Bob. “We’ll not only make an interesting experiment, but if it turns out all right, we’ll have some fine crystals on hand.”
“I know it’s pretty hard to buy good ones lately,” agreed Herb.
“Sometimes I have to fuss around a long time before I can find a sensitive spot,” added Joe.
“It’s no fun, either, when you’re in a hurry to listen in on a good concert,” put in Jimmy, plaintively.
“All right, then, we’ll consider that settled,” said the doctor. “But we don’t want to spend all the evening talking, even if it is interesting talk. Let’s see what we can pick up on my new set,” and he switched on the batteries and started manipulating the knobs, while the Radio Boys waited eagerly for the first sounds to issue from the loud-speaker.