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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Walter and the Wireless, by Sara Ware Bassett
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Walter and the Wireless
+
+Author: Sara Ware Bassett
+
+Illustrator: William F. Stecher
+
+Release Date: December 4, 2007 [EBook #23728]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WALTER AND THE WIRELESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sigal Alon, David T. Jones, La Monte H.P.
+Yarroll and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WALTER AND THE WIRELESS
+
+By Sara Ware Bassett
+
+_The Invention Series_
+
+
+PAUL AND THE PRINTING PRESS
+STEVE AND THE STEAM ENGINE
+TED AND THE TELEPHONE
+WALTER AND THE WIRELESS
+
+
+[Illustration: "K Y W Chicago, Illinois. Stand by fifteen minutes
+for----." FRONTISPIECE. _See page_ 208.]
+
+
+
+
+
+The Invention Series
+
+WALTER AND
+THE WIRELESS
+
+BY
+SARA WARE BASSETT
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+WILLIAM F. STECHER
+
+BOSTON
+LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
+1923
+
+
+_Copyright, 1923_,
+BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+Published March, 1923
+
+PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+To
+PAUL MARBLE
+AND HIS COLLIE BOBS,
+THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY
+DEDICATED
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                                PAGE
+
+    I HIS HIGHNESS                                        1
+
+   II THE NEW JOB                                        17
+
+  III WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING                             36
+
+   IV WALTER MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER               50
+
+    V THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES                           64
+
+   VI HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE                         75
+
+  VII THE PURSUIT OF LOLA                                92
+
+ VIII A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT                     104
+
+   IX MORE CLUES                                        116
+
+    X BOB                                               127
+
+   XI THE DECISION                                      138
+
+  XII LESSONS                                           147
+
+ XIII INFORMATION FROM A NEW SOURCE                     162
+
+  XIV BOB AS PEDAGOGUE                                  169
+
+   XV TIDINGS                                           183
+
+  XVI MIRACLES                                          197
+
+ XVII THE LAWS OF THE AIR                               210
+
+XVIII THE NET TIGHTENS                                  228
+
+  XIX WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH                      238
+
+   XX THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS                       248
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+"K Y W CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. STAND BY FIFTEEN MINUTES
+  FOR----"                                       _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                          PAGE
+
+THE TWO BOYS WOULD DISCUSS BOATS, FISHING AND
+  KINDRED INTERESTS                                         76
+
+"YOU WILL GET ALL THE WIRELESS COMING TO YOU,
+  THAT'S ALL. TAKE IT FROM ME"                             154
+
+CLEARLY AND EVENLY THE MESSAGE TICKED ITSELF OFF.
+  THEN THERE WAS SILENCE                                   240
+
+
+
+
+WALTER AND THE WIRELESS
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+HIS HIGHNESS
+
+
+His Highness came by the nickname honestly enough and yet those who
+heard it for the first time had difficulty in repressing a smile at
+the incongruity of the title. In fact perhaps no term could have been
+found that would have been less appropriate. For Walter King possessed
+neither dignity of rank nor of stature. On the contrary he was a
+short, snub-nosed boy of fifteen, the epitome of good humor and
+democracy.
+
+His hair was red and towsled, his face spangled with great golden
+freckles which sea winds and sunshine had multiplied until there was
+scarce room for another on his beaming countenance. Hands and arms
+were freckled too, for when one lives in a bathing suit six months of
+the year and is either in the water or on it most of the time the skin
+fails to retain its pristine whiteness of hue. But His Highness did
+not care a fig for that. He was far too busy baiting eel and lobster
+traps, mending fish nets, untangling lines, and painting boats to give
+a thought to his personal beauty.
+
+Indeed his mother often bewailed the fact that he was not more
+interested in his appearance and there were times when it seemed as if
+she were right. Certainly when her son ambled home at dusk with every
+rebellious hair standing upended upon his head and a string of
+flounders dripping salt from the tips of their slimy tails she was
+justified to a degree in wishing he had more regard for the niceties
+of life.
+
+"Look at the mess you're making!" she would pipe indignantly. "I've
+just mopped this floor, Walter."
+
+"You have? Now isn't that the dickens! Well, no matter, Ma; I'll swab
+the place down again when I've finished cleaning these fish. They're
+beauties, aren't they? A batch of them fried won't go bad for supper
+to-night. I'm hungry as a bear. Shouldn't think I'd eaten anything in
+ten years. Say, Ma, what do you s'pose? Dave Corbett was out in the
+_Nancy_ three hours and never got a bite. What do you think of that?
+The wind died down, his engine got stalled, and he and Hosey Talbot
+had to row home from the Bell Reef Shoals. Haw, haw! Maybe I didn't
+roar when I saw them come pulling in against the tide, mad as two
+man-eating sharks. Fit to harpoon the first person they met, they
+were. I sung out and asked them were they practicing for the Harvard
+and Yale boat race and Dave was that peeved he shied an oarlock after
+me. Haw, haw, haw!"
+
+"You ought not to provoke Dave, Walter."
+
+"Provoke him? But he was provoked already, Ma. There's no harm
+putting an extra stick on the fire when it's burning, anyhow. Besides,
+Dave is never in earnest when he bawls me out. He just likes to hear
+himself scold."
+
+"He has a terrible temper."
+
+"Oh, I know half the town is scart to death of him. But he always will
+take a jolly from me. We understand each other, Dave and I. Say, Ma,
+these rubber boots leak. Did you know that? Yes, siree! They leak like
+sieves. I might as well be without 'em."
+
+Mrs. King sighed.
+
+"I don't see," murmured she, "how you manage to go through everything
+you have so quickly, Walter. Nothing you wear lasts you more than a
+week."
+
+"Oh, I say, make it a month. Do, now!"
+
+He saw his mother smile faintly.
+
+"Well, a month then."
+
+"You couldn't stretch it to two?"
+
+"Not possibly. Four weeks seems to be your limit."
+
+The sharpness of her tone, however, had weakened.
+
+"Four weeks, eh? I did think I'd had these rubber boots longer than
+that. It is amazing how attached you can get to things even in a
+little while."
+
+Holding aloft the knife with which he was preparing to behead the
+unlucky flounders, His Highness gazed reflectively down at his feet.
+
+"It's awful that I have to keep having so many things, isn't it? I
+hate to be costing you money all the time. Now if you'd only let me
+ship for the Grand Banks when the _Katie B._ goes out----"
+
+"Walter! What is the use of digging up that old bone again? I never
+shall let you ship for the Grand Banks or any other Banks so long as I
+live. We've had this out hundreds of times before. You know you and
+Bob are all I've got in the world. Do you suppose I want you lost in a
+fog and never heard from again?"
+
+"Oh, Great Scott, Ma! They don't lose fishing boats now as they used
+to. They carry wireless, and the fleet keeps in touch every minute."
+
+"The dories have no wireless aboard them," observed Mrs. King grimly.
+
+"I suppose not, no, probably they don't," His Highness admitted
+reluctantly.
+
+"Anyway, wireless or no wireless, you are not going on a fishing
+cruise to the Grand Banks."
+
+"I hear you, Ma," grinned the boy.
+
+"There is plenty of work right here on the land if you're looking for
+it. Why must you always be wanting to go to sea to earn money?"
+
+"Faith, Mother, I don't know," laughed Walter. "I expect it's because
+I see chores to do when I'm afloat that I can't see ashore. It is the
+way I was born."
+
+"A poor way."
+
+"Maybe it is. At any rate I can't help it."
+
+"I'm afraid you do not try to help it very hard."
+
+The lad shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"There's that chance you have to hire out at the Crowninshields' for
+the summer."
+
+"Those snobs."
+
+"Beggars cannot be choosers. Besides, they may not be snobs at all.
+What makes you think they are?"
+
+"Oh, I don't mind the lugs they put on," protested Walter, evading the
+issue. "I suppose all New York swells do that. It's what they want me
+for that gets my goat." Again the knife he held was tragically
+upraised. "How would you like to be nursemaid to six or eight
+brainless little pups no bigger than rats? Not but what I like dogs.
+I'd like nothing better than to own a fine dog of some spirit. But
+those imitations! Why, before a week was out, I'd have their necks
+wrung."
+
+"Mr. Crowninshield promised to pay you well."
+
+"What's money if all the kids in town are going to josh you?"
+
+"Money is a good deal when you need it." His mother shook her head
+gravely. "Have you ever considered how badly we are in want of money,
+Walter?"
+
+"What do you mean, Ma?" The boy wheeled about, startled.
+
+"I haven't said anything about it, dear, because I could not bear to
+have you boys bothered," was the quiet answer. "But lately things have
+not been going well and I have been pretty much worried. The money
+your Uncle Henry invested for us isn't paying any dividends; there
+seems to be something the matter with the company's affairs. As for
+your Uncle Mark Miller, I've heard nothing from him in months. His
+ship was to put in at Shanghai for cargo and I ought to have had a
+letter by now; but none has come and I am afraid something must be the
+trouble. He is a good brother and never fails to send me money. I can
+ill afford to be without help now when the mortgage is coming due and
+I have so many bills to meet. It takes a deal of money to live
+nowadays. You boys do not realize that."
+
+"Why, I had no idea you were fussed, Mother, and I'm sure Bob hadn't
+either," declared Walter soberly.
+
+"Then I have done better than I thought I had," returned his mother,
+with the shadow of a smile. "I wanted to keep it secret if I could."
+
+"But you shouldn't have tried to keep it a secret, Mater dear," Walter
+replied. "I'm sure we'd rather know--at least I would."
+
+"But what use is it?"
+
+"Use? Why, all the use in the world, Ma. I shall go ahead and take Mr.
+Crowninshield's job for one thing."
+
+"But you said----"
+
+"Shucks! I was only fooling about the dogs, Mother. I shan't really
+mind exercising and taking care of them at all. Of course, I won't
+deny I'd rather they were Great Danes or police dogs; I'd even prefer
+Airedales or Cockers. Still I suppose these little mopsey Pekingese
+must have some brains or the Lord would not have made them. No doubt I
+shall get used to them in time."
+
+"It is only for the summer vacation anyway, you know," ventured his
+mother. "The Crowninshields go back to New York in October."
+
+"I certainly ought to be able to bear up a few months," laughed
+Walter, with a ludicrously wry twist of his mouth. "I hate to think
+you've been bothered and have been keeping it all to yourself."
+
+"Misery does like company," Mrs. King returned with an unsteady laugh.
+"I believe I feel better already for having told you. But you must not
+worry, dear. We shall pull through all right, I guess. How I came to
+speak of it I don't know. It was only that it seemed such a pity to
+toss the Crowninshield offer aside without even considering it. Nobody
+knows where it might end. The village people say Mr. Crowninshield is
+a very generous man, especially if he takes a fancy to anybody."
+
+"But he may not take a fancy to me."
+
+"He must have done so already to be asking you to help with the dogs."
+
+"Nonsense, Ma! Did you think Mr. Crowninshield picked me out himself?
+Why, he's never laid eyes on me. That great privilege is still in
+store for him. No, he simply told Jerry Thomas, the caretaker, to find
+somebody for the job before the family arrived. He doesn't care a darn
+who it is so long as he has a person who can be trusted with his
+priceless pups. Why, I heard the other day that a dealer from New York
+had offered five thousand dollars for the smallest one."
+
+"Walter!"
+
+"Straight goods!"
+
+"Five thousand dollars for a dog!" gasped Mrs. King.
+
+Her son chuckled at her incredulity.
+
+"Sure!"
+
+"But it's a fortune," murmured she. "I had no idea there was a dog on
+earth worth that much."
+
+"All of them are not."
+
+"But five thousand dollars!" she repeated. "Why, Walter, I wouldn't
+have you responsible for a creature like that for anything in the
+world. You might as well attempt to be custodian of a lot of gold
+bonds. I shouldn't have a happy moment or sleep a wink thinking of it.
+Suppose some of the little wretches were to run away and get lost? Or
+suppose they were to be stolen? Or they might get sick and die on your
+hands."
+
+"That is why they want a responsible person to keep an eye on them."
+
+His Highness squared his shoulders and threw out his chest.
+
+"But you are not a responsible person," burst out Mrs. King with
+unflattering candor.
+
+"Mother!"
+
+"Well--are you?" she insisted.
+
+The boy's figure shriveled.
+
+"No," he confessed frankly, "I'm afraid I'm not."
+
+"Of course you're not," continued his mother with the same brutal
+truthfulness. "It isn't that you do not mean to be, sonny," added she
+kindly. "But your mind wanders off on all sorts of things instead of
+the thing you're doing. That is why you do not get on better in
+school. All your teachers say you are bright enough if you only had
+some concentration to back it up. What you can be thinking of all the
+time I cannot imagine; but certainly it isn't your lessons."
+
+"I know," nodded Walter without resentment. "My mind does flop about
+like a kite. I think of everything but what I ought to. It's a rotten
+habit."
+
+"Well, all I can say is you'd be an almighty poor one to look after a
+lot of valuable dogs," sniffed his mother.
+
+"I'll bet I could do it if I set out to."
+
+"But would you set out to--that is the question? Would you really put
+your entire attention on those dogs so that other people could drop
+them from their minds? That is what taking care means."
+
+"I couldn't promise. I could only try."
+
+"I should never dare to have you undertake it."
+
+"That settles it, Ma," announced His Highness. "I've evidently got to
+prove to you that you are wrong. I'm going up to Crowninshields' this
+minute to tell Jerry he can count on me from July until October."
+
+"You're crazy."
+
+"Wait and see."
+
+"I know what I'll see," was the sharp retort. "I shall see all those
+puppies kicking up their heels and racing off to Provincetown, and Mr.
+Crowninshield insisting that you either find them and bring them back
+or pay him what they cost him."
+
+"Don't you believe it."
+
+"That is what will happen," was the solemn prophecy.
+
+"But you were keen for me to take the job."
+
+"That was before I knew what the little rats were worth."
+
+"You just thought it was a cheap sort of a position and that I was to
+race round and make it pleasant for a lot of ordinary curs, didn't
+you?" interrogated the lad with mock indignation.
+
+In spite of herself his mother smiled.
+
+"Well, you see you were wrong," went on Walter. "It is not that sort
+of thing at all. It is a job for a trustworthy man, Jerry Thomas said,
+and will bring in good wages."
+
+"It ought to," replied his mother sarcastically, "if a person must
+spend every day for three months sitting with his eyes glued on those
+mites watching every breath they draw."
+
+"It isn't just days, Mother; I'd have to be there nights as well."
+
+"_What!_"
+
+"That's what Jerry told me. I'd have to sleep on the place. Mr.
+Crowninshield wants some one there all the time."
+
+"But Walter----!" Mrs. King broke off in dismay.
+
+"I know that would mean leaving you alone now that Bob has a regular
+position at the Seaver Bay Wireless station. Still, why should you
+mind? I have always been gone all day, anyhow; and at night I sleep so
+soundly that you yourself have often said burglars might carry away
+the bed from under me and I not know it."
+
+"You are not much protection, that's a fact," confessed Mrs. King.
+"Fortunately, though, I am not a timid person. It is not that I am
+afraid to stay here alone. My chief objection is that it seems foolish
+to run a great house like this simply for myself."
+
+"Couldn't you get some one to come and keep you company?"
+
+"Who, I should like to know?"
+
+"Why--why--well, I haven't thought about it. Of course there's Aunt
+Marcia King."
+
+"Mercy on us!" exclaimed his mother, instantly flaring up. "I'd rather
+see the evil one himself put in an appearance than your Aunt Marcia.
+Of all the fault-finding, critical, sharp-tongued creatures in the
+world she is the worst. Why, I'd let burglars carry away every stick
+and stone I possess and myself thrown in before I would ask her here
+to board."
+
+"My, Mother! I'd no idea you had such a temper. You're as bad as Dave
+Corbett," asserted Walter teasingly.
+
+His mother tossed her head but he saw her flush uncomfortably.
+
+"I suppose you wouldn't want a regular boarder," suggested the boy in
+order to turn the conversation.
+
+"A _boarder_!" There was less disapproval than surprise in the
+ejaculation, however.
+
+"Lots of people in the town do take summer boarders," added he.
+
+"The thought never entered my head before," reflected his mother
+aloud. "There certainly is plenty of room in the house, and we have a
+royal view of the water. Besides, there's the garden. Strangers are
+always coming here in vacation time and asking if they may look at it
+or sketch it. It never seemed anything very remarkable to me for most
+of the flowers have sown themselves and grow like weeds, but of course
+there's no denying the hollyhocks, poppies, and larkspur are pretty.
+But visitors always call it wonderful."
+
+"Most likely you could get a big price if you were to rent rooms."
+
+"I'm sure I could," replied Mrs. King thoughtfully. "It would help
+toward the mortgage and the other bills, too. I've half a mind to try
+it, Walter."
+
+"It would mean extra work for you."
+
+"Pooh! What do I care for that? Not a fig! In fact, with both of you
+boys away I'd rather be busy than not," was the quick retort.
+
+"Do you suppose Bob would mind?"
+
+"Bob? Why, he's seldom at home nowadays. Why should he care?"
+
+"Aunt Marcia might think----" began the boy mischievously. But the
+comment was cut short.
+
+"Oh, I know what your Aunt Marcia would say," broke in Mrs. King.
+"She'd hold up her hands in horror and announce that it was beneath
+the dignity of the family to take boarders."
+
+They both laughed.
+
+"I believe the very notion of scandalizing her will be what will
+decide me," concluded his mother with finality. "I'll put an
+advertisement in the Boston paper to-morrow and see what luck I have.
+If the right people do not turn up, why I don't have to take them."
+
+"Sure you don't."
+
+"It's a good plan, a splendid plan, Walter. Boarders will give me
+company and money too. I wonder it never occurred to me to do it
+before." Then she patted the lad's shoulder, adding playfully, "I
+guess if you have brains in one direction you must have them in
+another. Still, as I said before, I do not fancy your being
+responsible for those dogs."
+
+"Pooh! You quit worrying, Ma, or I shall be sorry I told you they were
+blue ribbon pups."
+
+"I should have heard of it, never fear. You hear of everything in this
+town. You can't help it. Like as not everybody in the place will know
+by to-morrow morning that I am going to take boarders. Luckily I don't
+care--that's one good thing. And as to the dogs, if you are resolved
+to accept that position all I can say is that you must keep a head on
+your shoulders. You cannot hire out for a job unless you are prepared
+to give a full return for the money paid you. It is not honest. So
+think carefully what you mean to do before you embark. And remember,
+if you get into some careless scrape you cannot come back on me for
+money for I haven't any to hand over."
+
+"I shall shoulder my own blame," responded Walter, drawing in his
+chin.
+
+"Well and good then. If you are ready to do that, it is your affair
+and I have nothing more to say," announced Mrs. King, preparing to
+leave the room.
+
+But Walter stayed her on the threshold.
+
+"I don't see," he began, "why you always seem to expect I'm going to
+get into a scrape. You are never looking for trouble with Bob."
+
+"Bob! Bless your heart I never have to! You know that as well as I do.
+Any one could trust Bob until the Day of Judgment. He never forgets a
+word you tell him. Ask him to do an errand and it is as good as done.
+You can drop it from your mind. From a little child he was dependable
+like that. His teachers couldn't say enough about him. Wasn't he
+always at the head of his class? The way he's turned out is no
+surprise. Think of his picking up wireless enough outside school hours
+to get a radio job during the war, and afterward that fine position at
+Seaver Bay! Few lads his age could have done it. And think of the
+messages he's entrusted with--government work, and sinking ships, and
+goodness knows what not!"
+
+The proud mother ceased for lack of breath.
+
+"I wish I was like Bob," sighed Walter gloomily.
+
+"Nonsense!" was the instant exclamation. "You're yourself, and
+scatter-brain as you are, I'd want you no different. You're but a lad
+yet. When you are Bob's age you may be like him. Who knows?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," came dismally from Walter. "I haven't started out as
+Bob did."
+
+"What if you haven't? There's time enough to catch up if you hurry.
+And anyway, I do not want my children all alike. Variety is the spice
+of life. I wouldn't have you patterned after Bob if I could speak the
+word."
+
+"You wouldn't?" the boy brightened.
+
+"Indeed I wouldn't! Who would I be patching torn trousers or darning
+ripped sweaters for if you were like Bob, I'd like to know? Who'd be
+pestering me to hunt up his cap and mittens? And who would I be frying
+clams for?"
+
+"Bob never could abide clam fritters, could he?" put in the younger
+brother.
+
+"Bob never had any frivolities," mused Mrs. King, shaking her head.
+"Sometimes I've almost wished he had if only to keep the rest of us in
+countenance. Many's the time I've feared lest he was going to die he
+was that near perfect."
+
+"Well, Ma, you haven't had to lie awake worrying because I was too
+good for this world, have you?" chuckled His Highness, breaking into a
+grin.
+
+His mother regarded him affectionately.
+
+"Oh, you'll make your way too, sonny, some day. It won't be as Bob has
+done it; but you'll make it nevertheless. Folks are going to do things
+for you simply because they cannot help it."
+
+The boy studied her with a puzzled expression.
+
+"What do you mean, Mater?"
+
+As if coming out of a reverie Mrs. King started, the mistiness that
+had softened her eyes vanishing.
+
+"There! Look at the way you've splashed up my nice clean sink!"
+complained she tartly. "Did any one ever see such a child--always
+messing up everything! Come, clear out of here and take your fish with
+you. It does seem as if you needed four nursemaids and a valet at your
+heels to pick up after you. Be off this minute."
+
+With a cloth in one hand and a bar of soap in the other, she elbowed
+him away from the dishpan.
+
+"You'll fry these flounders for supper, won't you, Ma?" called the lad
+as he disappeared into the shed.
+
+"Fry 'em? I reckon I'll have to. It's wicked to catch fish and not use
+'em."
+
+But he saw his mother's eyes twinkle and her grumbling assent did not
+trouble him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE NEW JOB
+
+
+May at Lovell's Harbor was one of the most beautiful seasons of the
+year. In fact the inhabitants of the town often remarked that they put
+up with the winters the small isolated village offered for the sake of
+its springs and summers. Certain it was that when easterly storms
+swept the marshes and lashed the harbor into foam; when every boat
+that struggled out of the channel returned whitened to the gunwale
+with ice, there was little to induce anybody to take up residence in
+the hamlet. How cold and blue the water looked! How the surf boomed up
+on the lonely beach and the winds howled and whined around the eaves
+of the low cottages!
+
+One buttoned himself tightly into a greatcoat then, twisted a muffler
+many times about his neck, pulled his cap over his ears, and rushed
+for school with a velocity that almost equaled the scudding schooners
+whose sails billowed large against the horizon. At least that was what
+His Highness, Walter King, invariably did.
+
+But from the instant the breath of spring stole into the air,--ah,
+then Lovell's Harbor became a different place altogether. The stems of
+the willows fringing the small fresh-water ponds mellowed to bronze
+before one's very eyes; the dull reaches of salt grass turned emerald;
+the steely tint of the sea softened to azure and glinted golden in the
+sun. How shrill sounded the cries of the redwings in the marsh! How
+jolly the frogs' twilight chorus!
+
+The miracle went on with amazing rapidity. Soon you were scouring the
+hollows in the woods for arbutus or splashing bare-legged into the
+bogs for cowslips. You even ventured knee-deep into the sea which
+although still chill was no longer frigid. And then, before you knew
+it, you were hauling out your fishing tackle and looking over your
+flies; inspecting the old dory and calking her seams with a coat of
+fresh paint. Then came the raking of the leaves, the uncovering of the
+hollyhocks, and the burning of brush; and through the mists of smoke
+that rose high in air you could hear the resonant chee-ee of the
+blackbirds swinging on the reeds along the margin of the creek.
+
+And afterward, when summer had really made its appearance, what days
+of blue and gold followed! Was ever sky so cloudless, grass so vividly
+green, or ocean so sparkling? Ah, a boy never lacked amusement now! He
+wriggled into his bathing suit directly after breakfast and was off to
+the shore to swim, fish, or sail, or do any of the thousand-and-one
+alluring things that turned up. And things always did turn up in that
+small horseshoe where the boats made in. It was the club of Lovell's
+Harbor.
+
+Here all the men of the village congregated daily to smoke, swap
+jokes, and heckle those who worked.
+
+"That's no way to mend a net, Eph," one of the spectators would
+protest. "Where was you fetched up, man? Tote the durn thing over here
+and I'll show you how they do it off the Horn."
+
+Or another member of the audience would call:
+
+"Was you reckonin' you'd have enough paint in that keg to finish your
+yawl, Eddie? Never in the world! What are you so scrimpin' of it for?
+Slither it on good and thick and let it trickle down into the cracks.
+'Twill keep 'em tight."
+
+Oh, one learned to curb his temper and bend to the higher criticism if
+he carried his work down to the beach. He got an abundance of advice
+whether he asked for it or not and for the most part the counsel was
+sound and helpful. There you heard also tales of tempests, wrecks,
+strange ports, and sea serpents,--weird tales that chilled your blood;
+and sometimes the piping note of an old chanty was raised by one whose
+sailing days were now only a memory.
+
+What marvel that to be a boy at Lovell's Harbor was a boon to be
+coveted even if along with the distinction went a throng of homely
+tasks such as shucking clams, cleaning cod, baiting lobster pots, and
+running errands? No cake is all frosting and no chowder all broth. You
+had to take the bad along with the good if you lived at Lovell's
+Harbor. And while you were sandwiching in work and fun what an
+education you got! Why, it was better than a dozen schools. Not only
+did you learn to swim like a spaniel, pull a strong oar, hoist a sail,
+and gain an understanding of winds and tides, but also you came to
+handle tools with an ease no manual training school could teach you.
+You made a wooden pin do if you had no nail; and a bit of rope serve
+if the whittled pin were lacking. Instead of hurrying to a shop to
+purchase new you patched up the old, and the triumph of doing it
+afforded a satisfaction very pleasant to experience.
+
+Moreover, as a result, you had more pennies in your pocket and more
+brains in your head. Both Bob and Walter King, as well as most of the
+other village lads, outranked the town-bred boy in all-round practical
+skill. They may not have cut such a fine figure at golf or dancing;
+perhaps they did not excel at Latin or French; but they had at the
+tips of their tongues numberless useful facts which they had tried out
+and proven workable and which no city dweller could possibly have
+gleaned.
+
+His Highness might be freckled and towsled and, as his mother
+affirmed, forgetful and careless, but like a sponge his active young
+mind had soaked up a deal no books could have given him. You would
+best beware how you jollied Walter King or put him down for a "Rube."
+More than likely you would later regret your snap judgment.
+
+No doubt it was this realization that had stimulated Jerry Thomas to
+ask him to come to Surfside, the Crowninshields' big summer estate,
+and look after the dogs. Jerry was an old resident of Lovell's Harbor,
+and having watched the boy grow up, he unquestionably knew what he
+was about. That there were plenty of other boys at the Harbor to
+choose from was certain. If the honor descended to His Highness rest
+assured it was not without reason.
+
+Hence Jerry was not only pleased but immensely gratified when on the
+morning following Walter rounded the corner of the great barn and
+appeared in the doorway.
+
+"I've come to say Yes to that job you offered me the other day,"
+announced he, without wasting words on preliminaries.
+
+"Good, youngster!"
+
+"When shall you want me?"
+
+"When can you come?" grinned Jerry.
+
+He was a lank, sharp-featured man with china blue eyes that narrowed
+to a mere slit when he smiled, and from the corners of which
+crowsfeet, like fan-shaped streaks of light from the rising sun,
+radiated across his temples. His skin was tanned to the hue of old
+hickory and deep down in its furrows were lines of white. He had a big
+nose that was always sunburned, powerful hands with a reddish fuzz on
+their backs, and gnarled fingers that bore the scars of innumerable
+nautical disasters. But the chief glory he possessed was a neatly
+tattooed schooner that sailed under full canvas upon his forearm and
+bore beneath it the inscription:
+
+    The Mollie D. The finest ship afloat.
+
+The words had been intended as a tribute rather than a challenge for
+Jerry was a peaceful soul, but unfortunately they had proved
+provocative of many a brawl, and had the truth been known a certain
+odd slant of Jerry's chin could have been traced back to this
+apparently harmless assertion. Possibly had this mate of the _Mollie
+D._ foreseen into what straits his boast was to lead him he might not
+have expressed it so baldly in all the naked glory of blue ink; but
+with the sentiment once immortalized what choice had he but to defend
+it? Therefore, being no coward but a sturdy seaman with a swinging
+undercut, he had in times past delivered many a blow in order to
+uphold the _Mollie D.'s_ nautical reputation, after which encounters
+his challengers were wont to emerge with a more profound respect not
+only for the bark but for Jerry Thomas as well.
+
+All that, however, was long ago. Since the great storm of 1890 when so
+many ships had perished and the _Mollie D._, bound from Norfolk to
+Fairhaven, had gone down with the rest, Jerry had abandoned the sea.
+It was not the perils of the deep, nevertheless, that had driven him
+landward, or the fear of future disasters; it was only that since his
+first love was lost he could not bring himself to ship on any other
+vessel.
+
+Accordingly he took to the shore and for a time a very strange misfit
+he was there. How he fumed and fidgeted and roamed from one place to
+another, searching for some spot in which his restless spirit would
+find peace! And then one day he had wandered into Lovell's Harbor and
+there he had stayed ever since. For several seasons he had taken out
+sailing parties of summer boarders or piloted amateur fishermen out to
+the Ledges; but the timidity and lack of sophistication of these city
+patrons at length so rasped his nerves that he gave up the task and
+was about to betake himself to pastures new when he fell beneath the
+eye of Mr. Glenmore Archibald Crowninshield, a New York banker, who
+had bought the strip of land forming one arm of the bay and was on the
+point of erecting there a diminutive summer palace.
+
+From that instant Jerry's fortune was made. Mr. Crowninshield was a
+keen student of human nature and was immediately attracted to the
+sailor with his ambling gait and twinkling blue eyes. Moreover, the
+New Yorker happened to be in search of just such a man to look out for
+his interests when he was not at Lovell's Harbor. Hence Jerry was
+elevated to the post of caretaker and delegated to keep guard over the
+edifice that was about to be erected.
+
+In view of the fact that up to the moment Jerry had been the most
+care-free mortal alive and had never from day to day been able to
+remember the whereabouts of his sou'wester or his rubber boots, his
+ensuing transformation was nothing short of a miracle. Promptly
+settling down with doglike fidelity he began mildly to urge on the
+lagging carpenters; but presently, magnificent in his wrath, he rose
+above them, whiplash in hand, and drove them forward. His watery blue
+eyes followed every stick of timber, every foot of piping, every nail
+that was placed. There was no escaping his watchfulness. If corners
+were not true or moldings did not meet he saw and called attention to
+it. Many a time a slipshod workman was ready to throw him over the
+cliff into the sea and perhaps might have done so had he not been
+conscious of the justice of the criticism.
+
+In consequence the Crowninshield house was built on honor; and when
+the bills began to come in and showed a marked falling off in
+magnitude the owner of the mansion could not but express gratitude.
+Jerry, however, did not covet thanks. Instead he tagged along at his
+employer's heels, proudly calling notice first to one skillful bit of
+work and then to another. The house and all that concerned it became
+his hobby. It was to him what the _Mollie D._ had been, the primary
+interest of his life. He knew every inch of plumbing; where every
+shut-off, valve, ventilator, and stopcock was located. Moreover, he
+could have told, had not his jaws been clamped together tightly as a
+scallop shell, exactly how much every article in the mansion cost.
+
+Later he superintended the grading of the lawns, the laying out of
+tennis courts, and the building of garages, boathouses, and
+bathhouses. By this time Mr. Crowninshield would willingly have
+trusted him with every farthing he possessed so complete was his
+confidence in his man Friday.
+
+Jerry, however, was modest. He declared he had only done his duty and
+insisted that it go at that. But having set this high standard of
+fidelity for himself it followed that he demanded a like faithfulness
+in others; and if he were not merciful to those who came under his
+dictatorship at least no one of them could deny that he was just.
+Hence Walter King did not shrink from the prospect of working with
+him, stern though he was reputed to be. One can only do one's best and
+that the boy was determined to do. Therefore he smiled up into Jerry's
+misty blue eyes and answered:
+
+"I could begin work when school closes toward the end of June."
+
+"Humph! I wish you could make it earlier. Well, we must put up with
+that since it is the best you can do. Goodness knows I'd be the last
+one to discourage learning in the young. I got all too little of it
+when I was a shaver. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I'd had my
+chance. I shipped to sea when I was only twelve--would go--nothing
+would stop me--and I've been knocking round ever since, picking up
+here and there what scraps of knowledge I could get. Don't let
+anything tempt you to sea till you're full-grown, sonny, for you'll
+live to regret it, sure as my name is Jerry Taylor."
+
+Walter flushed guiltily, wondering as he did so whether Jerry's little
+blue eyes had bored their way into his skull and read there his
+aspirations.
+
+"Nope!" went on the sailor. "Take it from me, seafaring is a man's
+job. You much better stay ashore and----" he stopped as if at a loss
+and then smiling broadly added, "play governess to a pack of dogs."
+
+"I figure that is about what I'm going to do," replied His Highness
+with a comic air of resignation.
+
+"Well, what's the matter with that?" inquired Jerry sharply. "You'll
+be getting paid for it, won't you--well paid? And you'll have cozy
+quarters all to yourself, and three good meals a day. Land alive! Some
+folks want the earth! Why, when I was your age, I was swung up in a
+hammock between decks with not an inch of space that I could call my
+own. If I wanted to stow away anything I hadn't a place to put it
+where it wasn't common property. As for meals I took what I could get
+and was thankful that I didn't starve. And here you come along and
+tilt up your freckled pug nose at a room and board and ten a week.
+Bah! What's come over this generation anyway?"
+
+"I wasn't turning up my nose," Walter ventured to protest. "It turns
+up anyhow."
+
+"Then you need to be careful how you make it go higher," grinned
+Jerry.
+
+"And--and--I had no idea you meant to pay me that much."
+
+"What do you think we are up here?" bristled Jerry. "A sweatshop? No
+siree! We stand for the square deal every time, we do. Only you've got
+to understand, young one, that it's to be square on both sides. You're
+to do no shirking; if you do you'll get fired so quick you'll wonder
+what hit you. But if you do your part you need have no worries. Now
+think good and plenty before you embark on the cruise."
+
+"I have thought."
+
+"All right then. We'll haul up anchor and be off the latter part of
+June."
+
+"You'll have to tell me exactly what you want me to do."
+
+"Oh, I'll tell you right 'nough," drawled Jerry, with a humorous twist
+of his lips. "You'll get a chart to sail by. Still, it won't wholly
+cover your duties. The thing for you to do is to keep your eyes peeled
+and look alive. Watch out and see where there's a hole an' be in that
+hole so it won't be empty. That's the best recipe I know for being
+useful."
+
+"I'll try."
+
+"If you honestly do that I reckon there'll be no cause for you to
+worry," observed the caretaker kindly. "Towards the end of June, then,
+I'll be on the lookout for you. Your quarters will be all ready,
+shipshape and trim as a liner's cabin."
+
+"Where will they be?" inquired Walter.
+
+"Want to see 'em?"
+
+"I'd like to, yes."
+
+"I s'pose you would," nodded Jerry. "You can as well as not; only they
+ain't fixed up as they'll be later. Look kinder dismal."
+
+"Oh, I shan't mind."
+
+The big man smiled at the eagerness of the boy's tone.
+
+"Likely you ain't never been away from home before, son," said he, as
+he took a key out of a glass case on the wall of the barn and slipped
+it into his pocket.
+
+"No--that is, not to stay."
+
+"Quite some adventure, eh?"
+
+The lad shot a bright glance toward him.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, well! Count yourself lucky, youngster, that you've had a good
+home and a good mother up to now; and bless your stars, too, that
+since you are going to start branching out you're coming to a place
+like Surfside rather'n somewhere else."
+
+His voice was gentle and his misty eyes mistier than ever.
+
+Striding ahead he crossed the lawn, unlocked a low building, and
+mounting the stairs, stopped before a door in the hall above. With a
+turn of the key it swung open, disclosing a small sheathed room
+containing a white iron bed, bureau, table, chairs, and bookshelves.
+
+"Think this will suit your Highness?" grinned he.
+
+"It's--it's corking!" stammered Walter, almost too delighted to reply.
+
+"'Tain't bad," admitted Jerry, strolling over to one of the windows
+that faced the sea and looking out. "Mr. Crowninshield makes it a rule
+never to stow away other folks where he wouldn't be stowed himself. It
+isn't a bad principle, either. You'll have a couple of the chauffeurs
+for company." With his thumb he motioned to other rooms flanking the
+narrow hall. "They may josh you some at first. That's part of starting
+out in the world. Keep a civil tongue in your head and if you don't
+mind 'em they'll soon quit. If they don't it's up to you to find the
+way to get on with 'em. Half of life is learning to shy round the
+corners of the folks about you. And old Tim, who used to be gardener
+for Mr. Crowninshield's father and has been in the family 'most half a
+century, bides here, too. A rare soul, Tim. You'll like him. Everybody
+does. Simple as a child, he is, and so gentle that it well-nigh breaks
+his heart to kill a potato bug. You can count on Tim standing your
+friend no matter what the rest may do, so cheer up."
+
+"And the dogs?"
+
+"Oh, the kennels, you mean? They're close by where you'll get the full
+benefit of the pups' barking in the early morning," said Jerry, with a
+twinkle. "'Twill give you a pleasant feeling to be certain your
+charges are alive. Most often, though, they do no yammering until
+about six, and goodness knows all Christians ought to be up at that
+hour. You'll find the dogs fitted out comfortable as the rest of us.
+They've a fine enclosure to stay in when they want to be out of doors;
+a big airy room if it's better to have 'em under cover; steam heat
+when it's cold; and blankets and brushes without end. Sometimes Lola,
+the pet of 'em all, sleeps up at the big house; but mostly she's here
+with the rest. There's too big a caravan of 'em to have the lot live
+with the family. Besides, the folks like to sleep late in the morning
+and not be disturbed by the noise of a pack of puppies. Then there's
+guests here off and on. So take it all in all, the dogs are best by
+themselves."
+
+"But I don't know anything about taking care of dogs," faltered
+Walter.
+
+"I thought you'd had a dog yourself."
+
+"So I had once. But he wasn't like any of these. He was just a dog.
+All you had to do was to chuck him a bone."
+
+"Well, you'll have a darn sight more to do for these critters than
+that," announced Jerry.
+
+"But how'll I know----" began the boy, alarmed by the prospect before
+him.
+
+"Oh, you'll get your instructions from the Madam, most likely--get 'em
+all written down in black and white along with the history of every
+dog. She'll tell you just what every one of 'em is to eat, and how
+much; and where they're all to sleep. And if she don't Miss Nancy or
+Mr. Dick will. You'll get yards and yards of directions before you're
+through," chuckled Jerry. "You want to listen well to every word you
+hear too, son, for these dogs ain't like your Towser--or whatever his
+name was; a crumb of food too much might kill 'em. Or a blast of air."
+
+"Scott!"
+
+"Oh, there's no use getting panicky at the outset," declared Jerry
+comfortably. "Follow orders and use your brains; and remember that if
+you get addled you can always consult Tim. Tim has a world of common
+sense and a heap of knowledge of odd sorts. And more than that, he's
+never swept off his feet by the cost of things. Having been brought up
+in the company of Rolls-Royce cars, and diamond rings, and
+thousand-dollar dogs they don't move him an inch. He just treats 'em
+same's he would anything else and often it's the best plan. Instead
+of losing his head, and standing wringing his hands 'cause the prize
+roses have got bugs on 'em he sets to work and kills the bugs; sprays
+the plants same's he would ordinary bushes, and they go to growing
+again like any other civilized flowers. An orchid ain't no more to him
+than a buttercup. He's too used to 'em. He's used to dogs as well, and
+with the shifting fashions he's seen during his fifty years with the
+family he's had experience with most every kind of dog that ever was.
+For there's fashions in dogs, you know, as well as in coats and hats.
+So turn to Tim when you're in a tight place. He'll help you, never
+fear."
+
+"I hope he will," sighed His Highness ruefully. "I shall need him."
+
+"Nonsense! Why, Mr. Dick has often cared for the pups when there was
+no one else; and certainly you ought to have as many brains as he."
+
+"Tell me about him."
+
+"Richard? You've seen him round town lots of times--you must have. At
+the village and other places."
+
+"Oh, of course I've seen him," agreed Walter quickly. "In the summer
+he drives past our house almost every day in his car. But I don't know
+him any."
+
+"You will now," asserted Jerry. "He's a great chap, Mr. Dick is! About
+your age, too, I guess. Quite a mechanic and always tinkering with
+tools and machinery. If there's anything wrong with the motor boat he
+can usually fix her up all right. As for mending a car, he beats all
+the chauffeurs out. They know it and have to say so. Likely you've
+seen him fluking through the main street in his racer. She's a trim
+little thing and could go like the wind if his Pa hadn't forbidden
+letting out the engine. I reckon Mr. Crowninshield is afraid he'll
+either kill himself or somebody else, and I will own the thing ain't
+no proper toy for a lad his age. Still, city folks ain't content with
+what would please you or me. They must have the biggest, the fastest,
+the most expensive article there is or 'tain't good for nothin'. The
+mere knowin' it's the biggest, fastest, and cost the most seems to
+make 'em happy somehow. Funny, ain't it?"
+
+His Highness did not reply. He was thinking.
+
+"And Miss Nancy?" interrogated he presently.
+
+"Ha! There's a girl for you!" ejaculated Jerry with enthusiasm.
+"She'll be either seventeen or eighteen come June. Swims like a fish.
+In fact, I ain't sure she couldn't outdistance some of 'em. And such
+an oar as she pulls! It's strong and steady as any man's. Besides
+that, she can beat the crowd at tennis, golf, and those other fool
+games such folks play. Has a runabout of her own, too, and drives it
+neat as a pin."
+
+"She's better at sports than Mr. Dick, then."
+
+"Oh, she can wipe the ground up with him," sniffed Jerry. "She can
+swim overhand to the raft and get back almost before her brother has
+started. By Guy! I never saw a woman swim as she does! Dick gets
+kinder peeved with her sometimes when she jollies him. But let her car
+play a prank and he has her, for she's no more idea what to do with
+an engine than the man in the moon. She treats brother Richard with
+proper respect then, I can tell you."
+
+Walter smiled.
+
+"And Mrs. Crowninshield?"
+
+"She? She's all right! You'll like her and she'll like you--that is,
+if you get on with the pups. Dogs are her hobby. What she don't know
+about raisin' 'em ain't worth knowin'. But I just warn you not to
+think that because she's so pleasant she's easy goin', 'cause she
+ain't. Slip up on your job and she'll be down on you like a thousand
+of brick. She's a fair-weather sailin' craft--that's what she is;
+floats along nice as anything until something goes wrong and then--my
+soul--but she kicks up a sea. Yet with all that you'll like her. We
+all do. Almost everybody on the place would get down and let her walk
+on 'em. She has a kind of way with her that makes you itch to please
+her. Tim would let her cut his head clean off if she wanted to and I
+ain't sure I wouldn't. Have a smart sore throat once and see the
+things she'll do for you. And she'll do 'em herself, too--not set
+other people on the job. I believe that woman has the biggest heart in
+the world."
+
+"And--and--Mr. Crowninshield?" ventured Walter.
+
+"The boss?" Jerry cleared his throat and for the first time hesitated.
+"You've got to understand the boss, my son," said he earnestly. "He
+ain't like other men. And in order that you may, I better give you a
+pointer or two for it will most probably save you trouble. The boss
+is something like a big dog that barks fit to murder you and don't
+mean a thing by it. You've seen the kind. To hear him go on when he's
+roused you'd believe he was going to have your blood. My, how he does
+orate!" Jerry smiled and shook his head indulgently. "I've seen the
+men stand up before him with their knees shaking until you'd expect
+'em to give way every second. And the master would rage and rage
+because they'd done something he didn't want done. And then, like a
+hurricane that's blown itself out, he'll calm down and the next you
+know he's given you a smile that's made you forget all the rest of it.
+That's him all over. Learn not to be afraid of him, that's the only
+thing to do. He wouldn't hurt a fly really. He just gets to blusterin'
+and tearin' round from force of habit. It don't mean nothin'--not a
+thing in the world. And with all his money he ain't a mite cocky. To
+see him you'd scarce dream he had a copper in his pocket. Yet he could
+paper the house with thousand-dollar bills was he so minded. There's
+no end to his money, seems to me. Just the same, you don't want to go
+wastin' it for him on that account. Remember you ain't got the right
+to, not havin' earned it. If he chooses to splash it round that's his
+hunt. He made it. But it ain't yours or mine to slosh away. Jot that
+down in your log. It may help you later."
+
+Jerry paused.
+
+"You deal square and honorable with the boss, standing up to what
+you've done like you was a trooper at your gun, and he'll deal square
+and honorable with you. But go to hoodwinking and imposing on him and
+instead of a lamb you'll find you've got a rattlesnake at your heels.
+Now you have an idea, I guess, what you're going to be up against
+here," concluded the caretaker, taking out his pipe and cramming it
+with tobacco. "If there's anything else you want to know now's your
+chance, for after to-day I am never going to open my lips again about
+any of the Crowninshield family. You'll be one of the employees and
+your job will be to hold your tongue on them and their affairs, and be
+loyal to 'em. Their bread will be feeding you and 'twill be only
+decent. After you once have got your place the keeping of it will rest
+with you. That's fair, ain't it?"
+
+Walter nodded.
+
+Yet he turned slowly toward home, depressed by a throng of misgivings.
+Suppose he was not able to hold the job at Surfside once it was his?
+What then?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING
+
+
+By the middle of May Lovell's Harbor had fully awakened from its
+winter's sleep. Freshly painted dories were slipped into the water;
+newly rigged yawls and knockabouts were anchored in the bay; the float
+was equipped with renovated bumpers, and a general air of anticipation
+pervaded the community.
+
+Yes, hot weather was really on the way. Already the summer cottages
+were being opened, aired, and put in order, and even some of the
+houses had gayly figured hangings at the windows and a film of smoke
+could be seen issuing from the chimneys.
+
+At Surfside workmen bustled about, hurrying across the lawn with
+boards, paint pots, and hammers. Tim Cavenough and his little host of
+helpers scurried to uncover the flower beds, and from morning to night
+trudged back and forth from the greenhouses bearing shallow boxes of
+seedlings which they transplanted to the gardens. Shutters were
+removed and stored away, piazza chairs brought out, awnings put up,
+and lawns and tennis courts rolled and cut.
+
+As far as one could see a spangled expanse of ocean dazzled the eye
+and the tiny salt creeks that meandered across the meadows were like
+winding ribbons of blue. Certainly it was no weather to be shut up in
+school and boys and girls went hither with reluctant feet, checking
+off the days on their fingers and even counting the hours that must
+drag by before they would be free to roam at will amid this panorama
+of beauty.
+
+To Walter King it seemed as if the closing period of his captivity
+would never be at an end. He studied rebelliously, and with only a
+half--nay, rather a quarter--of his mind on his lessons. All his
+thought was centered around Surfside and the novel experiences that
+beckoned him there. So impatient was he to begin his new duties that
+he found it impossible to settle down to anything.
+
+"You'll be failing in your last examinations, Walter, if you don't
+watch what you're doing," cautioned his mother. "And should you do
+that, little profit would it be that you are hired out to Mr.
+Crowninshield for the summer. In the fall you'd have to stay behind
+your class, and think of the disgrace of that! Why, I'd be ready to
+hide my head with shame! Money or no money, you must buck up and put
+the Crowninshields and their doings out of your head. To lose a year
+now would mean just that much longer before you could graduate and
+take a regular job. I almost wish Jerry Thomas had never asked you to
+come up there, I do indeed."
+
+"Oh, don't go getting all fussed up, Ma," returned His Highness,
+irritated because he recognized the truth of his mother's words. "I'm
+going to buckle down until the term is over, honest I am. It is hard,
+though, with the weather so fine. It seems as if I must be out. It's
+like being on a leash."
+
+"You're thinking of those dogs again!"
+
+The lad flushed sheepishly.
+
+"No, I wasn't."
+
+"But you were--whether you realized it or not. It is all you talk of
+nowadays--_dogs_! What it will be after they get here and you're up at
+Surfside living with them I don't know. Whatever else you do, though,
+you must not fail in your lessons and at the last moment spoil your
+whole year's record. School is your first duty now and you have no
+moral right to put anything else in its place."
+
+"I know it, Ma," Walter agreed.
+
+"Of course you know it," was the tart response. "Just see that you do
+not forget it, that's all."
+
+With this final admonition Mrs. King whisked about and taking up her
+cake of Sapolio and pail of steaming water ascended the stairs. Like
+the rest of Lovell's Harbor she was busy as a bee in clovertime. She
+had rented all her rooms and had so many things to do in preparation
+for her expected guests that she had not a second to waste.
+
+After she had gone Walter loitered in the kitchen, whistling absently
+and at the same time winding a piece of string aimlessly over his
+fingers. His mother's words had stirred a vague, uncomfortable
+possibility in his mind. What if he were to fail in those final exams?
+It would be terrible. Such a disaster did not seem real. It couldn't
+happen--actually happen--to him. It would be too awful. Nevertheless,
+try as he would to banish them, visions of Surfside with its myriad
+fascinations would dance in his head.
+
+He had never been away from home for more than a night before and to
+take up residence elsewhere for an entire season was in itself a
+novelty. Then there were the tennis courts, the golf links, the
+automobiles, motor boats, and the yacht! Why, it would be like
+fairyland! The next instant, however, his spirits drooped. It was
+absurd to imagine for a moment that he was to have any part in those
+magic amusements. He was not going to Surfside for recreation but for
+work. Notwithstanding that fact, though, it was beyond his power to
+forget that all these many activities would be going on about him and
+there was the chance, the bare chance, that an occasion might arise
+when he would be invited to participate in some of them.
+
+Fancy spinning over the sandy roads of the Cape in that wonderful
+racing car! Or sailing the blue waters of the harbor in one of those
+snowy motor boats! As for the yacht, with its trimmings of glistening
+brass and spotless decks, had he not dreamed of going aboard it ever
+since the day it had first steamed into the bay two summers ago?
+People said there was every imaginable contrivance aboard: ice-making
+machines, electric lights, and electric piano, goodness only knew
+what! Simply to see such things would be wonderful. And if it ever
+should come about (of course it never would and it was absurd to
+picture it--ridiculous) but if it ever _did_ that he should go sailing
+out of the bay on that mystic craft what a miracle that would be!
+
+With such visions floating through his mind what marvel that it was
+well-nigh out of the question for Walter King to focus his attention
+on algebra, Latin, history, and physics. X + Y seemed of very little
+consequence, and as for the Punic Wars they were so far away as to be
+hazy beyond any reality at all.
+
+Possibly, although she was quite unconscious of it, some of the fault
+was his mother's for she kept the topic of his departure to the
+Crowninshields' ever before him.
+
+"I have your new shirts almost finished, son," she would assert with
+satisfaction, "and they're as neat and well made as any New York
+tailor could make them, if I do say it; and you've three pairs of
+khaki trousers besides your old woolen ones and corduroys. With your
+Sunday suit of blue serge and those fresh ties and cap you'll have
+nothing to be ashamed of. Then you've those denim overalls, and your
+slicker, and Bob's outgrown pea-coat. I can't see but what you have
+everything you can possibly need. Do be watchful of your shoes and use
+them carefully, won't you, for they cost a mint of money? And remember
+whenever you can to work in your old duds and save your others. You
+can just as well as not if you only think of it. Your washing you'll
+bring home and don't forget that I want you to keep neat and clean.
+Rich folks notice those things a lot. So scrub your hands and neck
+and clean your nails, even if I'm not there to tell you to. Just
+because you are going to traipse round with the dogs is no excuse for
+looking like 'em," concluded she.
+
+"I'll remember, Ma," returned His Highness patiently.
+
+"And if you eat with the chauffeurs and a pack of men, don't go
+stuffing yourself with food until you're sick. There's a time to stop,
+you know. Don't wait until you've got past it and are so crammed that
+you can't swallow another mouthful."
+
+"I won't, Ma," was the meek response.
+
+"Brush your teeth faithfully, too. I've spent too much money on them
+to have them go to waste now."
+
+"Yes," came wearily from Walter.
+
+"Of course there's no call for me to talk to a person your age about
+smoking," continued his mother. "When you've got your full growth and
+can earn money enough to pay for such foolishness you've a right to
+indulge in it if you see fit; but until then don't start a habit that
+will do you no good and may make a pigmy of you for life."
+
+"I promise you right now, Ma, that I----"
+
+"No, don't promise. A promise is a sacred thing and one that it is a
+sacrilege to break. Never make a promise lightly. But just remember,
+laddie, that I'd far rather you didn't smoke for a few years yet. But
+should you feel you must why come and tell me, that's all."
+
+"I will, Ma," answered the boy soberly. Somehow going away from home
+suddenly seemed a very solemn business.
+
+"I guess that's the end of my cautions," smiled Mrs. King, "the end,
+except to say that I hope you won't like Surfside so well that you'll
+forget to come home now and then and tell me how you are making out.
+Of course I'll have my boarders and work same's you; still, there'll
+be times when we won't be busy and can see each other," her voice
+trembled a little. "Nobody will be more anxious to hear of your doings
+than I--remember that. I shall miss you, sonny. It's the first time
+you've been away from me and I can't but feel it's a sort of
+milestone. You'll be getting grown up and leaving home for good now
+before I know it, same as Bob has."
+
+Her eyes glistened and for an instant she turned her head aside.
+
+"Oh, I shan't be branching out to make my fortune yet, Mother,"
+protested Walter gayly. "I don't know enough. I'm not clever like
+Bob--you said so yourself only the other day."
+
+"You're clever as is good for you," was the ambiguous retort. "I'm
+glad you're no different."
+
+"Think of the money I'd be handing in if I could only earn as much as
+Bob."
+
+"The money? Aye, there's no denying it would be a help. However, with
+what you and Bob and I are going to earn this summer we should make
+out very well, even if your Uncle Mark Miller has left us in the lurch
+and your Uncle Henry King's investments have gone bad on us. I'll be
+turning a tidy penny with my boarders, thanks to you. And for a lad
+your age ten dollars a week is not to be sneezed at. Why, we'll have
+quite a little fortune between us!"
+
+He saw her face brighten.
+
+"Now if Bob could only be near at hand like you I believe I should be
+entirely happy," she sighed. "I hate to think of him way out there on
+that spit of sand with the sea booming all around him and nothing for
+company but the other fellow, who's asleep whenever he's awake, and
+that clicking wireless instrument. Imagine the loneliness of it! The
+solitude would drive me crazy inside a week--I know it would."
+
+"Bob doesn't mind."
+
+"He's not the lad to say so if he did," replied the mother grimly.
+"Nobody'd be any the wiser for what Bob thinks. Often at night I fall
+to wondering what he'd do was he to be taken sick."
+
+"Oh, he'd be all right, Mother," answered His Highness cheerfully.
+"O'Connel is there, you know."
+
+"And what kind of a nurse would he be, do you think, with his ear to
+that switchboard from daylight until dark?"
+
+"Not quite that. Mother."
+
+"Well, almost that, anyhow. It is all well enough for you to say so
+jauntily that Bob doesn't mind being off there with the wind howling
+round him and nothing to do but listen to it."
+
+"Nothing to do!" repeated Walter. "Why, Ma, he's busy all the time."
+
+"Tinkering with those wires, you mean?" was the indignant question.
+"Yes, I grant he has plenty of that, especially in bad weather. But I
+mean pleasures----"
+
+"Moving pictures, church sociables, strawberry festivals," interrupted
+the lad mischievously.
+
+"Yes, I do," maintained Mrs. King stoutly. "Folks must have something
+to brighten up their lives. Bob doesn't have a thing."
+
+"He often has days that are lively enough, according to his stories."
+
+"When there's wrecks, you mean?" She shook her head gravely. "It isn't
+those that I'm talking about. It's sitting day after day and listening
+to the meaningless taps and buzzings that come whining through that
+instrument."
+
+"They're not meaningless to him."
+
+"No-o, I suppose not," sighed the woman. For a moment she paused only
+to resume her complaints. "Then there's the responsibility of it. I
+never did like to think of that. Should he tap once too much or too
+little when sending one of those dot and dash messages, think what it
+might mean! And suppose he heard a dot too much and didn't get the
+thing the other fellow was trying to tell him straight?"
+
+"But he has been trained so he does not make mistakes."
+
+"All human clay makes mistakes," was the tragic answer, "although I
+will say Bob makes fewer than most. And then the thunder storms--I'm
+always worried about those."
+
+"Yes, I'll confess there is some danger from lightning," owned Walter
+unwillingly. "And of course there is danger from the current at all
+times if one is not careful. Even then accidents sometimes happen.
+However, Bob explained once that accidental shocks seldom result
+fatally unless the person is left too long without help. The man in
+charge of the radio outfit would almost never get the full force of
+the current, because part of it would be carried off through the wires
+and ground. Such accidents are mainly due to the temporary and faulty
+contact of the conductors."
+
+"I can't help what they're due to," sniffed Mrs. King. "The point is
+that Bob might get knocked out and die."
+
+"Nonsense, Mother. You would not worry if you understood more about
+it. Besides, should a man get a shock, if you go promptly to work over
+him and keep at it long enough, you can almost always bring him back
+to consciousness. They do just about the same things to restore him
+that they do for a person that's been drowned. The aim is to make him
+breathe. If you can get him to, he will probably live. Of course,
+though, you have to break the circuit first."
+
+"The circuit?"
+
+"Stop the current that is going through his body," explained Walter.
+
+"But how can you?"
+
+"Bob told me how. He saw a chap knocked out once and helped fix him
+up. You had to be awfully careful about moving him away from the
+apparatus, Bob said, or you might get a shock yourself. They took a
+dry stick because it was a nonconductor of electricity, you know, and
+rolled the man over to one side, so he was out of reach of the wires.
+Had you covered your hands with dry cloth you could have moved him,
+too; rubber gloves are best but Bob did not happen to have any handy
+at the minute. So they poked the fellow out of the way with the stick,
+turned him over on his back, loosened his collar and clothing, and
+went to work on him. You know how they always roll up a coat or
+something and stuff it under drowned persons' shoulders to throw their
+head backward? Well, they did that; and afterward they began to move
+his arms up and down to make him breathe. The idea is to depress and
+expand the chest. We learned it in our 'first aid' class. Of course
+there are lots of things you have to do besides, and if you can get a
+doctor he will know of others that are better still. But Bob said the
+chief point was not to get discouraged and give up. Sometimes people
+die just because the folks fussing over them do not keep at it long
+enough. They get tired and when they see no results they decide it is
+no use and stop trying. You ought to work an hour anyhow, repeating
+the exercises at the rate of sixteen times a minute, Bob said. Then,
+if the poor chap does not come to, you can at least feel you have done
+all you can."
+
+"Ugh! It makes me shiver to think of it!"
+
+"You didn't shiver when Minnie Carlton fell off the float and almost
+got drowned," remarked Walter significantly.
+
+"I had too much to think of," was Mrs. King's laconic reply.
+
+"It was the fussing you did over her that saved her life."
+
+"They said so."
+
+"You know it was."
+
+"Mebbe it was," admitted his mother modestly. "But it wasn't any
+credit to me. I've always lived near the water and I feel at home with
+drowned people."
+
+"These electric accidents are much the same--easier, if anything,
+because the lungs are not filled with water."
+
+"I hadn't thought of that."
+
+"This is just a straight case of making a man breathe. You did that
+for Minnie."
+
+"I contrived to, yes."
+
+"Well, this stunt is the same. Bob said if you once got that through
+your head and kept in mind what you were driving at instead of flying
+off the handle you would get on all right."
+
+"Perhaps he's right. He generally is," sighed Mrs. King. "Still it is
+a worrisome business having him tinkering with those wires all the
+time. I am thankful you are not doing it. I'd rather you tended dogs."
+
+"But you've forgotten what they're worth," put in His Highness.
+
+"So I had. Oh, dear! I don't see but what I've got to worry about both
+of you."
+
+"Pooh, Ma! Don't be foolish. Think of the money we'll have by fall,
+the three of us. Why, we'll be rich!"
+
+"Not rich, with that last payment on the mortgage looming ahead."
+
+"But it _is_ the last--think of that! We won't ever have another to
+make."
+
+A radiant smile flitted over Mrs. King's face but a moment later it
+was eclipsed by a cloud.
+
+"There'll be other things to pay; there always are," fretted she.
+
+"Oh, shucks, Ma! Why borrow trouble? It's always hanging round wanting
+to be borrowed. Why gratify it?"
+
+"I know. It is a foolish habit, isn't it? Still, it was always my way
+to be prepared for the worst. I've done it all my life."
+
+"Then why not whiffle round now and just for a change be prepared for
+the best?"
+
+In spite of herself his mother laughed.
+
+"I expect that if I was as young as you and as happy-go-lucky I'd
+never worry," she answered not unkindly. "But since I'm made with a
+worrying disposition and bound to worry anyhow, at least I've got
+something perfectly legitimate to worry about this summer, and you
+can't deny it. With one son liable to be electrocuted by wireless and
+the other likely to be run into jail for losing a million-dollar dog I
+shall have plenty to occupy my mind, not to mention all those
+boarders that are coming."
+
+"Now, Ma, you know you are actually looking forward to the boarders,"
+Walter declared. "Already you are simply itching to see them and find
+out what they are like."
+
+"And if I am, what then?" admitted his mother flushing that she should
+have been read so accurately. "Seeing them isn't all there is to it by
+a good sight. There is feeding them, and to keep them filled up in
+this bracing climate is no small matter."
+
+"Did you ever know any one to go hungry in this house?"
+
+"Well, no; I can't say I ever did."
+
+"Do you imagine boarders will eat more than Bob or I?"
+
+"Mercy on us! I hope not."
+
+"Well, you always gave us enough to eat. I guess if you contrived to
+do that you needn't worry about your boarders," chuckled His Highness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+WALTER MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER
+
+
+The last day of June dawned dismal and foggy. A grim gray veil
+enshrouded Lovell's Harbor, rendering it cold and dreary. Had one been
+visiting it for the first time he would probably have turned his back
+on its forlornity and never have come again. The sea was wrapped in a
+mist so dense that its vast reach of waves was as complete a secret as
+if they had been actually curtained off from the land. On every leaf
+trembled beads of moisture and from the eaves of the sodden houses the
+water dripped with a melancholy trickle.
+
+It was wretched weather for the Crowninshields to be coming to
+Surfside and yet that they were already on the way the jangling
+telephone attested.
+
+"I wouldn't have had 'em put in an appearance a day like this for the
+world!" fretted Jerry Taylor, who for some unaccountable reason seemed
+to hold himself responsible for the general dampness and discomfort.
+"Fog ain't nothin' to us folks who are used to it. We've lived by the
+ocean long enough to love it no matter how it behaves. But for it to
+go actin' up this way for strangers is a pity. It gives 'em a bad
+impression same's a ill-behaved child does."
+
+"But you can't help it," ventured Walter, who had just come into
+sight.
+
+"N-o. Still, somehow, I'm always that anxious for the place to look
+it's prettiest that I feel to blame when it doesn't."
+
+The boy nodded sympathetically. Deep down within him lay an
+inarticulate affection for the hamlet in which he had been born and
+the great throbbing sea that lapped its shores. He therefore
+understood Jerry's attitude and shared in it far more than he would,
+perhaps, have been willing to admit. Nevertheless he merely knocked
+the drops from his rubber hat, muttered that it was a rotten day, and
+loitered awkwardly about, wondering just what to do.
+
+At last school was at an end. He had squeaked through the examinations
+with safety if not with glory, and having wheeled his small trunk up
+to Surfside on a wheelbarrow and deposited it in his room he
+speculated as to what to do next. There was plenty he might have done.
+There was no question about that. He might at the very moment have
+been unpacking his possessions, hanging his clothes in the closet, and
+stowing away his undergarments in the chest of drawers provided for
+the purpose. Moreover, there were books to tuck into place on his
+bookshelves and other minor duties relative to the settling of his new
+quarters.
+
+Oh, there were a score of things he might have done. His Highness,
+however, was in much too agitated a frame of mind to turn his
+attention to such humdrum tasks. Furthermore, since he had pledged
+himself to bear a hand wherever it was needed, he felt he should be on
+the spot and within call. And if beneath this worthy motive lurked a
+certain desire to see whatever there was to be seen, who can say his
+curiosity was not pardonable? One does not set forth every day to make
+his fortune. The adventure was very alluring to him who had never
+tried it.
+
+Possibly Jerry Taylor had enough of the boy in him to understand this.
+However that might be, he did not hurry the lad indoors to unpack even
+though he sensed full well that precious time was being wasted;
+instead, as he started across the lawn he called back over his
+shoulder:
+
+"If you've nothing better to do, sonny, than to stand shivering in the
+barn, come along up to the house with me and help bring up some wood;
+I'm going to start fires burning in the rooms to cheer the folks up
+and dry 'em off when they get here. To my mind there ain't nothin'
+like an open fire to right you if you're out of sorts. And likely they
+will be out of sorts. Mr. Crowninshield will, that's sure. Now I
+myself don't mind a gray day off and on. It's sorter restful and
+calming. But these city people can't see it that way. My eye, no! They
+begin to groan so you can hear 'em a mile away the minute the sun is
+clouded over; and by the second day of a good northeaster they are
+done for. You'd think to listen to 'em that the end of the world had
+come. No motoring! No golf! No tennis! Why, they might as well be
+dead. They begin to wonder why they ever came here anyway and talk of
+nothing but how nice it is in New York. Why, you would split your
+sides laughing to hear Mr. Crowninshield moan for Wall Street and
+Fifth Avenue. Three days of fog is his limit. After that ropes
+couldn't tie him here. He tumbles his traps into a suitcase and off he
+goes to the city."
+
+"Great Scott!" Walter ejaculated.
+
+"Oh, 'tain't a bad thing to have him go, take it by and large. He
+ain't much addition here when he's fidgeting round, poking into
+everything and suggesting it better be done some other way. He's much
+better off somewhere else--he's happier and so are we. By and by he
+comes back again cheerful as if nothing had happened. Mebbe it's as
+well you should be told what's in store for you in foggy weather,"
+concluded Jerry, with a touch of humor, "for you'll come in for your
+share together with the rest of us. Everybody gets it. Most likely
+you'll hear that an egg-beater is a much better thing to smooth down a
+dog's hair with than a brush; that all the world knows that and only
+an idiot uses anything else. Don't smile or venture a yip in reply.
+Just say you'll be glad to use the egg-beater if he prefers it. Remark
+that, in fact, you quite hanker to try the egg-beater. To agree with
+him always takes the wind out of his sails quicker'n anything else.
+He'll calm down soon as he sees you aren't ruffled and go off and hunt
+up somebody else to reform. And when the fog blows out to sea his
+temper will go with it and he will forget he ever suggested an
+egg-beater. Oh, we understand the boss. He's all right! If you only
+know how to take him you'll never have a mite of trouble with him."
+
+By this time they had reached the house and having removed rubbers and
+dripping coats they entered the basement door and proceeded to the
+cellar. It was not the sort of cellar with which His Highness was
+familiar although his mother's cellar was clean, as cellars go. This
+one was immaculate. Indeed it seemed, on glancing about, that one
+might have done far worse than live in the Crowninshields' cellar.
+Every inch of the interior was light, dry, and spotless with
+whitewash, paint, and tiling. Even the coal that filled the bins had
+taken on a borrowed glory and shone as if polished.
+
+"This is my kingdom!" announced Jerry proudly. "You could eat off the
+floor were you so minded."
+
+"I should say you could!"
+
+"When once you've set out it's no more work to keep things shipshape
+than to let 'em go helter-skelter. Now here's a basket. Load into it
+as many of those birch logs as you can carry and bring 'em upstairs.
+I've kindlings there already."
+
+While Walter was obeying these instructions Jerry himself was piling
+up on his lank arm a pyramid of wood, and together the two ascended
+the stairway and tiptoed through the kitchen. As they went the boy
+caught a glimpse of gleaming porcelain walls; ebon-hued stoves
+resplendent with nickel trimmings; a blue and white tiled floor; and
+smart little window hangings that matched it.
+
+"They don't cook here!" he gasped.
+
+"Everything in the house is electric," explained Jerry, as if he were
+conducting a sight-seeing party through the Louvre. "All the baking,
+washing, ironing, bread-making, and cleaning is done by electricity.
+There's even an electric sewing-machine to sew with, and an electric
+breeze to keep you cool while you're doing it. If I hadn't seen the
+thing with my own eyes I'd never have believed it."
+
+He paused to watch the effect of his words.
+
+"'Tain't much like the way you and me are used to," he grinned.
+
+"No."
+
+"I suppose in time you get so nothing knocks the breath out of you.
+I'm just coming to looking round here without feeling all of a
+flutter. The place did used to turn me endwise at first, it was so
+white and awesome. I actually hated to set foot within its walls.
+Seems 's if my fingers was always all thumbs every time I come inside
+the room. Still, I had to come in though; there were things I had to
+do here. So I schooled myself to forget the whiteness, and the
+blueness, and all the silvery glisten and call it just a kitchen.
+Besides, I found that grand as it is, it ain't a patch on some of the
+other things in the house. My eye! It's like the Arabian Nights!"
+
+The Cape Codder stopped quite speechless from retailing these marvels.
+
+"Yes," he went on presently, "they've got almost everything the
+electric market has to offer. Last year, though, Mr. Dick got a
+hankerin' for a wireless set. It appears that you can buy an outfit
+that will make you hear concerts, sermons, speeches, and about
+everything that's going on; at least that's what Mr. Crowninshield
+undertook to tell me, though whether he was fooling or not I couldn't
+quite make out. Still, it may be true. After what I've seen in this
+house I'm ready to believe about anything. Was he to say you could put
+your eye to a hole in the wall and see the Chinese eating rice in
+Hongkong it wouldn't astonish me."
+
+Walter laughed.
+
+"You _can_ hear music and such things. My brother, who is a
+wireless operator, told me so. They broadcast all sorts of
+entertainments--songs, band-playing, sermons, and stories so that
+those who have amateur apparatus can listen in."
+
+"Broadcast? Listen in?" repeated Jerry vaguely.
+
+"Broadcasting means sending out stuff of a specified wave length from
+a central station so that amateurs with a range of from two hundred to
+three hundred meters can pick it up."
+
+Jerry halted midway in the passage.
+
+"Do you mean to say," inquired he, "that a person can sling a song off
+the top of a wire into the air and tell it to stop when it's gone two
+hundred meters?"
+
+"Something like that," chuckled Walter, amused.
+
+"I don't believe it!" declared Jerry bluntly.
+
+"But it can be done; really it can."
+
+"No doubt you think you are speaking the truth, youngster," returned
+the skeptic mildly. "Somebody's stuffed you, though. Such a thing
+couldn't be, any way in the world."
+
+As if that were the end of the matter Jerry opened a door confronting
+him and stepped into the great hall, the splendor of which instantly
+blotted every other thought from Walter King's mind.
+
+Not only was the interior spacious and imposing but it was
+bewilderingly beautiful and contained marvel after marvel that the lad
+longed to examine. The large tiger-skin rugs that covered the floor
+piqued his interest, so did the chiming clock, and a fountain that
+welled up and splashed into a marble pool filled with goldfish. Why,
+he could have entertained himself for an hour with this latter wonder
+alone!
+
+There was, however, no leisure for loitering for on hearing the
+cadence of the chimes Jerry ejaculated in consternation:
+
+"Eleven o'clock already! Land alive! We'll have to get the fires
+blazing lively. Why, the folks may be here any minute now. Here, hand
+me one of those long sticks you've got, sonny; or rather--wait! You
+know how to lay a fire, don't you?"
+
+"I reckon I've done such a thing once or twice in my lifetime," was
+the dry response.
+
+"Then go ahead. You build this fire while I go upstairs and start the
+others," said Jerry. "After you've got this one going you can make one
+in the library, that red room through those curtains."
+
+"All right."
+
+"Step lively! Don't take all day about it."
+
+With awkward gesture Jerry swooped up some of the logs with his long
+arm and disappeared into the hall above.
+
+As for Walter, he had built too many fires in his mother's kitchen
+stove and started too many blazes of driftwood on the beach to be at a
+loss as to how to proceed. Almost in a twinkling scarlet flames were
+roaring up the wide-throated chimneys and he had placed fenders before
+them to keep in captivity any straying sparks. While he looked about
+for a spot in which to deposit the remaining birch sticks there was a
+sound of horns, a crunching of gravel, and Jerry's scurrying feet came
+pattering down the stairs.
+
+"It's the folks!" he announced excitedly. "We warn't a minute too
+soon. Tuck those logs into the brass box; pick up your cap, laddie,
+and light out of here quick."
+
+The order, alas, came too late. His Highness had only time enough to
+hurry the birch wood into the box and bang down the cover before
+flying footsteps filled the house, maids appeared from every door, and
+there was a blast of wind, a babel of voices, and the discomfited boy
+found himself face to face with his employers.
+
+His first impression of Mr. Crowninshield, muffled to the chin in a
+heavy motor coat, was of a large, red-cheeked man who, although he
+moved with little apparent stir, nevertheless in an incredibly short
+interval had shaken hands with most of the servants, directed where
+each piece of luggage was to be put, commented on a new lock on the
+front door, and noticed that the clock was two minutes slow. His
+moving eye had also been caught by the roses on the table and he
+turned to ask from which garden they came.
+
+"All this he did, Ma," explained Walter to his mother afterward,
+"before you could say Jack Robinson. And in between he was scolding
+all the time about the weather and saying how idiotic it was to leave
+a warm, comfortable city like New York and come to a damp hole like
+the Cape."
+
+"Is this the best day you could manage to get together, Jerry?"
+growled he. "Pretty beastly, I call it."
+
+"It certainly is wet, sir."
+
+"Wet! I should say it was! It's infernally wet! How long is it going
+to keep up like this?"
+
+"I can't say, sir."
+
+"Well, you have the sun out to-morrow or I shall go straight back
+where I came from. Little old New York is good enough for me when the
+place looks like this."
+
+At that instant he espied His Highness lurking near a distant window.
+
+"Who are you, young man?" he called.
+
+"Walter King, sir."
+
+"Oh, the young chap who is going to look after the dogs?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Humph! Like dogs?"
+
+"I--yes, sir," answered the lad at a warning glance from Jerry.
+
+Ruthlessly the hawklike eyes devoured him.
+
+"So you think you can take care of a lot of prize pups, do you?"
+
+"I am going to try," was the modest reply.
+
+"You can't stop with trying, my son. You've got to do it," announced
+the man sharply.
+
+"I shall do my best."
+
+"That is all I shall ask."
+
+A sudden smile melted the stern countenance into geniality and the
+master held out a hand.
+
+"So King is your name."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"It is a royal one and gives you something to live up to."
+
+As the boy did not know what to answer he was silent.
+
+"And you like dogs?" said the inquisitor more kindly.
+
+"I like all animals," returned Walter evasively, "and I am sure I
+shall like your dogs because you always like anything you take care
+of."
+
+"So you do! I remember when I was about your age I tamed an old brown
+weasel. He was a wretch of a creature with scarcely a virtue--cruel,
+deceitful, cold-blooded; and yet I grew to love that brute as much as
+if he had had the gentleness of a dove. You know how it is."
+
+Walter nodded. For the moment the two came together on a plane of real
+contact and sympathy, and the smile the elder gave him bound the lad
+to his new employer as no spoken words could possibly have done.
+
+But a second later Mr. Crowninshield's mood had changed and he was
+storming at Mary, the waitress, and demanding whether she meant to
+freeze them all by leaving the outside door open. Walter could see the
+girl flush red and as he leaped forward to close the door she flashed
+him a grateful, tremulous smile. Then Mr. Crowninshield turned toward
+his wife.
+
+"Mollie," he replied, "this is Walter King who is going to look after
+your dogs. Come and speak to him."
+
+The mistress of the house came. She was wearing a long blue traveling
+coat and a jaunty little hat against which the gold of her hair was
+resplendent as sunshine. Tucked under her arm was a wee dog with soft
+brown fur and sharp little eyes. Mrs. Crowninshield was very pretty,
+especially when she spoke. As Walter looked into her face he found it
+so amazingly youthful that it was difficult for him to believe she was
+actually the mother of a grown son and daughter.
+
+"So it is you who are to be master of the kennels?" smiled she,
+showing her even white teeth.
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Crowninshield," faltered His Highness, a trifle overcome by
+this new title.
+
+From head to foot her glance swept over him.
+
+"Well," said she at length, "if you keep the puppies as tidy as you
+keep yourself I fancy we shall get on nicely together."
+
+A flood of color mounted to the lad's forehead. He had not anticipated
+such close inspection and instinctively he began to fumble with the
+corner of his sweater and look nervously down at his hands. They must
+be very dirty from making the fires. And he had been actually greeting
+Mr. and Mrs. Crowninshield with paws like those! The horror of it
+chilled his blood.
+
+Apparently the woman, with swift intuition, read his thought for she
+dimpled at him in friendly fashion.
+
+"Do not worry about your hands, my boy," said she. "You have been
+doing useful things to soil them, things to bid us welcome and make us
+more comfortable. I can see you started out clean. I have a boy of my
+own, you know. Richard," she went on, turning to a tall youth who was
+bending over the luggage, "this is Walter King who is coming to look
+after the kennels. He must be about your age."
+
+The boys stared at each other awkwardly.
+
+"I am fifteen," announced Walter for the lack of something more
+brilliant to say.
+
+"I beat you by a year," was the shy retort of the other boy. "I am
+sixteen."
+
+Then Nancy interrupted them with her breezy comment.
+
+"Fifteen, are you?" she put in. "My, I should not have thought it! You
+must be pretty crazy about dogs to give up all your summer vacation to
+them."
+
+"My mother needs the money," was the simple answer.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+He saw her blush as if regretting her thoughtless remark.
+
+"It is nice of you to help your mother," she observed quickly. "I am
+sure you will not find the place so bad. We shall try to make you
+happy."
+
+With that she was gone but she left behind her a memory of sweetness
+and appealing kindliness.
+
+"You might run out to the garage now, sonny," declared Jerry with a
+desire to help the lad make his escape. "They will be landing the pups
+there soon, and you may as well be on hand."
+
+Only too glad to beat a retreat His Highness picked up his cap and
+slipping from the room raced across the lawn in the direction of his
+own quarters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES
+
+
+Jerry's prediction proved to be quite true for as His Highness neared
+the garage a hum of activity pervaded it. Four mud-caked cars stood in
+the driveway and chauffeurs in their shirt sleeves hurried in and out
+the building, shouting to one another and carrying in their hands
+grimy rags and cans of oil. A short half hour had transformed the
+quiet spot to a beehive of noise and bustle. The rush seemed
+contagious for wherever one looked moving figures could be seen. Some
+crossed the lawn bearing belated satchels or traveling wraps which in
+the confusion had found their way into the wrong place; some strode
+toward the boathouse, some toward the garden, some to the stables. Men
+appeared to have risen through the earth so quickly had their numbers
+multiplied.
+
+No longer was there the leisurely loitering and smoking that had
+marked the week before. A spirit of activity was infused into the air
+until even those who had no cause to hurry scrambled with the rest.
+
+As Walter approached the garage he was waylaid by a young chauffeur
+with rosy cheeks and a crisp, pleasant voice:
+
+"Say, youngster, don't you want to lend a hand with these cushions?"
+interrogated he, beaming ingratiatingly. "They have got to be beaten
+and brushed before they can go back in the car. Chuck them over on the
+floor for me, won't you?"
+
+"Sure!" was the ready answer. "I'll beat them for you if you like."
+
+"You're a good-natured little cuss," grinned the man. "I'm not asking
+you to do that, though."
+
+"But I'd be glad to."
+
+"Suit yourself. But in my opinion you are a fool to take on jobs you
+are not hired to do and get no money for."
+
+"Oh, I don't care about the money."
+
+"You don't, eh?" chimed in the derisive note of another chauffeur who
+had at the instant come out of the doorway. "Say, who are you, anyway?
+One of the Vanderbilts?"
+
+"Quit heckling the young one, Peters," put in the chauffeur of the red
+cheeks. "He's a good sort, all right."
+
+"Ha, ha, Wheeler! You think that because you've jollied him into doing
+your work for you, you old shirk."
+
+"I didn't jolly him into anything. He offered."
+
+"A likely story."
+
+"But he did."
+
+"Then you should have told him better," sniffed the other. "You know
+well enough it isn't etiquette round here to do a stroke of work for
+anybody else or accept a stroke. _Every man for himself_ is the
+motto."
+
+"But that's a rotten way!" Walter ejaculated impulsively. "I'd hate to
+live like that--never being willing to help anybody or ask them to
+help me."
+
+The man called Peters gave him a contemptuous stare.
+
+"You'll find there's no whining or asking help of other people here,"
+announced he, with a sneer. "Those that are darn fools enough to get
+into holes get out of them as best they can. It's their hunt."
+
+Spitting emphatically on the ground he proceeded to go into the garage
+with the tire he was carrying.
+
+Walter took up a stick he saw lying near by.
+
+"What are you going to do?" demanded the red-cheeked man, regarding
+him with unconcealed surprise.
+
+"Beat the cushions."
+
+"But--but--heavens, sonny! Didn't you hear what Peters said?"
+
+"Of course I heard. I don't have to sign up to a creed like that,
+though, if I don't want to, do I?"
+
+"We all do. We agree neither to borrow, lend, nor ask favors."
+
+"I'm afraid I shan't make one of the gang then," observed Walter, with
+a smile so good-humored that the words could not offend.
+
+"Then the more fool you, that is all I can say," laughed Wheeler. "By
+the end of a month you won't have so much as a collar button to your
+name. Everything you own will be gone, especially your tools. We're a
+lot of pirates. I give you fair warning."
+
+"I'm not afraid you'll want much that I've got," grinned Walter.
+
+The upraised stick descended in a series of rhythmic blows, sending
+into the air a cloud of dust.
+
+"Where's the brush?" panted the boy, when he had beaten until his arm
+ached.
+
+"Say, kid, I'm not going to have you breaking your back over my job,"
+asserted Wheeler in a friendly tone.
+
+"I'm not breaking my back."
+
+"But what on earth are you doing it _for_?" questioned the man, his
+eyes narrowing with curiosity.
+
+"I don't know myself," returned the lad shyly. "It was just the way I
+was brought up, I guess."
+
+For an interval only the sweeping of the brush broke the stillness.
+
+"I was brought up to be decent, too," observed Wheeler slowly, "but
+somehow since I've been knocking round I've got to be an awful brute.
+There isn't any very high standard among the crowd I mix in. Still,
+I'm afraid that isn't much of an excuse for shifting back into a
+savage." He paused thoughtfully, then added, "I'm much obliged to you,
+sonny, for your help, and just to show you I don't forget it, sometime
+when you are hard put hunt me up and ask me to give you a lift. I'm a
+human being though you may not think so."
+
+With a little glow at his heart Walter moved away toward the kennels.
+
+He had made a friend, and in this new environment where he was
+conscious of being very much of an outsider the consciousness brought
+him a sense of comradeship and happiness.
+
+It was fortunate, however, that his altruism had detained him no
+longer for before he reached the spot where the dogs were to be
+quartered he heard a chorus of sharp yelps and saw what appeared to be
+a dozen dogs coming across the lawn accompanied by Mrs. Crowninshield
+and two of the stablemen. Some of the pack were being led, while
+others, wild with joy at finding themselves unconfined, leaped and
+capered wildly about their mistress. A great police dog, straining at
+the leash, gave Walter a thrill of mingled admiration and timidity. He
+was a huge creature with mottled coat and mighty jaws, and within his
+open mouth, from which lolled his red tongue, were cruel white teeth
+that could do unthinkable things. His wide brown eyes, his pointing
+tail, his upright ears moving with every sound, his alert poise all
+bespoke keenness and intelligence. A dog one would far rather have for
+an ally than an enemy, thought the boy.
+
+Beside pranced two Airedales and a white Sealyham and to their babel
+of barking was added the shrill, sympathetic note of five or six
+Pekingese, one of which Mrs. Crowninshield carried under her arm.
+
+"Hush, Achilles!" she cried. "Hush, all of you! Stop your racket this
+instant! They are excited at being together again," explained she to
+Walter who had approached. "The Belgian and Airedales have been
+boarded out during the winter and have not seen the others for months.
+So, you see, this is a sort of reunion for them and they have to bark
+to show their delight. Moreover, they have had a long trip and are
+tired and hungry. I am going to feed them now and this meal will last
+most of them until to-morrow at the same hour."
+
+"Are they fed only once a day?" gasped Walter.
+
+"That is all. You see you will not have many meals to prepare,"
+laughed Mrs. Crowninshield. "Only the Peeks have breakfast, but only
+part of a square of puppy biscuit or some bread; so it is very simple.
+Dinner, however, is much more complicated and later I shall give you
+your directions as to just what every dog must have; to-night we are
+to treat the lot to some raw meat, toast, and spinach."
+
+"You'll let me help you," pleaded Walter.
+
+"Certainly. That is why I came out. I want you to feed the dogs and
+learn their names. In order to get on with them you must get
+acquainted with them and understand the peculiarities of each one.
+They are just persons, you know, and have their little whims and
+queernesses. But kindness will win them to you very quickly. It is far
+better than a whip. So is feeding. A dog usually obeys the person who
+feeds him. He is afraid not to."
+
+As she spoke she entered the wired enclosure and putting the smaller
+dogs in half of it and shutting the wicket gate upon them she told the
+men to slip the leashes from the collars of the others. In a second
+the Belgian, Airedales, and the fluffy Sealyham were bounding about
+her. Then she beckoned to Walter.
+
+"This is Achilles," went on she, with her hand on the head of the
+great monster. "He is as gentle and kind as a kitten, although he does
+look as if he could swallow us alive. Don't touch him but stand still
+and let him sniff you all over. It is his way of getting acquainted."
+
+Obediently the boy remained motionless while the panting jaws and
+moist black nose of the dog came nearer. He could feel the creature's
+hot breath on his hands, face, and hair. Then over his clothing moved
+the quivering nostrils. At length the brown eyes met his and he
+whispered softly:
+
+"Achilles!"
+
+The dog wagged his tail.
+
+"You have nothing to fear from him now," announced Mrs. Crowninshield.
+"The Airedales are Jack Horner and Boy Blue. And the Sealyham, Miss
+Nancy's dog, is called Rags."
+
+Sensing that he was being talked about, the dog blinked with friendly
+eyes at Walter through its mop of coarse white hair.
+
+"In the other pen," continued Mrs. Crowninshield, "are the Pekingese
+pups and I shall expect you to take the best of care of them. They are
+sensitive little creatures and very valuable. I myself, however, care
+very little for the money value of a dog. It is the lovable traits it
+has that interest me. I should adore wee Lola, here, if she were not
+worth a cent. But Mr. Crowninshield likes to own blue ribbon dogs and
+enter them at the shows and therefore I will caution you that Lola,
+Mimi, and Fifi," as she spoke she pointed out the dogs in question,
+"cost quite a fortune and their loss or illness would be a great
+calamity. So you must follow the directions concerning them most
+carefully. And should any question arise about them come at once to
+me."
+
+As she spoke she occasionally glanced at the boy beside her with a
+quick, bright smile.
+
+"I shall have the menu for each dog sent you every day--at least for
+the present--together with directions as to how to prepare the meal as
+it should be prepared. The meat for the small dogs must be put through
+a meat chopper and no gristle allowed to get into it; the larger dogs
+can have bigger pieces, and Achilles a bone. You will find in the room
+inside an ice chest in which to keep such foods as spoil. There are
+also glassed-in shelves where tins of various kinds of dog bread and
+puppy biscuit will be stored that they may be out of the dampness. You
+are not to trouble the servants at the big house for anything. They do
+not like to be interfered with. All your supplies will be here, and
+you can warm whatever it is necessary to heat on your small electric
+stove. Be sure to scald out the dishes after they have been used; and
+also never forget to keep the bowls filled with plenty of fresh
+water."
+
+"I will, ma'am."
+
+"I am sure you will," returned Mrs. Crowninshield kindly. "And do not
+worry if it takes a little time to win all the dogs over to your
+authority. Dogs are like children when they change masters. They will
+try to play it on you at first. Just be firm with them and soon you
+will have them tagging at your heels, docile as lambs."
+
+The task of preparing the food was soon completed and the mistress
+looked on and encouraged while Walter doled it out to the famished
+animals.
+
+How daintily the wee dogs coquetted with what was given them! And how
+greedily the larger ones gobbled down their allowance and lapped the
+plate for more! Achilles, crouched on the lawn with his bone, crunched
+it with terrifying zeal, cracking the big joint between his jaws as if
+it were made of paper. His dinner devoured he ambled over toward
+Walter, once more sniffed his shoes and clothing, at last nestled his
+moist nose against the boy's hand.
+
+"I think you have won Achilles to your colors already," said Mrs.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"He does seem friendly," returned His Highness, more pleased by the
+dog's good will than he would have been willing to own.
+
+"Achilles can be very friendly when he chooses," retorted his owner.
+"He can also be quite the reverse. You should see him sometime when he
+is on the scent of a foe. Last summer when a man broke into the
+boathouse it transformed Achilles into a lion. I was certain he would
+kill the fellow; as it was he mauled him badly before we could coax
+him off. The thief almost died of fright and I do not wonder. He did
+not need any further punishment."
+
+She unfastened the gate to go back to the house.
+
+Immediately there was a rush.
+
+"No, you can't come, not one of you," declared she, addressing the
+yelping pack through the netting. "I have far too much to do to be
+bothered with any of you. Be good and take a nap. You're tired enough
+to rest."
+
+Still the animals barked, rebellious at their captivity.
+
+"When I am out of sight you can let Achilles out," called she, as she
+moved away. "He can be trusted to roam the place and always does when
+we're here. The Airedales and the Sealyham can also run about alone as
+soon as they get used to obeying you. But the little dogs must never
+be let off the leash unless they are watched every instant, for
+something might happen to them."
+
+"I'll be careful."
+
+"That's right; do."
+
+The woman gave him a pleasant nod of farewell and walked with
+springing step back in the direction of the house. As she went Walter
+saw her halt and speak to old Tim, who was at work in the rose garden,
+and beheld the gardener leap proudly forward to cut for her a blossom
+she had evidently admired.
+
+It was even as Jerry had said. She was the idol of Surfside.
+
+After she had disappeared he opened the wicket and stepped out,
+letting Achilles follow him.
+
+Instantly the great creature put his nose to the ground and with a
+joyous bark he was gone in search of his mistress.
+
+It was now or never with the new master of the hounds.
+
+The lad whistled but the dog did not turn. Again he gave a quick call.
+This time the rushing beast paused, looked round, and then slackening
+his pace, continued to jog along on his way.
+
+Helplessly the boy saw him go farther and farther out of reach.
+
+He must compel obedience somehow.
+
+"Achilles!" shouted he sternly. "Achilles! Back, sir!"
+
+Although he uttered the words he had not the slightest faith they
+would have any effect and was amazed to see the dog waver in his
+tracks.
+
+"Achilles, come here!" repeated he sharply.
+
+With reluctance the dog turned and looked at him.
+
+"Here, sir!" called Walter, with coaxing cadence.
+
+The dog continued to regard him intently but he did not move. Then
+suddenly there was a rush and with panting jaws widespread the Belgian
+came bounding toward him. It was not until he was close at hand that
+he abated his speed. Then he came to the side of his new master and
+gently laid his cold nose on his sleeve.
+
+Walter patted the great head affectionately.
+
+The battle was won. He had conquered Achilles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE
+
+
+Before a week had passed the strangeness of living at Surfside had to
+a certain extent abated and Walter found himself not only content in
+his new position but enjoying it. He rose early, feeding the dogs,
+exercising them, and making fresh their quarters before he breakfasted
+himself. Afterward, despite the score of odd duties with which the
+morning was filled, he contrived to do many little kindnesses for
+Jerry, Tim, Wheeler, and the other men. He was always willing to do a
+favor and amid an atmosphere where generosity was rare the virtue of
+aiding others rendered him immensely popular.
+
+In the meantime he had made such headway in the affections of Achilles
+that the big Belgian not only tagged at his heels everywhere he went,
+but at night insisted upon extending his giant frame before the boy's
+doorsill from which vantage ground neither threats nor persuasions
+could stir him. In consequence the lonely hours the lad might have
+experienced were put to rout by the companionship of this silent
+comrade.
+
+The Airedales, on the other hand, were less successfully won over to a
+new allegiance. Although Richard, who owned them, took not the
+smallest care of them and serenely passed them over to some one else
+to be ministered unto, nevertheless they apparently sensed the
+arrangement was one of convenience and returned scant gratitude for
+what was done for them. They were polite, tolerant, but never
+whole-heartedly cordial. Dick was their master and they would have no
+other.
+
+Fortunately Miss Nancy's Sealyham, Rags, was more responsive;
+nevertheless, although she frolicked about Walter's feet and accepted
+food from his hand it was more because she loved to play and was
+hungry than because her affection for the boy went very deep.
+
+As for the troupe of Pekingese, with aristocratic noses tilted high in
+air, they submitted to being washed, brushed, and fed by Walter much
+as they would have accepted the services of any other maid or valet.
+They seemed to be conscious of their pedigree and claim attention as
+their right. An occasional wag of the tail or the rare passage of a
+rough little tongue across one's hand was all the gratitude His
+Highness ever received from them.
+
+With the Crowninshield family, however, the boy made better progress
+and as he and Dick became acquainted many a pleasant hour did they
+spend together. Not infrequently, when the eager yelps of the dogs
+heralded the fact that they were off for their afternoon run, the New
+York lad would join the party and while the animals raced this way and
+that the two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and kindred
+interests.
+
+[Illustration: The two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and kindred
+interests. _Page_ 76.]
+
+"Do you happen to know anything about wireless?" inquired Richard one
+day when, with Achilles prancing far ahead and Boy Blue, Jack Horner,
+and Rags dashing to keep up with him, the group strode along the
+beach.
+
+"I ought to," was Walter's smiling response. "I've a brother who is an
+operator at the Seaver Bay station."
+
+"No! Really?" The exclamations voiced both surprise and admiration.
+"How old is he?"
+
+"Twenty-two or three."
+
+"Gee! And he can really send and receive messages?"
+
+"He sure can."
+
+"How did he learn?"
+
+"Oh, he first got interested in wireless through the papers and picked
+up quite a lot of information that way. Later he and his chum Billy
+Hicks bought a manual and with the help of the physics teacher at the
+High School they rigged up a homemade receiving apparatus on Billy's
+grandfather's barn. For a while it wouldn't work for a cent, although
+they tinkered with it night and day. Then one evening they did
+something to it and caught their first message. You should have seen
+Bob! He was crazy and came rushing straight home to make Ma drop
+everything she was doing and go down to Hicks's. Now Mother was
+elbow-deep in bread and declared she couldn't spoil her biscuit for
+any wireless on earth. Besides, she had never had any faith in the
+thing. You see, Bob had teased her for wireless money and she had told
+him time and time again it was dollars thrown into a hole. My father
+used to joke her about not having a scientific mind and I guess she
+hasn't one. At any rate, whenever Bob would read her the wonderful
+things being done with wireless, all she would say was that it wasn't
+likely folks could send speeches and music loose through the air.
+Those who pretended to hear them were either fibbing or were genuinely
+mistaken. So when Bob did get a broadcast you can imagine how wild he
+was to convince her it wasn't all bluff."
+
+"And did he?" asked Dick with interest.
+
+"Well, after a fashion," replied Walter, smiling at some amusing
+memory.
+
+"Like enough I shouldn't have known much about it, either, if Bob had
+not told me," continued Walter. "Bob, however, talked nothing else
+morning, noon, and night. Often I would drop asleep while he was
+chattering of induction coils, wave lengths, and antenna. It makes me
+yawn now to think of it. My goodness, weren't Ma and I sick to death
+of hearing nothing but radio! Bob would rush into the house at
+mealtime, swallow his food whole, and tear off to Hicks's with a piece
+of pie in his hand, leaving all the chores to me. I got pretty sore, I
+can tell you." He gave a short laugh.
+
+"Between Mother begrudging the poor chap every cent he spent for
+batteries and wire, and me pitching into him for forgetting to chop
+the kindlings, I'm afraid his early wireless career wasn't a very
+pleasant one."
+
+Once more the lad laughed, this time with comic ruefulness.
+
+"Even when the apparatus actually did begin to work and Bob and Billy
+were able to get a concert or lecture now and then, Ma insisted they
+were bluffing her. She listened in but wasn't convinced, declaring
+they had fastened a victrola to the receivers and that such sounds
+never could come through the air. Finally they did succeed in getting
+her to half believe they were telling her the truth and were not just
+working her for money. But when they tried to explain the outfit to
+her in detail, she put her hands over her ears, protesting that they
+were wasting their breath to tell her of damped and undamped waves,
+detectors, and generators. With that they gave up further attempts to
+educate her."
+
+Both boys chuckled.
+
+"But she must be proud of your brother now," asserted Dick.
+
+"Oh, she is--tremendously, although what she chiefly thinks about is
+the danger Bob is in of getting struck by lightning or electrocuted."
+
+Achilles, who had been pursuing some sandpipers along the rim of the
+surf and sent them circling into the air, now raced back to his
+friends with a sharp bark of salutation and Dick bent to pat the
+shaggy head.
+
+"So really," reflected he, "your brother taught himself wireless."
+
+"Not wholly. He simply laid a foundation," the other boy explained.
+"He could never have taken a job on what he had picked up because,
+you see, he knew nothing of sending messages, was ignorant of all the
+rules an operator has to have at his tongue's end, and had no very
+thorough knowledge of electricity. It was not like a complete
+training, by any means. The war gave him that. When it broke out he
+enlisted in the navy, and because he was partially equipped in radio
+they sent him off posthaste to a wireless school. At the time he was
+crazy because his dream was to get across and be in the fighting. To
+sit at home studying was the last thing he wanted to do. Later,
+though, when he began to see what a big part wireless was playing in
+the scrimmage, he commenced to be more resigned to his lot. Besides he
+got his chance before long, for he worked into being a crackerjack at
+speed and passed his exams so well that he had no trouble in winning
+his first-class operator's certificate.
+
+"There are grades of radio men, you know, just as there are grades of
+everything else. There are the sharks, or first-class chaps, who are
+able to pass every sort of test on the adjustment of apparatus and how
+to use it; who can both send and receive messages at the rate of at
+least twenty words a minute, and who can often go much faster; and who
+have all the rules governing the exchange of radio messages stowed
+away in their heads. They are the A1 men and every first-class ship is
+obliged by law to have aboard it two of them. Then there are the
+second-class certificate fellows who practically have as much radio
+but cannot hit such a gait, and can only manage to send between
+twelve and nineteen words a minute. They can go on first-class ships
+provided more skilled operators are aboard. Sometimes, even, they
+substitute for them under supervision. Their chief jobs, however, are
+on ships that use wireless only for their personal benefit; that is,
+to talk with their own crews. Often a fishing fleet, for instance,
+will carry a man of this class to communicate with its other vessels.
+They can talk, too, with shore stations when it is necessary. But the
+law does not allow them to take positions where there is a great rush
+of business and general responsibility. They must have the topnotchers
+for such work."
+
+"I had no idea there were so many rules about radio," mused Dick.
+
+"There are--strict ones, too," replied his companion. "Moreover, the
+government keeps tabs on all radio people to see they obey the rules.
+Every wireless man is examined, classified, and given a license just
+as an automobile driver is. He has to keep it handy, too, and be ready
+to trot it out on request. You can't get by with bluffing. If an
+operator is found to be unfamiliar with the rules, or is discovered
+breaking any of them, his certificate can be withdrawn. No chap wants
+to risk that, especially if he is trying to earn his living by
+wireless. And if a ship, and not its radio operator, is found to be
+breaking the rules, the coastal stations may be notified not to have
+anything to do with her. In other words she is boycotted and the land
+operators told neither to receive her messages nor answer them."
+
+"That would be some boycott!"
+
+"The shipboard radio stations, you see, come under the authority of
+the commanding officer of the ship. It has to be so, because in case
+of accident he would be the person responsible for sending out
+distress calls and answering them. The radio man couldn't just grab
+the power. There has to be one boss of every job."
+
+"I can see that," nodded Dick. "But why such a network of other
+rules?"
+
+"There have to be. It all has to be charted in black and white or
+there would be terrible mix-ups."
+
+"And do foreign ships have to fall into line and do as our ships do
+when they come here?"
+
+"They are expected to, Bob said," answered Walter. "In case they do
+not, however, they cannot be meddled with by underlings. Instead they
+are immediately reported to the government and the two countries
+involved settle their dispute by arbitration. It is too delicate a
+matter for others to butt in on, for some blunderer might offend
+another country and get us into war just through being stupid.
+Conversely, when our ships are in foreign waters they must keep the
+naval rules of the nation they are visiting."
+
+"That's fair."
+
+"It sure is," agreed Walter. "Besides that, all the shipboard radio
+stations have to carry with them their license to prove that they are
+authorized by their countries to operate a wireless outfit, and that
+they fulfil the requirements of the government whose flag they fly.
+Should any trouble arise when they are in a foreign port they can be
+asked to produce this license; and if the foreign authorities whom
+they are visiting have reason to suspect they are not meeting the
+standards the license demands they can complain to the government that
+is responsible for the ship."
+
+"But suppose the government didn't know anything about such a ship?"
+
+"Great Scott! But it does, man," ejaculated Walter. "There are lists
+that contain not only the name and nationality of all ships but even
+the names and addresses of its radio operators. There is no getting by
+that."
+
+"So the ships themselves are not allowed to take up their own quarrel
+if they are challenged?" commented Dick.
+
+"No. They simply have to stay perfectly polite and keep their mouths
+shut, no matter how mad they are," grinned His Highness. "Otherwise
+there would be squabbles all the time, for there are always
+misunderstandings and grudges, and people who enjoy picking on one
+another. All the ships would be fighting and the countries that owned
+them, too, if everybody rolled up his sleeves and pitched into the
+other fellow when things went wrong. Governments are supposed to be
+more slow-moving, fair, and impartial. And anyhow, it is their job to
+look out for their own citizens and see they are squarely treated. Bob
+says it is a more dignified way than for individuals to fight out
+their own quarrels. It certainly carries more weight. Nobody is going
+to bully a ship and make trouble for its crew if a big nation stands
+behind it. It serves as a check on the men, too, Bob told me, for when
+they are in other countries and have shore leave they have to remember
+that they must behave themselves and not disgrace their governments."
+
+"You can't sail out of reach of Uncle Sam, eh? Apparently he knows in
+a general way just how you are conducting yourself all the time,"
+smiled Dick.
+
+"That's about it," acquiesced Walter.
+
+Whistling to the dogs, they turned about.
+
+"What a pile you know about all this," Dick presently observed.
+
+"Shucks! No, I don't," blushed His Highness. "I am only repeating what
+Bob spieled off to me. He likes to talk when he's home and I like to
+listen. It's interesting--at least I think so. Besides, I'm proud of
+Bob knowing such a lot. I wish I did."
+
+The lad dug his heel into the moist sand and watched the hole fill
+with water.
+
+"Somehow I'm an awful boob at books," he suddenly confessed. "I hate
+so to study that Ma fairly has to haul me along by the hair or I'd
+never go to school. I barely skinned through this year. Up to the very
+last minute we all had cold chills for fear I wouldn't."
+
+Dick shot the offender a sympathetic glance.
+
+"I don't like reading about things myself so well as doing them," he
+confided. "I'm crazy about machinery. It's fun to tinker with
+it--take it to pieces and put it together again. I like nothing better
+than to overhaul an engine."
+
+He held up two grease-stained hands.
+
+"It horrifies my mother," he continued, "but my father doesn't seem to
+mind if I am all black with oil from my car or the motor boats. What I
+want now is a wireless outfit. I'm going to strike Dad for one my
+birthday. It comes the last of this month and he might as well give me
+that as anything else. Do you suppose if he got it we could rig it up
+together?"
+
+Walter's eyes opened at the casualness of the observation.
+
+In his family a birthday was an occasion for a chocolate cake, some
+neckties, and perhaps a pair of rubber boots or a similar useful gift.
+Or it sometimes brought with it a book and a box of candy. Never by
+any chance did its felicitations expand into a gift so colossal as a
+wireless apparatus. The breach between the two lads, which during the
+exchange of confidences had narrowed into nothingness, widened
+abruptly.
+
+"A good set would be some present," he commented, thinking, perhaps,
+the other boy might be ignorant of its value.
+
+"Oh, I guess it would not break Dad," smiled Dick serenely. "He gave
+me my car last year, and the year before--let me think--oh, the pups!"
+He pointed to the Airedales, a streak of buff against the green of the
+distant marsh. "Wireless couldn't cost much more."
+
+"N--o, I don't believe it would," His Highness admitted slowly, the
+contrast in their financial standards seeping in on him.
+
+"Oh, I imagine I could have a set all right if I said the word,"
+continued Dick, with the indifference of one to whom such presents
+brought no agitation. "The question is, could we set it up if we had
+it?"
+
+"I couldn't," came promptly from Walter. "I think, though, that if Bob
+was home on leave he might help us."
+
+"Your brother? I had forgotten him. So he is at home sometimes?"
+
+"Oh, yes. He gets off for a day now and then."
+
+"It must be a whole lot of a bore to be tied down in a wireless
+station listening for messages all the time," observed Dick
+carelessly.
+
+"Operators do not have to sit with their ears glued to the receivers
+every second, man," declared the village lad. "The men are relieved at
+regular hours. Besides, all stations both on shore and on shipboard
+are divided into classes and have their hours carefully mapped out for
+them. There are three different varieties of shipboard stations, for
+example. Some have constant service; that is, operators are always
+listening while the ship is underway. Then there is a second sort
+where the operator listens in only during specified hours when the
+office is open for business. A third class has no fixed hours at all,
+the radio man just listening the first ten minutes of each hour."
+
+"So the men just suit themselves, eh?"
+
+"Suit themselves! You bet they don't," laughed Walter. "The government
+defines their hours when their license is issued. The class they are
+put in decides it."
+
+"That's news to me," said Dick. "And the shore stations?"
+
+"The shore stations are a chapter in themselves," Walter replied.
+"There are several different kinds and each kind has its own rules."
+
+"You don't propose to tell me about them, then," retorted the New
+Yorker mischievously.
+
+"It's too long a yarn," answered the other. "Besides, I might not get
+it straight. Sometime, though, if you want me to, I'll pass on what I
+know. But to-day I guess we ought to be hiking back. It is close onto
+the time the pack is fed and I may have them yelping at my throat if I
+don't hurry."
+
+Quickening their pace the boys whistled to the dogs who came dashing
+through the clumps of bayberry that dotted the field. They were
+panting with thirst and only too ready to turn homeward. Across the
+sandy hillocks, through pine-shaded stretches of woods, along the road
+walled in with June roses they raced and chased, stopping now and
+again to look back and make certain that their masters were following.
+When the spit of sand narrowed to a ribbon and the entrance to
+Surfside was reached they halted, lying down to cool off in the fresh
+sea breeze until they should be overtaken. At the gate Dick and Walter
+parted.
+
+It was amusing to see the Airedales waver, then lured by hunger,
+desert their owner and pursue Walter and Achilles.
+
+They came up with lolling tongues at the kennels just as His Highness
+was unlocking the door.
+
+While he fumbled with the latch he noticed they sniffed excitedly
+about and that Achilles barked.
+
+"You're starved, poor old chaps!" remarked he aloud. "Well, no matter.
+You shall have your dinner right off now."
+
+Coaxing them in he banged the wicket behind him and passed through
+into the pen where the Pekingese, clamoring for their food, came
+yelping to meet him.
+
+Instinctively he scanned the fluffy-coated group. Lola was not there.
+
+The discovery, however, caused him no concern for often Mrs.
+Crowninshield carried the prize-winner up to the big house or took her
+for a ride in the car. Therefore, although her bright eyes were
+missing he did not worry, but fed the other dogs and gave them fresh
+water.
+
+The task completed, he sauntered toward the garage.
+
+How still it was everywhere. With the exception of Dick's racer every
+car was gone and all the chauffeurs with them. Even Jerry was nowhere
+about; and the gardeners were far down on the south slope where he
+could just detect the clip of their shears as they trimmed the privet
+hedge.
+
+The grounds were as deserted as if the earth had swallowed up every
+inhabitant. Surfside, deprived of its accustomed hum and bustle, was
+actually lonely. With uncertain step the boy loitered in the sun,
+glancing at the expanse of sea and at a knockabout that heeled
+dangerously in the rising wind. Thinking he might find Jerry and thus
+banish solitude he meandered up the avenue toward the house.
+
+Jerry, however, was nowhere to be seen but the silence was broken by
+the siren horns of approaching motors and the Crowninshield cars came
+rolling in through the broad entrance.
+
+Since he chanced to be on the spot he may as well go up to the
+veranda, meet the family, and bring Lola back with him to be fed and
+tucked up for the night.
+
+Accordingly he hurried along and was at the steps almost as soon as
+the automobiles came to a stop.
+
+Together with a company of laughing guests, Nancy and Mr. and Mrs.
+Crowninshield alighted.
+
+"Such a beautiful ride as we've had, Dick!" called Mrs. Crowninshield
+to her son. "We've been over to Harwich and picked up the Davenports,
+you see, and brought them home for the evening. I think, Mrs.
+Davenport, you remember my son, Richard. Nancy, take Janet and Marie
+in with you so they can leave their wraps. You young people will have
+just about time for a set of tennis before dinner."
+
+The cars had shot away and she was about to go indoors when the
+mistress of the house espied Walter.
+
+"Did you wish to see me?" she called.
+
+"I thought I'd take Lola down to the kennels."
+
+"Lola! Is she here?"
+
+"I thought you had her."
+
+"No, indeed."
+
+"But she must be here at the house."
+
+"No, she isn't. I never leave her with the maids. She is at the
+kennels."
+
+"I've just come from there."
+
+"And she wasn't there?"
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Positive!"
+
+"But my dear boy, didn't you leave her there?"
+
+"Yes. But I thought you took her when you went to drive. You have a
+key."
+
+"I didn't."
+
+"And you did not give the key to any of the maids?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"Well, she isn't there," announced Walter, a tremor of trepidation
+passing over him.
+
+"Nonsense! She must be. Where else could she be?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Oh, you haven't half looked," smiled Mrs. Crowninshield reassuringly.
+"Lola is such a tiny dog she often gets hidden away out of sight. I'll
+come and find her for you."
+
+Excusing herself to her guests she followed Walter across the grass
+and in silence they unfastened the wire gate that led into the
+enclosure where the Pekingese were kept. But search as they would they
+failed to discover the missing dog. Lola was gone! _Gone!_
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE PURSUIT OF LOLA
+
+
+Yes, Lola was gone; there could be no question about that.
+
+Had not Walter scented trouble he would soon have been made aware of
+it by the excitement that prevailed in the Peeks' kennels. Every dog
+of the lot was barking furiously and with gleaming eyes and tail erect
+striving to communicate tidings of importance. Yet bark as they might,
+the message they sought to voice remained, alas, untold.
+
+"If they could only speak we should soon know what has happened,"
+bewailed the lad to Mrs. Crowninshield, as for the hundredth time they
+searched every nook and corner for a clue to the mystery.
+
+"Yes, they know--poor little things," their mistress agreed. "They are
+trying their best to tell the story, too. I'd give worlds to know what
+it is."
+
+"And I."
+
+"You are certain you locked everything up when you took the other dogs
+out."
+
+"Positive. Dick was with me and we both tried the gate before we
+started."
+
+"Nothing seems to be disturbed."
+
+"No. That is the strange part of it."
+
+Mrs. Crowninshield stopped, hot and breathless from her search.
+
+"I cannot believe but that the mite will turn up. Have you asked Jerry
+or Tim?"
+
+"They were nowhere about when I got back," Walter replied. "The whole
+place was still as the grave. I was just going to hunt up Jerry when I
+saw the cars coming up the avenue."
+
+"Well, I must not delay any longer now," announced Mrs. Crowninshield.
+"The Davenports will be wondering what has become of me and so will
+everybody else. Just find Jerry and Tim and quietly make sure they
+have not taken the dog. In the meantime I will inquire of the maids at
+the house. We will not, however, make too much talk about it, and send
+out an alarm until we are certain there is a real tragedy. If I can
+keep Mr. Crowninshield in ignorance of the matter until our guests
+have gone I shall be glad. He will be dreadfully upset for he took
+great pride in his possession of Lola and has declined numberless
+offers to sell her."
+
+"I know it," groaned Walter. "If it were only one of the other dogs
+that was missing!"
+
+"The fact that it isn't is what alarms me," returned the woman. "Lola
+is a quiet little thing and has been petted so much that it would not
+be like her to run away. Some of the other dogs might but she
+wouldn't. She is far too timid."
+
+"How could she run away, even if she had a mind to, with the gate
+locked?"
+
+"I know. That is another ominous fact." Mrs. Crowninshield shook her
+head. "I'm afraid----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"That she has been stolen."
+
+"Stolen!" gasped Walter. "But how could she with--with everybody
+around?"
+
+"But you yourself just said that nobody was around."
+
+"Jove! That's true. Still somebody must have been here some time
+during the afternoon. It is not likely Jerry, Tim, and all the rest
+were out of hearing all the time I was gone."
+
+"That is what we must find out."
+
+"I'll go and hunt up Jerry now."
+
+"Do. But work quietly; do not make a fuss. It will be time enough to
+get everybody up in arms when we have to. I dread to think what Mr.
+Crowninshield will say. He will be furious, simply furious."
+
+With this dubious prediction his wife walked away.
+
+She herself was upset. It was easy enough to see that. She strove,
+however, to be calm, clinging desperately to the hope that the dog
+might be discovered in the care of some of the men or maids. She
+idolized Lola and although she did not admit it, His Highness knew
+only too well that if it really proved that her pet was gone she, too,
+would be furious.
+
+"A nice mess!" commented the lad to himself as he hurried across the
+lawn in search of Jerry. "A nice hole I am in the very first thing!
+Between them they will tear me to pieces. And Ma--Ma will say, '_I
+told you so!_' That's all the sympathy I'll get from her. She'll have
+to know, of course, for Mr. Crowninshield will fire me bag and
+baggage. I must expect that. Jerry as good as told me so when I came.
+I sha'n't have a chance to defend myself. They will just believe I
+left the gate of the kennels unlocked when I went out and that Lola
+made off as fast as her four small feet could carry her. They will
+either think that, or they will think--" he stopped aghast at the
+possibility that had taken possession of his mind. "They couldn't
+think I left it open on purpose for some one to get in and _take_
+Lola! They couldn't think that! But suppose Mr. Crowninshield did
+decide I was an accomplice what proof have I but my word that I
+wasn't. It does look bad--my being gone and taking Achilles and the
+other dogs with me. Still, I've done it every day since I've been
+here. And anyway, they would know I could not entice Jerry and Tim
+away even if I had wanted to."
+
+The boy took courage.
+
+"No, of course they couldn't think _I_ had anything to do with Lola
+being gone," he murmured.
+
+By this time he had overtaken Tim and his fellow workers who were
+still busy clipping the hedge.
+
+"Tim!" he called.
+
+There was no answer but the crisp snip, snip of the shears.
+
+"Tim!"
+
+"Did you call?"
+
+"Yes. You haven't seen Lola, have you?"
+
+"Lola? Indeed I haven't. What would she be doing round here, I'd like
+to know?"
+
+His Highness struggled to smile.
+
+"Oh, I just thought you might have seen her."
+
+"She's not at the kennels?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Oh, then the mistress took her up to the house. She often does. She
+is clean daffy over that dog. Give yourself no concern, sonny; the pup
+is with the master and missis, being shown off to company, most
+likely."
+
+"Probably she is. So you and the men have been here all the
+afternoon?"
+
+"That we have. A hot job, the cutting of this hedge."
+
+"It looks fine," declared Walter, turning away.
+
+"It ought to," Tim growled. "Goodness knows it's trouble enough! A
+privet hedge is the devil to keep even."
+
+Walter, however, did not wait to hear the virtues and vices of privet
+hedges discussed. He was in too much of a hurry. Furthermore, he had
+secured the information which he had come to seek. Tim and his host
+knew nothing of the whereabouts of Lola. Nothing else mattered. In
+fact, bewildered, anxious, and excited, it seemed at the moment as if
+nothing else would ever matter again. He must find that dog--he
+_must_!
+
+Nevertheless he remembered he must not appear agitated and therefore,
+instead of racing across the lawn and shouting for Jerry as would have
+been his inclination, he walked decorously along the path until he
+came to the boathouse from which door Jerry was at that instant
+issuing.
+
+"You haven't seen Lola, have you, Jerry?" he asked as indifferently as
+he could.
+
+"Lola? No. Why?"
+
+"It--it is just her dinner time," stammered the lad, "and I wanted to
+find her."
+
+"She'll be up at the house, most likely, if she isn't at the kennels,"
+announced Jerry. "There's visitors and Lola will be on deck to see
+'em. She's a vain little lady and likes to be shown off."
+
+Walter greeted the remark with a sickly grin.
+
+"What have you been doing?" inquired he idly.
+
+"Me? Why, I was just starting to fix that hasp on the gate to the
+chicken coop when Minnie came running down from the house to say
+somebody wanted to speak to me on the telephone. It was a
+long-distance call and kept me there most half an hour; and what it
+was all about I don't know now. Some feller I never heard of kept
+talking and talking, and I couldn't make head nor tail out of anything
+he said. Finally I told him so and hung up the receiver. I can't
+imagine who he was. Nobody ever telephones me."
+
+"So you didn't get the hasp fixed on the hen yard."
+
+"I would have hadn't the cook held me up just as I was leaving and
+wanted I should put a new washer on the kitchen faucet. I saw it
+needed it the worst way. In fact, I had planned to do it before the
+folks came and it had slipped my mind. So I tinkered with that and
+got nothing else done. I'm just after mending a hinge on the boathouse
+door. A profitless afternoon, I call it."
+
+"So you haven't been back to your diggings since noon."
+
+"Not a once. Why? Did you want me?"
+
+"N--o. Oh, no."
+
+"That's lucky. Apparently everybody else did," concluded Jerry grimly.
+
+So went Walter's quest! Nobody had seen Lola. Nobody knew anything
+about her. Question as he would, not the faintest trace of the missing
+dog could be obtained; and when the Davenports rolled down the drive
+the lad faced the awful moment when his secret must be divulged and
+the alarm sounded that Lola, the Crowninshields' most valued
+possession, was missing. Rapidly he turned the prospect of the coming
+storm over in his mind.
+
+Since the dog had been left in his charge the only manly thing to do,
+he argued, was to go directly to Mr. Crowninshield and himself
+acquaint him with the direful tidings. It would be cowardly to shunt
+this wretched task off on somebody else. It was his duty and his
+alone. Nevertheless, as he stood for a moment summoning his courage,
+he would have given all he possessed to escape the interview that
+awaited him.
+
+He would be scolded, blamed, discharged--that he knew--and he must
+bear bravely censure for something which he could not feel was his
+fault. Yet notwithstanding the fact that his conscience exonerated
+him it made the coming scene no less dreadful to anticipate.
+
+If Bob were only at hand to offer him his advice and sympathy. Bob was
+such a bully comforter. He never jumped on a man when he was down.
+Besides, he had a level head and always knew exactly what to do in an
+emergency. The instant this awful talk with Mr. Crowninshield was over
+and he was actually "fired" he should call Bob on the telephone and
+tell him the whole story. He must tell somebody, and Bob would
+understand better than anyone else just how everything had happened.
+
+In the meantime there was nothing to be gained by further delay.
+
+Pulling himself together, His Highness (a very meek bit of royalty
+now) dragged himself up the flower-bordered path toward Surfside. As
+he went it seemed as if every pansy flanking the walk stared out at
+him and whispered, "Aha, young man! You're in for it now!"
+
+Alas, he did not need to be told that! He knew it only too well. He
+cleared his throat, wondering how he should begin his confession.
+
+"Mr. Crowninshield, I have some very sad news to impart to you--etc.";
+or "Mr. Crowninshield, I regret to say a very terrible thing has
+happened." Such an introduction was easily delivered. It was the next
+sentence that appalled him. He could not get it off his tongue. "_Lola
+has disappeared!_" He could see now the great man's face as it
+flushed with anger and surprise. What would _he_ say--that was the
+question?
+
+Probably his reply would be something like this.
+
+"Young fellow, when I hired you, you undertook to look out for my dogs
+and see that nothing happened to them. I agreed to pay you good wages
+to perform that service and you, on your part, promised to do it
+satisfactorily. How have you kept that promise? You knew Lola's value
+and you should have looked out for her. It's up to you. You must
+either produce that dog or you must pay for her."
+
+He had by this time reached the house and like a criminal who faces
+execution and mounts the scaffold steps he climbed the broad flight
+leading to the front door. Mr. Crowninshield was on the veranda,
+sitting quietly in a big wicker chair, looking out toward the sea. He
+was thinking so intently on some imagining of his own that he did not
+hear the lad's footfall and Walter was obliged to address him twice
+before he answered. Then he started suddenly, as if annoyed at being
+disturbed.
+
+"Well?" interrogated he.
+
+The fine introduction that His Highness had planned to utter, together
+with everything else he had arranged to say, fled from his memory and
+he stood speechless before his employer.
+
+"You wish to see me?" Mr. Crowninshield repeated in a less sharp tone.
+
+"I--yes, sir."
+
+Nevertheless, despite the heavy pause the words the boy sought would
+not come. Instead a plaintive jumble of phrases tumbled incoherently
+forth, astounding the lad himself almost as much as they did the
+person to whom they were addressed:
+
+"Oh, sir, I've lost your dog, Lola! I didn't mean to and I didn't
+really lose her. She was gone when I got back from my walk with
+Achilles and the others. I left her locked in all right--I know I did.
+Where she is or how she got out I've no idea. I'm terribly sorry. I
+can't possibly pay for her, and you'll just have to put me in prison.
+It's the only way, I guess. Don't blame my mother or Bob, please, or
+Jerry either, because I've turned out to be such a duffer. It isn't
+their fault. And perhaps I better go straight home. I suppose you
+won't want me round here any more."
+
+A great gasp strangled any further utterance and only the lad's
+sobbing breath broke the stillness.
+
+Nerved to receive a scourge of maledictions or a blow the culprit
+waited. But nothing came--neither vindictives nor chastisement. He
+ventured to raise his head and confront his judge.
+
+Mr. Crowninshield was sitting looking far out to sea exactly as before
+and Walter actually began to wonder whether he had been turned to
+stone or had been stricken with deafness.
+
+"Mr. Crowninshield!" he at last ejaculated when the silence had become
+intolerable.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you hear what I said?"
+
+"Yes, sonny."
+
+"Well--well--what are you going to do with me?"
+
+"Nothing, my boy."
+
+"_What?_"
+
+"This job about Lola is nothing to do with you, my son. It has
+evidently been planned for a long time and carefully executed by
+professionals. Had you been on the spot they would have contrived to
+circumvent you just as they did Jerry. A gang have beaten us, that's
+all. But I will show them I am not to be beaten so easily. I'll have
+that dog back if it takes every dollar I have in the world. And I'll
+land those chaps behind the bars, every one of them, or my name isn't
+Crowninshield."
+
+A tide of angry color surged over the face of the speaker and he rose
+abruptly, as if forgetting the lad's presence.
+
+"Yes, sir!" he continued. "I'll round up those thieves. They needn't
+put me down for such an ass. Of course it's Daly and that New York
+bunch that set them on. They have always wanted Lola and been mad as
+hatters that I refused to sell her. Only the last time I saw Jake Daly
+he said, 'What I can't get by fair means I sometimes get by foul,
+Crowninshield, so you'd better look out for your precious dog.' I did
+not heed the threat at the time, attributing it to temper. But
+evidently he meant just what he said. He intended to have the dog,
+whether or no. But by thunder," Mr. Crowninshield brought down his
+fist on the piazza rail, "he won't win out in the deal! I'll jail him
+and all his tribe--see if I don't!"
+
+Walter, watching, hardly knew whether to go or stay. The man's rage
+was terrible and he thanked his lucky stars that it was not directed
+toward himself.
+
+"Is--is--there anything I can do, Mr. Crowninshield?" he at last
+managed to stammer after the master had ceased his pacing of the
+veranda and at length became conscious of his presence.
+
+"Not a thing, little chap," returned his employer, flashing him one of
+his rare smiles. "You have been mighty white about this, though. I
+guess it took some nerve to come up here and tell me this, didn't it?"
+
+"Yes, sir, it did."
+
+"I wondered what you'd do."
+
+"Wondered?"
+
+"Yes. Mrs. Crowninshield told me about Lola the minute the Davenports
+went. I saw the affair had nothing to do with you. Nevertheless, I
+wasn't sorry to try you out and see how much of the man was in you.
+You're all right, boy. Cheer up! Nobody is going to pack you home to
+your mother, so don't worry. And far from blaming you, if I want help
+about finding Lola, I'll add you to my detective force. You may be
+useful, who knows?"
+
+The words, designed merely to be comforting, were idly, kindly spoken,
+and carried little real weight. Had the master of the house really
+suspected how true they were to prove he would have been astonished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT
+
+
+As if a weight had been removed from his soul Walter moved away. The
+whole world had suddenly become a different place. Although the
+calamity of Lola's disappearance was none the less distressing at
+least on his own particular horizon there no longer loomed the spectre
+of discharge and all the disgrace that accompanied it. He could have
+tossed his cap into the air for very joy and gratitude. In his relief
+he was bursting to talk to somebody, and as he had permission to use
+the telephone in order to keep in touch with his family it occurred to
+him that now was the moment to call up Bob and impart the exciting
+tidings of the afternoon. Bob was always off duty at this hour and if
+he had the good luck to find him at the station just the sound of his
+voice would be infinitely comforting.
+
+Hastening in the side door he glanced into the wee telephone closet.
+
+No one was there, and he took down the receiver and called the Seaver
+Bay station. In another instant Bob's _Hello_ came cheerily over the
+wire.
+
+"It's Walter, Bob."
+
+"Anything the matter, kid?"
+
+"N--o. Yes. That is, something _was_ the matter but it is all over
+now. I just wanted to talk to you."
+
+"Well, fire ahead. What do you want to say?"
+
+"Oh, a lot. I hardly know how to start." The boy laughed nervously.
+
+"You're not sick?"
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+"Well, we can't hold this line forever, son, so break away and tell
+your tale as fast as you can."
+
+"I'll try to, Bob."
+
+Incoherently the lad poured out his story. Once launched it came
+readily from his tongue and he continued to the end of it without
+interruption from his distant listener. When, however, he had
+finished, Bob's crisp tones came singing over the wire:
+
+"You went out to walk about three, you say?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And returned?"
+
+"It must have been half-past four or five, I guess."
+
+"And there was nobody about the place all that time?"
+
+"The men were all busy somewhere else. Strangely enough even Jerry,
+who usually is on deck, had a telephone call and had to go up to the
+big house."
+
+"Oh, he did!"
+
+"Yes. It was funny, too, because it was somebody he didn't know at all
+and he couldn't find out what the fellow wanted."
+
+"What's that?" The interrogation was sharp and tense.
+
+"Jerry just said it was some man up in Brockton whom he didn't know
+and as he couldn't make head nor tail out of the message he hung up
+the receiver. Nobody ever telephones to Jerry. It was queer they
+should do it to-day, wasn't it?"
+
+"Very. Did you tell Mr. Crowninshield about it?"
+
+"Oh, no, indeed. He was too busy about Lola to think of anything
+else."
+
+"Nevertheless, I would tell him."
+
+"What for? It wouldn't interest him."
+
+"I think it might--a good deal. You tell him. Do you know whether he
+has done anything yet or not?"
+
+"No, I don't. I didn't dare ask him what he was going to do."
+
+"I suppose not. Well, I'm glad you got out of this snarl so well, kid.
+It's a pity they've lost the dog. You take mighty good care of the
+rest of the pups and don't let any more of them disappear."
+
+"I'll try. And Bob----"
+
+"I can't stop to talk any longer now, old chap. So long! If they get a
+line on the thief you might ring me up again. I shall be interested.
+Good-by."
+
+"Good-by, Bob."
+
+How fair Bob always was, reflected the boy, as he emerged into the
+open and made his way back to the kennels. Some brothers would
+probably have blurted out, "That's you all over!" or "Trust you to get
+into a mess!" But Bob never enjoyed seeing somebody else miserable.
+Instead he always tried to make everybody's troubles smaller than they
+really were. One could confess one's sins to Bob, knowing that he
+would be merciful.
+
+So thought Walter as he sped down the gravel path to greet the
+clamoring pack of animals that hungrily awaited his coming.
+
+"Well, old sports!" called he as he turned the key in the lock, "I
+guess you are ready for your supper. Wondering where your boss was,
+eh? I'm not very late. Only a quarter of an hour. It isn't late enough
+to warrant your making such a fuss. Down, Achilles! What's the matter
+with you? Anybody'd think you were crazy to see you jumping up and
+whining this way. What's got you, old man? Down, I say!"
+
+He pushed the dog from him and started to enter the room where the
+food was kept; but again Achilles was in his path.
+
+"Get out of my way, you beggar!" smiled Walter, playfully attempting
+to shake the creature off. "What is it? Are you clean starved? If you
+are you must stand out of the way so I can get you something to eat."
+
+But the dog refused to move.
+
+Planting himself squarely in the lad's pathway he began to bark
+furiously.
+
+Then he raced to the gate, sniffed, and struggled to get out.
+
+"What on earth has struck you, you giant?" inquired Walter, regarding
+the great creature in bewilderment. "Don't you want your dinner?"
+
+It was plain in an instant that no matter what the lure of a bone
+might ordinarily be to-day, it held no charms for the big police dog.
+He had one wish and only one, and that was to be released from the
+wire enclosure in which he was penned and left free to follow some
+plan of his own which evidently absorbed him. So insistent was his
+demand that it was not to be denied and Walter slipped the bolt and
+allowed him to race away. Then the boy turned his attention to feeding
+the other dogs.
+
+"Achilles probably has a bone buried somewhere," he muttered to
+himself, "and is going to dig it up. Just why he prefers stale food to
+fresh I can't see; but apparently he does."
+
+Nevertheless His Highness had scarcely finished giving the dogs their
+dinner before Achilles was back again, and with no bone, either. On
+the contrary he was hot, breathless, and panting from what had
+obviously been a long run through the woods. Pine needles clinging to
+his furry coat attested that he had been over in the grove that
+flanked the estate on the west.
+
+"Couldn't find your hidden treasure, eh, old boy?" commented Walter.
+"Gone, was it? Some other dog taken it?"
+
+But Achilles failed to accept the jest with the cordiality such jokes
+commonly evoked. He neither wagged his tail nor stretched his jaws
+into a grin. Instead he began to yelp and bound back and forth upon
+the lawn.
+
+"You act possessed. What on earth is the matter?" asked the boy,
+coming toward the gate and starting to open it.
+
+No sooner was his hand on the latch, however, than the Belgian raced
+up with sharp barks of delight.
+
+"Want me to come out, do you? Got something to show me?"
+
+Again Achilles barked joyfully.
+
+"Aren't you the tyrant, though?" remarked Walter. "I've just been to
+walk and am tired as the deuce. What do I wish to go tramping over the
+country again for?"
+
+Nevertheless, despite his grudging protest, nothing else would satisfy
+the dog and at length, curious to see what caused the creature's
+excitement, he slipped the lock and stepped outside on to the turf.
+Instantly an exultant bark came from Achilles and he dashed away, only
+to return and take the lead through the woods, his nose to the ground
+and his ears erect. The boy followed. It was a race to keep up with
+the rapidly running vanguard. Now the chase skirted the lawn, now
+dipped into the pine woods. On and on went the dog, and in pursuit of
+him on and on went Walter.
+
+They floundered along the slippery matting of copper, stumbling this
+way and that, and presently emerged where the land dropped down to the
+shore. The lad paused. He had no mind to scramble through the tall
+salt grass or sink ankle deep in the stretch of sand that adjoined it.
+But Achilles compelled. It was now no longer a matter of choice. The
+beast approached and catching the corner of the lad's sweater in his
+mouth tugged at it resolutely, even angrily.
+
+Walter dared not resist. He let himself down over the edge of the bank
+into the sharp-edged grass, and wading through it reached the sand.
+Here Achilles halted. The end of their pilgrimage had, then, been
+reached. What was it all about? For a moment dog and man faced one
+another. Then, glancing about, His Highness gave a little cry. There
+were footprints in the sand,--deep footprints that the moisture had
+kept indelible. A train of them came and went toward a ribbon of
+automobile tracks that narrowed away up the beach and were finally
+lost in the confusion of a much traveled wood road.
+
+Walter's heart leaped within him as the significance of the discovery
+rose before his imagination. This was the way Lola had gone.
+
+A thief, familiar with the country and knowing the isolation of this
+sequestered cove, had driven through the wood road, left the car
+behind the dunes, and skulking through the woods, had successfully
+carried out a daring robbery. Perhaps he had been lingering concealed
+about the gardens all day or even many days. Who could tell? At any
+rate, he had chosen a propitious moment, provided himself with a
+skeleton key, and carried Lola away in the waiting motor car. Where
+they were now, who could tell? A car travels fast and a long distance
+could be covered in the two hours that had elapsed. Certainly no more
+time must be wasted.
+
+With Achilles leaping before him Walter raced back to Surfside. Mr.
+Crowninshield, irritable and excited, was just coming out of the
+house.
+
+"May I speak to you a moment, sir?" panted the boy.
+
+"Yes, if it is important. I'm in a rush so do not delay me."
+
+"But it's about Lola."
+
+"Lola! Go ahead, then, if you have anything to say."
+
+The lad told his story.
+
+"Ha! Well done, Achilles!" exclaimed the financier when the tale was
+told. "Well done, old fellow! And well done you too, little shaver!
+Between you you have given us a big boost toward catching the thief.
+Now just one thing, sonny. I meant to caution you before you left but
+forgot it. You are not to speak of this affair to any one--not to any
+one at all. Do you understand? A false move on our part might undo
+everything and ruin our cause. Nobody is going to be caught red-handed
+with that dog in his possession. Rather than be trapped he would kill
+her. We mustn't let that happen. We shall follow up our man quietly
+without letting him suspect that he is being watched. That is the only
+way we can hope to get the pup back again. So mind you hold your
+tongue. Not a word to anybody on your life. Not a syllable. Be dumb as
+the grave and let me see how capable you are of keeping your own
+counsel. The trouble with most people is they blab everything. They
+can't wait to tell it. Let anything happen and they are off to confide
+it to some one before you can say Jack Robinson. Now don't you do
+that--at least not this time. Hold your tongue. This isn't your
+secret; it's mine."
+
+In terror Walter hung his head. Should he confess that he had already
+telephoned Bob or should he keep silent.
+
+Of course Bob wouldn't tell. There wouldn't be anybody to tell way off
+there at Seaver Bay. Besides, he himself could ring him up and caution
+him not to. Why need Mr. Crowninshield know anything about it?
+
+But suppose Bob had told already and harm was done? Certainly it would
+be more honest to speak.
+
+The boy took a big swallow.
+
+"I'm afraid, sir, that I have already told some one," he blurted out
+miserably. "I didn't know it would do any harm and so I called up my
+brother and----"
+
+"You young idiot!" burst out Mr. Crowninshield indignantly. "Why in
+thunder couldn't you keep still? We're in a nice mess now! If the
+story gets about and the police start to track down the thief it is
+good-by to Lola. Why did you have to run hot-footed to the telephone
+the first thing? Jove!"
+
+"I'm very sorry, sir. I had no idea it would do any harm."
+
+"But you have an idea of it now, haven't you?" inquired the master
+grimly.
+
+"Yes. I see what you mean."
+
+Mr. Crowninshield heaved an exasperated sigh.
+
+"The game's up now, I guess," he muttered.
+
+"But my brother lives off by himself in a very lonely place," the lad
+explained desperately. "Just he and another fellow have a house out on
+a point of land a long way off from everywhere. They couldn't tell
+anybody about Lola if they wanted to, especially if I call them right
+up and ask them not to."
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+"Seaver Bay."
+
+"Never heard of it--or, stop a minute, isn't there a wireless station
+there or something?"
+
+"Yes, sir. My brother----"
+
+"Well, no matter about your brother now. You go into the house and
+call him up. When you get the line let me know and I will speak with
+him."
+
+"Yes, sir." Nevertheless the lad lingered. "I'm--I'm awfully sorry,"
+repeated he.
+
+"There, there, go along. You meant no harm. You just blundered. But
+blunders are expensive things sometimes and this one may prove so
+unless we can prevent it."
+
+Still His Highness did not go.
+
+"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked his employer impatiently.
+
+"My brother told me to tell you that Jerry had a telephone message
+this afternoon."
+
+"A telephone message? What has that got to do with it?" burst out Mr.
+Crowninshield at the end of his patience.
+
+"I don't know. Bob just said to tell you."
+
+"Go ahead then."
+
+Hurriedly the boy related the facts of the mysterious communication.
+
+"So! Your brother has some brains if you haven't," said Mr.
+Crowninshield on hearing the story, and Walter saw him smile. "That
+was neat of them, very! They took the precaution to get Jerry, who is
+unfailingly about, out of the way."
+
+"They?"
+
+"The thieves, youngster. It was a Brockton call, you say."
+
+"That was what Jerry told me."
+
+"Good! That gives us another clue."
+
+It was evident the information had put the master in rare good humor.
+
+"Trot along, now, and call up this brother of yours. I shall be glad
+to talk with him, for he sounds as if he might be worth talking to. As
+for you, son, cheer up! No milk is spilled yet and perhaps it won't be
+if you have as wise a big brother as it appears. I might never have
+known of Jerry's message but for him. Jerry himself would not have
+placed enough importance on it to tell me, I am sure--or you, either,
+for that matter. So perhaps, after all, you did a good thing to enlist
+your brother in our behalf."
+
+"I hope so, sir. I meant no harm; really I didn't."
+
+"There, there, don't think of it again," said Mr. Crowninshield
+kindly. "I should have remembered you are not a man's age and cannot
+be expected to have the judgment that goes with fifty or sixty years
+of living. Even old codgers like myself blunder sometimes."
+
+His eyes twinkled and in the radiance of his smile Walter saw the last
+cloud of wrath roll from his brow. Truly, as Jerry had affirmed, Mr.
+Crowninshield's rages were like thunderstorms--awesome while they
+lasted but unfailingly followed by sunshine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+MORE CLUES
+
+
+Notwithstanding Mr. Crowninshield's comforting words, however, Walter
+could not shake off the consciousness that take it all in all he had
+blundered desperately throughout the entire train of events connected
+with Lola and his vanity was sadly hurt. If any good had come out of
+what he had done it was more by chance than as a result of wise
+calculation. He had meant well, that was all that could be said, and
+the patronage these words implied was by no means flattering to one
+anxious to make himself valuable to his employer.
+
+What a boob he was; what a blunderer! The name Mr. Crowninshield had
+so wrathfully bestowed on him was unquestionably deserved. It fitted
+him like a glove. The fact that the great man had afterward sought to
+palliate the sting of the term did not actually help matters any. What
+he had thought in the beginning and so spontaneously declared was what
+he really believed, and as his dispirited retainer observed to
+himself, who could blame him?
+
+He couldn't have made a worse start at a job had he tried. In his
+depression he almost wished he had never seen Surfside, the
+Crowninshields, or anything belonging to them.
+
+Nor was his melancholy lightened when he found on entering the house
+that the telephone line was busy and that some one was calling Mr.
+Crowninshield. Goodness only knew how long it might be now before the
+wire would be free for the master to reach and warn Bob to keep secret
+the tidings his brother had tattled to him. Wasn't it infernal luck to
+encounter this delay? If he had only held his tongue in the first
+place! Well, it had taught him a lesson. The next time he got mixed up
+in somebody else's affairs he would keep them to himself.
+
+Meandering aimlessly outdoors he sat down on the steps to wait until
+the owner of the house should finish his conversation.
+
+For a time he remained quite quiet; but when the minutes lengthened
+into a quarter of an hour he began to fidget. Would the talkers never
+stop? Why, their chattering seemed to be endless? Even through the
+door he could hear Mr. Crowninshield's curt tones and the eager rise
+and fall of his voice. Once he laughed as if pleased, and twice Walter
+heard a cry of "_Good!_" When he did appear on the piazza his face was
+wreathed in smiles.
+
+"That brother of yours is a Jim Dandy!" he exclaimed, rubbing his
+hands. "You did a mighty clever thing, young one, to get him on the
+job. We never can thank you enough."
+
+"Me?"
+
+"Certainly you! Why didn't you tell me more about this family paragon
+of yours? I didn't take in he was a radio operator."
+
+"I--I--I don't know," replied Walter, bewildered.
+
+"Well, his quick action has helped us no end--that is all I can say,"
+announced the owner of Surfside triumphantly. "The instant he got your
+message he went to work with his wireless outfit. He flashed messages
+to all the stations in the outlying cities or else telephoned, and
+inside of half an hour every road to Boston and to New York was
+watched. You see a man with a little dog had stopped at his station
+for water. The wood road skirting our shore goes right by Seaver Bay
+and probably the thief reasoned that no one would be on the lookout
+for him on such an out-of-the-way thoroughfare. At any rate he had to
+have water for his engine and he took a chance. He told your brother
+he was touring the Cape, and had you not called Bob up he would have
+thought no more of the happening. But when you told him about Lola
+immediately he pricked up his ears. The dog tallied perfectly with
+what you had previously told him and the fact that it was a Pekingese
+made him suspicious. Leaping at the possibility that his visitor was
+in reality the man wanted, he sent out a broadcast describing the
+culprit.
+
+"With an accurate description of the man, car, and dog we cannot fail
+to get tidings soon. And at any rate we have something definite to
+work on. We know what the thief looks like, what he had on, the make
+of his car and all about him. Unquestionably he will be stopped either
+between here and Boston or between here and New York,--for he is
+probably aiming for one of those cities. I myself rather think he will
+go straight through to Boston. He would not venture to try New York
+until later because he would be well aware that the authorities there
+would be waiting for him. He isn't going to be trapped. So he will try
+to do the thing he figures I will not calculate upon." Mr.
+Crowninshield rubbed his hands and laughed. "Little does he know we
+have him down cold already! And it has all been so quietly and
+promptly done. That is the beauty of it. You must have got home from
+your walk very soon after the wretch had left. Therefore the loss was
+discovered sooner than he had planned. Doubtless he was delayed by
+Jerry's being about and had to wait until his accomplice up in
+Brockton called him off. I presume they had agreed upon some hour when
+they would summon the unsuspecting caretaker to the telephone." As the
+scheme of the robbery began to unfold, Walter mirrored his employer's
+smile.
+
+"And if the other chap is in Brockton doesn't that indicate that this
+fellow who was here will most likely expect to pass through there and
+pick him up?" he ventured, feeling very much of a personage to be thus
+taken into Mr. Crowninshield's confidence.
+
+"Exactly!"
+
+His Highness glowed with satisfaction. Some of his self-esteem was
+returning.
+
+"Fortunately your brother had the good sense to warn his allies to act
+carefully and not alarm the thief, so that the life of the dog might
+not be jeopardized. He seems to have thought of everything, this
+brother Bob of yours. If we get Lola back it will be largely his
+doing--and yours. I sha'n't forget the fact, either."
+
+Walter flushed under the great man's praise.
+
+"It was just a happen," murmured he. "I thought I had blundered."
+
+He saw Mr. Crowninshield color at having his own word hurled back at
+him.
+
+"Some of the most fortunate strokes in our lives are achieved by
+chance," replied he, laughing. "See how capable I am of shifting my
+philosophy," he added with good humor. "Nevertheless, although this
+indiscretion of yours has turned out well I still maintain that,
+generally speaking, a silent tongue is a great asset. In nine cases
+out of ten keeping still does far less harm than talking. Jerry is a
+shining example of my creed. In all the years he has been here he has
+never let his tongue outrun his solid judgment. And yet," concluded he
+with a twinkle, "had we trusted to Jerry, we should never have heard
+of his Brockton telephone communication. So there you are! Which is
+the better way? It seems to be a toss up in this case."
+
+"I guess the better way is never to make a mistake," smiled Walter.
+
+"Do you know the infallible person who can boast such a record?" came
+whimsically from Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"N--o, sir."
+
+"Nor I."
+
+A pause fell between them and Walter rose to go.
+
+"Do you suppose you will hear anything more to-night?" questioned he
+shyly.
+
+"There is no telling. We may have news at any moment; or again we may
+hear nothing until into the night or till morning."
+
+"I'm crazy to get tidings, aren't you?" In his earnestness the lad had
+forgotten that they were not of an age or quite of the same station.
+
+The master smiled indulgently.
+
+"I'm every bit as crazy to hear as you are," said he, quite as if Lola
+were their joint possession.
+
+"Do you think you'll get any message before I go to bed?"
+
+Once more Mr. Crowninshield regarded him with friendly comradeship.
+
+"That depends on what time you turn in."
+
+"At home Ma makes me go at nine o'clock. I've done it pretty much,
+too, since I've been here. She wanted I should."
+
+"You are a sensible fellow. Nine o'clock is late enough for anybody to
+sit up, although I will admit," the man chuckled mischievously, "that
+in New York we occasionally sit up later than that."
+
+But Walter ignored the jest.
+
+"Do you think you will hear by nine?" persisted he.
+
+"There is no way of knowing, sonny," was the kind answer. "The best
+thing for you to do, however, is to go to bed as you usually do. You
+are tired out with excitement. I can see that."
+
+"No I'm not," contradicted the boy, his eyes very wide open.
+
+"But you are--a deal more fagged than you realize. I am myself. Now
+I'll tell you what we'll do. I'll go to bed and you go to bed; and if
+any message comes I'll tell them to waken me and then I'll waken you.
+I can call you on the wire that goes from the house down to your
+quarters. How will that do?"
+
+"But suppose I shouldn't hear it?" objected the lad.
+
+"Somebody will. The chauffeurs do not go to sleep as early as you do,
+I rather fancy. I will give orders for one of them to tell you if a
+call comes."
+
+"I'd much prefer to sit up, sir. Why couldn't I just sit here on the
+piazza? It wouldn't disturb anybody and I should be on the spot."
+
+"You might sit here all night and catch your death of cold, and no
+tidings come until morning, sonny. No, my plan is much the better one.
+You trot along to bed. I'll fulfill my part of the contract and go
+also. And if there is anything to tell before morning you shall hear
+it."
+
+Reluctantly the lad moved away.
+
+He was not in the least sleepy. Nevertheless because he had given his
+word he dragged himself across the lawn, mounted the stairs to his
+room, and began to undress. His spirits were very high. Within an hour
+or two--three hours at the very most--the telephone would ring and
+Mr. Crowninshield would announce to him the glad tidings that the
+thief had been caught. Then some one would motor to Barnstable,
+Brockton, or wherever it was, recapture Lola, and bring her back, and
+the events of the past few hours would be only a nightmare. And it
+would be Bob--he and Bob--who brought about this glorious climax to a
+day of catastrophes. And if such a result was accomplished had not the
+owner of Surfside promised that he would never forget the service?
+
+For his own part Walter wanted nothing. If Lola could only be found
+his happiness would be complete. But if only Mr. Crowninshield would
+do something wonderful for Bob! Perhaps he might give him a big sum of
+money; he could well afford to. Or maybe he would put him in the way
+of earning it. There was no telling what Aladdin-like feats he might
+perform. Such a man was all powerful. Why, he could send Bob to Europe
+if he chose! Or pay the mortgage on the house. He could make Bob's
+fortune.
+
+The younger boy thrilled at the thought.
+
+With these optimistic and intriguing fancies in mind he slipped into
+bed and soon dozed off into dreams wilder and even more extravagant.
+He slept soundly and awoke with a bewildered cry when a knock came at
+the door.
+
+"It's I--Wheeler, shaver! The boss wants you on the telephone."
+
+Up scrambled Walter, his stupor banished by the agitation of the
+moment.
+
+He did not wait to don his clothes but in his pajamas took the stairs
+two at a time and soon had his ear to the receiver.
+
+"Walter?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, we have some news, such as it is." Mr. Crowninshield's voice
+sounded dubious and discouraged. "They tracked the car we were after
+to Buzzard's Bay and found it there empty; its occupants had
+disappeared."
+
+"Disappeared!" repeated the astounded boy.
+
+"Yes, they're gone! Vanished in thin air! Not a trace of them is to be
+found. The abandoned automobile with its number removed, was
+discovered on a side road."
+
+"The man must be hiding somewhere in the vicinity then."
+
+"That does not follow, son; I wish it did."
+
+"What else could he do?"
+
+"His accomplice from Brockton could meet him with another car, for one
+thing."
+
+"A different car, and throw us off the scent!"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+For a second neither of them spoke. Walter was too nonplussed and his
+employer too disheartened.
+
+"Isn't that the limit!" the lad presently gathered indignation enough
+to ejaculate.
+
+"I expected something of the sort," was the reply. "We are up against
+professionals, you see, and not amateurs. This gang is being paid big
+money and does not intend either to fail in what it has undertaken or
+be trapped. We had it too easy at the beginning and were too much
+elated by our initial success."
+
+"What are you going to do now?"
+
+"I've wired New York for detectives. I ought to have followed my first
+impulse and done it immediately, and I should have had we not seemed
+on the high road to success without help. The plain-clothes men will
+probably be miffed at being called in now that we have meddled with
+the case and messed it all up."
+
+"But I don't see how we have done any harm," retorted His Highness,
+feeling it a little ungrateful of Mr. Crowninshield to veer so quickly
+from commendation to censure.
+
+"Oh, untrained people never can compete with skilled ones in any
+line," was the sharp answer. "I ought to have remembered it. Doubtless
+in our zeal we betrayed ourselves somehow and our man became
+suspicious and adopted other tactics in consequence."
+
+"I don't believe so," Walter maintained stoutly. "I'll bet this is
+just what he had arranged to do anyway."
+
+"Well, perhaps it was. We cannot tell about that," yawned the man at
+the other end of the wire. "The result, however, is the same. Instead
+of netting our catch we have allowed it to slip through our fingers."
+
+There was an edge of exasperation in the tone.
+
+"Maybe we'll have better luck than you think," ventured the lad, not
+knowing what else to say, and unwilling to betray his chagrin.
+
+"We'll have neither good luck nor bad in future," responded the master
+curtly. "After this we keep our hands off and the detectives manage
+the affair. There have been blunders enough."
+
+With this ungracious comment the great man hung up the receiver and
+stumbling through the darkness His Highness felt his way upstairs and
+dropped into bed.
+
+Like a house of cards his roseate dreams for the future had suddenly
+collapsed. There would be now no wonderful career for Bob, no bag of
+gold, no fairy fortune! Instead of being a hero he had again become a
+mere duffer, a blunderer, had played the fool.
+
+Since failure had come in place of the coveted success Mr.
+Crowninshield would most likely blame it all to him.
+
+Fleeting, indeed, was the favor and gratitude of princes!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BOB
+
+
+By late afternoon of the following day the New York detectives arrived
+and Wheeler drove their dusty and travel-stained car around to the
+garage.
+
+"Must have speeded up some!" commented he, on viewing the throbbing
+machine. "Left New York at midnight," they said. "Some friends of the
+master's likely, come to play golf."
+
+Ever given to frankness it was on the tip of Walter's tongue to
+declare the real identity of the strangers, but fortunately he
+bethought him in time to halt the words.
+
+"What did they look like?" inquired he, eager to know and yet anxious
+not to appear inquisitive.
+
+"Look like? Like any other dusty, muddy guys," grumbled Wheeler,
+eyeing with disdain the grimy automobile which he knew he would be
+expected to clean.
+
+"Old or young?" persisted His Highness.
+
+"Old enough to know better than to heat up an engine this way, but
+young enough to do it," snapped Wheeler. "Shouldn't think their car
+had seen water in years, it's that filthy. A rum job for me!"
+
+Walter, however, did not reply. He was not in the least interested in
+the mud-caked car. It was its occupants that aroused his curiosity. In
+all his life he had never seen a genuine detective and he was all
+impatience for a peep at persons allied with such an intriguing
+profession. While his reason told him they must, of course, look
+precisely like other men, nevertheless the hope would persist that
+perhaps, after all, they didn't. And even if they did appear like
+ordinary mortals were there not their myriad disguises? He hoped with
+all his heart they would wear some of these, that the exigencies of
+the case would compel it.
+
+Very great, then, was his surprise and disappointment when on being
+summoned to the big house soon after the arrival of these interesting
+creatures he was presented to two commonplace beings who, although
+charming gentlemen, were not in the least different from anybody else.
+Mr. Dacie, the younger of the men, was a pleasant, blond-haired fellow
+who instantly ingratiated himself in the boy's affections by asking
+him if he collected stamps and bestowing on him two rare ones from
+China. In fact he seemed to like everything a boy liked and appeared
+to be almost a boy himself.
+
+Mr. Lyman was older but he, too, when he was not being stern and
+business-like, was very jolly. No one could possibly be afraid of
+either one of them and then and there His Highness's faith in the
+ultimate success of Mr. Crowninshield's cause dwindled and died. They
+weren't disguised at all; and if they had pistols they must have had
+them well concealed for the only suspicious articles produced from
+their pockets were notebooks and pencils. He had expected to be quite
+awed by their presence but on the contrary he found, when he started
+out to show them the kennels and the place where he had seen the
+automobile tracks, that he was chattering away to both of them quite
+as if he had known them all his life.
+
+Mr. Dacie was particularly friendly, and as they walked along he
+talked much of sports, dogs, and fishing. Furthermore he was intensely
+interested in Bob and listened attentively to all that was told him
+about this remarkable big brother. He had a bully brother himself, he
+said. In short, before a half hour had passed His Highness had not
+only decided to become a detective but to become one exactly like Mr.
+Dacie.
+
+And yet as he thought it over afterward the hero of his sudden
+adoration had not uttered one syllable about jails, criminals,
+robberies, or crimes of any sort. In fact he had talked really very
+little. What he had done had been to smile, nod, and let the other
+fellow babble. It had, to be sure, been a delightful experience to
+find yourself a lion, and everything you did of interest to your
+listener; but you did not learn much about the business of being a
+detective, reflected Walter, a bit mortified by his discovery. Well,
+the next time he was with Mr. Dacie he would ask him some questions
+and let him relate everything about his mysterious calling.
+
+Strange to say, however, the moment for such disclosures never
+appeared to come right. There was always so much else to talk of. Mr.
+Dacie wanted most terribly to catch some flounders and wondered if
+there were any to be found; and of course as Walter knew of three
+secret places where flounders were sure to lurk he eagerly told his
+new friend about them. And then he had to talk swimming and
+school--and how he hated it! Why, there were endless things to tell
+Mr. Dacie. The visit of the two men was, moreover, surprisingly short.
+They remained at Surfside only one night and the next morning,
+together with Mr. Crowninshield, who led the way in his car, they
+disappeared leaving His Highness none the wiser and regretfully
+mourning his lost opportunity to be initiated into the gruesome
+mysteries of a detective's career.
+
+The realization that in exchange for telling everything he knew or
+ever had thought Mr. Dacie had told him nothing suddenly caused the
+lad to speculate as to whether after all both Mr. Dacie and his
+associate, Mr. Lyman, were not cleverer than they looked to be.
+
+It seemed incredible to recall, now that they were gone, that he had
+not once asked them what they thought about Lola and whether they had
+any idea where the man who had taken her had gone. How much better it
+would have been had he made that inquiry instead of chattering about
+his own affairs. But somehow when there had been a lull in the
+conversation they had always been busy measuring footprints or
+automobile ruts, and writing down these unending dimensions.
+Moreover, something which he was unable to explain always halted the
+questions.
+
+Well, it was useless to regret his vanished opportunities. The
+detectives were now far beyond his reach and probably he would never
+see them again. He might as well go about his work and put them,
+together with Lola and her baffling disappearance, out of his mind.
+This he tried valiantly to do, but in spite of his utmost endeavor his
+thought constantly reverted to the missing dog, and when toward dusk
+Mr. Crowninshield's car came whirling up the avenue His Highness had
+all he could do not to rush out and demand of the master whether he
+had secured any further information.
+
+To remember that he must keep constantly in the background was, in
+fact, one of the most difficult aspects of Walter's job. As a
+democratic young American who had always mingled in the best society
+Lovell's Harbor had to offer he had been free to give a hail to
+anybody he desired to greet. But at Surfside everything was different.
+He must stifle his natural impulses and curb his tongue, a role very
+hard for one who had had no previous experience with class
+distinctions. Difficult as it had been he had made up his mind to
+being excluded from the gayety that went on about him. It was, to be
+sure, no fun to view automobile loads of young people roll out of the
+drive bent on a day of pleasure; to look on while motor boats pulled
+up anchor and puffed across the blue of the bay. And how he would have
+adored to try his hand at a set of tennis on that fine dirt court!
+Ah, there were moments when to a normal, healthy boy the world
+appeared a very unfair place; and the lot of one who worked for a
+living a wretched one.
+
+And then, when his spirits had reached their lowest ebb, he would
+resolutely take himself to task. Was there not his pay envelope to
+compensate him? He was not at Surfside to have a good time; he was
+there to earn his daily bread and very fortunate was he to have so
+good a place. Having read himself this lecture he was wont to turn to
+his duties with lighter heart, closing his ears to the laughter and
+his eyes to the merriment that made up the days of the idle. But what
+he never could get used to was the fact that he must not ask questions
+or voice his opinions. In a free country where one man was as good as
+another the mandate seemed absurd. But it wasn't done. That was all
+there was about it. Jerry said so and so did Tim.
+
+Instead of piping, "Hi, Mr. Crowninshield, did you find out anything?"
+one awaited the information until it was voluntarily imparted.
+
+In this particular case, as good fortune would have it, His Highness's
+impatience had seethed and bubbled only a half hour before who should
+come strolling down to the kennels but the very gentleman the lad was
+feverish to interrogate.
+
+Arrayed in a cool Palm Beach suit and a soft hat of white felt he
+sauntered up as indifferently as if the boy's curiosity were not at
+the boiling point and said, "Good evening," in a perfectly calm,
+self-possessed tone.
+
+"Good evening, sir," Walter replied.
+
+"Dogs all right?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"No more of them missing?"
+
+"Not on your--no, sir."
+
+The great man turned away to conceal a smile.
+
+"I've been seeing your brother to-day," remarked he.
+
+"_Bob?_"
+
+Mr. Crowninshield nodded.
+
+"Yes. We went over to the Seaver Bay wireless station."
+
+The lad waited.
+
+"You have a very fine brother, youngster, and one whom you may well be
+proud of."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+(What was the use of telling him that? His Highness knew what a corker
+Bob was without being told. Much better tell him what had happened at
+Seaver Bay, what the detectives said, and whether Lola had been
+found!)
+
+"We had, in fact, quite a talk with your brother."
+
+"Yes, sir." The reply came automatically.
+
+"He was able to furnish us with much information regarding the man we
+are chasing up."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Yes," ruminated Mr. Crowninshield with evident satisfaction, "we have
+the thief sketched in quite clearly."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"With the details your brother gave us Dacie and Lyman have a most
+encouraging foundation on which to work."
+
+"Have they found out anything yet, sir?"
+
+The question would out despite all Walter could do to stop it. He knew
+the instant it had left his tongue that he shouldn't have asked it and
+he stood there hot and embarrassed at his own audacity.
+
+Much to his surprise, however, Mr. Crowninshield did not appear to be
+in the least offended. On the contrary he seemed pleased by the lad's
+eager interest and smiled at him kindly.
+
+"Yes, we've found out something," said he, "but it is not very good
+news, I am sorry to say. Dacie and Lyman traced the car that carried
+Lola as far as Buzzard's Bay and discovered that there----"
+
+"Yes?" interrupted Walter, so intent on the story that he was
+unconscious of interrupting.
+
+"There," repeated Mr. Crowninshield, "the thieves embarked on a
+private yacht that awaited their coming; steamed through the Canal,
+and----"
+
+"Don't say they are gone, sir!" cried the boy.
+
+"I'm afraid so, sonny."
+
+"Well, if that isn't the limit!"
+
+"It is, indeed," rejoined the elder man heartily.
+
+His Highness had staggered back against the door in consternation. If
+Mr. Crowninshield had affirmed that the thieves had taken flight in an
+aeroplane he could not have been more astonished than by the turn
+affairs had taken.
+
+"What do you suppose they'll do now?" demanded he.
+
+"We've no idea. They may make for New York, Boston, or some other port
+where they think they will be safe. There is no way of knowing. Or it
+may be that the person who hired them to get Lola is on the yacht and
+having now secured what he has been in search of he may simply cruise
+about and not land at all for months. Anything is possible."
+
+"Could they get the name of the boat?"
+
+"Yes, she's called the _Siren_."
+
+"Then I should think it would be easy enough to track her down, board
+her, and bring Lola away," said Walter.
+
+"It sounds simple, doesn't it?" Mr. Crowninshield returned. "But I am
+afraid it is not going to be as easy as that. We have no way of
+proving that Lola is aboard the yacht, in the first place. Moreover,
+even did we know that she was there, there are a thousand and one
+places where she could be hidden and defy discovery. And were the
+villains actually cornered nothing would be less difficult than to
+wring the puppie's neck and throw her overboard so that nothing would
+remain to identify the wretches with their crime."
+
+"Scott!"
+
+"You see now that to recover Lola is not such an easy matter."
+
+"I'm afraid not, sir," was the dispirited response.
+
+Mr. Crowninshield glanced at the dejected figure before him.
+
+"We mustn't give up beaten yet, however," affirmed he, struggling to
+be cheerful. "The game isn't up, you know. Dacie and Lyman are clever
+men and I have given them a free rein as to money. If there is
+anything to be done they ought to be able to accomplish it."
+
+Nevertheless optimistic as the words were it was plain to see that Mr.
+Crowninshield was not really as sanguine as he would have Walter
+think. There was a pucker of annoyance about the corners of his mouth,
+and his eyes looked dull and discouraged. Say what he might His
+Highness knew without being told that deep down in his heart of hearts
+Lola's master had resigned himself to never seeing her again.
+
+For a few seconds the capitalist lingered, musing. Then he broke the
+stillness, hurling a bomb into the air with the words:
+
+"By the by, I have made your brother an offer. I've suggested that he
+leave Seaver Bay and come here. I am going to give Dick a radio set
+for his birthday and I should like the aid of an expert in rigging it
+up. Besides, last season I installed a wireless on my yacht and shall
+need some one to operate it. This Bob of yours is precisely the sort
+of chap I want."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Crowninshield!" was all Walter could stammer.
+
+"You'd like having him here then?"
+
+"You bet your--yes, sir, I would," gasped His Highness, making a dash
+after his manners.
+
+"That's good," remarked the financier, much amused. "I hope he'll
+decide to come. You must use your influence to persuade him."
+
+This time Walter did not forget his etiquette.
+
+"I will, sir," replied he meekly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE DECISION
+
+
+That night when his day's duties had been discharged and he was free,
+the first thing His Highness did was to pen a much blotted and
+somewhat incoherent note to Seaver Bay. Almost every sentence of it
+was underlined and some of the persuasive adjectives and verbs were
+even emphasized in red pencil. Certainly what the epistle lacked in
+neatness and beauty of appearance was compensated for in sincerity and
+earnestness. This document mailed and reinforced by an ardent appeal
+over the telephone, there was nothing to do but possess one's soul of
+patience until Bob decided what it was best for him to do.
+
+To throw up a government job with practically assured employment for a
+private venture which might be of short duration seemed madness and
+the young radio man with his level head and sober judgment was not one
+to leap at a decision. Carefully he weighed the pros and cons and
+while he did so Walter, and even Mr. Crowninshield himself, fidgeted.
+His Highness would not have hesitated a moment; and that any one
+should do so appeared to him incomprehensible. As for the master of
+Surfside who was accustomed to having his business offers snapped up
+the instant they were made, the younger man's deliberation piqued his
+interest and respect as almost nothing else could have done. He had
+thought the terms suggested very generous and had expected them to be
+seized with avidity. It was something new to have a penniless youth
+waver as to whether to accept or reject them.
+
+In the meantime while the days passed no tidings came from the New
+York detectives and the dwellers at Surfside were compelled to settle
+down to their customary routine and put Lola's disappearance out of
+their minds. Gardeners toiled, flowers blossomed, Jerry mugged about
+with his misty blue eyes following every seed that was planted, every
+turn the lawn mower made; they followed, too, what Walter was doing
+and saw to it that the dogs were well cared for and that his young
+protégé neglected nothing.
+
+Walter saw little of Dick now, for the house was filled with guests
+and the place humming with laughter and the rush of unending sports
+and picnics. There were tennis tournaments, golf matches, swimming
+races, regattas when small fleets of knockabouts maneuvered in the
+bay. In the midst of such a whirl of merriment it taxed all one's
+forbearance to be nothing more than the boy who cared for the dogs.
+
+On one particularly fine, bracing June morning after the lad had
+returned from a solitary cross-country tramp with Achilles and the
+rest of the pack, his lot seemed to him especially unenviable. There
+was evidently to be a ball game. College boys with crimson H's on
+their shirts; men with a blue Y; together with a group of
+short-sleeved players not yet honored with insignia from their
+universities were hurrying out to the lawn with bats, balls, and
+catcher's mitts.
+
+"You must pitch for the Blues, Dabney," called one fellow to another.
+
+"Who's going to catch for the Crimson team?" piped another.
+
+"I choose to play for Yale," came shrilly from another man who was
+lounging across the grass in immaculate white flannels.
+
+"Come on and help Harvard along, Cheever," put in a strident voice.
+
+"Not on your sweet life!" bawled Cheever, with a vehemence that made
+everybody laugh. "Goodness knows she needs help; but I'm not going to
+be the one to offer it."
+
+Again there was a good-humored shout from the bustling throng.
+
+"I'll line up with Yale to beat you though," Cheever added with a
+chuckle.
+
+"You can line up, you shrimp, but we're going to do the beating,"
+retorted an ardent Harvard supporter.
+
+So the banter went on while the nines were being organized.
+
+At length, however, there was a shout of dismay.
+
+"We're lacking one man," announced the captain of the Crimsons, with
+sudden consternation. "Haven't you another chap who can play, Dick?"
+
+"Nobody, I'm afraid, unless you want to haul in some of the
+chauffeurs," Dick answered idly.
+
+"Jove! That's hard luck. We've got to have a shortstop. What are we
+going to do?"
+
+"Wasn't there a boy around here somewhere this morning with the dogs?
+It seems to me I saw somebody--a stocky little chap with a snub nose."
+
+The description was not flattering and Walter winced.
+
+"Oh, that was King, who has charge of the kennels," replied Dick
+quickly. "I'm afraid he hasn't come back with the bunch of poodles
+yet."
+
+"Yes, he has. I saw him skulking round the garage just now. Can't we
+drum him up?"
+
+"Sure, if you can find him."
+
+"There he is!" cried Cheever. "I say, you master of the hounds, come
+on over here. We want you."
+
+Blushing red His Highness approached the noisy group.
+
+"Did you ever play baseball, kid?" inquired the captain of the Harvard
+team.
+
+"I believe so--once or twice," answered Walter soberly.
+
+"Want to come in with us as shortstop?"
+
+"Sure!"
+
+"I've a glove that will fit him," put in a man called Richardson.
+
+With scant ceremony His Highness was hustled into it and before he
+sensed what he was doing he was yelling with the rest, and head over
+ears in as exciting a game of ball as he had ever participated in.
+
+There were excellent players on both teams and the scoring ran so even
+that it was a toss-up who would win. From jest the game dropped into
+deadly earnestness.
+
+"It's your turn at the bat, Stubby," asserted Richardson to Walter
+unceremoniously. "Now remember who you're playing for. Don't hand Yale
+the game if you can help it."
+
+"I'll do my best," was the modest reply as the lad gripped the bat,
+then rubbed his hands in the dirt to make his hold more certain.
+
+The pitcher twirled a ball.
+
+"One strike!" droned the umpire.
+
+Again the leather disc spun through the air.
+
+"Two strikes," called the warning voice.
+
+"Great Scott, Stubbie, look out. Don't waste strokes like that, you
+boob. Let the things go by if they don't suit you. You don't _have_ to
+hit them."
+
+Once more the ball spun through the air. A smart crack followed and up
+into the blue leaped the ball, defying the pursuit of catcher or
+baseman.
+
+"Beat it into home plate, George!" coached the captain excitedly.
+"Move along, you fellows! It's a run for Stubbie! Slide in, Stubbie!
+Pick up your heels and sprint! Go it! Go it! Keep out of the way, you
+chaps. Hurray! Bully for you, kid! A beauty! _Harvard! Harvard!
+Harvard!_ Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah, _Harvard_!" The
+familiar cheer echoed loud above the shouting.
+
+"That lays them out! They're dead men!" cried Richardson
+triumphantly. "Where did you learn to play ball, young one?"
+
+"It's no fair borrowing a professional," the Yale leader objected,
+trying to make a joke of his defeat.
+
+"Jove, but that was a pretty hit!" Dick said quietly to Walter. "A
+peach!"
+
+"You're all right son!" affirmed the Harvard catcher. "Any time you
+are out of a job I'll recommend you to the Braves."
+
+A general laugh went up.
+
+Altogether the morning was a glorious day of comradeship, nor did it
+lessen His Highness's happiness when he returned to his quarters to
+see disembarking from Mr. Crowninshield's motor car the familiar form
+of Bob.
+
+"I brought your brother back from Seaver Bay with me," explained the
+financier. "It took him so long to make up his mind whether he'd come
+here or not that I went over there to-day to find out whether he was
+dead or alive."
+
+Mr. Crowninshield was plainly enjoying Walter's amazement.
+
+"And you've come to stay?" His Highness, all delight and confusion,
+contrived to stammer.
+
+"So they tell me," Bob laughed.
+
+He was a tall, handsome fellow with a grave mouth and thoughtful brown
+eyes; and when he spoke it was in a voice low and pleasing to the ear.
+
+"Oh, Bob and I have lots of secrets we haven't let you into, little
+chap," affirmed the master of Surfside gaily.
+
+"I never was so surprised!" gasped Walter.
+
+"We meant you should be. Your brother settled everything up over the
+telephone a day or two ago."
+
+"But, Bob, I don't see how you managed to get away from Seaver Bay so
+soon. You said it would probably be weeks before they could act on
+your resignation, even should you send it in, and afterward they would
+have to find some one to take your place."
+
+"Luck came my way," Bob replied. "The government was closing the Bell
+Reef station and they simply shifted the two men who were there over
+to our place."
+
+"Did you and O'Connel both decide to leave?"
+
+Bob's eyes twinkled.
+
+"O'Connel has just answered an advertisement as operator aboard a
+private yacht," said he, exchanging a glance with Mr. Crowninshield.
+Evidently there was some jest between them that amused them vastly.
+
+Curiously Walter looked from one to the other.
+
+"Better tell him, Bob," murmured the New Yorker in a low tone.
+
+"Why you see, kid, O'Connel had a chance to go as wireless man aboard
+the _Siren_."
+
+"Not--not the yacht that has Lola on it!"
+
+"The very same--at least we hope it has Lola."
+
+"But--but--I don't understand," muttered His Highness as if dazed.
+
+"Evidently, so far as we can make it out, the _Siren_ passed through
+the Canal and not daring to land, cruised along the coast where she
+must have met with rough weather. Of course that is purely surmise on
+the detective's part. Anyhow, her radio operator broke his arm and had
+to be replaced by another man so they advertised for some one. Luckily
+Dacie saw the item in the want column of the New York paper and set
+O'Connel on the job. The arrangements have all been by letter through
+the general mail delivery of New York so we still have no notion as to
+where the _Siren_ is. On Tuesday, however, O'Connel is to go over to
+New York, an agent is to meet him, and he is to be told where to go."
+
+"And I suppose Mr. Dacie or Mr. Lyman will be on hand and go along too
+to nail their man!" cried the delighted Walter.
+
+"Not so fast, son," returned Mr. Crowninshield. "We are not going to
+track them down so close and scare them off at the outset. No, we
+sha'n't send any one with O'Connel. He'll go and meet the agent and
+follow up directions precisely as if he knew nothing about Lola. With
+Bob here operating a wireless and O'Connel in constant communication
+with him, we will have all the inside information we're after.
+O'Connel can soon let us know where the yacht is; whether Lola is
+aboard of her; and exactly when and where the owners of the _Siren_
+are proposing to land. They can't make a move which we shall not know
+about in a flash. A pretty neat arrangement, I call it!" The New York
+magnate rubbed his hands together softly.
+
+"Gee! Well, Mr. Lyman and Mr. Dacie have sure been busy!" was Walter's
+comment.
+
+"You do not mention that I, too, have been busy," chuckled Mr.
+Crowninshield. "While you have been chasing the dogs over the fields
+and playing baseball," he winked at Bob, "I have been telephoning to
+the city for a radio set--a corking fine one--for Dick's birthday.
+Bob, here, is going to install it with the aid of some New York
+electricians. It should be all in place inside a few days. Then if
+O'Connel has any messages for us we shall be ready for him. In the
+meantime Bob is going to break in you youngsters so that you or Dick
+can listen in and get any news that may come when he is off duty or
+aboard the yacht. If those fellows who bagged Lola think themselves so
+all-fired clever they will find they are mistaken. I did not go into
+this game to be beaten." Mr. Crowninshield squared his jaw with
+bulldog resolution.
+
+"Now you and Bob trot off and have a visit together. Show him where
+his quarters will be. There is a room beside you where Jerry says he
+can bunk," continued the master of the estate. "Until the apparatus
+arrives from New York there won't be much he can do, so you better
+take the chance to go home and see your mother to-night--both of you.
+By to-morrow or the next day at the latest the electricians should be
+here with their stuff. Then things will hum!"
+
+With a jaunty wave of his hand Mr. Crowninshield wheeled about and Bob
+and Walter were left alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+LESSONS
+
+
+The joy of Mrs. King when she was informed that both her sons were to
+be all summer at Surfside cannot be pictured.
+
+"Why, it is like a dream or an answer to prayer!" ejaculated she.
+"Think of having you so near! Now were Bob to be electrocuted, I could
+get to him within half an hour."
+
+The fact evidently caused her profound satisfaction and each of her
+sons laughed.
+
+"I'm not planning to end my days by electrocution," smiled Bob.
+
+"Few do plan to," was the grim retort. "But anyway, whether or no, it
+is wonderful to have you so close at hand. I shall feel as if I had a
+great prop behind me."
+
+"I hope so, Mater," Bob said affectionately.
+
+"I suppose you'll not have much time to be spending at home, though,"
+mused the mother presently. "Your work, likely, will keep you busy."
+
+"I expect it will, especially during the next fortnight," Bob
+answered. "There will be all the apparatus to set up and get into
+working order; and in addition the equipment aboard the yacht must be
+overhauled. I want both wireless outfits in perfect condition for
+much depends on their being trim and tight."
+
+"It isn't probable you'll have much to handle that is important,"
+declared Mrs. King. "It won't be like dealing with government messages
+or wrecks." The two boys exchanged a glance. Much as they wished to
+they dared not initiate their mother into the secrets of Surfside.
+
+"You never can tell what messages you'll catch by wireless," Bob
+returned ambiguously. "Besides, Mr. Crowninshield intends to have some
+of his business relayed to him from New York."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"I guess I shall find plenty to do," the elder boy remarked.
+
+"Well, I reckon you will at that rate. But do be careful, won't you?
+And don't let Walter go dabbling with those evil wires."
+
+"I'll look out for him."
+
+The evasive answer did not, however, satisfy the woman.
+
+"Surely you don't mean to start Walter in learning about wireless, do
+you?"
+
+"I may give him a few lessons, yes."
+
+"Now don't you do it," retorted Mrs. King in spirited protest. "He was
+always a blunderer and were he to go messing about with electrical
+currents I should not have a happy moment. It is bad enough to have
+one of you in constant danger without two."
+
+"But it isn't dangerous," Walter interrupted.
+
+"Much you know about it," declared his mother, wheeling on him with
+scorn. "What experience have you had with radio, pray?"
+
+Meekly the lad closed his lips.
+
+"I am going to give some lessons to Mr. Crowninshield's son, Mater,
+and it seemed to me it was a good chance for Walter to learn
+something, too," Bob responded gently. "Sometime the kid might find it
+useful to have such knowledge. You never can tell. Nothing we learn is
+ever wasted."
+
+"No, I suppose not," was the grudging reply. "Well, just stand over
+him and see that he doesn't kill himself."
+
+"I've no desire to have him killed."
+
+"No more you have. Of course not," Mrs. King smiled. "But you know if
+there is any way of crossing the wires he'll do it. He's made that
+way. Still, unlucky as he is, I'd not care to lose him."
+
+Fondly she beamed on the ill-starred Walter.
+
+"I'll keep at his elbow, Mother," said Bob soothingly.
+
+"I know you will. You were ever good to your brother." She patted the
+big fellow's hand. "And mind the pair of you come to see me when you
+can. You'll be busy, I know; but you mustn't forget your mother."
+
+"We'll not do that," cried the boys in chorus.
+
+Nevertheless in spite of the promise there were few opportunities
+during the next few days for either of them to go a-visiting. The New
+York electricians arrived and with them came aerials, generators,
+detectors, tuners, insulators, amplifiers, and all the hundred and one
+parts necessary for a perfectly equipped radio station. Mr.
+Crowninshield had indulged in no cheap outfit. On the contrary he had
+purchased the best there was to be had and as the coils of copper
+wire, glistening wire rope, and spotless porcelain insulators were
+unpacked Bob's eyes sparkled with anticipation. With the touch of a
+connoisseur he handled the materials, examining the quality of each.
+What was Greek to the others was familiar ground to him.
+
+A low building adjoining the boathouse had been hurriedly constructed
+and it was here, where the new station was to be situated, that an
+interested audience congregated daily. Perched on an overturned
+packing case Mr. Crowninshield surveyed the installment of the novel
+toy which was not only to gratify Dick's birthday longings but also,
+he hoped, bring to him the information he coveted concerning Lola.
+
+Much as he knew about stocks and bonds he was as much of a novice in
+the presence of things electrical as were either his son or Walter
+King, and therefore to their avalanche of questions he added still
+others, gratefully accepting the information Bob offered with the
+eagerness of one who is not too superior to learn.
+
+"What is that thing they are putting in place now?" inquired he. "And
+what is it for?"
+
+"Oh, even I can answer that, Dad!" cried the delighted Dick. "That is
+the aerial or antenna and it catches the wireless waves as they travel
+through the air. The higher and longer it is the better, so far as
+messages are concerned--that is, within certain limits."
+
+His father's eyes twinkled.
+
+"Where did you pick up so much knowledge?" chuckled he.
+
+"Bob told me."
+
+"I'll be bound he did," sniffed the man. "I wasn't asking about the
+antenna, though. Green as I am I recognized that. It was that other
+wire that interested me."
+
+"The lead in?" asked Bob quickly.
+
+"I guess so, although I never was introduced to it by name before."
+
+Everybody laughed at the naive reply.
+
+"The lead in, sir, is the conductor that carries the wireless waves
+from the aerial into the house. The idea is not to have it too long.
+It must run as directly as possible and be very carefully insulated
+from any buildings, trees, or masts because of the current."
+
+"I see. And that other thing?"
+
+"That is the lightning arrester. It can be fastened inside or outside
+the station, as is most convenient; but it is compulsory to have it to
+satisfy the insurance companies. The antenna is secured to it and by
+means of a ground wire any electrical discharges will in a great
+measure pass off through the earth."
+
+"Mater should see that," murmured Walter mischievously to Bob.
+
+The elder brother nodded humorously.
+
+"The ground helps a lot in radio work," continued he. "In fact were
+it not for good old Mother Earth furnishing her aid, we should have no
+wireless at all. One side of our circuit passes through the ground and
+the other half, which completes it, goes through the air between the
+aerials of the different stations. Therefore you can readily see that
+it is most important to make sure of a good earth connection. Often
+city water pipes are resorted to, the contact being made by soldering
+a wire to the water faucet. Down here on the Cape, however, where
+there are only wells and windmills we shall have to sink some metal
+plates in the ground and connect the wires with these."
+
+"And that is all that goes outside the building?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The lead in brings the wires into the station and they are
+then connected up with the receiver. Sometimes there are separate
+antennæ for sending and receiving messages. Of course the big stations
+always have two. But for a place this size and doing such a small
+amount of business we can send and receive from the same wire. With a
+tuner, which can be tuned to bring you into the same key with the
+station you are listening to; a detector to catch the signal after the
+persons talking have been brought into tune; and an amplifier that
+intensifies or increases the sound you have your receiving outfit.
+Batteries you know about without my telling you; and the head 'phones
+too, which you have of course seen telephone operators wear hundreds
+of times."
+
+"Yes, I believe I should recognize one of those," laughed Mr.
+Crowninshield. "So that is all there is to it, eh?"
+
+"That is about all there is to receiving, yes."
+
+"The sending part of the machine is more complicated, is it?"
+
+"Yes, sir. And so is the job," smiled Bob.
+
+"I mean to learn to transmit as well as receive," put in Dick.
+
+His Highness grinned derisively.
+
+"Do you indeed!" said he. "Well, there is nothing like aiming high.
+But I guess for the present you'll be pretty well content if you get
+so you can take down the Morse code as it comes in."
+
+"Is it so hard?"
+
+"That depends on how good you are at memorizing dots and dashes.
+French verbs are nothing compared to it."
+
+"I hadn't thought of learning to read code."
+
+"You have to, son, if you are going into wireless. With a tutor here
+on the spot, it should not be difficult. Besides, that is half the
+fun. I want you to learn this thing intelligently and not just make a
+plaything of it. I've done my part by buying you the best outfit there
+was to be had. The rest is up to you."
+
+"That's square, Dick," chimed in Walter.
+
+"Sure it is. I'll go to it and do my darndest, too, Dad," returned the
+boy.
+
+"That's the proper spirit!" exclaimed his father.
+
+His Highness smiled with ironic satisfaction.
+
+"If Bob is to tutor you you will study harder than you ever did in
+your precious life," whispered he. "I know Bob. He can be stiff as any
+college professor. He tutored me in Latin once to pull me through my
+exams and I barely lived. I don't envy you, old man."
+
+"Gee! Will it be that bad?"
+
+"You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's all. Take it from
+me," was the teasing rejoinder.
+
+"Oh, I hope he won't bone down as hard as that," wailed Dick
+dolefully. "I want to get some sport out of this thing. I wasn't
+planning to be turned into a galley slave during hot weather."
+
+Seeing that he had his victim thoroughly terrified Walter thought it
+time to shift the jest.
+
+"Don't fret. I was only jollying, old chap," declared he. "Bob won't
+really stand over you with a whip. He is the best fellow alive. Still,
+he will expect you to work if you set out to do so. He is always
+terribly in earnest about whatever he undertakes. I suppose that is
+why he has got on so well and never failed to make a success of what
+he has tried to do. You can count on him to duff into this job with
+the same spirit. You'll get your money's worth of instruction, you may
+be sure, if he has been hired to give it."
+
+Dick shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Well, I guess I can stand it if he is not too rough on me," responded
+he. "I do not mind studying so much if it is about a subject I like;
+and I am crazy about wireless."
+
+[Illustration: "You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's
+all. Take it from me." _Page_ 154.]
+
+"Oh, it isn't the wireless part I object to," drawled His Highness.
+"It is that dot and dash code that gets me. I never could learn it if
+I tried ten years; and as for taking twenty words a minute in any
+language--well, they could have the whole outfit before I'd do it."
+
+"I shall be interested to see what speed I can make," mused Dick.
+
+"Speed! You won't make any speed at all--at least not at first, so do
+not hope or expect to. If you even get the words correctly you will be
+going some," sniffed Walter. "Still, I guess you need not worry for
+the present about receiving or sending messages for Bob will give you
+a lot to think about before that. As for the Morse code, you may not
+meet it for weeks."
+
+"What do you mean?" Dick inquired.
+
+"Oh, Bob will get right down to brass tacks at the start and find out
+what you know about electricity and wireless anyway. That is the way
+he did to me when he tutored me in Latin. He wasn't content with just
+translating Caesar but must needs splash right into Roman history and
+make me hunt up everything I could find about the Goths and the rest
+of those heathen tribes. Gee, but he made me sweat! He will do that
+with you and your wireless. If you think you are going to begin taking
+messages in code you don't know Bob."
+
+Having delivered himself of these brotherly appreciations His Highness
+walked away, leaving Dick to ponder on the joyous prospects they
+contained. His sinister prediction Richard Crowninshield soon found to
+be true. Thorough was no name for Bob King. Before a week had passed
+Dick whimsically remarked to his father that it must be a task to Bob
+to swim on the top of the sea without diving down with a spy glass and
+examining every particle that was on the ocean's bottom. The fact that
+the new tutor never dipped into any subject but instead explored it
+greatly delighted Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"I shouldn't mind letting that young chap tutor me a little," observed
+he half jestingly to his wife. "I am as vague as a fog when it comes
+to this wireless business. I should get a lot of information if I
+listened in on Dick's lessons."
+
+The words, idly spoken, much to the amusement of all became a reality.
+After drifting in to the first talk Mr. Crowninshield came to the
+second lesson and from then on he became a regular pupil.
+
+"You needn't be afraid I have come here to criticize," explained he
+with appealing simplicity. "I'm green as grass and have come to
+learn."
+
+"It is just that you have not had the time to take up radio, sir," was
+Bob's modest answer. "We all have our specialties."
+
+"That's right," agreed the capitalist. "Sometimes I fall to wondering
+whether it is better to know something about everything or everything
+about something."
+
+"To know something about everything would be spreading it pretty thin,
+I am afraid," was Bob's characteristic reply.
+
+"That wouldn't do for you, eh?" remarked Mr. Crowninshield with a
+chuckle.
+
+"It would not satisfy me; no, sir. As it is I cannot begin to master
+what there is to be known concerning this one branch of science. Were
+my head to be filled with a little of everything I should feel as if
+it were a grab bag."
+
+"Many heads are," was the laughing retort. "Still, with each
+successive generation rolling up its accumulation of knowledge the
+intellectual snowball is getting to be of ponderous size. History's
+remedy for this malady has always been to knock the whole structure to
+pieces every now and then and begin again. Perhaps we shall have to
+have another period of the Dark Ages and another Renaissance to set us
+right."
+
+Thoughtfully he puffed his cigar.
+
+"This wireless now--think of the new fields it has opened up. Not only
+are our ships equipped so that they can send and receive all sorts of
+messages, get their location, be informed concerning harbor entrances
+and coast lines; set their compasses and clocks but soon wireless
+telephones will be installed in the staterooms of all passenger
+steamers so that those crossing the ocean can talk with their friends
+ashore any time they may elect to do so. Of course there are times
+when such a thing might have its advantages; but for tired
+people--doctors and the like--who are trying to get to a spot where
+they cannot be reached by business cares it will be a negative sort of
+blessing. I, myself, for example, always count on my stay on shipboard
+as a sort of vacation, an interval when nobody can bother me with
+office matters. But if in future I must have a wireless telephone at
+my bedside I shall be no more isolated than I should have been had I
+remained at home. Pretty soon there will be no place under the sun
+where a man can go and get peace and quiet. The Maine woods will be
+full of radio outfits and the tops of distant mountains in touch with
+the stock market. Even an aeroplane carries its wireless. It is
+hideous to contemplate!" he sighed. "As for city life, we shall be
+beset wherever we go. And if the fashion set by some of our city
+police of having wires tucked away in uniforms and a wireless receiver
+carried in the pocket prevails in due time even when we walk the
+streets we shall all be in constant touch with our particular
+headquarters."
+
+At his rueful expression Bob could not but laugh.
+
+"There certainly is no question that a great day for wireless is
+coming," replied he. "Whether we like it or not the thing has come to
+stay and as yet we have only half discovered what can be done with it.
+It is undoubtedly rough on those who want isolation. But most people
+don't. They are glad to feel, for instance, that the ocean is so small
+they can talk with their friends while they are crossing it. Besides,
+you must not forget how much good ship surgeons and doctors can now do
+for those who otherwise would have no aid at hand. Remote lighthouses
+and small ships that need medical service often signal the big liners
+now and ask advice of the ship's doctor. I heard a little while ago of
+a lighthouse keeper whose leg was amputated under the wireless
+direction of one of our great surgeons. Had instructions not been
+available the man would probably have died of blood poison. And many
+times there is sickness aboard small vessels that are out to sea. They
+signal the symptoms of their patients and the doctor hundreds of miles
+away replies with a remedy. As all boats carry medicine chests the
+distant physician can easily designate what dose to give."
+
+"That is a fine idea!" nodded Mr. Crowninshield. "I hadn't thought of
+treating illness by radio. A bit tough on the doctor, though. It must
+keep him busy."
+
+"I am afraid it does. In fact some of the ship's surgeons are
+demanding higher pay because of the rush of work put on them. To have
+the health of a large ship under one's supervision is task enough
+without treating all the people sailing the ocean. They say some
+doctors are all in after a trip simply because of the extra calls that
+pour in from outside ships and stations. It keeps them hopping day and
+night, for of course no decent doctor will ever refuse aid to those
+who are suffering."
+
+"Humph! That is quite a new phase of wireless."
+
+"It proves it can save life not only at a time of shipwreck but in
+other crises as well," Bob responded with enthusiasm. "Now all that
+remains is for some clever fellow to come along who shall find a
+remedy for the difficulties that baffle the radio man. Then the
+science will come into its own. We must get rid of static
+interference--our greatest bugbear."
+
+"Come, come, son! You must not spring any of your technical terms on
+me. Remember that while I am old in years I am still young in radio
+knowledge. Before you go slipping those phrases jauntily off your
+tongue you have got to begin at the very beginning and tell us the
+laws on which the radio telephone is based."
+
+"That is a rather big order, sir," Bob replied modestly. "However, I
+am willing to try to fill it. I can at least pass on to you all that I
+know myself."
+
+"That will satisfy me," affirmed the capitalist. "I see no reason,
+either, why your young brother cannot arrange his work so that he can
+join our class. The more the merrier. I even propose to drag in my
+wife and daughter. If in future we are to have wireless apparatus
+wherever we go it will be unintelligent not to know something about
+it."
+
+"I am afraid it is going to pursue us pretty much to every corner of
+the earth," smiled Bob gravely. "You see, one of its great advantages
+is that it can go where the telephone with its myriad wires and poles
+cannot. It would be out of the question, for example, to string
+telephone wires through densely wooded sections and to the tops of
+high mountains, and even if the impossible could be accomplished the
+expense of keeping such lines in proper repair would be so great that
+no one could afford to shoulder it. Poles rot and wires rust out with
+wear and exposure to weather. Then there is the damage from gales,
+ice-storms, and falling timber. Even under the best of conditions
+linemen would be kept busy all the time repairing the equipment. And
+as if these difficulties were not great enough in times of peace think
+of the added burden of protecting miles and miles of telephone wires
+in time of war. Contrast with this the small district to be protected
+when it comes to a wireless station. Instead of having soldiers
+scattered through miles of territory the few needed can be
+concentrated within easy reach of provisions and reinforcements. And
+the same advantages that the radio telephone has on land prevail as
+well at sea for transmission of messages by cable is a frightfully
+expensive thing. Not only is the laying of such a line difficult,
+dangerous, and costly, but to maintain it is expensive and hard as
+well. In time of war it is particularly at a disadvantage since the
+cable can be cut and all communication with the outside world easily
+severed. Wireless, on the other hand, is not dependent on any such
+extravagant equipment. It finds its own way through air, water, and
+earth with very little help from us; and if it has its defects we must
+not forget that the first telephones were far from perfect, and that
+both telephone and cable have also their disadvantages."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+INFORMATION FROM A NEW SOURCE
+
+
+During the interval when the new radio station was being put in order
+and the parts of the outfit assembled Bob King and the two city
+electricians toiled early and late. They scarcely stopped to eat, so
+feverish was their haste. Mr. Crowninshield had let it be known that
+if the wireless apparatus was in condition to send and receive
+messages within a week he would add to the regular wages of the
+mechanics a generous bonus and this incentive was sufficient to cause
+the avaricious workmen to transgress the laws of the labor unions and
+forget any fatigue they may have experienced.
+
+As for Bob he was far too eager to get into touch with O'Connel and
+the _Siren_ to covet extra pay for rushing through the installment of
+the new service. A private signal had been agreed upon between him and
+his former associate and also an hour set when each day the operator
+aboard the yacht was to call him. O'Connel was to allow seven days for
+the work at Surfside to be finished and then his messages were to
+begin and both Mr. Crowninshield and his alert employee meant to be
+ready for him.
+
+Hence Bob whipped on his helpers, using every ray of daylight that
+could be turned to the purpose and much of the night. Even after
+everything was placed and connected up there would yet remain a great
+deal of testing out and tinkering before the set would be in perfect
+working condition and it was for this delay he was preparing.
+
+Much to his surprise, however, the parts went together with
+astonishingly little trouble. They had been well made and fitted
+perfectly. Everything needed was at hand and in consequence there was
+no sending to the city for materials and waiting until they could be
+shipped. Therefore as the allotted time sped by the job that
+accompanied it moved rapidly to its end.
+
+"We are going to make it, sir," ejaculated Bob with shining eyes,
+beaming enthusiastically on the master of the estate. "She will be all
+set up and working by Saturday. That is the day O'Connel was to make
+his first try to get into communication with us. I can hardly wait to
+hear what he has to say."
+
+"I am pretty anxious to know myself," returned the elder man. "If he
+can get a message through we should then find out where the yacht is
+and whether Lola is aboard her."
+
+"I'm crazy to learn what has become of the villains who pinched the
+dog," added Bob. "Do you take it they are still cruising with the
+boat?"
+
+"Oh, they must have been paid off and landed somewhere," was the
+answer. "There would be no sense in detaining the thieves on the ship
+until now. It would only mean paying them and having them to feed;
+besides one does not care to make two rascals members of a house
+party."
+
+"You think they have escaped us then."
+
+"If by escaping you mean getting to the city yes," nodded Mr.
+Crowninshield. "But I do not feel at all sure with Dacie and Lyman on
+their track that they will be entirely safe and unmolested in town.
+Those detectives are like bloodhounds and will run them down no matter
+where they may be hiding. The mere fact that they have got to New York
+or Boston will not be much protection."
+
+"You intend to get them then as well as to recover Lola."
+
+"I certainly do," retorted Mr. Crowninshield with emphasis. "I am
+going to recover my property, jail the thieves, and bring the people
+who received the stolen goods to justice."
+
+"They have a week's start of us," Bob observed doubtfully.
+
+"But we have not been idle all that time, man, Dacie and Lyman have
+been working; O'Connel has been using his eyes and ears--I hope; and
+we have this wireless set up."
+
+"Yes, we have certainly accomplished something," admitted Bob.
+
+"Accomplished something! I should say we had! Besides, this is not the
+sort of case one need hurry on. Nothing is going to be done suddenly,"
+explained the financier. "Having got the dog the people on the yacht
+will move at their leisure. They do not fear that any one is at their
+heels chasing them up. Furthermore the sea offers unending
+concealment for their crime should they be pursued and trapped. It is
+the thieves themselves who are the scapegoats and the ones in danger,
+according to their reckoning."
+
+"I suppose so," agreed Bob. "Still, I cannot help wishing we might
+have got after them without even these few days intervening."
+
+"You forget, my son, that our wireless is going to cover space so
+quickly that hereafter we shall have our information very quickly and
+shall be exactly as well off as most detectives used to be in double
+the time."
+
+"Yes, that is so."
+
+"Once we are in touch with O'Connel we can know every thought they
+think aboard the _Siren_ as soon as they have thought it."
+
+The uncertainties that clouded the younger man's face vanished.
+
+"That's right," smiled he. "From now on we should be able to checkmate
+them pretty neatly."
+
+Mr. Crowninshield put his finger to his lips significantly. The two
+city electricians were approaching.
+
+"Well, sir," began the foreman, "I guess your wireless tests out
+pretty near right; we've signalled our home company and got a reply
+from New York clear as a bell. With this chap at hand," he motioned to
+Bob, "you won't be needing us much longer, I reckon."
+
+"Have you got to rush back to another job?" questioned the financier.
+
+"Well, there is always plenty to do," grinned the man good-humoredly.
+
+"You couldn't remain over a few days and overhaul my yacht, could you?
+She is anchored out in the bay close at hand. If you could be
+tightening things aboard her and seeing everything is right I would
+keep this young man at this shore station."
+
+"Why--" the mechanic hesitated, fingering the roll of bills that
+stuffed his pocket. "Why," repeated he, "I imagine we could fix things
+up with the boss and stick round until whatever you wanted done was
+completed, sir."
+
+"Arrange it then. Get the yacht into condition quickly so we can put
+to sea any day now that we choose."
+
+"We'll do that, Mr. Crowninshield," responded the men in chorus.
+"Unless there is a lot to do to the outfit--"
+
+"There isn't. It was all new in the fall; and we have been in Florida
+this winter too, so the ship has been in commission and constantly
+taken care of."
+
+"In that case there will probably be little repairing," nodded the
+spokesman. "Maybe tightening and oiling, and a few small parts to be
+replaced."
+
+"That is about it."
+
+"Couldn't I--" Bob began but Mr. Crowninshield held up a cautioning
+finger.
+
+"I'd rather have you on shore," announced he quietly. Then turning to
+the electricians he added, "I suppose the radio aboard the yacht does
+not differ much from this set. There will be nothing but what you can
+handle."
+
+"Nothing, sir; nothing at all," was the answer. "Besides, we are quite
+familiar with shipboard equipment. We do a lot of such work. Just
+before we came down here we went down to Long Island and put the
+_Siren_, a very fine steam yacht, into shape."
+
+"The _Siren_, eh?" repeated Mr. Crowninshield as indifferently as he
+could.
+
+"Yes, sir. Perhaps you know the boat, sir."
+
+"I've never been aboard her," replied the capitalist slowly. "She
+belongs to----"
+
+"To Mr. Daly, sir. As fine a yacht as was ever in the water."
+
+Daly! At the name both Bob and his employer started. It was the very
+man Mr. Crowninshield had suspected.
+
+"So Daly has a place down on Long Island, has he?" drawled he.
+
+"Oh, no, sir. Mr. Daly's place is on an island off the Maine coast. He
+had just put in at the Long Island port for some minor repairs. He
+said he was going to cruise a while this summer and wanted to be sure
+everything was shipshape before going to Maine. The mate told me they
+were waiting to pick up some people at Buzzard's Bay."
+
+"Going to take the yacht through the Canal?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"An interesting trip," observed Mr. Crowninshield slowly. "That Canal
+is quite a time saver for New Yorkers." He yawned and started to move
+away. Bob held his breath, waiting.
+
+"I suppose you don't know where Daly was going for his cruise,"
+inquired he over his shoulder.
+
+"No, sir, I don't," was the response of the workman who seemed
+flattered at having aroused this degree of interest in his story. "I
+believe, though, that before they started they were to put into
+Newport for provisions."
+
+Newport! Then it was doubtless Newport where O'Connel was to be taken
+aboard! Bob dared not raise his eyes lest the excitement that danced
+in them be detected.
+
+"And after provisioning up there Daly was to cruise, eh?" called Mr.
+Crowninshield. "Well, the Atlantic is wide and he will have plenty of
+room."
+
+"That's right, sir," chuckled the mechanic, delighted by the
+condescension of the great man whom all New Yorkers knew by
+reputation. Think of hobnobbing in this pleasant fashion with one of
+the big financiers of Wall Street!
+
+"How simple and kind a gentleman Mr. Crowninshield is!" commented he
+patronizingly after the capitalist was out of hearing. "And so
+artless!"
+
+Bob struggled not to smile.
+
+Kind Mr. Crowninshield might be but hardly simple. Certainly not
+artless. What a rare lot of amusing incidents the world contained!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+BOB AS PEDAGOGUE
+
+
+The wireless was now in commission and the next morning, after having
+waited until the hour designated for O'Connel's signal and received no
+message, Bob and his pupils assembled for their first lesson, not in a
+stuffy room but on the broad, well-shaded veranda of Surfside. A cool
+breeze rippled the water, stirring it into tiny waves and as Dick
+dropped into one of the big wicker chairs he fidgeted to be out in the
+freshly-painted knockabout that bobbed invitingly at the float.
+
+His father intercepted his yearning glance and instantly interpreted
+it.
+
+"Come, now!" said he half playfully. "Quit making sheep's eyes at that
+boat, son. An hour's wireless lesson isn't going to cut your morning
+very short or prevent you from having plenty of time to sail, swim, or
+motor. Whether it does or not you've got to endure it. Your summer
+holiday is long enough in all conscience. If I had until October with
+nothing more arduous to do than put up with an hour's instruction
+early each day I should think myself almighty lucky."
+
+"I am lucky, Dad," conceded Dick quickly, "only----"
+
+"Lucky! I should say you were! You don't know what work means. Well,
+it was you who wanted this radio outfit. You were all for it and----"
+
+"I am for it still, Dad," interrupted Dick eagerly.
+
+"Then go to it and master it," retorted his father. "If you do not
+relish the lessons swallow them down for the sake of the fun you are
+going to have later; for if you are intelligent enough to handle your
+wireless with some brain and understanding you are going to enjoy it a
+hundred per cent. more in the end."
+
+"I know I shall," Dick agreed. "It is only that I am crazy to get at
+the thing itself."
+
+The boy's father shook his head.
+
+"You are like all your generation," said he severely. "Eager to leap
+the preliminaries and land at the top of the ladder with the first
+bound. It is an impatient age and the vice extends to the old as well
+as the young. Nobody wants to fit himself for anything nowadays. In my
+youth men expected to serve apprenticeships and did not hope to
+achieve a position until they had learned how to fill it. But now
+everybody leaps at the big job and the big salary that goes with it
+and blunders along, taking out his ignorance and lack of experience on
+the general public. As for you youngsters, you covet at fifteen
+everything that those who are fifty have. You want automobiles, boats,
+victrolas and radio telephones before you know how to run them, much
+less pay for them. Look at Bob, here. He is worth two of you for he
+can earn what he has. Often I tell myself I am a fool to indulge you
+and Nancy as I do. I ought by rights to make you do without what you
+want until you can foot the bill for it." Mr. Crowninshield took a few
+hasty paces across the piazza. "Still," added he, his voice softening,
+"I fancy that scheme would be a sight harder on me than on you, for I
+like nothing better than to get you what you want."
+
+For a moment he paused, looking fondly at his son. Then as if afraid
+of himself he bristled and continued: "But to return to this
+wireless--remember that if you do not learn something about it and how
+to use it I shall take it away. I mean it, mind!"
+
+"Yes, Dad," was the timid answer.
+
+With this awful alternative looming like a specter in his path was it
+to be wondered at that Dick resolutely turned his gaze from the
+allurements of the harbor and settled himself in the big chair with
+all his attention focussed on Bob King's radio lesson. Moreover, human
+nature is selfish enough to like company in its misery and were not
+his mother, Nancy and Walter consigned to the same fate as himself?
+
+Therefore the initial lesson began gayly.
+
+At first Bob, seated in the chair of state facing his class, was shy
+and embarrassed; but soon he forgot himself in his subject and losing
+his hesitancy he spoke with the authority of one who has mastered his
+art.
+
+"I am going to begin," said he, "just as they began with me at the
+radio station for I think if you get the principles of wireless at the
+outset you will find it much easier to understand it. And to do this
+we shall not start with wires, generators, detectors, or anything of
+that sort; instead we must go back of them all to the earth and the
+air, and learn how it is possible for sound to travel without the aid
+of human devices. For in reality there is something that takes the
+place of man-made wires. This is the ether. Surrounding the earth
+moves the air we breathe; and as we go higher this air becomes thinner
+and thinner until, by and by, a height is reached where the air gives
+place to ether, a sort of radiant energy that bridges the zone between
+the air space that encircles the earth and the sun, and brings to us
+its heat. This great sea of ether is made up of particles that are
+never still and which are so small that they get between every
+substance they encounter, thereby becoming a universal medium for
+transmitting light, heat, color and many other things to our earth.
+Without this body of ether, there would be no agency to pass on to us
+(as well as to the many other planets of our solar system and those
+outside it) the energy the sun generates, which is the thing that
+keeps us alive."
+
+Bob waited a moment to make sure that his point was clear and then
+proceeded:
+
+"Now this energy as it moves through the ether takes the form of
+waves; and these waves go out not in a single train but since the
+ether is continually disturbed by the sun, in series of wave trains
+that vary in frequency. Such waves are electromagnetic in character,
+and light, heat, sound, and the waves carrying wireless messages are
+all of a similar type, differing only in their relative rates of
+vibration. If unobstructed, and moving through free ether, all of them
+travel at practically the same velocity, that is about one hundred
+eighty-six thousand miles a second. When, however, they encounter
+other substances, as they are continually bound to do, this rate of
+velocity changes. The waves of sound, for example, sent out by the
+wireless telephone are very slow compared with the high-rate
+vibrations that produce waves resulting in light."
+
+Again the youthful teacher paused.
+
+"Now this constant turmoil in the ether which creates the magnetic
+area explains why the magnetized needle of a compass unfailingly
+points north and south. This one simple fact is a certain proof of its
+existence. And once granting a magnetic field to be there it is less
+difficult to understand how wireless waves are produced in this
+congenial medium and find their way through it, following in their
+journey the curve of the earth's surface."
+
+Bob smiled at his audience encouragingly.
+
+"If you can once get this wave law through your heads the rest is not
+hard," asserted he, "for the whole wireless system is based on wave
+motion."
+
+"With an ocean spread out before us we ought to be able to understand
+waves," interpolated Nancy.
+
+"We ought," nodded Bob. "And yet better than using the ocean as an
+illustration imagine a small pond. Think, instead, of a nice quiet
+little round pond if you can. Now when you chuck a stick or a pebble
+into that still water you know how the ripples will at once go out.
+There will be rings of them, and the bigger they get the fainter they
+will be. In other words, as the area widens the strength of the waves
+decreases; and as this same principle applies to radio you can see
+that it takes a lot of energy from a wireless station to reach a
+receiver a great distance away."
+
+"I've got that!" cried Dick with such spontaneity that every one
+laughed.
+
+"Wave lengths, however, have nothing to do with actual distance," went
+on Bob quickly. "Of course we think of the wave length as the distance
+between one ridge of water and another. There is, though, no law that
+would make it possible to translate these spaces into our scale of
+miles, for sometimes they are near together, sometimes far apart.
+Distance, therefore, depends on the speed with which the wave travels
+and the frequency with which the water is disturbed. If you keep
+tossing things in quick succession into the water you will get a
+correspondingly quick succession of waves. The law governing wireless
+waves is exactly the same. Their length depends on the velocity of the
+wave and the frequency of the oscillations that cause it. Or to put it
+another way, in order to reckon a wave length you must determine its
+velocity (which is not impossible when you remember that sound travels
+about one thousand one hundred and twenty feet every second) and the
+number of vibrations the particular note causing the wave is making
+per second. Now science has been able to compute just how many
+complete vibrations a certain note, key, or pitch as you may please to
+call it, makes each second, or how many times the particles of air
+vibrate back and forth when that especial note is sent out.
+
+"Suppose, for example, a note makes 240 complete vibrations a second
+while traveling 1,120 feet; if we divide 1,120 by 240 we shall get
+4.66 as the wave length of this note. So it is the pitch to which a
+note is keyed that helps determine its distance; and the force
+employed to start the note sent out through the magnetic field. That
+is why a message projected into the ether from a high-power station
+carries a greater distance than one sent from a station where the
+power is weaker. It is by power and pitch, then, not by length that we
+gauge wireless waves. Do you see that?"
+
+A chorus of assent greeted the question.
+
+"That's bully!" Bob announced boyishly; then blushed at the
+undignified ejaculation.
+
+"Don't you be fussed, young man," smiled Mr. Crowninshield. "We're all
+of an age here."
+
+"I quite forgot," apologized the tutor.
+
+"That is exactly what I want you to do," returned the master of
+Surfside. "Ignore us old people. We are only listening in, anyway, and
+have no earthly right to be here."
+
+"Still, I wish to treat you with----"
+
+"It's all right, Bob. We understand," put in Mrs. Crowninshield
+reassuringly.
+
+"Well, then, if you will excuse me I'm off again," replied the boy.
+"And now that we've got wave lengths settled to our satisfaction we
+must remember some other things. One is that sound travels not only
+through the air but through the water. In fact, sounds are louder
+under water than they are above it. Water is not only a better medium
+for carrying sound but also, since it contains fewer obstructions,
+sound waves travel farther through it. Another thing which we must not
+forget is that our ears do not hear all the sounds that go on about
+us. The merciful Lord has arranged that when there are less than
+twenty-four vibrations a second, or more than forty thousand they
+escape us. But a wireless instrument, on the contrary is spared
+nothing, having attached to it a detector that catches every sound and
+an amplifier that magnifies it and makes it discernible to our ears.
+When you listen in on a wireless telephone you will be uncontestably
+conscious of this. Also you must take into consideration that the
+waves sent out by a radio transmitter are not choppy, irregular ones
+such as you get when a stone is tossed into the water; wireless waves
+go out in regular, well-formed relays that neither overlap nor obscure
+one another. Were this not so the signals made would be jumbled
+together and utterly unintelligible."
+
+"Sure they would!" Bob's young brother nodded.
+
+"Now to insure these several results we are compelled to resort to the
+help of scientific apparatus. Therefore at every receiving station we
+have devices that will intercept the waves as they come in;
+retransform them into electrical oscillations; and catching the weak
+oscillations make them strong enough to be read. Hence we use some
+type of induction coil by means of which a battery current of such low
+pressure and diffused flow as scarcely to be felt will be transformed
+or concentrated into a pressure that is very powerful. In order to
+form wireless waves we must have a frequency of at least one hundred
+thousand vibrations a second; and as it is out of the question to
+produce these by mechanical means we employ a group of Leyden jars.
+Such jars you have of course seen. They have in them two pieces of
+tinfoil separated by glass, which is a nonconductor of electric
+currents, and various other acids and minerals. When you connect a
+number of these small jars together you have a battery as powerful as
+that of a large single jar."
+
+"I never saw jars like those," objected Dick.
+
+Bob beamed at the intelligence of the demurrer.
+
+"When I say jar," explained he, "it does not necessarily mean that
+these jars are of the round, cylindrical shape that comes to mind when
+you mention the word; on the contrary Leyden jars are often flat
+because such a form makes them more compact. That is also why we use
+several little ones instead of one big one. But whatever their shape
+the principle involved is always the same. When the terminals are
+connected with a current the jar will not only receive but will retain
+a charge equal in pressure to that of the device sending the current.
+And when you go even farther and bring the terminals near together,
+the quick discharge that takes place creates an electric spark which
+is in reality a series of alternating flashes that come so fast as to
+be blurred into what appears to be one. Could we separate these
+flashes we should find that each of them lasts less than a thousandth
+part of a second. The frequency of such oscillations is regulated by
+what is technically termed capacity, that is the size of the Leyden
+jar. The smaller the capacity the greater the frequency of the
+flashes.
+
+"Now this spark, or oscillatory discharge emitted from the Leyden jar,
+does not result from a single traveling of the current all in one
+direction; instead the electricity moves back and forth, or
+alternates, and the space where the discharge takes place (and which,
+by the way, can be lengthened or decreased as pleases the operator) is
+known as the spark gap."
+
+"But I should think this explosion of the spark would make a noise,"
+commented Walter.
+
+"Bully for you, little brother!" returned Bob, smiling at His
+Highness. "You are quite an electrician. If the current is strong, or,
+in other words, if the discharge is a high frequency one, it does.
+Hence something has to be used to deaden the sound just as a muffler
+is used on a motor boat. It is important, however, that this muffler
+should not prevent the operator from watching the condition of his
+spark for otherwise he could not keep track of his battery or know
+whether it was on the job or not. So you will find little peepholes
+of mica or glass in the sides of the muffler."
+
+"Windows," murmured Nancy grasping the idea and translating it into
+the vernacular.
+
+"Exactly," Bob agreed. Evidently his audience were understanding what
+he was trying to make clear to them.
+
+"Now we have our high frequency oscillations occurring in the spark
+discharged from the Leyden jar and jumping the spark gap; nevertheless
+they would not do us any good were there not some way to use and
+regulate them. This brings us to the induction coil of which I spoke a
+second ago."
+
+"It sounds very terrible," smiled Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"It isn't, though," answered Bob, returning the smile. "In fact it is
+a very simple device--nothing more than a dozen or so twists of copper
+wire reeled about a wooden frame exactly as strands of thread might be
+wound round a spool. One end of the inductance is connected
+permanently with the ground and from the other end two movable wires
+go out, one of which can be connected with the spark gap and the other
+with the antenna that goes into the air and catches the sound waves.
+There isn't anything very terrible about that, you see."
+
+"Antenna is what butterflies have," suggested Nancy vaguely.
+
+"Quite right!" assented the wireless man. "Only radio antennæ are not
+to feel with--at least not in the same way. Nevertheless they do reach
+out and capture the sound. On all wireless stations you will notice
+the masts that support them. Sometimes there is one wire, sometimes a
+group. It is the wires themselves, remember, not the masts, which are
+the antennæ. Nowadays, however, you will occasionally see an indoor
+aerial used in connection with small, low-power outfits. It does away
+with the masts and outside equipment and frequently serves the same
+purpose quite satisfactorily. But most persons prefer the older method
+and for long-distance work it has, up to date proved to be
+indispensable. Now the antenna has both electrical capacity and
+inductance, and when connected up with the apparatus a wireless
+operator can at will cause it to disturb the magnetic fields
+surrounding the earth."
+
+"You didn't say how high these masts had to be, Bob," put in Mr.
+Crowninshield. "Are they always the same length?"
+
+"Oh, no, indeed, sir," was the prompt response. "Their length varies
+according to the type of service required of them. I'm glad you asked
+the question. Sometimes the masts are about two hundred feet high;
+again they may approximate four hundred and eighteen feet. And
+sometimes in emergencies you will discover no masts at all, the wires
+being fastened instead to captive balloons or kites which hold them in
+place long enough to send or receive hasty messages. This latter
+method is usually resorted to in wartime or during army or navy
+maneuvers. There are also compact radio sets to be had that can be
+carried on mule-back and set up and taken down on a hurried army
+march. On shipboard the ordinary masts of the vessel serve, of
+course, to support the antenna."
+
+"Thank you, Bob. That is exactly what I wanted to know," said Mr.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"I'm glad, sir. Now you'd think by this time we had everything
+necessary to produce our wireless waves and yet we haven't. There is
+still one thing almost more important than all the rest that we have
+not yet spoken of."
+
+"What's that, Bob?" piped Walter.
+
+"The tuner. You recall that at the beginning I mentioned the pitch,
+note, or key of the sound produced or received?"
+
+"Yes," returned the class in chorus.
+
+"Well, it is in that tune or pitch, or whatever you prefer to call it,
+that a large measure of the secret of wireless lies. To be successful
+in getting and sending messages we must tune the oscillations, or key
+the signals caused by the discharge of the battery in our Leyden jar,
+so that they will be in harmony (or at precisely the same pitch) with
+the antenna circuit. That is, the parts of the instrument must
+synchronize, just as two persons who would talk together must speak in
+the same language. This adjustment is made in the inductance coil
+because although both the Leyden jar where the spark is generated that
+causes the oscillations and the antenna can be regulated independently
+of each other a few turns of the inductance coil affects each circuit.
+After the two circuits have been adjusted to the same frequency they
+are said to synchronize. Often to reach this result a device is used
+that states precisely the wave length, and after the frequency of one
+circuit has been ascertained the other can easily be adjusted to
+correspond with it. The length of the wave is, you see, dependent on
+the largeness of the antenna and the capacity, or strength of current,
+of the Leyden jar. Just as a child uses a big stone to produce the
+largest splash and greatest waves so we must have a powerful force
+behind our wave lengths to make them carry most successfully. In
+accordance with this law, generally speaking, we find short wave
+lengths used for low power, short-distance outfits; and long wave
+lengths for high-power circuits whose aim is to traverse continents
+and oceans."
+
+Bob pushed back his chair.
+
+"I think," said he, "we have now come to a good stopping place and we
+will call the lesson off for to-day. If you digest all I have told
+you, you will have had an ample radio starter."
+
+"You haven't said much about sending messages," complained Dick.
+
+"That is quite another story," smiled the boy's tutor, "and such a
+long one that were I to tell it to you now it would mean you would get
+no sailing or swimming to-day."
+
+Instantly Dick was on his feet, Leyden jars and inductance coils
+forgotten.
+
+"We'll cut it out then," he laughed. "Who is for a swim? I'll race any
+man to the bath-house!" And off he went at top speed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+TIDINGS
+
+
+Two days later O'Connel's first signal came.
+
+Bob was at his early morning task of oiling and tightening up his
+apparatus and cleaning it, and both Dick and Walter were hovering
+near, watching him and learning all they could concerning the proper
+care of the equipment. Having made everything shipshape the young
+radio operator slipped the double head receiver over his forehead and
+prepared to listen in for his customary interval. Suddenly the boys
+saw him start excitedly and motion them to stop talking. With face
+alight he was leaning forward eagerly. Then came the sharp click of
+the Morse code and after an interval with radiant face the elder lad
+wriggled out of his trappings.
+
+"What is it? What is it?" cried his two companions, hardly able to
+contain their curiosity.
+
+"It was O'Connel."
+
+"What did he say? Is the dog there? Where was the yacht?"
+
+Breathlessly the questions tumbled one over the other.
+
+"The _Siren_ is anchored off Gloucester and bound north, probably to
+Bar Harbor. A dog they call Trixie, but which O'Connel thinks is
+Lola, is aboard the boat. The description we gave him seems to fit
+her. He says she isn't very well--won't eat and seems either homesick
+or seasick. Mr. Daly is quite worried about her."
+
+"For goodness' sake don't tell Dad or Mother that. They'll have a
+fit," Dick cried. "Should Lola die I believe my father would shoot
+Daly down."
+
+"But I've got to give him the message."
+
+"You needn't repeat all of it, need you?"
+
+"Oh, I think you ought to tell them," Walter put in. "They would
+rather know, I'm sure."
+
+"Dad will storm fit to raise the dead."
+
+"We can't help it," answered His Highness.
+
+"I am of the kid's opinion," Bob replied slowly. "I think we should
+tell your father and mother the whole truth just as O'Connel has sent
+it."
+
+"Prepare for a nice, pleasant tornado, then," said Dick, "for you will
+get it all right."
+
+"I wish I could have talked with O'Connel," declared Bob thoughtfully.
+"I did all I dared. You see, until our license comes I am not expected
+to transmit messages from this station. We have to get from the
+government both an operator's license and a permit for the station;
+and although I put in the application promptly there is so much red
+tape about it that it seems as if the inspector would never show up.
+If I had been caught sending a message this morning without these
+blooming papers there would have been the deuce of a row. However, I
+took a chance because I felt the emergency demanded it, and because
+being one of Uncle Sam's own men he couldn't very well put up the kick
+that I was not competent to handle a wireless outfit. Still, I shan't
+dare do it again."
+
+"Isn't there anything we can do to hustle up the inspector?" inquired
+Dick.
+
+"I'm afraid not, son. Government inspectors are not a hurrying race,"
+was Bob's whimsical reply. "However, I telephoned our local man
+yesterday and something may happen to-day. He and I used to be on
+quite good terms when he occasionally dropped in at Seaver Bay. I told
+him that if I could not get a station license pretty soon our whole
+outfit would be no good to us this season. He promised he would take
+up the matter at once. With that I had to be satisfied. Whether he
+does anything or not remains to be seen."
+
+"I suppose O'Connel understands this difficulty, doesn't he?" mused
+Dick.
+
+"Oh, he knows, all right, why I can't answer him. I've assured him
+that his tidings have come through and that is all he wants to know,"
+Bob answered. "He has dealt with the government himself and is
+familiar with its deliberate habits. Besides, there really isn't much
+we can say."
+
+"Maybe you think that," grinned Dick, "but wait until you tell Dad
+that Lola is sick and hear him sputter. You will believe then that
+there is quite a bit that can be said. And if you get my mother to add
+her comments you will have plenty to relay over the wire."
+
+The prophecy was indeed true, as Bob King proved after he had raced
+across the grass and overtaken Mr. and Mrs. Crowninshield on a tour of
+inspection to the rose gardens.
+
+"News, Bob?" questioned the capitalist, wheeling about to meet the
+flying figure. "What is it? Let us have it quickly."
+
+Carefully the message was repeated.
+
+"Off Gloucester, eh, and bound north? Humph! And they've re-christened
+the poor little pupsie Trixie! Hang them! O'Connel thinks she isn't
+well? Of course she isn't seasick. Lola has been out on our yacht a
+hundred times. The reason she won't eat is because she is
+lonesome--misses her home and family. The wretches! I wish I had Daly
+here! I'd wring his neck," blustered Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Isn't there anything we can do, Archibald? We simply must get that
+dog back before she dies. Poor little Lola! She was such a dependent
+little creature. It is terrible, terrible!"
+
+"There, there, my dear! Don't go all to pieces over it. Aren't we
+doing all we can? Do you want Daly to smell a rat and toss his stolen
+property into the sea? Dacie says to give him rope enough and in time
+he will hang himself, and I am inclined to think the advice wise.
+Still, that does not prevent me from wishing I could lay hands on
+Daly. I'd like nothing better than to thrash the life out of him."
+
+"I suppose you will telephone the detective the news we've received,"
+suggested Bob, in order to quell the rising storm and divert Mr.
+Crowninshield's attention.
+
+"Yes, I'll get New York on the wire right away. It is as well Lyman
+and his pal should know Lola is sick and that they can't dally round
+forever."
+
+"Shall you be back for the wireless lesson?" called Bob, uncertain
+whether to ask the question or not.
+
+"Oh, sure! It won't help matters for us to sit around and wail the
+whole morning. We'll be on deck for your radio talk at the usual
+time."
+
+"All right, sir."
+
+True to their agreement, at the appointed hour both Mr. and Mrs.
+Crowninshield made their appearance on the piazza and joined the group
+of young people who awaited their coming. They had, as Bob expressed
+it, cooled off a bit and were no longer in such an agitated frame of
+mind; nevertheless anxiety had left its mark by keying the master's
+voice to a sharper note, and shadowing the lady's brow with a frown of
+annoyance.
+
+"I suppose you let out on O'Connel, didn't you, after he got through
+talking this morning?" was the first remark of the owner of Surfside.
+
+"I couldn't say more than a word. Our license hasn't come yet, you
+know."
+
+"That's so, darn it! I never saw anything in all my born life with so
+many rules attached to it as this wireless business. It is one tangle
+of rules, rules, rules! You might as well be tied up in a net,"
+fretted the man.
+
+"There do seem to be a good many rules at first glance," returned Bob
+pleasantly. "However, when you examine them most of them are both
+necessary and wise. And after all when each radio operator knows in
+black and white what he can do and what he can't it is far simpler."
+
+"I suppose so," grumbled Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Besides, there are always slackers at every job," continued Bob.
+"Rules help to keep such persons up to the mark and prevent
+carelessness and accidents."
+
+"Yes, I fancy that is so," came more graciously from the still irate
+gentleman.
+
+"Then all stations are not alike. That compass station at Bell Reef,
+for example, that you were asking me about yesterday; the government
+lays out specific duties and makes special rules for such a station,
+as in fact it does for all radio stations. Some of these rules relate
+to the care of the place and the cleaning and general overhauling of
+apparatus at stated intervals. There are, you see, certain instruments
+which must be cleaned and readjusted every day; certain others every
+week, others every month, and some every six months. It simply means
+making sure that your outfit is in the pink of condition with every
+part functioning as it should. There are, of course, operators who
+would see that this was done anyway, rules or no rules; but like every
+other profession there might be men who, off on an isolated spot with
+no one to keep them up to the mark, would grow careless and slovenly.
+Too much depends on wireless stations to run the risk of errors
+through imperfections in the equipment."
+
+"I can understand all that; but aren't there a score of other
+regulations?"
+
+"You mean about what they shall and shall not do?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"There certainly are. There have to be because we have several
+different types of land stations. Just as the shipboard stations have
+their special kinds of work so do those on shore. For example, there
+are two different classes of radio compass stations,--those that
+operate independently and are located with a view to giving good
+cross-bearings to vessels that are from fifty to a hundred miles out
+to sea; and those known as harbor stations which are governed by a
+central control station and designed to inform ships within thirty
+miles of the entrance to outer channels of their position. The
+function of each of these stations is, as you can see, quite different
+and therefore each of them is obliged to have its own set of rules."
+
+"I never knew anything about radio compass stations before," announced
+Dick.
+
+"That is because you never sailed the seas and had to call on one for
+aid," smiled Bob. "If you did you would be very thankful, I guess,
+that the government has so carefully provided some one to answer just
+the sort of question you wished answered. I try to remember this when
+I get hot under the collar because the license for our station does
+not arrive. Uncle Sam can't help it if his men are slow. The plan at
+the top is all right. There must be rules to govern wireless stations,
+be they governmental, commercial, or private; rules to regulate the
+wave lengths each may use; rules to make sure the operators who have
+charge of them know their job; and inspectors to make sure that every
+such rule is obeyed."
+
+"Who has the big chore of following up all these people and making
+certain that they are conforming to the law?" questioned Mr.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"The Department of Commerce issues the licenses for all private and
+commercial stations and sends its inspectors to keep an eye on
+whatever comes under their control. It is this department that will
+have jurisdiction over Surfside if the license is granted. Government
+radio stations on the other hand, not only the high-power class but
+the coastal stations and everything that pertains to their relations
+with commercial stations afloat or ashore, whether in the United
+States or in foreign lands are entirely under the control of the
+Director of Naval Communications of the Navy Department."
+
+"I wish you'd tell us something more about compass stations," Dick
+said. "Were you ever stationed at one?"
+
+"Yes, for a little while I was on an island off the coast," replied
+Bob. "But I did not like it very well and applied for a transfer."
+
+"It must have been lonely as the dickens on an island; worse, even,
+than being at Seaver Bay. Why in goodness did they build the station
+there?"
+
+"Why, you see, a compass station that operates independently as that
+one did is usually situated on a lightship or an island because that
+location is best suited to the sort of work it has to do."
+
+"And that is?"
+
+"To give ships their positions when they sing out to ask exactly where
+they are," replied Bob. "Since the station is fairly well out to sea
+itself, it is able to furnish excellent cross-bearings and set the
+vessel on her course in case she is off it. Ships have been known to
+miss their way, you know, especially in a fog; and if they have not
+missed it they are often very grateful to be assured they have not and
+that their own calculations were correct. So the rule is that an
+operator must always be listening in for at least three minutes at
+ten, twenty-five, forty, and fifty-five minutes past the hour and be
+ready to answer a Q T E when he hears it."
+
+"What's a Q T E?" inquired both Dick and Walter simultaneously.
+
+"Those particular letters mean: _What is my true bearing?_ It takes
+less time to send the letters than to spell out the entire sentence
+and therefore a simple code which means the same in all languages is
+used. When such a call is received the operator replies: Q T S
+(meaning: Your true bearing is) and then follows it with the number of
+degrees from his radio post stated in words, and also the name of the
+station responding to the message. It is a general rule, by-the-by,
+that all numerals used in any wireless communication must be spelled
+out to make sure of their being perfectly understood."
+
+"What a bother!" ejaculated Walter.
+
+"It prevents mistakes, brother; and if it does that it is certainly
+worth the trouble."
+
+"I suppose so," answered His Highness a trifle crestfallen.
+
+"Then what do you say next?" interrupted Dick, who was much interested
+in the subject in hand.
+
+"Well, after you have given the true bearing the ship wires: Q T F."
+
+"And that means?"
+
+"_What is my position?_"
+
+"And you have to repeat those words before giving it just as you did
+before?" asked Dick.
+
+"Always," nodded Bob. "Every question asked is always repeated by the
+operator answering it to make sure that each party fully understands
+what is being talked about. You can't risk having a ship complain:
+'Oh, I thought those figures you sent me were so-and-so.' No, indeed.
+Everything must be so explicit that there will be no room for
+blunders. So after you have repeated the question you send the
+latitude and longitude _in words_."
+
+"I guess there is sense in the rules after all," smiled Mrs.
+Crowninshield. "Thus far we have not discovered any which, on being
+examined, were not both reasonable and wise."
+
+"That's the way I feel," Bob rejoined. "After being in radio work and
+seeing the opportunities there are for mistakes I have decided
+operators cannot be too careful. You see it is not like talking with
+a person face to face. Those you are communicating with are usually
+miles and miles away. Such stations as I have been telling you about
+are on the lookout for any six-hundred-meter calls and they answer in
+this tune. After communication with a ship is established, however,
+the tune shifts to seven hundred and fifty-six meters if a Navy vessel
+should be talking; if not, the six-hundred-meter wave length assigned
+is used. This leaves the shorter range waves to commercial vessels and
+greatly simplifies matters."
+
+"That is a good rule, too," chimed in Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"And now about the harbor stations," suggested Dick.
+
+The young tutor smiled.
+
+"I had not intended to give you all this stuff this morning,"
+protested he, "but since you are interested in it we may as well go on
+with the subject. The task of the harbor stations, then, is to listen
+both on a six-hundred-meter range, and one of nine hundred and
+fifty-two--the first wave length for commercial and the latter for
+Navy ship's calls. Then in response to inquiry the operator directs
+the vessel how to enter that particular harbor, stating just where the
+entrance buoys are and where the channel lies. If the man at the wheel
+is new to the port this aid is invaluable."
+
+"Not much like the navigation of the old days, is it?" mused Mr.
+Crowninshield. "I should think such stations would put pilots out of
+business."
+
+"They do to some extent," was the reply. "There are, however, always
+ships that cannot make a landing under their own steam, ships that
+have to be towed. So the pilots still find something to do."
+
+"And are these harbor stations on islands too?" questioned Nancy.
+
+"Many of them are. A small proportion of them, though, are in
+lighthouses. It all depends on which place has the more favorable
+location."
+
+"But do not the land stations that send messages sometimes interfere
+with these stations?" queried Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"There are rules to prevent _that_," laughed Bob. "Of course the
+difference in wave length to which the various types of stations are
+limited solves a part of this difficulty. As I told you commercial
+stations have their own particular wave length and must stick to it;
+and private stations such as this one here have their range of two
+hundred meters in which to operate and are confined to not more than
+one kilowatt for sending messages. You cannot use more than this
+without special permission from the Secretary of Labor. Should you do
+so you are liable to a fine of one hundred dollars if your offense is
+deliberate; if, however, it is proved that your apparatus was out of
+adjustment and overreached itself you may get off with a
+twenty-five-dollar fine. In that case you must see at once that your
+radio error is corrected and your outfit set right."
+
+"But sometimes along the coast aren't there big government stations
+belonging to the army or navy? I should think these, with their press
+of business, would butt in on the smaller ones and raise havoc with
+them," ventured Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Where there are such mix-ups and private or commercial stations
+interfere with important government outfits the smaller ones are not
+allowed to send messages during the first fifteen minutes of each
+hour, such time being reserved for government business. The
+government, on the other hand, must respect the rights of the littler
+chap and use this particular interval for transmitting. In fact, when
+licenses are issued this condition is made with private owners and the
+station is so listed. Of course, however, should an S O S call come,
+all rules go by the boards and the distress call has the right of way
+in every case."
+
+Mrs. Crowninshield, smiling mischievously, rose from her chair.
+
+"There is an S O S coming in right now for a lemonade," said she,
+fanning herself with her filmy handkerchief. "Who will join me?"
+
+A chorus of "I!" "I!" greeted the question.
+
+She touched a bell.
+
+"Bring lemonade for six, Emelie," said she. "Put in some slices of
+orange, some strawberries, and plenty of cracked ice. What a warm day
+it is! I am glad I am not out on some hot, sun-baked island answering
+radio calls."
+
+"You probably would not be hot if you were on an island out to sea, my
+dear," her husband returned playfully. "However, I'll agree that this
+veranda is good enough for me on a July day."
+
+The tinkling of ice cut short the conversation. Far away through the
+house its distant cadence sounded.
+
+"The first and tallest lemonade must be for Bob," Nancy announced. "He
+has certainly earned it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MIRACLES
+
+
+Although throughout the day Mr. Crowninshield did not wander far from
+the telephone no word came from the New York detectives and evening
+saw him quite discouraged.
+
+"I cannot imagine what those fellows are up to," fretted he. "Now that
+they know where the yacht is and have had all day to do something
+about it, it is beyond my comprehension why they haven't. Lola will be
+dead before they get round to moving on Daly."
+
+"I don't believe they are sitting idle," Bob declared in an effort to
+cheer his patron. "Probably there will be news to-morrow."
+
+"Maybe," sighed the financier. "But if something does not happen by
+to-morrow, I shall start myself in my own yacht to chase up Daly."
+
+"I doubt if that would do any good, sir," protested Bob. "It might
+simply, as you said yourself, precipitate a crisis."
+
+"Well, a crisis is better than having nothing done," fumed the man
+irritably.
+
+"You must not forget there is O'Connel."
+
+"Much good he is doing. We have only heard from him once and as we
+have no license you can't talk to him."
+
+"Nevertheless, he is on the job at his end of the line," Bob answered.
+"He has a lot of common sense, too. You can trust him to keep tabs on
+how things are moving."
+
+"Maybe I can. I hope so," was the dismal retort.
+
+Evening, however, saw no improvement in Mr. Crowninshield's mood. "Not
+a yip of any sort from those chaps in New York. One would think they
+were dead," he growled. "Well, I'll give them one more day and then if
+they haven't something to show I will send them to blazes and take up
+the case myself. I almost wish I had done it in the first place. Here
+I am paying a small fortune and getting no results."
+
+Again Bob struggled to soothe the perturbed mind and raise the
+capitalist's spirits.
+
+"Oh, we'll hear something to-morrow, I guess," said he with an
+optimism he did not altogether feel. "Maybe my license will come; or
+the inspector may appear; or O'Connel may send tidings; or news may
+come from New York. Something is sure to happen. Why don't we all go
+over to the station and listen in on the broadcasting to-night. We are
+sure to get something that will be interesting and now that the 'loud
+speaker' is in position we shall be able to hear without using
+individual receivers. You haven't any of you really heard what our
+wireless can do."
+
+"I know it," acknowledged the gentleman. "You see, just about every
+night during broadcasting hours we have either had company or I have
+been busy."
+
+"But are you to be busy to-night?" inquired Bob.
+
+"No, I fancy we're not. Mrs. Crowninshield said there was nothing on."
+
+"Then why don't we light up the boathouse, and all of us listen to
+what is going on in the world," Bob suggested. "I wish, too, Jerry
+might come. He has not had a chance to see the outfit at all, much
+less hear it. If it would not annoy you and the ladies just to let him
+sit at the back of the room he could hear everything now that the horn
+is on." Bob hesitated. "He has been so kind about helping us----"
+
+"Sure! Ask him by all means," Mr. Crowninshield assented heartily. "Or
+better yet, I will ask him myself. I am glad you reminded me of it.
+Jerry is my right-hand man and I like to give him pleasure when I can.
+What time will your show begin?"
+
+"Oh, from seven o'clock on there is usually something doing, sir. But
+the most interesting part of the program begins at eight."
+
+"We'll be on hand, then."
+
+This promise won Bob imparted the tidings to Dick and Walter and the
+two assistants, as they dubbed themselves, hastened to prepare the new
+radio building for the reception of guests. Comfortable chairs and gay
+cushions were brought from the house and in his enthusiasm Dick even
+went so far as to drape a flag over the entrance of the low room.
+
+"We might have hung out bunting if we'd known sooner they were
+coming," said he.
+
+"I guess they won't care about the bunting once they are inside the
+place," Walter asserted in a comforting tone.
+
+"Don't you hope the outfit will show up well? I do," declared Dick.
+"It would be just our luck to have something act up so we couldn't
+hear anything. Then Dad, who is feeling pretty much on edge anyway,
+would announce that a wireless was simply money thrown in a hole."
+
+"We're not responsible for the conditions," laughed Bob. "If static is
+bothersome it is not our fault."
+
+"Nevertheless, Dad wouldn't understand that. He would just think we
+did not know how to operate the thing."
+
+"Well, we'll pray for moderate quiet," smiled Bob. "Of course I'd like
+the apparatus to show off at its best. But like a child, it probably
+won't. We shall have to take our luck; and if we do not get
+satisfactory results to-night why the audience will have to come again
+to-morrow or some other time."
+
+"Maybe it won't--at least maybe Dad won't," Dick answered
+incoherently. "If he starts off in the yacht to-morrow----"
+
+"Oh, he won't set off to chase Daly to-morrow, don't you fret," put in
+His Highness. "He was only sputtering. What good could he do? He
+wouldn't have any right to search the _Siren_ even if he overtook her;
+nor could he arrest the criminals aboard her. Daly would pitch Lola
+over the side of the boat before he would stand by and let your father
+board his yacht and he knows it."
+
+"Maybe he does," admitted Dick. "Still, he was tremendously in earnest
+this afternoon."
+
+"He has calmed down some now," His Highness replied.
+
+"I hope he'll stay calmed," Dick smiled. "Perhaps, unless our show
+goes wrong and he gets irate at the radio company, he will."
+
+In fact had the three young wireless operators been willing to admit
+it they were far more perturbed when they heard the invited company
+approaching than they would have been willing to confess. In the heart
+of each of them was the same thought: the new radiophone must justify
+itself and prove that it was worth all the money that had been
+expended upon it.
+
+"Well, here we are! And here's Jerry, too. He said he couldn't
+possibly come--tried to make me believe he was too busy, the rascal.
+But I labored with him and finally got him here," announced the master
+triumphantly.
+
+Very hot and very uncomfortable under the general banter Jerry
+blushed.
+
+"Now where do you wish to put us, Dick?" inquired the boy's mother.
+"We are under your orders to-night--yours and Bob's."
+
+"I think you will be able to hear in any of these chairs--that is, if
+we hear at all," Dick responded nervously.
+
+"What do you mean by _able to hear at all_?" put in his father
+sharply.
+
+"Why--eh--sometimes conditions vary," was the ambiguous answer. "One
+does not always hear equally well." It seemed wiser to prepare his
+father's mind for possible disappointment.
+
+In the meantime Bob was tinkering with the plugs.
+
+"Everybody ready?" he asked.
+
+"All on deck!" came from Mr. Crowninshield whose depression, it was
+plain to be seen, had momentarily vanished.
+
+"Then here goes!" cried Bob.
+
+Instantly the quiet of the room was transformed into a chaos of sound.
+There was a shrill piping as of a singing wind, and a wail that echoed
+hauntingly through the air as the tuner revolved.
+
+"What in the name of goodness----?" began Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Hush, Dad! It is always like that," explained Dick hastily.
+
+"But it's horrible."
+
+"Yes, I know. But wait."
+
+"Isn't something out of order?"
+
+"No." Dick smiled patronizingly.
+
+"My soul and body," whispered Jerry from his corner, "did anybody ever
+hear such a sound? Ain't it the wind outside. Seems as if a gale must
+have come up--a hurricane, tornado, or something. If a storm's coming
+I can't sit round here. I'll have to be seeing to the awnings or
+they'll be ripped to pieces." He half rose from his chair.
+
+"Don't worry, Jerry; everything's all right outside," interrupted
+Walter reassuringly.
+
+"You mean to say it's just in here?" murmured the bewildered Jerry.
+Enjoying the old man's confusion, Walter nodded.
+
+"What you hear is the rise of our pitch," explained Dick.
+
+"I should think it was the rise of something," grumbled Mr.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"We are running up our meters in order to catch the higher tuned
+waves," Bob added. "That is part of the bedlam."
+
+"And the rest?"
+
+"It is static interference."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Well, static is the big bugbear of radio," answered Bob, pausing a
+moment in regulating his tuner and detector. "It is caused by stray
+waves moving in various directions through the atmosphere, and by
+electrical conditions. It is the defect all wireless people have to
+fight. Sometimes it is worse than others and unfortunately to-night it
+promises to be pretty bad. You see it has been a close, heavy day and
+no doubt thunderstorms are in the air. A thunderstorm will kick up no
+end of a rumpus with wireless."
+
+"But we haven't had any thunderstorm," Nancy called above the hubbub.
+
+"No, but somebody else's thunderstorm would bother us almost as
+much," Bob explained good-humoredly.
+
+"Never mind the thunderstorms now," put in Mr. Crowninshield. "Aren't
+we going to hear anything but this whistling and groaning? Whee! There
+it goes again. It is for all the world like a chorus of cats."
+
+"It is more like a siren horn tooting up and down," laughed Nancy.
+
+A spluttering crackle blotted out the wail.
+
+"You would think they were frying doughnuts," grinned Dick, "wouldn't
+you?"
+
+"And you really believe a thunderstorm would cause a noise like this?"
+queried Mrs. Crowninshield incredulously.
+
+"It might. We have no way of knowing exactly what is raising the
+trouble."
+
+"Do you mean to say that a storm that wasn't round here at all
+could----" burst out Jerry, then stopped embarrassed.
+
+"Indeed it could," replied Bob, answering the unfinished question.
+"You see thunderstorms cause powerful electrical waves that affect
+apparatus miles and miles distant. Of course such waves vary in length
+but nevertheless they act on all aerials to a greater or less degree.
+Then, too, the atmospheric conditions are never quite identical,
+changing with the hour of the day, the season of the year, and local
+weather disturbances. Fortunately, since the air is positively
+electrified and the earth negatively, certain of these differences are
+remedied by the aerial that connects the two, the current discharges
+partially seeping off through the ground. Sometimes, however, in spite
+of every device used, such currents are strong enough to cause a roar
+in the receiver. In addition there is the interference from other
+radio stations which are busy transmitting messages, and although
+there are rules that aim to reduce this annoyance, it is, to a certain
+extent, always to be reckoned with."
+
+"I should think somebody ought to invent something to prevent such
+troubles," declared Nancy.
+
+"Why don't you, Sis?" asked Dick wickedly.
+
+"But it is terrible to have the air so full of noise," continued the
+girl, as she made a little face at her brother. "I've always thought
+of the air as being still."
+
+"It is still in a general sense," smiled Bob. "It is only when the
+amplifier of the wireless magnifies the sounds that we realize how
+many of them our ears fail to hear."
+
+"It's a downright mercy they do!" exclaimed Jerry.
+
+"You're right there, Jerry!" agreed Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"But how do messages come through such a chaos?" Dick inquired.
+
+"Sometimes they don't," laughed Bob. "But nine cases out of ten they
+do because there are ways of combating static interference. You can,
+for instance, tune your apparatus to a higher or lower pitch and
+thereby escape from the zone where the noise is. That whine you hear
+is produced by my turning the tuning knob and increasing our range of
+meters. Already with the higher vibration you will notice the hubbub
+has lessened."
+
+"Yes, things are ever so much clearer," agreed a chorus of voices.
+
+"That is one way, then, out of the difficulty. There are, in addition,
+other mechanical means that can be resorted to when you learn more
+about handling the outfit. Suffice it to say that in a general way
+whatever tends toward inertia, or a lack of electrical activity,
+decreases static interference."
+
+There was a pause in which above the crackling and the wailing of the
+instrument a faint sound became audible.
+
+"Gee! Did you hear that?" cried Walter.
+
+"Hush!"
+
+"But I heard a voice quite distinctly."
+
+"Keep still, can't you?" Dick remarked unceremoniously.
+
+Then plainly into the room came the words:
+
+"Station (WGI) Amrad Medford Hillside, Mass. 360 meters. Stand by for
+Boston Police reports."
+
+"That is the police news," whispered Dick to Nancy. "Among other
+things it gives the automobiles that are lost, their numbers, and a
+description of each."
+
+"Want to hear it?" asked Bob of his audience.
+
+"Not unless they can tell us they have found Lola," responded Mr.
+Crowninshield promptly.
+
+"Oh, no," his wife hastened to add, "let's not listen to a long
+string of crimes. Goodness knows there are enough of them to read in
+the papers."
+
+She shook her head warningly at Bob and motioned toward her husband.
+
+"I'd rather hear some music," put in Nancy. "Can't we?"
+
+There was an ascending wail from the tuner.
+
+"Ain't that a band?" cried Jerry excitedly.
+
+"It's an orchestra!" Nancy ejaculated in the same breath.
+
+"It's gone!"
+
+"We'll get it again," was Bob's confident answer as he twirled the
+knobs of both tuner and detector.
+
+"There it is!" burst out Jerry. "It's a brass band, as I live!"
+
+"Where do you suppose it is?" speculated Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"Pittsburgh or Chicago; or perhaps Newark."
+
+"Not Chicago--out West! You're fooling," observed Jerry with scorn.
+
+"Indeed I'm not. Wait and you'll hear in a few moments exactly who it
+was."
+
+"I'll not believe it unless I do," the old man announced, with a zest
+that provoked a general laugh.
+
+"What time is it? Can any one tell?" asked Bob.
+
+"What difference does that make," Walter inquired.
+
+"It will give us a cue as to who it is," was the explanation. "All
+these broadcasting stations have certain hours for their programs."
+
+"I've seen those lists published in the papers, but I never took any
+stock in them," growled Jerry.
+
+"You'll have to now, Jerry," said Nancy mischievously.
+
+She saw him scratch his head.
+
+"Well, I dunno," was his laconic reply. "The whole thing beats me. If
+that band was in Chicago----"
+
+"Hush!"
+
+The crash of instruments had come to an end and over the wire in
+accents unmistakably distinct came the words:
+
+"Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company KYW Chicago,
+Illinois. Stand by fifteen minutes for----" but the rest of the
+sentence was lost, for with a mighty slap of his knees Jerry roared:
+
+"It was in Chicago--that band! Well, I'll be buttered!"
+
+Overwhelmed the Cape Codder had risen to his feet.
+
+"Chicago! Pittsburgh! Medford! My eye, but this will do me to talk
+about until the day of my death. It don't seem possible; I'm beat if
+it does."
+
+Helplessly he dropped back into his chair again, silenced by very
+wonder.
+
+In the meantime out of the wailing and whining and piping the sharp,
+clear-cut click of a telegraph instrument could be discerned.
+
+"That's the Morse code," explained Bob. "Some commercial station is
+sending a message. It seems to be about a shipment of lumber and
+isn't particularly interesting."
+
+"I suppose you can read it," said Dick enviously.
+
+"Naturally. That is part of my job, you know."
+
+"What is a commercial station?" inquired the still bewildered Jerry.
+
+"A station that sends only messages for the general public. Probably
+this load of lumber started out of port without the captain of the
+ship having the least idea in the world where he was to market it. In
+the interval since it left, however, the company's shore agents have
+secured a customer for it, perhaps in New Bedford, Boston, Providence,
+or some other coast city and they are now notifying the ship where to
+deliver it. Such an arrangement is quite common nowadays. Were the
+captain obliged to hold his cargo in port until he had a purchaser, as
+was the usual rule in the past, he would be wasting much precious
+time. By this method he can set forth the moment the vessel is loaded
+and during his voyage let his managers search for buyers. In all
+probability by the time he nears New England harbors his wares will be
+sold and orders sent him where to deposit them."
+
+"That's a neat little scheme!" observed Walter.
+
+But poor Jerry was too much overcome by the marvels he had witnessed
+to comment on this added miracle. All he could do was to reiterate
+feebly: "It beats me--hanged if it don't!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE LAWS OF THE AIR
+
+
+Morning found Mr. Crowninshield in no more tractable a mood. Even
+before Bob could reach his post at the wireless station and adjust his
+double head receiver to his ears his employer came briskly across the
+grass with his after-breakfast cigar between his lips.
+
+"Well," began he, when he was within calling distance, "any news yet?"
+
+"I'm afraid not yet, sir. It is still early."
+
+The great man took out his watch.
+
+"Isn't it almost time for O'Connel to signal?"
+
+"It is nearing the time."
+
+"I wonder if he will have any tidings for us?"
+
+"I certainly hope so." The wish was uttered with deep sincerity. A
+speculation was forming in the young operator's mind as to how he was
+going to pacify the irascible gentleman before him should no tidings
+come.
+
+"Since I'm here I believe I'll drop down and wait until you get into
+touch with the _Siren_."
+
+"It is liable to be quite a little while. Sometimes there is delay."
+
+"No matter. I've nothing especial to do to-day."
+
+With sinking heart Bob turned away and began to fuss with his oil can
+and a bit of cotton waste.
+
+"As you will, sir," was all he said.
+
+"You think, don't you, that we will hear something definite this
+morning?"
+
+"There is no telling."
+
+"No, of course not. Nevertheless O'Connel can at least let us know
+whether Lola is worse or better."
+
+"Yes, we ought to ascertain that."
+
+"He wouldn't be such an idiot as to stand by and see the dog die,
+would he?"
+
+"One never can predict just what another person will do. However, I
+feel sure you can trust O'Connel. I never knew him to bungle anything
+yet."
+
+With that comfort Mr. Crowninshield was obliged to content himself.
+
+Notwithstanding it, however, he began to pace nervously back and
+forth, and every time there was a sound in the room he would whisk
+about with the quick remark:
+
+"Didn't you hear something?"
+
+But although he fretted and fumed, strolled out the door and in again,
+no amount of impatience appeared to hurry matters.
+
+Even Bob began to lose his poise and fear no message was coming when
+suddenly the well-known signal came and the familiar clockwork began
+to be clicked off.
+
+"Is it he?" demanded Mr. Crowninshield in a tense whisper.
+
+Bob nodded.
+
+On clicked the code. Then suddenly it stopped and the man who was
+watching saw the operator raise the discs of rubber from his ears and
+shake himself free of his metal trappings.
+
+"Well?" inquired Mr. Crowninshield in quick staccato.
+
+"It was O'Connel. All he said was: _Wait developments._"
+
+"Not a word about Lola?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Not a reference of any sort?"
+
+"That was all."
+
+"But that is no kind of a message," announced the exasperated owner of
+Surfside. "Why, it might mean almost anything."
+
+"It sounds hopeful to me."
+
+"I don't see any hope in it," was the despondent answer.
+
+"It least it gives us to understand that something is brewing."
+
+"But why couldn't he have told us more?"
+
+"Perhaps he did not dare to. They may have begun to suspect he was
+sending private messages."
+
+"Humph! I had not thought of that."
+
+"Or possibly he may have been in a rush. He sent the letters at a
+tremendous pace--so fast that I had to race him. It seemed as if he
+was afraid he might not be able to get the message through."
+
+"You didn't answer anything, I suppose."
+
+"Only my signal to let him know I was listening."
+
+"Then you think there is nothing more to be done at present but sit
+right here and see what happens?"
+
+"I do not see how we can do anything else."
+
+"It's frightfully annoying."
+
+"Yes. Nevertheless it is our only course."
+
+"You've no inkling whether the developments he mentioned are to be
+soon or not?"
+
+"Not the ghost of an idea."
+
+"Then there is nothing for it but to hold on right here a while
+longer, I'm afraid. And since we are all to be tied to the spot you
+may as well come up to the house later and give Dick his usual radio
+lesson."
+
+"Very well, sir."
+
+With a curt nod the financier went out the door and after seeing that
+everything was right Bob locked up the building and followed him.
+
+He found the little group assembled in the lee of the awnings waiting
+for him. Mr. Crowninshield was there, too, gnawing fiercely at a fresh
+cigar.
+
+"I hear you have had a message, Bob," Mrs. Crowninshield said as he
+approached.
+
+"Yes; a rather hopeful one, I think."
+
+"I'm so excited! We all are. What do you suppose is in the wind?"
+
+"I've no idea. Something good, I hope."
+
+"Is that Morse code hard to learn?" inquired Nancy.
+
+"The Morse Continental? That depends on what you consider hard,"
+smiled Bob. "If your memory is good and you are quick at catching
+sounds it ought not to be very awful. Numberless persons do learn it."
+
+"Of course sending messages after you have the code learned cannot be
+so bad, for you can take your own time," Dick put in. "It is receiving
+them that would fuss me."
+
+"We'll fix you up with a buzzer and let you and Walter practice later
+if you want a try."
+
+"Could you?" asked Dick eagerly.
+
+"Sure! Moreover, there are phonograph records made on purpose to be
+used by beginners. Perhaps your father will get you some of those. It
+is a fine way to learn, training your ear to the sounds and giving you
+lots of practice."
+
+"What a bully scheme!"
+
+"It is a good proof of how one science can help another, isn't it?"
+observed Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"I suppose transmitting is a great deal harder than receiving anyhow,
+isn't it?" pursued Dick.
+
+"Well, of course there is more to it. In the rough it is merely the
+reverse of receiving; but in reality to project a message through the
+air requires a more elaborate outfit."
+
+"But you said our wireless would send as well as receive."
+
+"Oh, it will. It was made with both ends of the service in view. Your
+apparatus would first have to be adjusted and tuned until it was at
+the same frequency as the station with which you were talking. That
+you have to do anyhow, whether you are sending or receiving. And I
+told you, you remember, how to regulate that. Your antenna is
+connected through an adjustable induction coil, and moreover you have
+a small condenser which together with it forms a closed circuit. It is
+simple enough when you understand the principle to adjust the
+vibratory motion in the antenna by moving the connection. The
+frequency of the closed circuit can be adjusted, too. Tuning is
+nothing more than putting these two circuits into accord with the
+waves you receive. Your detector does a good part of the work for you,
+for it responds to every oscillation set up in the receiver. When,
+however, you are transmitting a message, you must take care to cut out
+your receiver by turning on the switch. Never forget that. You won't
+be likely to, either, when you are told why. You see it requires power
+to send out transmission waves and therefore to do it you have to
+employ a high-pressure current. Receiving, on the other hand, demands
+delicately adjusted instruments which are equipped to catch every
+faint, incoming wave. Should you let the strong charge of electricity
+used for transmission pass through your fragile receiving apparatus
+you would ruin it in no time."
+
+"I can see that," replied Dick.
+
+"Grasp that notion and you have one big principle of the difference
+between sending messages and receiving them," said Bob. "Skill in
+learning to take messages either in code or cipher comes with
+practice. The more you work at it the faster you can go. You have a
+keyboard all installed and the only thing standing between you and an
+expert operator is patience. Speed comes sooner than you think, too,
+if you practice persistently every day. As for the Morse code you
+press the key lever down quickly and instantly release it to make a
+dot. A dash is equal to three dots; the space between the parts of the
+same letters is equal to a dot; that between two letters to three
+dots; and between two words to five dots. You must train your ear
+until the span of these intervals becomes unmistakable. When you get
+some skill and are ready to try out what you can do, you will find
+that there are several ways of getting wider practice. There are, for
+example, local clubs that broadcast in code and send messages limited
+in speed to an amateur's capacity. Such centers are considerate enough
+to transmit at the rate of not more than five or ten words to the
+minute. It is persistence and a willingness to go slowly and carefully
+that win out in the end. A moderately delivered message that is
+without errors is worth a dozen fast, inaccurate ones; for when you
+blunder and have to go back and repeat, you not only waste your time
+and that of the man at the other end of the line but you annoy and
+usually confuse him. You will never gain anything if you are content
+with being a sloppy operator since above everything else radio
+messages must be correct. That is their chief value. Therefore, if
+after trying with all your might you find you cannot qualify as a
+topnotch, high-speed man be content to drop into the class below and
+be an accurate, slower operator. There are always certain things we
+do better than others. Speed may not be one of your gifts. That is no
+sign you have not other talents, however. Face the fact and go into
+the class where you belong. You won't get so nervous and fussed up,
+and by and by you may surprise yourself by finding that with time and
+experience the desired speed will come."
+
+"I am not aiming to be a crackerjack like you," grinned Dick. "If I
+can take down and send any messages at all I shall feel pretty cocky."
+
+"You think that now," returned Bob, ignoring the flattery contained in
+the observation. "But by and by you will find yourself discontented
+and as crazy to make time as you are in an automobile. There is a
+fascination about it."
+
+"Doesn't the Morse Continental bother you a bit?" inquired Mr.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"Not a particle. In fact, it has come to be almost as easy reading as
+straight English," answered Bob. "The thing that does fuss me
+sometimes though is to send and receive in cipher."
+
+"Mercy! Do they do that too?" gasped Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"Certainly. Often both in time of war and times of peace confidential
+messages which it is not desirable all the world should know have to
+be transmitted. Sometimes these are government communications;
+sometimes business or personal ones. At any rate, their senders wish
+them kept private and hence they are sent in cipher. Many of them are
+queer enough, too, when they come in."
+
+"Can you understand them yourself?" asked Nancy.
+
+"Certainly not. It is not intended that any one except the person for
+whom they are intended shall know what they mean."
+
+"But I should think since they make no sense you would wonder whether
+you had them right," commented Dick.
+
+"I do wonder sometimes," admitted Bob honestly. "When you get a
+sequence of queer words or combinations of letters you cannot help
+wondering. However, there is not much chance for a mistake, either in
+the transmission or in the delivery of such messages, for the operator
+is always obliged to send them slower than he does ordinary stuff,
+spacing the letters or groups of letters with unusual care.
+Furthermore, code words are always repeated once. This gives the man
+receiving them a chance to print the letters by hand rather than write
+them, a precaution that does much to prevent mistakes. The address and
+signature must also be very carefully transmitted. With such
+watchfulness at each end of the line it would be only a colossally
+stupid person who would blunder."
+
+"But suppose the operator who is transmitting went faster than you
+could?" murmured Walter.
+
+"He doesn't as a general rule. It isn't wireless ethics. And even
+should he be a more skillful radio man he knows he would gain nothing
+by hustling the chap at the other end for he would only lose time by
+having to go back and repeat."
+
+"Is all the general transmission of messages given such care?"
+inquired Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Of course cipher communications are fussier," Bob said. "Nevertheless
+the rules are pretty strict for all messages. And since accuracy is
+the keynote of radio and to get it your outfit must be in A1
+condition, every care must be taken to have strong, clear, and
+effective sending and receiving power. That means you must constantly
+clean your apparatus and tighten it up; test out your detector by the
+buzzer intended for the purpose and make sure that it is in sensitive
+condition; and assure yourself that every part of your set is OK.
+Moreover, an operator who is on duty listening in is expected to wear
+the double head receiver all the time, so no sound, however faint, may
+get by him. He must also see that his detector is adjusted to its
+greatest degree of sensibility and his tuner to the proper wave
+length. If your station happens to be near another, or if you are one
+of a group of ships and other vessels near yours are sending, you must
+watch out and either weaken the coupling of your detector or open your
+switch and cut it out altogether when those around you are using
+powerful currents for transmission; else you will wreck this delicate
+part of your instrument."
+
+"Gee, but there are things to remember!" ejaculated Dick.
+
+"Not so many, really, if you use ordinary brains," Bob returned. "You
+just have to think, that is all. A few big principles hold throughout.
+The other _don'ts_ are simply to make your own work and the other
+fellow's smoother; prevent mistakes; do away with as much interference
+as possible; and protect your outfit. For example, I found I could
+often lessen the interference by loosening the coupling of my
+receiving set after I had heard a call and reduce the sound to a point
+where it was just readable. You get your message all right but you do
+not get so much else with it. Then you can save wear and tear if you
+only run your generator while you are sending messages. That you
+cannot transmit at the hours reserved for naval radio stations to send
+out the time signals by which navigators set their chronometers, or
+when operators are broadcasting, goes without saying. Any dunce would
+know that."
+
+"I had no idea there were hours for sending out the time," confessed
+Dick.
+
+"Indeed there are. It is very important, too, that ships know the
+correct time to prevent disasters. There are shore stations whose sole
+duty it is to supply to ships the time and their location. Don't you
+recall my mentioning such coastal stations?"
+
+"Oh, yes; I guess I do remember now," returned Dick, a trifle
+confused.
+
+"What happens if you call a station and nobody answers?" interrogated
+Nancy. "I have been meaning to ask. Do you just keep on calling as you
+do at the telephone?"
+
+"No, indeed," was the instant reply. "Should you do that you would
+cause no end of interference and make yourself a nuisance to
+everybody. The rule is that after you have called a station three
+times at two-minute intervals you must stop for a quarter of an hour
+before you call again. If you happened to be calling a fleet of ships
+it is desirable to alter your tune rather than keep repeating the
+summons in the same key. It saves time. Merchant ships and coast
+stations must, however, be called in the wave length definitely
+specified for their use."
+
+"Shipboard stations seem to have more rules than the others,"
+commented Dick.
+
+"Not more rules but different ones," Bob said. "You see their nearness
+to other ships makes this imperative. Each ship has to take care not
+to knock out the apparatus of its neighbor by inconsiderate use of a
+high-power current; also it must not cause undue interference. In
+other words, a bevy of ships, like a group of persons, must be
+courteous to one another. If a ship within a ten-mile radius of
+another is receiving signals that are so faint that they are difficult
+to distinguish, a neighboring vessel should not complicate matters by
+trying to transmit a message until the other ship has received what
+was coming in. This rule makes for ordinary politeness, that is all."
+
+"Couldn't the ship waiting to talk send a message in a different wave
+length?" inquired Dick.
+
+"Oh, yes; that would be quite possible, if the tune varied enough to
+make it perfectly distinct."
+
+"But what about high-power stations?" demanded Walter. "They handle
+important stuff and of course cannot keep stopping for other people
+to talk. Don't their powerful currents damage the receiving sets in
+stations near them? I should think they might even injure their own."
+
+"High-power, or long-distance stations have still another problem to
+meet and they meet it in a different way," responded Bob. "In order
+that the currents they are obliged to use shall not destroy detectors
+and other delicate receiving apparatus they carry on what are known as
+duplex operations. That is, the receiving station is constructed at
+some distance from the sending station--often several miles away--and
+the two parts of the service are performed independently by different
+antennæ. In this way sending and receiving can be carried on at the
+same time in slightly varying wave lengths."
+
+"But how can they talk and act as one station if they are so far
+apart?" questioned His Highness much puzzled.
+
+"It is not as impossible as it seems. The operator at the sending
+station has a small sending key connected by electricity with a relay
+at the receiving station. By means of a lever and certain complex
+paraphernalia this key can be used as the sending key for the main
+apparatus. Thus the station operated by distant control carries on a
+duplex system of transmission so that both sending and receiving
+stations are kept in touch with one another."
+
+"That is clever!" interrupted Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"A high-power station has to be ingeniously equipped," responded Bob,
+"for it does a great deal of business, rapid business and business
+that is important. In some stations so fast do the messages come in
+and so long are they that an automatic tape not unlike that seen at
+the stock exchange is used to make perforated records of the dots and
+dashes. Later this punctured slip can be run through a Morse writer
+and the message taken down at leisure by the operator. Or sometimes
+photographic or phonographic records are resorted to and these like
+the others can be reproduced at a slower rate of speed and interpreted
+by the operator."
+
+"I should like that and then I wouldn't have to hurry," murmured
+Nancy.
+
+"It must be jolly to be an operator in a long-distance station," mused
+Dick, "where real things are going on."
+
+"Perhaps it is," was Bob's nonchalant answer. "I fancy, though, that
+very vital government messages go in cipher. Uncle Sam isn't risking
+having his secrets published far and wide over the face of the whole
+earth. Although for that matter all radio messages are secret."
+
+"But how can they be if any and everybody can listen in?"
+
+"Well, on a high-power wave length probably ordinary persons would not
+be able to listen in. Their apparatus would not be equipped for it.
+Should a station be able to, however, during critical periods, such as
+times of war, the government takes no chances and orders all but
+certain specified stations dismantled. That puts an end to intruders
+unless a spy has a hidden wireless somewhere; and if he has he takes
+an almighty risk with his neck, that is all I can say," concluded Bob
+with a grin.
+
+"But operators have tongues and can talk," Mrs. Crowninshield
+suggested. "Don't they sometimes?"
+
+"Usually they do not know what the message passing through their hands
+means," Bob answered. "But even should they contrive to study it out
+they would not dare repeat it because of the penalty entailed."
+
+"Penalty?"
+
+The young operator nodded.
+
+"You would not have to concern yourself much about blabbers if you
+heard what happens to them," piped Walter, who suddenly found himself
+on ground which previous instruction had rendered familiar. "It's off
+with their heads!"
+
+"Not really!" gasped the horrified Nancy.
+
+"Oh, he does not mean literally," the elder brother explained. "But it
+is away with their license which is almost as disastrous a fate to a
+man who has planned to make his living by wireless. Nor is the loss of
+the license all that happens. In addition one is liable to a
+two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar fine or three years' imprisonment."
+
+"Jove! They do come down on you!" Dick averred.
+
+"Ra-_ther_! You know, of course, that if you violate any clause of
+your radio agreement you may be fined one hundred dollars; and should
+an operator fake a distress call the fine is twenty-five hundred
+dollars, or five years in prison and perhaps both. Even the smallest
+fine one can get off with for such an offense is two years behind the
+bars. It makes you think twice before playing that little joke. The
+government is wise, too, to spread it on thick, for to fake an S O S
+which is given the right of way over every other signal would be a
+contemptible trick. Mild punishments like fines and imprisonments
+would be too good for the wretch who would so deliberately mislead
+people. Moreover a few such offenses would cause the importance of the
+call to be discredited so that in time nobody would be in a rush to
+pay attention to it."
+
+"I didn't realize an S O S so invariably had the right of way,"
+meditated Dick. "Of course I knew it was the distress signal at sea."
+
+"S O S in the International Morse Code is the universal distress call
+adopted by the common consent of our civilized nations at the wireless
+convention held at Berlin in 1906. Every radio station ashore or
+afloat is obliged to give it first place and do everything possible to
+further its demands. When a distress call is heard all ships and
+stations everywhere that hear it are in honor bound to stop whatever
+they may be doing and listen; nor must they try to talk with the ship
+herself unless she asks them to. Instead, after she has sent out her
+call for attention, which is equivalent to our _Hello_ of the
+telephone, she gives her name; the name of the station or ship she
+wishes to talk with; states what the matter is; and defines as nearly
+as she is able her position. This done she sends out a general call
+and if the station or ship she has asked aid from has not caught the
+signal and fails to answer her, any operator within hearing may do so.
+The instant he begins to talk with her, however, all the others
+listening in must remain silent. At last, when the message is
+delivered or the necessary conversation at an end, then the ship's
+radio man sends out a broadcast to let everybody know that he has
+finished so that all stations may resume their regular routine."
+
+"Some system!" breathed Dick.
+
+"I guess you would think there was some system if you were to see a
+book of radio rules," returned Bob. "I'll show you mine some day. All
+the various shore stations have their many regulations, as I have told
+you before; shipboard stations have theirs; and even the amateurs are
+protected so that every class may get fair play and not bother his
+neighbor. Wireless stations, you see, are not mere toys. They have
+work to do and must be able to do it unhampered."
+
+"I'd like a glimpse of that manual," suggested Dick.
+
+"I'll bring it round to-morrow," Bob answered, glancing at his watch
+and rising.
+
+The others rose too.
+
+"I suppose it would be no use to listen in for O'Connel again,"
+remarked Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"I will if you like," Bob responded. "I doubt, though, if it would do
+any good."
+
+"No, I guess it wouldn't. We shall just have to wait," sighed the
+man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE NET TIGHTENS
+
+
+When on the morrow no call of any kind came from O'Connel Mr.
+Crowninshield was, as his son expressed it, "fit to be tied."
+
+"I can't see why we do not hear something to-day," fumed he. "He can't
+expect us to _wait developments_ forever. Are you sure you did not
+miss the signal, Bob."
+
+"I don't see how I could have missed it," replied the operator
+patiently.
+
+"But he always does call, doesn't he?"
+
+"He has for the last few days."
+
+"Then why not to-day?"
+
+"I cannot imagine. Perhaps he couldn't."
+
+"You don't suppose anything has happened to Lola, do you?"
+
+"Who can tell?"
+
+"You are right; it was a foolish question," admitted the financier,
+accepting the rebuke gracefully. "Still, I cannot help being anxious
+and wondering."
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"If only that miserable inspector would turn up and you could get your
+license! It is absurd that you cannot send a message, a man of your
+experience!"
+
+"I am as sorry about the delay as you are," Bob answered. "Perhaps I
+am more so. Nevertheless I am not going to break the rules. Besides,
+were we to call O'Connel, it might arouse suspicion and get him into
+trouble. It is far better to leave the calling to him."
+
+"But he hasn't called."
+
+"Then there is some good reason, I'll be bound. He knows what he is
+about when he says to await developments."
+
+"Maybe he does," sighed the elder man. "However, I am not much used to
+waiting. When I want a thing done, I want it done."
+
+Bob smiled at the characteristic remark.
+
+"You cannot whisk everything off like that," observed he. "Sometimes
+it is necessary----"
+
+"To wait? Yes, I suppose so," put in Mr. Crowninshield. "Well, I will
+hold my horses for one more day. But I warn you to-morrow I shall do
+something. I can't be hanging around like this--not knowing anything
+or hearing anything."
+
+"It is hard," Bob returned sympathetically.
+
+"It is hard for one born in New York and accustomed to seeing things
+hum," asserted the owner of Surfside with a wry smile. "Well, we must
+try to forget it, that's all. Come, get your books and let us go on
+with our radio lesson from the point where we left it yesterday. The
+rest of them are waiting and there seems to be nothing better that we
+can do."
+
+Fortunately Bob was not sensitive enough to be hurt by the thrust.
+
+"I'll be right along," agreed he, "as soon as I have locked up here."
+
+On reaching the veranda he found his class assembled and the first
+comment to reach his ears was:
+
+"No news from O'Connel, eh?"
+
+"No, Dick."
+
+"What in thunder do you suppose has become of him?"
+
+Bob put his finger to his lips and taking the hint the boy abandoned
+the subject, inquiring instead:
+
+"Isn't it a bore to have to listen in at just such a time every day
+whether it is convenient or not--I mean when you are in charge of a
+station."
+
+"Sometimes it is," Bob responded. "Still, it is your job and you
+expect to put it first and fit your own affairs in around it. Besides,
+you get used to the regularity of the hours and soon do not notice the
+monotony of the rules. You can readily understand why, at all official
+radio stations, somebody must always be on the watch for S O S calls.
+On shipboard there are three classes of wireless stations: those
+having continual service with an operator who always has his ear to
+the receiver while the ship is in motion; those where the office is
+open only at stated hours and an operator listening merely for a
+limited time; and those whose operators have no fixed time beyond
+listening in the first ten minutes of each hour."
+
+"The ship decides which kind of station it will have, I suppose,"
+Nancy remarked.
+
+"Indeed it doesn't," Bob contradicted, with a shake of his head. "The
+government saves the vessel that trouble. It defines exactly the sort
+of station when it issues the license. Uncle Sam also bestows on each
+of these stations a name or combination of letters by which it shall
+be known and under which it is officially listed. Each country has a
+prescribed number of such letters allotted for its use at the
+International Convention at Berne, and our nation is authorized to use
+groups beginning with N and W; also triple groups of KIA to KZZ. You
+will find all these call letters in a book that contains the wireless
+telegraph stations of the world, a volume issued by the international
+publication office at Berne."
+
+"Can any one get one?" inquired Walter.
+
+"Certainly, if he has the price," smiled the older brother. "I guess
+you do not need one, though. A local call book would answer most
+purposes. It would hardly be necessary for you to call any foreign
+offices, and I even doubt if you would need to summon Sayville,
+Tuckerton, New Brunswick, Marion, or Annapolis."
+
+"Those are our trans-Atlantic stations, aren't they?" asked Dick.
+
+"Some of them," Bob said. "We have others, though, that can talk with
+Europe. There is one at San Diego; Pearl Harbor in Hawaii; and Cavite
+in the Philippines. There are also Marconi stations at Kahuka and
+Bolinas. In addition to these, the government has a number of
+high-power stations scattered throughout the country. Arlington,
+Virginia----"
+
+"Sends out the time," put in Walter with disconcerting promptness.
+
+"It sure does, sonny."
+
+"How many foreign countries can talk with us?" inquired Nancy.
+
+"A short time ago there were eight that could talk direct. One is at
+Funabashi, Japan; one at Carnarvon, Wales; two in France, one at
+Nantes and one at Lyons; Rome, Italy, has one; Germany has one at
+Nauen and one at Eilvese, Hanover; and Norway has one at Stavanger.
+Then in Canada there are two transatlantic stations."
+
+"Glace Bay!" piped the incorrigible Walter.
+
+Bob patted his head with a mock fatherly gesture.
+
+"Very good, son," said he, at which everybody laughed.
+
+"These stations," he went on, "are all equipped with very high power,
+varying in wave length anywhere from 17,600 to 6,000 meters. Most of
+our stations are pretty powerful, anyway. Pearl Harbor, for instance,
+has a 13,000 wave length; Cavite 12,000; Sayville, 11,600; Tuckerton,
+owned by a French company, about 8,700; New Brunswick, New Jersey,
+13,600; Marion, Massachusetts, 14,400; and Annapolis, 17,600. Only a
+few foreign stations can match these in range. Carnarvon has two wave
+lengths: 14,000 and 11,500; Lyons, 15,500; Nantes, 10,000; Rome,
+11,500; Nauen, 12,550; Eilvese (Hanover), 15,000 and 9,600; and
+Stavanger, Norway, 9,600. There are many, however, that vary from
+7,000 to 4,000 and can transmit messages by relaying them."
+
+"I wish my set could send farther," Dick murmured regretfully.
+
+"It sends as far as the law allows. We must therefore abide by Uncle
+Sam's judgment and be content. The scale is very carefully planned and
+the classifications made most intelligently, I think. Amateurs are
+limited to about a 200-meter wave length; low-power stations come next
+and are grouped under 1,600 meters. Of these the 750 wave is reserved
+for government stations such as radio compass stations, etc.; 600
+meters is the commercial tune for large merchant ships; 476 that of
+submarines, aircraft, and small war vessels; and 300 meters is the
+commercial tune for small vessels. After that we pass into the higher
+group, all of which come under the head of medium-power stations.
+These range from 4,000 to 1,800 meters and first on the list are the
+government ships which have continuous waves and a length of from
+3,000 to 4,000 meters. Following them come the experimental and
+miscellaneous stations with a 3,000 to 2,000-meter range; and after
+them the 1,800-meter class which is the commercial tune for continuous
+waves."
+
+"And the high-power stations are the last, I suppose," put in Dick.
+
+"Yes, those designed for trans-oceanic service. These range from
+20,000 to 6,000 meters. The distinctions are, you see, quite
+positively made and everybody must keep within his assigned
+pigeon-hole."
+
+"I reckon I'll keep in mine," announced Dick.
+
+"I should advise it if you want smooth sailing," retorted Bob. "You
+will hardly----" but the sentence was never finished for a maid
+approached Mr. Crowninshield at the moment and whispered:
+
+"The telephone, sir; New York is speaking."
+
+"New York, Dad!" exclaimed Dick excitedly. "It may be Lyman or Dacie."
+
+"More likely it is the office," replied his mother.
+
+"Some business matter, I fancy," said Mr. Crowninshield as he rose.
+"I'm sorry to interrupt the lesson."
+
+"I was just about through, sir."
+
+"I'll be back in a moment probably."
+
+"Poor father always has telephone calls," lamented Nancy
+sympathetically. "If he ever starts out to play golf somebody is sure
+to want him. Sometimes I wish that New York office was in the bottom
+of the sea."
+
+"I guess you'd have precious little bread and butter if it was,"
+announced Dick with brotherly sarcasm.
+
+"Certainly you wouldn't be able to provide me with any," Nancy flashed
+back with a teasing laugh.
+
+"Children!" interposed Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"Here's Dad! Well, Pater, what was it?" asked Dick. Then on observing
+his father was unwontedly excited he repeated, "What's up, Dad?"
+
+"It was Lyman," Mr. Crowninshield answered. "The New York police have
+run down two men and Mr. Lyman wants Bob to come over and see if he
+can identify either of them as the one who kidnapped Lola."
+
+"You could identify him, couldn't you, Bob?" Walter put in.
+
+"Of course I could. Didn't the chap come into the station to get water
+for his machine?" was the instant reply. "I talked with him quite a
+bit while he was fixing up his engine. He seemed in a powerful rush to
+be off and wasn't overgracious."
+
+"But could Bob leave now, Archibald?" questioned his wife. "Isn't
+there the possibility of news from Mr. O'Connel?"
+
+"Jove! I had forgotten that."
+
+"Maybe O'Connel won't call; he didn't to-day, you know," Nancy said.
+
+"It seems to me Bob ought to go and land those chaps if there is a
+chance of doing it," Dick declared. "He would not need to be gone more
+than one night, would he?"
+
+"No. Nevertheless, he would miss the morning wireless," returned Mr.
+Crowninshield. "Should there be important news we should not get it."
+
+"It is a pity you boys can't take a message," Nancy remarked, turning
+toward her brother and Walter. "If you only had your Morse code
+learned you might be quite some good to us now."
+
+"I wish I had whooped up on it faster," bewailed Dick, with engaging
+candor. "I'm an awful rotter--plain lazy, I guess."
+
+"Well, I don't know but we'd better let Bob go, all things
+considered," observed Mr. Crowninshield, who had been quietly thinking
+the matter over.
+
+"I say Bob goes, too," reiterated Dick. "It is worth something to put
+such fellows as those dog thieves behind the bars."
+
+"You can connect with the Fall River boat or one passing through the
+Canal and be in New York in the morning, Bob," the elder man asserted.
+"Lyman will meet you, hustle things along, and send you home on the
+noon train. With Dick's racing car to pick you up somewhere along the
+line there is no reason why we should not have you back here before
+another morning. You've no time to spare, though, for lingering and
+discussing wireless and its wonders. Trot along and pack up your duds
+and get some luncheon. I'll call up Wheeler and have him ready to
+carry you to the train. Do not bother your head about connections; I
+will look up everything and tell you exactly what to do."
+
+In a flurry of anticipation off hastened Bob.
+
+"Gee! Isn't it the limit that we haven't brains enough to get
+O'Connel?" murmured Dick to Walter in a disgusted whisper. "I ought to
+have duffed in harder on the blamed code. But I thought there was no
+hurry. We seemed to have all summer to learn it."
+
+"Maybe he won't call," His Highness suggested hopefully.
+
+"I hope to blazes he doesn't," was the retort. "I'd feel cheap as dirt
+to have that ticker go clicking out a message and I not be able to get
+a word of it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH
+
+
+With Bob gone and radio lessons suspended the following morning seemed
+to both Dick and Walter an unwontedly quiet one. Moreover with a
+scorching sun high in the heaven, no breeze, and a dead low tide most
+of the activities to which the boys might have resorted were out of
+the question.
+
+"Think of the sailing breeze we've seen blowing lots of mornings when
+we couldn't go out," grumbled Dick. "Isn't it infernal luck?"
+
+"Why don't you take your car and go for a spin," Nancy suggested.
+
+"Wheeler has it, silly. He's meeting Bob."
+
+"I couldn't go motoring anyway," put in Walter. "I've got the dogs to
+chase round."
+
+"You're not going out with them now," objected Dick.
+
+"Not quite yet. I had them out before breakfast."
+
+"What do you say we go over and fool round with the radio a while?"
+Dick yawned. "We've nothing better to do."
+
+"All right. We can at least listen in for a spell. We've got that
+far."
+
+"You boys better not go getting that wireless all out of order while
+Bob is away," cautioned Nancy. "He'd be ripping mad to get home and
+find it out of commission. Father wouldn't like it, either."
+
+"Oh, we're not going to hurt the precious radio," sniffed Dick. "Don't
+you think we know anything?"
+
+"Not much," fluted Nancy as she flounced away.
+
+"At least she does not flatter us," grinned His Highness, quite
+unruffled by the girl's frankness.
+
+"Oh, sisters never think a fellow knows anything, especially when
+they're older," Dick grumbled, as he unlocked the door of the low
+building and met the blast of close, stifling air that came out.
+"Scott! The place is like an oven, isn't it? Open a window, can't
+you?" he continued.
+
+"Sure! There is some heat, I'll say. Just as well we dropped round if
+only to air the place out," Walter replied.
+
+Together they switched on the current, regulated amplifier, detector,
+and tuner, and each with a head receiver tight to his ears sat down.
+
+"Whee, but it is thick, to-day!" shouted Dick. "Run the tune up, kid,
+and see if we get anything."
+
+"It is always bad a day like this," called Walter. "Besides, everybody
+seems to be butting in in the morning. Infernal, isn't it?"
+
+"Let her go up to O'Connel's pitch. It can't do any harm."
+
+"It isn't time for him to call, is it?"
+
+"Pretty near."
+
+"But what good would it do even if we did get his signal?"
+
+"We should at least know he had something to say to us."
+
+"I should consider that a negative satisfaction," Walter replied. "It
+would just be an aggravation. However, here she goes! As you say, it
+can harm nobody to get the right meter."
+
+"There's that old commercial station up the Cape," announced Dick,
+presently. "That fellow is always on the job at this hour."
+
+"Probably he has to be, poor soul," Walter returned. "We'll get rid of
+him in a minute. _What was that?_"
+
+"It is some one on our line. That's the _Siren's_ call. It's O'Connel!
+Jove! What are you doing, man? What are you going to do?" asked Dick
+excitedly as he saw Walter's hand go out.
+
+"Paper! Pencil! Hurry, can't you?" gasped Walter.
+
+"Do you mean----"
+
+"Let's both take it down in dots and dashes. Between us we may be able
+to make some sense out of it afterward. Quick!"
+
+Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off. Then there was
+silence.
+
+"Get any of it?" Walter demanded, breathlessly tossing the receiver
+aside and shutting off the current.
+
+"About two words. He went so fast----Did you get anything?"
+
+"Oh, I've got something; but whether it will make any sense remains to
+be seen," said His Highness eagerly. "Where is the key! Toss it
+over."
+
+[Illustration: Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off. Then
+there was silence. _Page_ 240.]
+
+"Here we go. Dot, dash,----"
+
+"That's the letter A, you squarehead! I know what that first part is;
+it is always the same and we needn't fuss to translate it. _Aboard
+yacht Siren._ I don't care, either, where she is. What we want to get
+at is what she wants to say."
+
+"But how can we tell where all that stuff leaves off?"
+
+"I mean to tell," declared Walter with determination.
+
+"But there is punctuation and other rubbish mixed in with the
+letters."
+
+"No matter. Have a little patience, man!"
+
+Nevertheless, in spite of all the patience and perseverance the boys
+could muster the magic message remained an enigma and at the end of an
+hour both were obliged to admit themselves beaten.
+
+"It is worse than getting no message at all," lamented Walter.
+
+"It certainly does not do us much good," assented Dick.
+
+"Do you suppose your father knows anything about the Morse code?"
+
+"Dad? Good heavens, no! Still we might take the thing up to the house
+and show it to him."
+
+"I don't imagine it is right, do you?" speculated Walter. "No doubt we
+missed some of it or made mistakes. Still, what we contrived to write
+agrees fairly well, so some of it must be correct. Let's take it to
+your father. What do you say?"
+
+"I feel like such a boob not to be able to make it out," Dick
+answered with evident reluctance at confessing himself floored.
+
+"But we'll have to tell him O'Connel called. We've got to do that
+anyhow; so he may as well know the rest of it," Walter persisted.
+
+"All right. We'll hunt him up. I warn you, though, that he will josh
+us most unmercifully. He'll pitch into me, too, and ask me why I
+haven't learned my Morse International before this. See if he
+doesn't."
+
+"It is one thing to learn the code out of a book and quite another to
+be smart enough to read it or take it down," Walter maintained
+stoutly. "Nobody ought to expect you to be able to get a message the
+way Bob does. Why, he has been at the job years!"
+
+"I know he has," Dick responded, slightly comforted. "Still, Dad will
+rag me, just the same. See if he doesn't!"
+
+Locking the door and pausing to gain courage they set out over the
+lawn. Then suddenly, midway across the grass, His Highness came to a
+stop.
+
+"Mr. Burns!" he cried, wheeling round. "Why didn't I think of him
+before?"
+
+"What on earth are you talking about?" asked Dick, astounded by his
+companion's strange conduct.
+
+"Mr. Burns!" repeated Walter. "Come along. Can't one of the chauffeurs
+take us down there?"
+
+"For mercy's sake who is Mr. Burns, and why do you want to go and see
+him hot off the bat?"
+
+"Mr. Burns, the telegraph operator," Walter contrived to stammer. "He
+must know Morse International. He has to know both the Morse American
+which telegraph operators use on land, and the other code, I'm pretty
+sure."
+
+"But maybe what we've got down doesn't make sense," objected Dick.
+"You've a husky nerve to go toting that scrawl of ours to a
+professional."
+
+"I don't care," grinned Walter. "I'm not afraid of Mr. Burns. He's
+driven me out of the station too many times when I was a kid. I will
+own, however, that I have more respect for him since I've learned what
+it means to run a telegraph."
+
+"He may drive you out of the station this time," Dick ventured with a
+grimace.
+
+"I'll bet he won't," was the sanguine response. "We've made it up
+since then. I've even helped old Burnsie shovel his snow now and then.
+He'll do a good turn for me, I'll bet."
+
+"Come on then, if you are so sure of it," Dick answered, striding
+toward the garage.
+
+"You're sure your father won't mind our taking the car?"
+
+"He doesn't want it this morning. He is going to hang round and see if
+Bob calls him from New York. Besides, he said it was too hot to motor.
+Will Burns be at the station now?"
+
+"He will if a train is due," announced Walter. "If the office is
+locked we can chase him to his house."
+
+"All right! This is your party, remember," Dick said a trifle
+wickedly. It was evident he had no faith in the expedition.
+Notwithstanding his skepticisms, however, he ordered out the car and
+he and Walter sped away on their errand.
+
+"It is time for a train," announced Walter in an undertone, as they
+neared the station. "See, there are people waiting. It is the noon
+train from Boston."
+
+"Burns will be too busy then to bother his head over fake messages, I
+guess," sniffed Dick.
+
+"Maybe not. At least we can try him," was His Highness's optimistic
+assertion. "Hi, Mr. Burns!" The lad was out of the car and hastening
+along in the wake of a much sunburned station agent in blue denim
+overalls.
+
+"Wal, if it ain't Walter King! What you after, young one? I hear
+you've become the proprietor of Surfside--bought out the whole darn
+place for yourself."
+
+"I did buy it but I'm going to sell it again. It's too small. I can't
+get room enough to stretch up there," came impishly from the lad on
+the platform.
+
+"Show! You don't say!" drawled Mr. Burns with obvious relish of the
+joke. "Well, it ain't wise to be cramped. Maybe you wouldn't get your
+growth if you were."
+
+He cast a glance toward the short, thick-set figure behind him.
+
+"I say, Mr. Burns," burst out Walter, "are you terribly busy? I've got
+something I want to show you."
+
+"What is it?" demanded the man, halting and holding suspended in his
+hand a cerulean blue egg case.
+
+"I don't know what it is--that's just the trouble," answered Walter
+mysteriously.
+
+"What you up to anyhow?" demanded Mr. Burns suspiciously.
+
+Walter thrust forth the sheet of paper he had drawn from his pocket.
+
+In his rough, grimy hand the telegraph operator took it.
+
+"Where did you get this?" demanded he, glancing sharply over the top
+of his spectacles.
+
+"Why, we have a wireless up at Surfside and this thing--or something
+like it that we didn't know enough to write down, came this morning."
+
+"But I heard your brother Bob was up there."
+
+"He had to go to New York yesterday."
+
+"And left you to tend the tape, did he?" grinned the old man.
+
+"Not much. He knows I'd be a duffer at the job," affirmed Walter.
+
+"Mebbe you ain't as much of a duffer as you think. You managed to get
+this down on paper."
+
+"We managed to together--Dick and I," explained Walter. "I don't
+suppose, though, we got it anywhere near straight. Does it make any
+sense at all?"
+
+"Sure it makes sense!" announced Mr. Burns with a vim that quite took
+Walter's breath away. "There's queer spots in it here and there--a few
+letters that ain't needed, perhaps. Still, you can omit 'em since they
+serve no particular purpose."
+
+"But what is the message? What does it say?" clamored Walter all
+impatience.
+
+"Well, it ain't so thrillin' you need to go into a thousand pieces
+over it," commented the Cape Codder dryly. "Some friend of Mr.
+Crowninshield's 'pears to be comin' down here on the afternoon train
+bringin' with him his wife--either his wife or daughter."
+
+"What!" Walter ejaculated weakly.
+
+"That's what he says," continued Mr. Burns, calmly rereading the
+document he held. "Evidently some relation--or at least a person who
+feels he has the right to boss, for he says he wants to be met at the
+train."
+
+"Did I get the name?"
+
+"Yes, that's here. I may's well read you the whole thing with the
+exception of the extra touches you've added."
+
+"I wish to goodness you would."
+
+"'Tain't nothin' interestin', as I said before," insisted Mr. Burns,
+readjusting his spectacles. "'_Coming on afternoon train and bringing
+Lola. Meet me, O'Con_----' Where in thunder you goin?" The operator
+gazed in amazement as a pair of chubby legs vanished up the platform.
+
+"That's all right, Mr. Burns! I don't want the paper back. You can
+keep it to remember me by. Thanks!" Then to Dick he shouted as he
+sprang into the car:
+
+"We're off for home fast as we can make it, old man! Such news! Your
+father will be crazy! Whee! Hurrah!"
+
+"If it is all the same to you," observed Dick with scorching sarcasm,
+"it would be pleasant to know the import of the message I took down."
+
+"_You_ took down--well I like that! _You_ took down! Why, man, you
+could not even read it yourself! It is the message _I_ took down, my
+son."
+
+"_We_ took down," corrected Dick.
+
+They both laughed.
+
+"O'Connel's coming this afternoon! What do you say to that?"
+
+"Great Scott! But what----"
+
+"He's bringing his wife or daughter," continued Walter with a wicked
+twinkle in his eye.
+
+"What?" exclaimed his bewildered listener.
+
+"Oh, this is rich! Rich!" continued His Highness with a paroxysm of
+laughter. "Wait until we tell your father! My soul and body! I'm sick
+laughing!"
+
+"You might tell me the joke."
+
+"I can't--I can't!" roared the boy. "It is too good!"
+
+"And--and what about Lola?" stammered Dick.
+
+"Why, you see Burns thought--my, but it's rich! Ha, ha! Burns
+understood that--oh, it's a scream!" and with that Dick was forced to
+be content.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS
+
+
+When Walter and Dick returned to Surfside with their tidings Mr.
+Crowninshield's satisfaction and delight could hardly be expressed.
+How he laughed at Burns's interpretation of O'Connel's message! And
+how Dick laughed when at last the joke was imparted to him!
+
+"Well, you two boys have been almighty clever between you," commented
+the elder man. "I would not have credited either of you with so many
+brains. To think of your getting that radio call! It is marvelous. And
+then to take it to Burns! That was a master stroke. The idea would
+never have entered my head. But what puzzles me is the message itself.
+Do you suppose O'Connel has kidnapped Lola; or how has he got
+possession of her? And how has he contrived to escape from the yacht
+without being held up? I don't understand it at all. It isn't likely
+Daly has let him walk off unmolested with the dog. The thing is more
+than I can fathom."
+
+"Perhaps Mr. Daly has relented and is sending Lola back," suggested
+Walter.
+
+"Not on your life, youngster! You don't know Daly," was the instant
+reply. "He would never admit himself beaten and give up that pup.
+Moreover the affair has cost him too much money, risk and trouble for
+him to abandon his scheme. If he wanted Lola bad enough to hire
+somebody to steal her he still wants her, mark my word! No, there is
+something behind all this that we haven't reached. O'Connel has made
+off with the dog somehow. Just how I am at a loss to tell. We shall
+have to wait until he himself comes and enlightens us."
+
+"Anything heard from Bob?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Yes, I've had a wire. They've got the men they were after all right
+and he will be back to-night."
+
+"What did he say about it?" asked Dick eagerly.
+
+"Nothing. You cannot tell an entire story in a telegram, you know. But
+he has accomplished what he went for. I fancy he always does," added
+the master of the estate with a smile.
+
+"Generally, sir," nodded Walter proudly.
+
+Mr. Crowninshield took a turn or two across the room.
+
+"I mean to keep Bob with us this winter if I can prevail upon him to
+stay," remarked the financier presently. "He is too able a chap to
+lose sight of. I can find a big paying berth for him in New York and
+if he will take it, your mother won't have to worry any further about
+money affairs. And if you, sonny, make good and do as well as your
+brother"--he patted Walter's shoulder, "I'll do the same for you some
+day. You have done well this summer. Finish up your school work and
+then we'll see."
+
+"You are very kind, Mr. Crowninshield," the boy stammered.
+
+"Not a bit. We all ought to give the chap who is willing to climb a
+hand up the ladder. What are we in the world for?"
+
+"I know my mother will be----"
+
+"There, there!" interrupted the great man. "Your mother has two fine
+sons that she may well be proud of. She has had a little hard sledding
+to get them on their feet, that's all. Now it is their turn to lift
+the burden and repay her. I am simply going to see that they get the
+chance to do it. The rest I feel certain I can leave to them."
+
+"We do want to help mother," Walter replied with sincerity.
+
+"I know you do; both of you have proved it this summer. From now on I
+intend your mother shall have no anxiety about her finances. We'll put
+her where she will be perfectly independent of those uncles of yours,
+and of summer boarders as well."
+
+The lip of His Highness trembled and he could not speak.
+
+"Some day I expect Dick and Nancy will be looking out for their mother
+and me just this way," continued Mr. Crowninshield half humorously.
+"There will be Lola to support, too."
+
+Dick burst into a peal of laughter.
+
+"You will have to cut out indulging in so many detectives if I'm to
+pay the bills, Dad," answered he.
+
+"Oh, you must not deprive me of my little luxuries," returned his
+father. "One must have some amusement, remember."
+
+"I'm afraid you will have to choose a cheaper one then."
+
+"I'll think it over. If, however, I discover you cannot maintain me
+and my trifling pleasures I may abandon you and turn to Walter to
+support me in my old age."
+
+Lighting a cigar he strolled away.
+
+The boys ambled toward the boathouse. There was still three hours
+before the Boston train, bringing O'Connel, would arrive. In the
+meantime they indulged in a swim; took the dogs for a run; had
+luncheon; paddled round the bay in Dick's canoe; and did everything
+they could think of to hurry the moments along.
+
+And when the car bearing Mr. Crowninshield and O'Connel did actually
+roll into the drive what a state of excitement they were in!
+
+Yes, there was Lola--there was no contesting that! She was a weak,
+wretched little dog but it was she.
+
+"However did you manage it, Mr. O'Connel?" cried Mrs. Crowninshield
+who had come racing down the steps and gathered her favorite into her
+arms.
+
+Breathlessly the group clustered about the wee puppy.
+
+"Well, the first thing I did was to convince myself the dog aboard
+the yacht was really the one we were after. One day when the party
+went ashore I hunted up the supposed Trixie and called her by her real
+name. You should have seen her prick up her ears, poor little mite! I
+had her licking my hand inside a minute. From that instant I began to
+scheme. I found I couldn't send you many radio calls because they
+watched me too closely. I think the mate suspected something--just
+what, I could not make out, for I don't think he was in the secret of
+the dog's capture. Anyway, I decided to steer clear of the wireless
+and trust to luck. At last my chance came. Some equipment was needed
+and it was decided I was to be put ashore and get it. By this time
+Lola, who for the last few days had refused to eat, had begun to show
+decidedly alarming symptoms. I diagnosed the case as plain
+homesickness and privately resolved to get her off the yacht if it was
+a possible thing; but Mr. Daly thought she had distemper or something
+and was mightily cut up. He didn't want the animal to die on his hands
+after all he had gone through to get her. Altogether he began to be
+pretty uneasy and you may be sure I did my part to make him so. Every
+chance I got I would remark how sick his dog seemed. Of course I
+wasn't supposed to know it wasn't one he had had for years. I kept
+harping on the puppie's health until I had him fussed to death. At
+last he said: 'I don't know but what you are right about Trixie,
+O'Connel. If they are going to put you ashore at Boston to buy
+supplies, why wouldn't it be a good plan for you to take the dog to
+the animal hospital there? You could leave her and later we could go
+back and get her. She does seem ailing, and I haven't the ghost of an
+idea what to do with a sick dog. Besides, she is a nuisance on the
+yacht if she must be catered to all the time.' Well, as you can
+imagine, I jumped at the chance although I took every pains not to let
+him suspect I did. I told him that of course if he wanted me to take
+the dog I should be glad to do it. I liked animals and also I wished
+to accommodate him. There was no denying, however, that to carry Lola
+with me would delay me in town. Still, if he desired it I would do my
+best to see that she was taken _where she would get well_."
+
+The big fellow paused and laughed heartily.
+
+"I've kept that promise, too," grinned he. "I have sent a note back to
+the _Siren_ recalling the phrase to Mr. Daly, and telling him that
+having decided Lola would recover more completely if placed under the
+protection of her rightful owners I was taking her back there."
+
+"I'd like to see his face when he gets that letter!" said Mr.
+Crowninshield, rubbing his hands.
+
+"So should I," roared O'Connel, his broad shoulders shaking.
+
+"But won't he----" Mrs. Crowninshield looked anxious.
+
+"Won't he what, my dear?" inquired her husband.
+
+"Aren't you afraid he will be angry and----" she held the wee dog
+closer in her arms.
+
+"He will be angry all right," agreed O'Connel. "But you need have no
+fears that he will do anything more, ma'am. He is on too dangerous
+ground. In the first place he cannot accuse me of appropriating his
+dog for I can answer him that it was stolen in the first place. And he
+cannot say I deserted his ship for all is fair in love and war, you
+know. No, Daly is a good sport and he will instantly understand that
+he has been beaten. We have been one too many for him, that is all.
+Moreover, he won't be feeling any too comfortable for he is still
+uncertain as to what Mr. Crowninshield may be planning to do with him.
+Oh, Daly won't stir up trouble. You can trust him for that. On the
+contrary he probably will clear out of reach of any possible storm. It
+is his only course and he will be canny enough to take it."
+
+"But you are not going to let him go scott free, are you Dad?"
+demanded Dick.
+
+"Oh, I don't know. What's the use of fighting a skunk like that? We
+have our dog back and Daly must acknowledge that he has been beaten.
+That is about all I want. He won't try anything more for I have a
+whiplash over him as he is well aware. Any time I can prosecute him
+for receiving stolen goods and being an accomplice in a robbery. With
+the evidence I have such a case would go overwhelmingly against him
+should it reach the courts. He is not for bringing that issue to a
+head, you may rest assured of that."
+
+"But you do mean to jail the men who actually took Lola, Father," put
+in Nancy. "If you do that, won't the whole affair have to be aired and
+Mr. Daly dragged into the trial?"
+
+Her father did not answer immediately and before he had framed his
+reply wheels were heard and Wheeler, driving Dick's racing car, drew
+up at the steps.
+
+"It's Bob, as I live!" shouted Walter. "Hello, Bobbie! Hello, old
+chap!"
+
+"Welcome home, Bob!" called Mr. Crowninshield going forward to meet
+the lad.
+
+"We have a surprise for you, Bob!" called Nancy. "Guess who's here?"
+
+"I can't," smiled the wireless man coming up to the piazza and shaking
+hands all round. Then his eye lighted on O'Connel.
+
+"My word! How did you get here, old top? Fired from your job?"
+
+For answer Mrs. Crowninshield held up Lola.
+
+"The pup herself! Well, well! What's been happening in my absence,
+anyhow?"
+
+"I don't wonder you want to know," cried Nancy above the general
+clamor.
+
+"Hush! Do stop everybody. You are making a far worse noise than ever
+came through that radiophone."
+
+"First let's have Bob's story. We haven't heard that yet," Mr.
+Crowninshield said. "Tell us what happened to you in New York, my
+boy."
+
+Bob dropped into a chair.
+
+"Well, as I wired you, Dacie and Lyman have landed your men. I
+recognized the fellow who came to Seaver Bay for water the instant I
+set eyes on him. He recognized me, too, and knew the game was up. It
+seems, though, that he and his pal are wanted in California on a prior
+charge. A big burglary, I think it is. Anyway, they have got to be
+taken out there and tried first. In the meantime our complaint can be
+lodged against them and----"
+
+"Aren't we to have the fun of jailing them after all?" asked Dick in
+dismay.
+
+"They will be jailed, never fear," returned Bob. "They will get a
+stiff sentence, too, I imagine."
+
+Mr. Crowninshield was silent and his wife now glanced toward him.
+
+"Are you disappointed, Archibald?" inquired she.
+
+"I guess," responded he slowly, "that is a good way out of our
+dilemma. The villains will be carried far away from this vicinity and
+will without doubt get all that's coming to them. What more can we
+ask? We've won the game--taken every trick and made a clean sweep of
+the whole business. Now that I've got Lola home I don't much care
+about the rest of it. What do you say we let well enough alone and
+drop it?"
+
+"I should say that with every day of your life you were growing wiser,
+my dear," answered his wife softly.
+
+
+FINIS.
+
+[Illustration: Publisher's logo]
+
+
+
+
+_The first volume in "The Invention Series"_
+
+PAUL AND THE PRINTING PRESS
+
+_By_ SARA WARE BASSETT
+
+With illustrations by A. O. Scott
+
+_12mo. Cloth. 218 pages._
+
+Paul Cameron, president of the class of 1920 in the Burmingham High
+School, conceives the idea of establishing a school paper, to the
+honor and glory of his class. So _The March Hare_ comes into
+existence, and Paul and his schoolfellows bend all their energies to
+making it a success. They have their difficulties and Paul in
+particular bears the brunt of their troubles, but _The March Hare_
+lives up to its reputation for life and liveliness and becomes not
+only a class success, but a town institution. This is the first volume
+in "The Invention Series."
+
+"It is the sort of story that boys of fourteen years and upward
+will enjoy and ought to enjoy, a combination that is rarely
+achieved."--_Boston Post._
+
+"A welcome volume which will appeal to boys who want a good story that
+will give some information as well."--_New York Evening Post._
+
+"'Paul and the Printing Press' not only has a keen story interest, but
+has the advantage of carrying much valuable information for all young
+folks for whom the mysterious and all-powerful printing press has an
+attraction."--_Boston Herald._
+
+
+LITTLE, BROWN & CO., PUBLISHERS
+
+34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Walter and the Wireless, by Sara Ware Bassett
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Walter and the Wireless,
+      by Sara Ware Bassett.
+    </title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Walter and the Wireless, by Sara Ware Bassett
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Walter and the Wireless
+
+Author: Sara Ware Bassett
+
+Illustrator: William F. Stecher
+
+Release Date: December 4, 2007 [EBook #23728]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WALTER AND THE WIRELESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sigal Alon, David T. Jones, La Monte H.P.
+Yarroll and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>WALTER AND THE WIRELESS</h1>
+
+<h3>By Sara Ware Bassett</h3>
+
+<h4><i>The Invention Series</i></h4>
+
+<h5><span class="smcap">Paul and the Printing Press</span></h5>
+<h5><span class="smcap">Steve and the Steam Engine</span></h5>
+<h5><span class="smcap">Ted and the Telephone</span></h5>
+<h5><span class="smcap">Walter and the Wireless</span></h5>
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="i002"></a>
+<img src="images/002.jpg" width="350" height="530"
+alt="" title="" />
+</div><br />
+<h5>"K Y W Chicago, Illinois. Stand by fifteen minutes<br />
+for&mdash;&mdash;." <span class="smcap">frontispiece</span> <i>See page</i> 208</h5>
+<br /><br />
+<h4>The Invention Series</h4>
+
+<h1>WALTER AND</h1>
+<h1>THE WIRELESS</h1>
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+<h3>SARA WARE BASSETT</h3>
+
+<h5>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY</h5>
+<h5>WILLIAM F. STECHER</h5>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 94px;">
+<img src="images/logo.png" width="94" height="133"
+alt="logo" title="" />
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<h5>BOSTON</h5>
+<h5>LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY</h5>
+<h5>1923</h5>
+
+
+<h6><i>Copyright, 1923</i>,</h6>
+<h6><span class="smcap">By Little, Brown, and Company</span>.</h6>
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<h6><i>All rights reserved</i></h6>
+<h6>Published March, 1923</h6>
+<br /><br />
+<h6><span class="smcap">Printed in the United States of America</span></h6>
+
+
+<h5>To</h5>
+<h4>PAUL MARBLE</h4>
+<h5>AND HIS COLLIE BOBS,</h5>
+<h5>THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY</h5>
+<h5>DEDICATED</h5>
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+<a name="toc" id="toc"></a>
+<table width="70%" summary="toc" border="0">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr" width="10%"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span></td>
+<td width="50%">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tdr" width="10%"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">I</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">His Highness</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">II</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">The New Job</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">17</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">III</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">What Worried Mrs. King</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">36</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IV</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">Walter Makes His Bow To His Employer</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">50</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">V</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">The Conquest of Achilles</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">64</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VI</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">His Highness in a New Role</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">75</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VII</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">The Pursuit of Lola</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">92</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VIII</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">A Blunder and What Came of It</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">104</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IX</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">More Clues</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">116</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">X</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">Bob</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">127</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XI</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">The Decision</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">138</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XII</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">Lessons</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">147</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XIII</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="smcap">Information from a New Source</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">162</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XIV</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><span class="smcap">Bob As Pedagogue</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">169</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XV</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><span class="smcap">Tidings</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">183</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XVI</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><span class="smcap">Miracles</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">197</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XVII</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><span class="smcap">The Laws of the Air</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">210</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XVIII</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><span class="smcap">The Net Tightens</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">228</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XIX</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><span class="smcap">Walter Steps into the Breach</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">238</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XX</td>
+<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><span class="smcap">The Return of the Wanderers</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">248</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3>
+
+<table width="85%" summary="list of illos" border="0">
+<tr>
+<td width="75%"><a href="#i002">"<span class="smcap">KYW Chicago, Illinois. Stand by fifteen minutes for&mdash;&mdash;</span>"</a></td>
+<td class="tdr" width="10%"><i>Frontispiece</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="tdr" width="10%"><span class="smcap">page</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><a href="#i003"><span class="smcap">The two boys would discuss boats, fishing and kindred interests</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">76</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><a href="#i004"><span class="smcap">You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's all. Take it from me</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">154</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><a href="#i005"><span class="smcap">Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off. Then there was silence</span></a></td>
+<td class="tdr">240</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br /><br />
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>WALTER AND THE WIRELESS</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h3>
+
+<h4>HIS HIGHNESS</h4>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>His Highness came by the nickname honestly enough and yet those who
+heard it for the first time had difficulty in repressing a smile at
+the incongruity of the title. In fact perhaps no term could have been
+found that would have been less appropriate. For Walter King possessed
+neither dignity of rank nor of stature. On the contrary he was a
+short, snub-nosed boy of fifteen, the epitome of good humor and
+democracy.</p>
+
+<p>His hair was red and towsled, his face spangled with great golden
+freckles which sea winds and sunshine had multiplied until there was
+scarce room for another on his beaming countenance. Hands and arms
+were freckled too, for when one lives in a bathing suit six months of
+the year and is either in the water or on it most of the time the skin
+fails to retain its pristine whiteness of hue. But His Highness did
+not care a fig for that. He was far too busy baiting eel and lobster
+traps, mending fish nets, untangling lines, and painting boats to give
+a thought to his personal beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed his mother often bewailed the fact that he was not more
+interested in his appearance and there were times when it seemed as if
+she were right. Certainly when her son ambled home at dusk with every
+rebellious hair standing upended upon his head and a string of
+flounders dripping salt from the tips of their slimy tails she was
+justified to a degree in wishing he had more regard for the niceties
+of life.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at the mess you're making!" she would pipe indignantly. "I've
+just mopped this floor, Walter."</p>
+
+<p>"You have? Now isn't that the dickens! Well, no matter, Ma; I'll swab
+the place down again when I've finished cleaning these fish. They're
+beauties, aren't they? A batch of them fried won't go bad for supper
+to-night. I'm hungry as a bear. Shouldn't think I'd eaten anything in
+ten years. Say, Ma, what do you s'pose? Dave Corbett was out in the
+<i>Nancy</i> three hours and never got a bite. What do you think of that?
+The wind died down, his engine got stalled, and he and Hosey Talbot
+had to row home from the Bell Reef Shoals. Haw, haw! Maybe I didn't
+roar when I saw them come pulling in against the tide, mad as two
+man-eating sharks. Fit to harpoon the first person they met, they
+were. I sung out and asked them were they practicing for the Harvard
+and Yale boat race and Dave was that peeved he shied an oarlock after
+me. Haw, haw, haw!"</p>
+
+<p>"You ought not to provoke Dave, Walter."</p>
+
+<p>"Provoke him? But he was provoked already, Ma. There's no harm
+putting an extra stick on the fire when it's burning, anyhow. Besides,
+Dave is never in earnest when he bawls me out. He just likes to hear
+himself scold."</p>
+
+<p>"He has a terrible temper."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know half the town is scart to death of him. But he always will
+take a jolly from me. We understand each other, Dave and I. Say, Ma,
+these rubber boots leak. Did you know that? Yes, siree! They leak like
+sieves. I might as well be without 'em."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. King sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see," murmured she, "how you manage to go through everything
+you have so quickly, Walter. Nothing you wear lasts you more than a
+week."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I say, make it a month. Do, now!"</p>
+
+<p>He saw his mother smile faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, a month then."</p>
+
+<p>"You couldn't stretch it to two?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not possibly. Four weeks seems to be your limit."</p>
+
+<p>The sharpness of her tone, however, had weakened.</p>
+
+<p>"Four weeks, eh? I did think I'd had these rubber boots longer than
+that. It is amazing how attached you can get to things even in a
+little while."</p>
+
+<p>Holding aloft the knife with which he was preparing to behead the
+unlucky flounders, His Highness gazed reflectively down at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"It's awful that I have to keep having so many things, isn't it? I
+hate to be costing you money all the time. Now if you'd only let me
+ship for the Grand Banks when the <i>Katie B.</i> goes out&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Walter! What is the use of digging up that old bone again? I never
+shall let you ship for the Grand Banks or any other Banks so long as I
+live. We've had this out hundreds of times before. You know you and
+Bob are all I've got in the world. Do you suppose I want you lost in a
+fog and never heard from again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Great Scott, Ma! They don't lose fishing boats now as they used
+to. They carry wireless, and the fleet keeps in touch every minute."</p>
+
+<p>"The dories have no wireless aboard them," observed Mrs. King grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose not, no, probably they don't," His Highness admitted
+reluctantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Anyway, wireless or no wireless, you are not going on a fishing
+cruise to the Grand Banks."</p>
+
+<p>"I hear you, Ma," grinned the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"There is plenty of work right here on the land if you're looking for
+it. Why must you always be wanting to go to sea to earn money?"</p>
+
+<p>"Faith, Mother, I don't know," laughed Walter. "I expect it's because
+I see chores to do when I'm afloat that I can't see ashore. It is the
+way I was born."</p>
+
+<p>"A poor way."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe it is. At any rate I can't help it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you do not try to help it very hard."</p>
+
+<p>The lad shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"There's that chance you have to hire out at the Crowninshields' for
+the summer."</p>
+
+<p>"Those snobs."</p>
+
+<p>"Beggars cannot be choosers. Besides, they may not be snobs at all.
+What makes you think they are?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't mind the lugs they put on," protested Walter, evading the
+issue. "I suppose all New York swells do that. It's what they want me
+for that gets my goat." Again the knife he held was tragically
+upraised. "How would you like to be nursemaid to six or eight
+brainless little pups no bigger than rats? Not but what I like dogs.
+I'd like nothing better than to own a fine dog of some spirit. But
+those imitations! Why, before a week was out, I'd have their necks
+wrung."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Crowninshield promised to pay you well."</p>
+
+<p>"What's money if all the kids in town are going to josh you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Money is a good deal when you need it." His mother shook her head
+gravely. "Have you ever considered how badly we are in want of money,
+Walter?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Ma?" The boy wheeled about, startled.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't said anything about it, dear, because I could not bear to
+have you boys bothered," was the quiet answer. "But lately things have
+not been going well and I have been pretty much worried. The money
+your Uncle Henry invested for us isn't paying any dividends; there
+seems to be something the matter with the company's affairs. As for
+your Uncle Mark Miller, I've heard nothing from him in months. His
+ship was to put in at Shanghai for cargo and I ought to have had a
+letter by now; but none has come and I am afraid something must be the
+trouble. He is a good brother and never fails to send me money. I can
+ill afford to be without help now when the mortgage is coming due and
+I have so many bills to meet. It takes a deal of money to live
+nowadays. You boys do not realize that."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I had no idea you were fussed, Mother, and I'm sure Bob hadn't
+either," declared Walter soberly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I have done better than I thought I had," returned his mother,
+with the shadow of a smile. "I wanted to keep it secret if I could."</p>
+
+<p>"But you shouldn't have tried to keep it a secret, Mater dear," Walter
+replied. "I'm sure we'd rather know&mdash;at least I would."</p>
+
+<p>"But what use is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Use? Why, all the use in the world, Ma. I shall go ahead and take Mr.
+Crowninshield's job for one thing."</p>
+
+<p>"But you said&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Shucks! I was only fooling about the dogs, Mother. I shan't really
+mind exercising and taking care of them at all. Of course, I won't
+deny I'd rather they were Great Danes or police dogs; I'd even prefer
+Airedales or Cockers. Still I suppose these little mopsey Pekingese
+must have some brains or the Lord would not have made them. No doubt I
+shall get used to them in time."</p>
+
+<p>"It is only for the summer vacation anyway, you know," ventured his
+mother. "The Crowninshields go back to New York in October."</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly ought to be able to bear up a few months," laughed
+Walter, with a ludicrously wry twist of his mouth. "I hate to think
+you've been bothered and have been keeping it all to yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Misery does like company," Mrs. King returned with an unsteady laugh.
+"I believe I feel better already for having told you. But you must not
+worry, dear. We shall pull through all right, I guess. How I came to
+speak of it I don't know. It was only that it seemed such a pity to
+toss the Crowninshield offer aside without even considering it. Nobody
+knows where it might end. The village people say Mr. Crowninshield is
+a very generous man, especially if he takes a fancy to anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"But he may not take a fancy to me."</p>
+
+<p>"He must have done so already to be asking you to help with the dogs."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, Ma! Did you think Mr. Crowninshield picked me out himself?
+Why, he's never laid eyes on me. That great privilege is still in
+store for him. No, he simply told Jerry Thomas, the caretaker, to find
+somebody for the job before the family arrived. He doesn't care a darn
+who it is so long as he has a person who can be trusted with his
+priceless pups. Why, I heard the other day that a dealer from New York
+had offered five thousand dollars for the smallest one."</p>
+
+<p>"Walter!"</p>
+
+<p>"Straight goods!"</p>
+
+<p>"Five thousand dollars for a dog!" gasped Mrs. King.</p>
+
+<p>Her son chuckled at her incredulity.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure!"</p>
+
+<p>"But it's a fortune," murmured she. "I had no idea there was a dog on
+earth worth that much."</p>
+
+<p>"All of them are not."</p>
+
+<p>"But five thousand dollars!" she repeated. "Why, Walter, I wouldn't
+have you responsible for a creature like that for anything in the
+world. You might as well attempt to be custodian of a lot of gold
+bonds. I shouldn't have a happy moment or sleep a wink thinking of it.
+Suppose some of the little wretches were to run away and get lost? Or
+suppose they were to be stolen? Or they might get sick and die on your
+hands."</p>
+
+<p>"That is why they want a responsible person to keep an eye on them."</p>
+
+<p>His Highness squared his shoulders and threw out his chest.</p>
+
+<p>"But you are not a responsible person," burst out Mrs. King with
+unflattering candor.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;are you?" she insisted.</p>
+
+<p>The boy's figure shriveled.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he confessed frankly, "I'm afraid I'm not."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you're not," continued his mother with the same brutal
+truthfulness. "It isn't that you do not mean to be, sonny," added she
+kindly. "But your mind wanders off on all sorts of things instead of
+the thing you're doing. That is why you do not get on better in
+school. All your teachers say you are bright enough if you only had
+some concentration to back it up. What you can be thinking of all the
+time I cannot imagine; but certainly it isn't your lessons."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," nodded Walter without resentment. "My mind does flop about
+like a kite. I think of everything but what I ought to. It's a rotten
+habit."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, all I can say is you'd be an almighty poor one to look after a
+lot of valuable dogs," sniffed his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet I could do it if I set out to."</p>
+
+<p>"But would you set out to&mdash;that is the question? Would you really
+put your entire attention on those dogs so that other people could
+drop them from their minds? That is what taking care means."</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't promise. I could only try."</p>
+
+<p>"I should never dare to have you undertake it."</p>
+
+<p>"That settles it, Ma," announced His Highness. "I've evidently got to
+prove to you that you are wrong. I'm going up to Crowninshields' this
+minute to tell Jerry he can count on me from July until October."</p>
+
+<p>"You're crazy."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait and see."</p>
+
+<p>"I know what I'll see," was the sharp retort. "I shall see all those
+puppies kicking up their heels and racing off to Provincetown, and Mr.
+Crowninshield insisting that you either find them and bring them back
+or pay him what they cost him."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you believe it."</p>
+
+<p>"That is what will happen," was the solemn prophecy.</p>
+
+<p>"But you were keen for me to take the job."</p>
+
+<p>"That was before I knew what the little rats were worth."</p>
+
+<p>"You just thought it was a cheap sort of a position and that I was to
+race round and make it pleasant for a lot of ordinary curs, didn't
+you?" interrogated the lad with mock indignation.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of herself his mother smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see you were wrong," went on Walter. "It is not that sort
+of thing at all. It is a job for a trustworthy man, Jerry Thomas said,
+and will bring in good wages."</p>
+
+<p>"It ought to," replied his mother sarcastically, "if a person must
+spend every day for three months sitting with his eyes glued on those
+mites watching every breath they draw."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't just days, Mother; I'd have to be there nights as well."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"That's what Jerry told me. I'd have to sleep on the place. Mr.
+Crowninshield wants some one there all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"But Walter&mdash;&mdash;!" Mrs. King broke off in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that would mean leaving you alone now that Bob has a regular
+position at the Seaver Bay Wireless station. Still, why should you
+mind? I have always been gone all day, anyhow; and at night I sleep so
+soundly that you yourself have often said burglars might carry away
+the bed from under me and I not know it."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not much protection, that's a fact," confessed Mrs. King.
+"Fortunately, though, I am not a timid person. It is not that I am
+afraid to stay here alone. My chief objection is that it seems foolish
+to run a great house like this simply for myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't you get some one to come and keep you company?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who, I should like to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;why&mdash;well, I haven't thought about it. Of course
+there's Aunt Marcia King."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy on us!" exclaimed his mother, instantly flaring up. "I'd rather
+see the evil one himself put in an appearance than your Aunt Marcia.
+Of all the fault-finding, critical, sharp-tongued creatures in the
+world she is the worst. Why, I'd let burglars carry away every stick
+and stone I possess and myself thrown in before I would ask her here
+to board."</p>
+
+<p>"My, Mother! I'd no idea you had such a temper. You're as bad as Dave
+Corbett," asserted Walter teasingly.</p>
+
+<p>His mother tossed her head but he saw her flush uncomfortably.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you wouldn't want a regular boarder," suggested the boy in
+order to turn the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"A <i>boarder</i>!" There was less disapproval than surprise in the
+ejaculation, however.</p>
+
+<p>"Lots of people in the town do take summer boarders," added he.</p>
+
+<p>"The thought never entered my head before," reflected his mother
+aloud. "There certainly is plenty of room in the house, and we have a
+royal view of the water. Besides, there's the garden. Strangers are
+always coming here in vacation time and asking if they may look at it
+or sketch it. It never seemed anything very remarkable to me for most
+of the flowers have sown themselves and grow like weeds, but of course
+there's no denying the hollyhocks, poppies, and larkspur are pretty.
+But visitors always call it wonderful."</p>
+
+<p>"Most likely you could get a big price if you were to rent rooms."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I could," replied Mrs. King thoughtfully. "It would help
+toward the mortgage and the other bills, too. I've half a mind to try
+it, Walter."</p>
+
+<p>"It would mean extra work for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh! What do I care for that? Not a fig! In fact, with both of you
+boys away I'd rather be busy than not," was the quick retort.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you suppose Bob would mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bob? Why, he's seldom at home nowadays. Why should he care?"</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Marcia might think&mdash;&mdash;" began the boy mischievously.
+But the comment was cut short.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know what your Aunt Marcia would say," broke in Mrs. King.
+"She'd hold up her hands in horror and announce that it was beneath
+the dignity of the family to take boarders."</p>
+
+<p>They both laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe the very notion of scandalizing her will be what will
+decide me," concluded his mother with finality. "I'll put an
+advertisement in the Boston paper to-morrow and see what luck I have.
+If the right people do not turn up, why I don't have to take them."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure you don't."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a good plan, a splendid plan, Walter. Boarders will give me
+company and money too. I wonder it never occurred to me to do it
+before." Then she patted the lad's shoulder, adding playfully, "I
+guess if you have brains in one direction you must have them in
+another. Still, as I said before, I do not fancy your being
+responsible for those dogs."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh! You quit worrying, Ma, or I shall be sorry I told you they were
+blue ribbon pups."</p>
+
+<p>"I should have heard of it, never fear. You hear of everything in this
+town. You can't help it. Like as not everybody in the place will know
+by to-morrow morning that I am going to take boarders. Luckily I don't
+care&mdash;that's one good thing. And as to the dogs, if you are
+resolved to accept that position all I can say is that you must keep a
+head on your shoulders. You cannot hire out for a job unless you are
+prepared to give a full return for the money paid you. It is not
+honest. So think carefully what you mean to do before you embark. And
+remember, if you get into some careless scrape you cannot come back on
+me for money for I haven't any to hand over."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall shoulder my own blame," responded Walter, drawing in his
+chin.</p>
+
+<p>"Well and good then. If you are ready to do that, it is your affair
+and I have nothing more to say," announced Mrs. King, preparing to
+leave the room.</p>
+
+<p>But Walter stayed her on the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see," he began, "why you always seem to expect I'm going to
+get into a scrape. You are never looking for trouble with Bob."</p>
+
+<p>"Bob! Bless your heart I never have to! You know that as well as I do.
+Any one could trust Bob until the Day of Judgment. He never forgets a
+word you tell him. Ask him to do an errand and it is as good as done.
+You can drop it from your mind. From a little child he was dependable
+like that. His teachers couldn't say enough about him. Wasn't he
+always at the head of his class? The way he's turned out is no
+surprise. Think of his picking up wireless enough outside school hours
+to get a radio job during the war, and afterward that fine position at
+Seaver Bay! Few lads his age could have done it. And think of the
+messages he's entrusted with&mdash;government work, and sinking ships,
+and goodness knows what not!"</p>
+
+<p>The proud mother ceased for lack of breath.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I was like Bob," sighed Walter gloomily.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" was the instant exclamation. "You're yourself, and
+scatter-brain as you are, I'd want you no different. You're but a lad
+yet. When you are Bob's age you may be like him. Who knows?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not," came dismally from Walter. "I haven't started out as
+Bob did."</p>
+
+<p>"What if you haven't? There's time enough to catch up if you hurry.
+And anyway, I do not want my children all alike. Variety is the spice
+of life. I wouldn't have you patterned after Bob if I could speak the
+word."</p>
+
+<p>"You wouldn't?" the boy brightened.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I wouldn't! Who would I be patching torn trousers or darning
+ripped sweaters for if you were like Bob, I'd like to know? Who'd be
+pestering me to hunt up his cap and mittens? And who would I be frying
+clams for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bob never could abide clam fritters, could he?" put in the younger
+brother.</p>
+
+<p>"Bob never had any frivolities," mused Mrs. King, shaking her head.
+"Sometimes I've almost wished he had if only to keep the rest of us in
+countenance. Many's the time I've feared lest he was going to die he
+was that near perfect."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Ma, you haven't had to lie awake worrying because I was too
+good for this world, have you?" chuckled His Highness, breaking into a
+grin.</p>
+
+<p>His mother regarded him affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you'll make your way too, sonny, some day. It won't be as Bob has
+done it; but you'll make it nevertheless. Folks are going to do things
+for you simply because they cannot help it."</p>
+
+<p>The boy studied her with a puzzled expression.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Mater?"</p>
+
+<p>As if coming out of a reverie Mrs. King started, the mistiness that
+had softened her eyes vanishing.</p>
+
+<p>"There! Look at the way you've splashed up my nice clean sink!"
+complained she tartly. "Did any one ever see such a child&mdash;always
+messing up everything! Come, clear out of here and take your fish with
+you. It does seem as if you needed four nursemaids and a valet at your
+heels to pick up after you. Be off this minute."</p>
+
+<p>With a cloth in one hand and a bar of soap in the other, she elbowed
+him away from the dishpan.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll fry these flounders for supper, won't you, Ma?" called the lad
+as he disappeared into the shed.</p>
+
+<p>"Fry 'em? I reckon I'll have to. It's wicked to catch fish and not use
+'em."</p>
+
+<p>But he saw his mother's eyes twinkle and her grumbling assent did not
+trouble him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h3>
+
+<h4>THE NEW JOB</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>May at Lovell's Harbor was one of the most beautiful seasons of the
+year. In fact the inhabitants of the town often remarked that they put
+up with the winters the small isolated village offered for the sake of
+its springs and summers. Certain it was that when easterly storms
+swept the marshes and lashed the harbor into foam; when every boat
+that struggled out of the channel returned whitened to the gunwale
+with ice, there was little to induce anybody to take up residence in
+the hamlet. How cold and blue the water looked! How the surf boomed up
+on the lonely beach and the winds howled and whined around the eaves
+of the low cottages!</p>
+
+<p>One buttoned himself tightly into a greatcoat then, twisted a muffler
+many times about his neck, pulled his cap over his ears, and rushed
+for school with a velocity that almost equaled the scudding schooners
+whose sails billowed large against the horizon. At least that was what
+His Highness, Walter King, invariably did.</p>
+
+<p>But from the instant the breath of spring stole into the
+air,&mdash;ah, then Lovell's Harbor became a different place
+altogether. The stems of the willows fringing the small fresh-water
+ponds mellowed to bronze before one's very eyes; the dull reaches of
+salt grass turned emerald; the steely tint of the sea softened to
+azure and glinted golden in the sun. How shrill sounded the cries of
+the redwings in the marsh! How jolly the frogs' twilight chorus!</p>
+
+<p>The miracle went on with amazing rapidity. Soon you were scouring the
+hollows in the woods for arbutus or splashing bare-legged into the
+bogs for cowslips. You even ventured knee-deep into the sea which
+although still chill was no longer frigid. And then, before you knew
+it, you were hauling out your fishing tackle and looking over your
+flies; inspecting the old dory and calking her seams with a coat of
+fresh paint. Then came the raking of the leaves, the uncovering of the
+hollyhocks, and the burning of brush; and through the mists of smoke
+that rose high in air you could hear the resonant chee-ee of the
+blackbirds swinging on the reeds along the margin of the creek.</p>
+
+<p>And afterward, when summer had really made its appearance, what days
+of blue and gold followed! Was ever sky so cloudless, grass so vividly
+green, or ocean so sparkling? Ah, a boy never lacked amusement now! He
+wriggled into his bathing suit directly after breakfast and was off to
+the shore to swim, fish, or sail, or do any of the thousand-and-one
+alluring things that turned up. And things always did turn up in that
+small horseshoe where the boats made in. It was the club of Lovell's
+Harbor.</p>
+
+<p>Here all the men of the village congregated daily to smoke, swap
+jokes, and heckle those who worked.</p>
+
+<p>"That's no way to mend a net, Eph," one of the spectators would
+protest. "Where was you fetched up, man? Tote the durn thing over here
+and I'll show you how they do it off the Horn."</p>
+
+<p>Or another member of the audience would call:</p>
+
+<p>"Was you reckonin' you'd have enough paint in that keg to finish your
+yawl, Eddie? Never in the world! What are you so scrimpin' of it for?
+Slither it on good and thick and let it trickle down into the cracks.
+'Twill keep 'em tight."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, one learned to curb his temper and bend to the higher criticism if
+he carried his work down to the beach. He got an abundance of advice
+whether he asked for it or not and for the most part the counsel was
+sound and helpful. There you heard also tales of tempests, wrecks,
+strange ports, and sea serpents,&mdash;weird tales that chilled your
+blood; and sometimes the piping note of an old chanty was raised by
+one whose sailing days were now only a memory.</p>
+
+<p>What marvel that to be a boy at Lovell's Harbor was a boon to be
+coveted even if along with the distinction went a throng of homely
+tasks such as shucking clams, cleaning cod, baiting lobster pots, and
+running errands? No cake is all frosting and no chowder all broth. You
+had to take the bad along with the good if you lived at Lovell's
+Harbor. And while you were sandwiching in work and fun what an
+education you got! Why, it was better than a dozen schools. Not only
+did you learn to swim like a spaniel, pull a strong oar, hoist a sail,
+and gain an understanding of winds and tides, but also you came to
+handle tools with an ease no manual training school could teach you.
+You made a wooden pin do if you had no nail; and a bit of rope serve
+if the whittled pin were lacking. Instead of hurrying to a shop to
+purchase new you patched up the old, and the triumph of doing it
+afforded a satisfaction very pleasant to experience.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, as a result, you had more pennies in your pocket and more
+brains in your head. Both Bob and Walter King, as well as most of the
+other village lads, outranked the town-bred boy in all-round practical
+skill. They may not have cut such a fine figure at golf or dancing;
+perhaps they did not excel at Latin or French; but they had at the
+tips of their tongues numberless useful facts which they had tried out
+and proven workable and which no city dweller could possibly have
+gleaned.</p>
+
+<p>His Highness might be freckled and towsled and, as his mother
+affirmed, forgetful and careless, but like a sponge his active young
+mind had soaked up a deal no books could have given him. You would
+best beware how you jollied Walter King or put him down for a "Rube."
+More than likely you would later regret your snap judgment.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt it was this realization that had stimulated Jerry Thomas to
+ask him to come to Surfside, the Crowninshields' big summer estate,
+and look after the dogs. Jerry was an old resident of Lovell's Harbor,
+and having watched the boy grow up, he unquestionably knew what he
+was about. That there were plenty of other boys at the Harbor to
+choose from was certain. If the honor descended to His Highness rest
+assured it was not without reason.</p>
+
+<p>Hence Jerry was not only pleased but immensely gratified when on the
+morning following Walter rounded the corner of the great barn and
+appeared in the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>"I've come to say Yes to that job you offered me the other day,"
+announced he, without wasting words on preliminaries.</p>
+
+<p>"Good, youngster!"</p>
+
+<p>"When shall you want me?"</p>
+
+<p>"When can you come?" grinned Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>He was a lank, sharp-featured man with china blue eyes that narrowed
+to a mere slit when he smiled, and from the corners of which
+crowsfeet, like fan-shaped streaks of light from the rising sun,
+radiated across his temples. His skin was tanned to the hue of old
+hickory and deep down in its furrows were lines of white. He had a big
+nose that was always sunburned, powerful hands with a reddish fuzz on
+their backs, and gnarled fingers that bore the scars of innumerable
+nautical disasters. But the chief glory he possessed was a neatly
+tattooed schooner that sailed under full canvas upon his forearm and
+bore beneath it the inscription:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The Mollie D. The finest ship afloat.</p></div>
+
+<p>The words had been intended as a tribute rather than a challenge for
+Jerry was a peaceful soul, but unfortunately they had proved
+provocative of many a brawl, and had the truth been known a certain
+odd slant of Jerry's chin could have been traced back to this
+apparently harmless assertion. Possibly had this mate of the <i>Mollie
+D.</i> foreseen into what straits his boast was to lead him he might not
+have expressed it so baldly in all the naked glory of blue ink; but
+with the sentiment once immortalized what choice had he but to defend
+it? Therefore, being no coward but a sturdy seaman with a swinging
+undercut, he had in times past delivered many a blow in order to
+uphold the <i>Mollie D.'s</i> nautical reputation, after which encounters
+his challengers were wont to emerge with a more profound respect not
+only for the bark but for Jerry Thomas as well.</p>
+
+<p>All that, however, was long ago. Since the great storm of 1890 when so
+many ships had perished and the <i>Mollie D.</i>, bound from Norfolk to
+Fairhaven, had gone down with the rest, Jerry had abandoned the sea.
+It was not the perils of the deep, nevertheless, that had driven him
+landward, or the fear of future disasters; it was only that since his
+first love was lost he could not bring himself to ship on any other
+vessel.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly he took to the shore and for a time a very strange misfit
+he was there. How he fumed and fidgeted and roamed from one place to
+another, searching for some spot in which his restless spirit would
+find peace! And then one day he had wandered into Lovell's Harbor and
+there he had stayed ever since. For several seasons he had taken out
+sailing parties of summer boarders or piloted amateur fishermen out to
+the Ledges; but the timidity and lack of sophistication of these city
+patrons at length so rasped his nerves that he gave up the task and
+was about to betake himself to pastures new when he fell beneath the
+eye of Mr. Glenmore Archibald Crowninshield, a New York banker, who
+had bought the strip of land forming one arm of the bay and was on the
+point of erecting there a diminutive summer palace.</p>
+
+<p>From that instant Jerry's fortune was made. Mr. Crowninshield was a
+keen student of human nature and was immediately attracted to the
+sailor with his ambling gait and twinkling blue eyes. Moreover, the
+New Yorker happened to be in search of just such a man to look out for
+his interests when he was not at Lovell's Harbor. Hence Jerry was
+elevated to the post of caretaker and delegated to keep guard over the
+edifice that was about to be erected.</p>
+
+<p>In view of the fact that up to the moment Jerry had been the most
+care-free mortal alive and had never from day to day been able to
+remember the whereabouts of his sou'wester or his rubber boots, his
+ensuing transformation was nothing short of a miracle. Promptly
+settling down with doglike fidelity he began mildly to urge on the
+lagging carpenters; but presently, magnificent in his wrath, he rose
+above them, whiplash in hand, and drove them forward. His watery blue
+eyes followed every stick of timber, every foot of piping, every nail
+that was placed. There was no escaping his watchfulness. If corners
+were not true or moldings did not meet he saw and called attention to
+it. Many a time a slipshod workman was ready to throw him over the
+cliff into the sea and perhaps might have done so had he not been
+conscious of the justice of the criticism.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence the Crowninshield house was built on honor; and when
+the bills began to come in and showed a marked falling off in
+magnitude the owner of the mansion could not but express gratitude.
+Jerry, however, did not covet thanks. Instead he tagged along at his
+employer's heels, proudly calling notice first to one skillful bit of
+work and then to another. The house and all that concerned it became
+his hobby. It was to him what the <i>Mollie D.</i> had been, the primary
+interest of his life. He knew every inch of plumbing; where every
+shut-off, valve, ventilator, and stopcock was located. Moreover, he
+could have told, had not his jaws been clamped together tightly as a
+scallop shell, exactly how much every article in the mansion cost.</p>
+
+<p>Later he superintended the grading of the lawns, the laying out of
+tennis courts, and the building of garages, boathouses, and
+bathhouses. By this time Mr. Crowninshield would willingly have
+trusted him with every farthing he possessed so complete was his
+confidence in his man Friday.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry, however, was modest. He declared he had only done his duty and
+insisted that it go at that. But having set this high standard of
+fidelity for himself it followed that he demanded a like faithfulness
+in others; and if he were not merciful to those who came under his
+dictatorship at least no one of them could deny that he was just.
+Hence Walter King did not shrink from the prospect of working with
+him, stern though he was reputed to be. One can only do one's best and
+that the boy was determined to do. Therefore he smiled up into Jerry's
+misty blue eyes and answered:</p>
+
+<p>"I could begin work when school closes toward the end of June."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! I wish you could make it earlier. Well, we must put up with
+that since it is the best you can do. Goodness knows I'd be the last
+one to discourage learning in the young. I got all too little of it
+when I was a shaver. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I'd had
+my chance. I shipped to sea when I was only twelve&mdash;would
+go&mdash;nothing would stop me&mdash;and I've been knocking round ever
+since, picking up here and there what scraps of knowledge I could get.
+Don't let anything tempt you to sea till you're full-grown, sonny, for
+you'll live to regret it, sure as my name is Jerry Taylor."</p>
+
+<p>Walter flushed guiltily, wondering as he did so whether Jerry's little
+blue eyes had bored their way into his skull and read there his
+aspirations.</p>
+
+<p>"Nope!" went on the sailor. "Take it from me, seafaring is a man's
+job. You much better stay ashore and&mdash;&mdash;" he stopped as if
+at a loss and then smiling broadly added, "play governess to a pack of
+dogs."</p>
+
+<p>"I figure that is about what I'm going to do," replied His Highness
+with a comic air of resignation.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's the matter with that?" inquired Jerry sharply. "You'll
+be getting paid for it, won't you&mdash;well paid? And you'll have
+cozy quarters all to yourself, and three good meals a day. Land alive!
+Some folks want the earth! Why, when I was your age, I was swung up in
+a hammock between decks with not an inch of space that I could call my
+own. If I wanted to stow away anything I hadn't a place to put it
+where it wasn't common property. As for meals I took what I could get
+and was thankful that I didn't starve. And here you come along and
+tilt up your freckled pug nose at a room and board and ten a week.
+Bah! What's come over this generation anyway?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wasn't turning up my nose," Walter ventured to protest. "It turns
+up anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you need to be careful how you make it go higher," grinned
+Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;and&mdash;I had no idea you meant to pay me that much."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think we are up here?" bristled Jerry. "A sweatshop? No
+siree! We stand for the square deal every time, we do. Only you've got
+to understand, young one, that it's to be square on both sides. You're
+to do no shirking; if you do you'll get fired so quick you'll wonder
+what hit you. But if you do your part you need have no worries. Now
+think good and plenty before you embark on the cruise."</p>
+
+<p>"I have thought."</p>
+
+<p>"All right then. We'll haul up anchor and be off the latter part of
+June."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to tell me exactly what you want me to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll tell you right 'nough," drawled Jerry, with a humorous twist
+of his lips. "You'll get a chart to sail by. Still, it won't wholly
+cover your duties. The thing for you to do is to keep your eyes peeled
+and look alive. Watch out and see where there's a hole an' be in that
+hole so it won't be empty. That's the best recipe I know for being
+useful."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try."</p>
+
+<p>"If you honestly do that I reckon there'll be no cause for you to
+worry," observed the caretaker kindly. "Towards the end of June, then,
+I'll be on the lookout for you. Your quarters will be all ready,
+shipshape and trim as a liner's cabin."</p>
+
+<p>"Where will they be?" inquired Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Want to see 'em?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to, yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose you would," nodded Jerry. "You can as well as not; only they
+ain't fixed up as they'll be later. Look kinder dismal."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I shan't mind."</p>
+
+<p>The big man smiled at the eagerness of the boy's tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Likely you ain't never been away from home before, son," said he, as
+he took a key out of a glass case on the wall of the barn and slipped
+it into his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;that is, not to stay."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite some adventure, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>The lad shot a bright glance toward him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well! Count yourself lucky, youngster, that you've had a good
+home and a good mother up to now; and bless your stars, too, that
+since you are going to start branching out you're coming to a place
+like Surfside rather'n somewhere else."</p>
+
+<p>His voice was gentle and his misty eyes mistier than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Striding ahead he crossed the lawn, unlocked a low building, and
+mounting the stairs, stopped before a door in the hall above. With a
+turn of the key it swung open, disclosing a small sheathed room
+containing a white iron bed, bureau, table, chairs, and bookshelves.</p>
+
+<p>"Think this will suit your Highness?" grinned he.</p>
+
+<p>"It's&mdash;it's corking!" stammered Walter, almost too delighted to
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tain't bad," admitted Jerry, strolling over to one of the windows
+that faced the sea and looking out. "Mr. Crowninshield makes it a rule
+never to stow away other folks where he wouldn't be stowed himself. It
+isn't a bad principle, either. You'll have a couple of the chauffeurs
+for company." With his thumb he motioned to other rooms flanking the
+narrow hall. "They may josh you some at first. That's part of starting
+out in the world. Keep a civil tongue in your head and if you don't
+mind 'em they'll soon quit. If they don't it's up to you to find the
+way to get on with 'em. Half of life is learning to shy round the
+corners of the folks about you. And old Tim, who used to be gardener
+for Mr. Crowninshield's father and has been in the family 'most half a
+century, bides here, too. A rare soul, Tim. You'll like him. Everybody
+does. Simple as a child, he is, and so gentle that it well-nigh breaks
+his heart to kill a potato bug. You can count on Tim standing your
+friend no matter what the rest may do, so cheer up."</p>
+
+<p>"And the dogs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the kennels, you mean? They're close by where you'll get the full
+benefit of the pups' barking in the early morning," said Jerry, with a
+twinkle. "'Twill give you a pleasant feeling to be certain your
+charges are alive. Most often, though, they do no yammering until
+about six, and goodness knows all Christians ought to be up at that
+hour. You'll find the dogs fitted out comfortable as the rest of us.
+They've a fine enclosure to stay in when they want to be out of doors;
+a big airy room if it's better to have 'em under cover; steam heat
+when it's cold; and blankets and brushes without end. Sometimes Lola,
+the pet of 'em all, sleeps up at the big house; but mostly she's here
+with the rest. There's too big a caravan of 'em to have the lot live
+with the family. Besides, the folks like to sleep late in the morning
+and not be disturbed by the noise of a pack of puppies. Then there's
+guests here off and on. So take it all in all, the dogs are best by
+themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't know anything about taking care of dogs," faltered
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you'd had a dog yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"So I had once. But he wasn't like any of these. He was just a dog.
+All you had to do was to chuck him a bone."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you'll have a darn sight more to do for these critters than
+that," announced Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"But how'll I know&mdash;&mdash;" began the boy, alarmed by the
+prospect before him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you'll get your instructions from the Madam, most
+likely&mdash;get 'em all written down in black and white along with
+the history of every dog. She'll tell you just what every one of 'em
+is to eat, and how much; and where they're all to sleep. And if she
+don't Miss Nancy or Mr. Dick will. You'll get yards and yards of
+directions before you're through," chuckled Jerry. "You want to listen
+well to every word you hear too, son, for these dogs ain't like your
+Towser&mdash;or whatever his name was; a crumb of food too much might
+kill 'em. Or a blast of air."</p>
+
+<p>"Scott!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, there's no use getting panicky at the outset," declared Jerry
+comfortably. "Follow orders and use your brains; and remember that if
+you get addled you can always consult Tim. Tim has a world of common
+sense and a heap of knowledge of odd sorts. And more than that, he's
+never swept off his feet by the cost of things. Having been brought up
+in the company of Rolls-Royce cars, and diamond rings, and
+thousand-dollar dogs they don't move him an inch. He just treats 'em
+same's he would anything else and often it's the best plan. Instead
+of losing his head, and standing wringing his hands 'cause the prize
+roses have got bugs on 'em he sets to work and kills the bugs; sprays
+the plants same's he would ordinary bushes, and they go to growing
+again like any other civilized flowers. An orchid ain't no more to him
+than a buttercup. He's too used to 'em. He's used to dogs as well, and
+with the shifting fashions he's seen during his fifty years with the
+family he's had experience with most every kind of dog that ever was.
+For there's fashions in dogs, you know, as well as in coats and hats.
+So turn to Tim when you're in a tight place. He'll help you, never
+fear."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he will," sighed His Highness ruefully. "I shall need him."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! Why, Mr. Dick has often cared for the pups when there was
+no one else; and certainly you ought to have as many brains as he."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about him."</p>
+
+<p>"Richard? You've seen him round town lots of times&mdash;you must
+have. At the village and other places."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, of course I've seen him," agreed Walter quickly. "In the summer
+he drives past our house almost every day in his car. But I don't know
+him any."</p>
+
+<p>"You will now," asserted Jerry. "He's a great chap, Mr. Dick is! About
+your age, too, I guess. Quite a mechanic and always tinkering with
+tools and machinery. If there's anything wrong with the motor boat he
+can usually fix her up all right. As for mending a car, he beats all
+the chauffeurs out. They know it and have to say so. Likely you've
+seen him fluking through the main street in his racer. She's a trim
+little thing and could go like the wind if his Pa hadn't forbidden
+letting out the engine. I reckon Mr. Crowninshield is afraid he'll
+either kill himself or somebody else, and I will own the thing ain't
+no proper toy for a lad his age. Still, city folks ain't content with
+what would please you or me. They must have the biggest, the fastest,
+the most expensive article there is or 'tain't good for nothin'. The
+mere knowin' it's the biggest, fastest, and cost the most seems to
+make 'em happy somehow. Funny, ain't it?"</p>
+
+<p>His Highness did not reply. He was thinking.</p>
+
+<p>"And Miss Nancy?" interrogated he presently.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! There's a girl for you!" ejaculated Jerry with enthusiasm.
+"She'll be either seventeen or eighteen come June. Swims like a fish.
+In fact, I ain't sure she couldn't outdistance some of 'em. And such
+an oar as she pulls! It's strong and steady as any man's. Besides
+that, she can beat the crowd at tennis, golf, and those other fool
+games such folks play. Has a runabout of her own, too, and drives it
+neat as a pin."</p>
+
+<p>"She's better at sports than Mr. Dick, then."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she can wipe the ground up with him," sniffed Jerry. "She can
+swim overhand to the raft and get back almost before her brother has
+started. By Guy! I never saw a woman swim as she does! Dick gets
+kinder peeved with her sometimes when she jollies him. But let her car
+play a prank and he has her, for she's no more idea what to do with
+an engine than the man in the moon. She treats brother Richard with
+proper respect then, I can tell you."</p>
+
+<p>Walter smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"And Mrs. Crowninshield?"</p>
+
+<p>"She? She's all right! You'll like her and she'll like you&mdash;that
+is, if you get on with the pups. Dogs are her hobby. What she don't
+know about raisin' 'em ain't worth knowin'. But I just warn you not to
+think that because she's so pleasant she's easy goin', 'cause she
+ain't. Slip up on your job and she'll be down on you like a thousand
+of brick. She's a fair-weather sailin' craft&mdash;that's what she is;
+floats along nice as anything until something goes wrong and
+then&mdash;my soul&mdash;but she kicks up a sea. Yet with all that
+you'll like her. We all do. Almost everybody on the place would get
+down and let her walk on 'em. She has a kind of way with her that
+makes you itch to please her. Tim would let her cut his head clean off
+if she wanted to and I ain't sure I wouldn't. Have a smart sore throat
+once and see the things she'll do for you. And she'll do 'em herself,
+too&mdash;not set other people on the job. I believe that woman has
+the biggest heart in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;and&mdash;Mr. Crowninshield?" ventured Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"The boss?" Jerry cleared his throat and for the first time hesitated.
+"You've got to understand the boss, my son," said he earnestly. "He
+ain't like other men. And in order that you may, I better give you a
+pointer or two for it will most probably save you trouble. The boss
+is something like a big dog that barks fit to murder you and don't
+mean a thing by it. You've seen the kind. To hear him go on when he's
+roused you'd believe he was going to have your blood. My, how he does
+orate!" Jerry smiled and shook his head indulgently. "I've seen the
+men stand up before him with their knees shaking until you'd expect
+'em to give way every second. And the master would rage and rage
+because they'd done something he didn't want done. And then, like a
+hurricane that's blown itself out, he'll calm down and the next you
+know he's given you a smile that's made you forget all the rest of it.
+That's him all over. Learn not to be afraid of him, that's the only
+thing to do. He wouldn't hurt a fly really. He just gets to blusterin'
+and tearin' round from force of habit. It don't mean nothin'&mdash;not
+a thing in the world. And with all his money he ain't a mite cocky. To
+see him you'd scarce dream he had a copper in his pocket. Yet he could
+paper the house with thousand-dollar bills was he so minded. There's
+no end to his money, seems to me. Just the same, you don't want to go
+wastin' it for him on that account. Remember you ain't got the right
+to, not havin' earned it. If he chooses to splash it round that's his
+hunt. He made it. But it ain't yours or mine to slosh away. Jot that
+down in your log. It may help you later."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry paused.</p>
+
+<p>"You deal square and honorable with the boss, standing up to what
+you've done like you was a trooper at your gun, and he'll deal square
+and honorable with you. But go to hoodwinking and imposing on him and
+instead of a lamb you'll find you've got a rattlesnake at your heels.
+Now you have an idea, I guess, what you're going to be up against
+here," concluded the caretaker, taking out his pipe and cramming it
+with tobacco. "If there's anything else you want to know now's your
+chance, for after to-day I am never going to open my lips again about
+any of the Crowninshield family. You'll be one of the employees and
+your job will be to hold your tongue on them and their affairs, and be
+loyal to 'em. Their bread will be feeding you and 'twill be only
+decent. After you once have got your place the keeping of it will rest
+with you. That's fair, ain't it?"</p>
+
+<p>Walter nodded.</p>
+
+<p>Yet he turned slowly toward home, depressed by a throng of misgivings.
+Suppose he was not able to hold the job at Surfside once it was his?
+What then?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h3>
+
+<h4>WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>By the middle of May Lovell's Harbor had fully awakened from its
+winter's sleep. Freshly painted dories were slipped into the water;
+newly rigged yawls and knockabouts were anchored in the bay; the float
+was equipped with renovated bumpers, and a general air of anticipation
+pervaded the community.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, hot weather was really on the way. Already the summer cottages
+were being opened, aired, and put in order, and even some of the
+houses had gayly figured hangings at the windows and a film of smoke
+could be seen issuing from the chimneys.</p>
+
+<p>At Surfside workmen bustled about, hurrying across the lawn with
+boards, paint pots, and hammers. Tim Cavenough and his little host of
+helpers scurried to uncover the flower beds, and from morning to night
+trudged back and forth from the greenhouses bearing shallow boxes of
+seedlings which they transplanted to the gardens. Shutters were
+removed and stored away, piazza chairs brought out, awnings put up,
+and lawns and tennis courts rolled and cut.</p>
+
+<p>As far as one could see a spangled expanse of ocean dazzled the eye
+and the tiny salt creeks that meandered across the meadows were like
+winding ribbons of blue. Certainly it was no weather to be shut up in
+school and boys and girls went hither with reluctant feet, checking
+off the days on their fingers and even counting the hours that must
+drag by before they would be free to roam at will amid this panorama
+of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>To Walter King it seemed as if the closing period of his captivity
+would never be at an end. He studied rebelliously, and with only a
+half&mdash;nay, rather a quarter&mdash;of his mind on his lessons. All
+his thought was centered around Surfside and the novel experiences
+that beckoned him there. So impatient was he to begin his new duties
+that he found it impossible to settle down to anything.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be failing in your last examinations, Walter, if you don't
+watch what you're doing," cautioned his mother. "And should you do
+that, little profit would it be that you are hired out to Mr.
+Crowninshield for the summer. In the fall you'd have to stay behind
+your class, and think of the disgrace of that! Why, I'd be ready to
+hide my head with shame! Money or no money, you must buck up and put
+the Crowninshields and their doings out of your head. To lose a year
+now would mean just that much longer before you could graduate and
+take a regular job. I almost wish Jerry Thomas had never asked you to
+come up there, I do indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't go getting all fussed up, Ma," returned His Highness,
+irritated because he recognized the truth of his mother's words. "I'm
+going to buckle down until the term is over, honest I am. It is hard,
+though, with the weather so fine. It seems as if I must be out. It's
+like being on a leash."</p>
+
+<p>"You're thinking of those dogs again!"</p>
+
+<p>The lad flushed sheepishly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I wasn't."</p>
+
+<p>"But you were&mdash;whether you realized it or not. It is all you talk
+of nowadays&mdash;<i>dogs</i>! What it will be after they get here and
+you're up at Surfside living with them I don't know. Whatever else you
+do, though, you must not fail in your lessons and at the last moment
+spoil your whole year's record. School is your first duty now and you
+have no moral right to put anything else in its place."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, Ma," Walter agreed.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you know it," was the tart response. "Just see that you do
+not forget it, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>With this final admonition Mrs. King whisked about and taking up her
+cake of Sapolio and pail of steaming water ascended the stairs. Like
+the rest of Lovell's Harbor she was busy as a bee in clovertime. She
+had rented all her rooms and had so many things to do in preparation
+for her expected guests that she had not a second to waste.</p>
+
+<p>After she had gone Walter loitered in the kitchen, whistling absently
+and at the same time winding a piece of string aimlessly over his
+fingers. His mother's words had stirred a vague, uncomfortable
+possibility in his mind. What if he were to fail in those final exams?
+It would be terrible. Such a disaster did not seem real. It couldn't
+happen&mdash;actually happen&mdash;to him. It would be too awful.
+Nevertheless, try as he would to banish them, visions of Surfside with
+its myriad fascinations would dance in his head.</p>
+
+<p>He had never been away from home for more than a night before and to
+take up residence elsewhere for an entire season was in itself a
+novelty. Then there were the tennis courts, the golf links, the
+automobiles, motor boats, and the yacht! Why, it would be like
+fairyland! The next instant, however, his spirits drooped. It was
+absurd to imagine for a moment that he was to have any part in those
+magic amusements. He was not going to Surfside for recreation but for
+work. Notwithstanding that fact, though, it was beyond his power to
+forget that all these many activities would be going on about him and
+there was the chance, the bare chance, that an occasion might arise
+when he would be invited to participate in some of them.</p>
+
+<p>Fancy spinning over the sandy roads of the Cape in that wonderful
+racing car! Or sailing the blue waters of the harbor in one of those
+snowy motor boats! As for the yacht, with its trimmings of glistening
+brass and spotless decks, had he not dreamed of going aboard it ever
+since the day it had first steamed into the bay two summers ago?
+People said there was every imaginable contrivance aboard: ice-making
+machines, electric lights, and electric piano, goodness only knew
+what! Simply to see such things would be wonderful. And if it ever
+should come about (of course it never would and it was absurd to
+picture it&mdash;ridiculous) but if it ever <i>did</i> that he should go
+sailing out of the bay on that mystic craft what a miracle that would
+be!</p>
+
+<p>With such visions floating through his mind what marvel that it was
+well-nigh out of the question for Walter King to focus his attention
+on algebra, Latin, history, and physics. X + Y seemed of very little
+consequence, and as for the Punic Wars they were so far away as to be
+hazy beyond any reality at all.</p>
+
+<p>Possibly, although she was quite unconscious of it, some of the fault
+was his mother's for she kept the topic of his departure to the
+Crowninshields' ever before him.</p>
+
+<p>"I have your new shirts almost finished, son," she would assert with
+satisfaction, "and they're as neat and well made as any New York
+tailor could make them, if I do say it; and you've three pairs of
+khaki trousers besides your old woolen ones and corduroys. With your
+Sunday suit of blue serge and those fresh ties and cap you'll have
+nothing to be ashamed of. Then you've those denim overalls, and your
+slicker, and Bob's outgrown pea-coat. I can't see but what you have
+everything you can possibly need. Do be watchful of your shoes and use
+them carefully, won't you, for they cost a mint of money? And remember
+whenever you can to work in your old duds and save your others. You
+can just as well as not if you only think of it. Your washing you'll
+bring home and don't forget that I want you to keep neat and clean.
+Rich folks notice those things a lot. So scrub your hands and neck
+and clean your nails, even if I'm not there to tell you to. Just
+because you are going to traipse round with the dogs is no excuse for
+looking like 'em," concluded she.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll remember, Ma," returned His Highness patiently.</p>
+
+<p>"And if you eat with the chauffeurs and a pack of men, don't go
+stuffing yourself with food until you're sick. There's a time to stop,
+you know. Don't wait until you've got past it and are so crammed that
+you can't swallow another mouthful."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't, Ma," was the meek response.</p>
+
+<p>"Brush your teeth faithfully, too. I've spent too much money on them
+to have them go to waste now."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," came wearily from Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course there's no call for me to talk to a person your age about
+smoking," continued his mother. "When you've got your full growth and
+can earn money enough to pay for such foolishness you've a right to
+indulge in it if you see fit; but until then don't start a habit that
+will do you no good and may make a pigmy of you for life."</p>
+
+<p>"I promise you right now, Ma, that I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, don't promise. A promise is a sacred thing and one that it is a
+sacrilege to break. Never make a promise lightly. But just remember,
+laddie, that I'd far rather you didn't smoke for a few years yet. But
+should you feel you must why come and tell me, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, Ma," answered the boy soberly. Somehow going away from home
+suddenly seemed a very solemn business.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess that's the end of my cautions," smiled Mrs. King, "the end,
+except to say that I hope you won't like Surfside so well that you'll
+forget to come home now and then and tell me how you are making out.
+Of course I'll have my boarders and work same's you; still, there'll
+be times when we won't be busy and can see each other," her voice
+trembled a little. "Nobody will be more anxious to hear of your doings
+than I&mdash;remember that. I shall miss you, sonny. It's the first
+time you've been away from me and I can't but feel it's a sort of
+milestone. You'll be getting grown up and leaving home for good now
+before I know it, same as Bob has."</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes glistened and for an instant she turned her head aside.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I shan't be branching out to make my fortune yet, Mother,"
+protested Walter gayly. "I don't know enough. I'm not clever like
+Bob&mdash;you said so yourself only the other day."</p>
+
+<p>"You're clever as is good for you," was the ambiguous retort. "I'm
+glad you're no different."</p>
+
+<p>"Think of the money I'd be handing in if I could only earn as much as
+Bob."</p>
+
+<p>"The money? Aye, there's no denying it would be a help. However, with
+what you and Bob and I are going to earn this summer we should make
+out very well, even if your Uncle Mark Miller has left us in the lurch
+and your Uncle Henry King's investments have gone bad on us. I'll be
+turning a tidy penny with my boarders, thanks to you. And for a lad
+your age ten dollars a week is not to be sneezed at. Why, we'll have
+quite a little fortune between us!"</p>
+
+<p>He saw her face brighten.</p>
+
+<p>"Now if Bob could only be near at hand like you I believe I should be
+entirely happy," she sighed. "I hate to think of him way out there on
+that spit of sand with the sea booming all around him and nothing for
+company but the other fellow, who's asleep whenever he's awake, and
+that clicking wireless instrument. Imagine the loneliness of it! The
+solitude would drive me crazy inside a week&mdash;I know it would."</p>
+
+<p>"Bob doesn't mind."</p>
+
+<p>"He's not the lad to say so if he did," replied the mother grimly.
+"Nobody'd be any the wiser for what Bob thinks. Often at night I fall
+to wondering what he'd do was he to be taken sick."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he'd be all right, Mother," answered His Highness cheerfully.
+"O'Connel is there, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"And what kind of a nurse would he be, do you think, with his ear to
+that switchboard from daylight until dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite that. Mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, almost that, anyhow. It is all well enough for you to say so
+jauntily that Bob doesn't mind being off there with the wind howling
+round him and nothing to do but listen to it."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing to do!" repeated Walter. "Why, Ma, he's busy all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"Tinkering with those wires, you mean?" was the indignant question.
+"Yes, I grant he has plenty of that, especially in bad weather. But I
+mean pleasures&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Moving pictures, church sociables, strawberry festivals," interrupted
+the lad mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do," maintained Mrs. King stoutly. "Folks must have something
+to brighten up their lives. Bob doesn't have a thing."</p>
+
+<p>"He often has days that are lively enough, according to his stories."</p>
+
+<p>"When there's wrecks, you mean?" She shook her head gravely. "It isn't
+those that I'm talking about. It's sitting day after day and listening
+to the meaningless taps and buzzings that come whining through that
+instrument."</p>
+
+<p>"They're not meaningless to him."</p>
+
+<p>"No-o, I suppose not," sighed the woman. For a moment she paused only
+to resume her complaints. "Then there's the responsibility of it. I
+never did like to think of that. Should he tap once too much or too
+little when sending one of those dot and dash messages, think what it
+might mean! And suppose he heard a dot too much and didn't get the
+thing the other fellow was trying to tell him straight?"</p>
+
+<p>"But he has been trained so he does not make mistakes."</p>
+
+<p>"All human clay makes mistakes," was the tragic answer, "although I
+will say Bob makes fewer than most. And then the thunder
+storms&mdash;I'm always worried about those."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'll confess there is some danger from lightning," owned Walter
+unwillingly. "And of course there is danger from the current at all
+times if one is not careful. Even then accidents sometimes happen.
+However, Bob explained once that accidental shocks seldom result
+fatally unless the person is left too long without help. The man in
+charge of the radio outfit would almost never get the full force of
+the current, because part of it would be carried off through the wires
+and ground. Such accidents are mainly due to the temporary and faulty
+contact of the conductors."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help what they're due to," sniffed Mrs. King. "The point is
+that Bob might get knocked out and die."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, Mother. You would not worry if you understood more about
+it. Besides, should a man get a shock, if you go promptly to work over
+him and keep at it long enough, you can almost always bring him back
+to consciousness. They do just about the same things to restore him
+that they do for a person that's been drowned. The aim is to make him
+breathe. If you can get him to, he will probably live. Of course,
+though, you have to break the circuit first."</p>
+
+<p>"The circuit?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop the current that is going through his body," explained Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"But how can you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bob told me how. He saw a chap knocked out once and helped fix him
+up. You had to be awfully careful about moving him away from the
+apparatus, Bob said, or you might get a shock yourself. They took a
+dry stick because it was a nonconductor of electricity, you know, and
+rolled the man over to one side, so he was out of reach of the wires.
+Had you covered your hands with dry cloth you could have moved him,
+too; rubber gloves are best but Bob did not happen to have any handy
+at the minute. So they poked the fellow out of the way with the stick,
+turned him over on his back, loosened his collar and clothing, and
+went to work on him. You know how they always roll up a coat or
+something and stuff it under drowned persons' shoulders to throw their
+head backward? Well, they did that; and afterward they began to move
+his arms up and down to make him breathe. The idea is to depress and
+expand the chest. We learned it in our 'first aid' class. Of course
+there are lots of things you have to do besides, and if you can get a
+doctor he will know of others that are better still. But Bob said the
+chief point was not to get discouraged and give up. Sometimes people
+die just because the folks fussing over them do not keep at it long
+enough. They get tired and when they see no results they decide it is
+no use and stop trying. You ought to work an hour anyhow, repeating
+the exercises at the rate of sixteen times a minute, Bob said. Then,
+if the poor chap does not come to, you can at least feel you have done
+all you can."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh! It makes me shiver to think of it!"</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't shiver when Minnie Carlton fell off the float and almost
+got drowned," remarked Walter significantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I had too much to think of," was Mrs. King's laconic reply.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the fussing you did over her that saved her life."</p>
+
+<p>"They said so."</p>
+
+<p>"You know it was."</p>
+
+<p>"Mebbe it was," admitted his mother modestly. "But it wasn't any
+credit to me. I've always lived near the water and I feel at home with
+drowned people."</p>
+
+<p>"These electric accidents are much the same&mdash;easier, if anything,
+because the lungs are not filled with water."</p>
+
+<p>"I hadn't thought of that."</p>
+
+<p>"This is just a straight case of making a man breathe. You did that
+for Minnie."</p>
+
+<p>"I contrived to, yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, this stunt is the same. Bob said if you once got that through
+your head and kept in mind what you were driving at instead of flying
+off the handle you would get on all right."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he's right. He generally is," sighed Mrs. King. "Still it is
+a worrisome business having him tinkering with those wires all the
+time. I am thankful you are not doing it. I'd rather you tended dogs."</p>
+
+<p>"But you've forgotten what they're worth," put in His Highness.</p>
+
+<p>"So I had. Oh, dear! I don't see but what I've got to worry about both
+of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh, Ma! Don't be foolish. Think of the money we'll have by fall,
+the three of us. Why, we'll be rich!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not rich, with that last payment on the mortgage looming ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"But it <i>is</i> the last&mdash;think of that! We won't ever have another
+to make."</p>
+
+<p>A radiant smile flitted over Mrs. King's face but a moment later it
+was eclipsed by a cloud.</p>
+
+<p>"There'll be other things to pay; there always are," fretted she.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, shucks, Ma! Why borrow trouble? It's always hanging round wanting
+to be borrowed. Why gratify it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know. It is a foolish habit, isn't it? Still, it was always my way
+to be prepared for the worst. I've done it all my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why not whiffle round now and just for a change be prepared for
+the best?"</p>
+
+<p>In spite of herself his mother laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect that if I was as young as you and as happy-go-lucky I'd
+never worry," she answered not unkindly. "But since I'm made with a
+worrying disposition and bound to worry anyhow, at least I've got
+something perfectly legitimate to worry about this summer, and you
+can't deny it. With one son liable to be electrocuted by wireless and
+the other likely to be run into jail for losing a million-dollar dog I
+shall have plenty to occupy my mind, not to mention all those
+boarders that are coming."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Ma, you know you are actually looking forward to the boarders,"
+Walter declared. "Already you are simply itching to see them and find
+out what they are like."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I am, what then?" admitted his mother flushing that she should
+have been read so accurately. "Seeing them isn't all there is to it by
+a good sight. There is feeding them, and to keep them filled up in
+this bracing climate is no small matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever know any one to go hungry in this house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no; I can't say I ever did."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you imagine boarders will eat more than Bob or I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy on us! I hope not."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you always gave us enough to eat. I guess if you contrived to
+do that you needn't worry about your boarders," chuckled His
+Highness.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h3>
+
+<h4>WALTER MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>The last day of June dawned dismal and foggy. A grim gray veil
+enshrouded Lovell's Harbor, rendering it cold and dreary. Had one been
+visiting it for the first time he would probably have turned his back
+on its forlornity and never have come again. The sea was wrapped in a
+mist so dense that its vast reach of waves was as complete a secret as
+if they had been actually curtained off from the land. On every leaf
+trembled beads of moisture and from the eaves of the sodden houses the
+water dripped with a melancholy trickle.</p>
+
+<p>It was wretched weather for the Crowninshields to be coming to
+Surfside and yet that they were already on the way the jangling
+telephone attested.</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't have had 'em put in an appearance a day like this for the
+world!" fretted Jerry Taylor, who for some unaccountable reason seemed
+to hold himself responsible for the general dampness and discomfort.
+"Fog ain't nothin' to us folks who are used to it. We've lived by the
+ocean long enough to love it no matter how it behaves. But for it to
+go actin' up this way for strangers is a pity. It gives 'em a bad
+impression same's a ill-behaved child does."</p>
+
+<p>"But you can't help it," ventured Walter, who had just come into
+sight.</p>
+
+<p>"N-o. Still, somehow, I'm always that anxious for the place to look
+it's prettiest that I feel to blame when it doesn't."</p>
+
+<p>The boy nodded sympathetically. Deep down within him lay an
+inarticulate affection for the hamlet in which he had been born and
+the great throbbing sea that lapped its shores. He therefore
+understood Jerry's attitude and shared in it far more than he would,
+perhaps, have been willing to admit. Nevertheless he merely knocked
+the drops from his rubber hat, muttered that it was a rotten day, and
+loitered awkwardly about, wondering just what to do.</p>
+
+<p>At last school was at an end. He had squeaked through the examinations
+with safety if not with glory, and having wheeled his small trunk up
+to Surfside on a wheelbarrow and deposited it in his room he
+speculated as to what to do next. There was plenty he might have done.
+There was no question about that. He might at the very moment have
+been unpacking his possessions, hanging his clothes in the closet, and
+stowing away his undergarments in the chest of drawers provided for
+the purpose. Moreover, there were books to tuck into place on his
+bookshelves and other minor duties relative to the settling of his new
+quarters.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, there were a score of things he might have done. His Highness,
+however, was in much too agitated a frame of mind to turn his
+attention to such humdrum tasks. Furthermore, since he had pledged
+himself to bear a hand wherever it was needed, he felt he should be on
+the spot and within call. And if beneath this worthy motive lurked a
+certain desire to see whatever there was to be seen, who can say his
+curiosity was not pardonable? One does not set forth every day to make
+his fortune. The adventure was very alluring to him who had never
+tried it.</p>
+
+<p>Possibly Jerry Taylor had enough of the boy in him to understand this.
+However that might be, he did not hurry the lad indoors to unpack even
+though he sensed full well that precious time was being wasted;
+instead, as he started across the lawn he called back over his
+shoulder:</p>
+
+<p>"If you've nothing better to do, sonny, than to stand shivering in the
+barn, come along up to the house with me and help bring up some wood;
+I'm going to start fires burning in the rooms to cheer the folks up
+and dry 'em off when they get here. To my mind there ain't nothin'
+like an open fire to right you if you're out of sorts. And likely they
+will be out of sorts. Mr. Crowninshield will, that's sure. Now I
+myself don't mind a gray day off and on. It's sorter restful and
+calming. But these city people can't see it that way. My eye, no! They
+begin to groan so you can hear 'em a mile away the minute the sun is
+clouded over; and by the second day of a good northeaster they are
+done for. You'd think to listen to 'em that the end of the world had
+come. No motoring! No golf! No tennis! Why, they might as well be
+dead. They begin to wonder why they ever came here anyway and talk of
+nothing but how nice it is in New York. Why, you would split your
+sides laughing to hear Mr. Crowninshield moan for Wall Street and
+Fifth Avenue. Three days of fog is his limit. After that ropes
+couldn't tie him here. He tumbles his traps into a suitcase and off he
+goes to the city."</p>
+
+<p>"Great Scott!" Walter ejaculated.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, 'tain't a bad thing to have him go, take it by and large. He
+ain't much addition here when he's fidgeting round, poking into
+everything and suggesting it better be done some other way. He's much
+better off somewhere else&mdash;he's happier and so are we. By and by
+he comes back again cheerful as if nothing had happened. Mebbe it's as
+well you should be told what's in store for you in foggy weather,"
+concluded Jerry, with a touch of humor, "for you'll come in for your
+share together with the rest of us. Everybody gets it. Most likely
+you'll hear that an egg-beater is a much better thing to smooth down a
+dog's hair with than a brush; that all the world knows that and only
+an idiot uses anything else. Don't smile or venture a yip in reply.
+Just say you'll be glad to use the egg-beater if he prefers it. Remark
+that, in fact, you quite hanker to try the egg-beater. To agree with
+him always takes the wind out of his sails quicker'n anything else.
+He'll calm down soon as he sees you aren't ruffled and go off and hunt
+up somebody else to reform. And when the fog blows out to sea his
+temper will go with it and he will forget he ever suggested an
+egg-beater. Oh, we understand the boss. He's all right! If you only
+know how to take him you'll never have a mite of trouble with him."</p>
+
+<p>By this time they had reached the house and having removed rubbers and
+dripping coats they entered the basement door and proceeded to the
+cellar. It was not the sort of cellar with which His Highness was
+familiar although his mother's cellar was clean, as cellars go. This
+one was immaculate. Indeed it seemed, on glancing about, that one
+might have done far worse than live in the Crowninshields' cellar.
+Every inch of the interior was light, dry, and spotless with
+whitewash, paint, and tiling. Even the coal that filled the bins had
+taken on a borrowed glory and shone as if polished.</p>
+
+<p>"This is my kingdom!" announced Jerry proudly. "You could eat off the
+floor were you so minded."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say you could!"</p>
+
+<p>"When once you've set out it's no more work to keep things shipshape
+than to let 'em go helter-skelter. Now here's a basket. Load into it
+as many of those birch logs as you can carry and bring 'em upstairs.
+I've kindlings there already."</p>
+
+<p>While Walter was obeying these instructions Jerry himself was piling
+up on his lank arm a pyramid of wood, and together the two ascended
+the stairway and tiptoed through the kitchen. As they went the boy
+caught a glimpse of gleaming porcelain walls; ebon-hued stoves
+resplendent with nickel trimmings; a blue and white tiled floor; and
+smart little window hangings that matched it.</p>
+
+<p>"They don't cook here!" he gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything in the house is electric," explained Jerry, as if he were
+conducting a sight-seeing party through the Louvre. "All the baking,
+washing, ironing, bread-making, and cleaning is done by electricity.
+There's even an electric sewing-machine to sew with, and an electric
+breeze to keep you cool while you're doing it. If I hadn't seen the
+thing with my own eyes I'd never have believed it."</p>
+
+<p>He paused to watch the effect of his words.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tain't much like the way you and me are used to," he grinned.</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose in time you get so nothing knocks the breath out of you.
+I'm just coming to looking round here without feeling all of a
+flutter. The place did used to turn me endwise at first, it was so
+white and awesome. I actually hated to set foot within its walls.
+Seems 's if my fingers was always all thumbs every time I come inside
+the room. Still, I had to come in though; there were things I had to
+do here. So I schooled myself to forget the whiteness, and the
+blueness, and all the silvery glisten and call it just a kitchen.
+Besides, I found that grand as it is, it ain't a patch on some of the
+other things in the house. My eye! It's like the Arabian Nights!"</p>
+
+<p>The Cape Codder stopped quite speechless from retailing these marvels.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he went on presently, "they've got almost everything the
+electric market has to offer. Last year, though, Mr. Dick got a
+hankerin' for a wireless set. It appears that you can buy an outfit
+that will make you hear concerts, sermons, speeches, and about
+everything that's going on; at least that's what Mr. Crowninshield
+undertook to tell me, though whether he was fooling or not I couldn't
+quite make out. Still, it may be true. After what I've seen in this
+house I'm ready to believe about anything. Was he to say you could put
+your eye to a hole in the wall and see the Chinese eating rice in
+Hongkong it wouldn't astonish me."</p>
+
+<p>Walter laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>can</i> hear music and such things. My brother, who is a
+wireless operator, told me so. They broadcast all sorts of
+entertainments&mdash;songs, band-playing, sermons, and stories so that
+those who have amateur apparatus can listen in."</p>
+
+<p>"Broadcast? Listen in?" repeated Jerry vaguely.</p>
+
+<p>"Broadcasting means sending out stuff of a specified wave length from
+a central station so that amateurs with a range of from two hundred to
+three hundred meters can pick it up."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry halted midway in the passage.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say," inquired he, "that a person can sling a song off
+the top of a wire into the air and tell it to stop when it's gone two
+hundred meters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Something like that," chuckled Walter, amused.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it!" declared Jerry bluntly.</p>
+
+<p>"But it can be done; really it can."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt you think you are speaking the truth, youngster," returned
+the skeptic mildly. "Somebody's stuffed you, though. Such a thing
+couldn't be, any way in the world."</p>
+
+<p>As if that were the end of the matter Jerry opened a door confronting
+him and stepped into the great hall, the splendor of which instantly
+blotted every other thought from Walter King's mind.</p>
+
+<p>Not only was the interior spacious and imposing but it was
+bewilderingly beautiful and contained marvel after marvel that the lad
+longed to examine. The large tiger-skin rugs that covered the floor
+piqued his interest, so did the chiming clock, and a fountain that
+welled up and splashed into a marble pool filled with goldfish. Why,
+he could have entertained himself for an hour with this latter wonder
+alone!</p>
+
+<p>There was, however, no leisure for loitering for on hearing the
+cadence of the chimes Jerry ejaculated in consternation:</p>
+
+<p>"Eleven o'clock already! Land alive! We'll have to get the fires
+blazing lively. Why, the folks may be here any minute now. Here, hand
+me one of those long sticks you've got, sonny; or rather&mdash;wait!
+You know how to lay a fire, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon I've done such a thing once or twice in my lifetime," was
+the dry response.</p>
+
+<p>"Then go ahead. You build this fire while I go upstairs and start the
+others," said Jerry. "After you've got this one going you can make one
+in the library, that red room through those curtains."</p>
+
+<p>"All right."</p>
+
+<p>"Step lively! Don't take all day about it."</p>
+
+<p>With awkward gesture Jerry swooped up some of the logs with his long
+arm and disappeared into the hall above.</p>
+
+<p>As for Walter, he had built too many fires in his mother's kitchen
+stove and started too many blazes of driftwood on the beach to be at a
+loss as to how to proceed. Almost in a twinkling scarlet flames were
+roaring up the wide-throated chimneys and he had placed fenders before
+them to keep in captivity any straying sparks. While he looked about
+for a spot in which to deposit the remaining birch sticks there was a
+sound of horns, a crunching of gravel, and Jerry's scurrying feet came
+pattering down the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the folks!" he announced excitedly. "We warn't a minute too
+soon. Tuck those logs into the brass box; pick up your cap, laddie,
+and light out of here quick."</p>
+
+<p>The order, alas, came too late. His Highness had only time enough to
+hurry the birch wood into the box and bang down the cover before
+flying footsteps filled the house, maids appeared from every door, and
+there was a blast of wind, a babel of voices, and the discomfited boy
+found himself face to face with his employers.</p>
+
+<p>His first impression of Mr. Crowninshield, muffled to the chin in a
+heavy motor coat, was of a large, red-cheeked man who, although he
+moved with little apparent stir, nevertheless in an incredibly short
+interval had shaken hands with most of the servants, directed where
+each piece of luggage was to be put, commented on a new lock on the
+front door, and noticed that the clock was two minutes slow. His
+moving eye had also been caught by the roses on the table and he
+turned to ask from which garden they came.</p>
+
+<p>"All this he did, Ma," explained Walter to his mother afterward,
+"before you could say Jack Robinson. And in between he was scolding
+all the time about the weather and saying how idiotic it was to leave
+a warm, comfortable city like New York and come to a damp hole like
+the Cape."</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the best day you could manage to get together, Jerry?"
+growled he. "Pretty beastly, I call it."</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly is wet, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Wet! I should say it was! It's infernally wet! How long is it going
+to keep up like this?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you have the sun out to-morrow or I shall go straight back
+where I came from. Little old New York is good enough for me when the
+place looks like this."</p>
+
+<p>At that instant he espied His Highness lurking near a distant window.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, young man?" he called.</p>
+
+<p>"Walter King, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the young chap who is going to look after the dogs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! Like dogs?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;yes, sir," answered the lad at a warning glance from Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>Ruthlessly the hawklike eyes devoured him.</p>
+
+<p>"So you think you can take care of a lot of prize pups, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to try," was the modest reply.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't stop with trying, my son. You've got to do it," announced
+the man sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall do my best."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all I shall ask."</p>
+
+<p>A sudden smile melted the stern countenance into geniality and the
+master held out a hand.</p>
+
+<p>"So King is your name."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a royal one and gives you something to live up to."</p>
+
+<p>As the boy did not know what to answer he was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"And you like dogs?" said the inquisitor more kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"I like all animals," returned Walter evasively, "and I am sure I
+shall like your dogs because you always like anything you take care
+of."</p>
+
+<p>"So you do! I remember when I was about your age I tamed an old
+brown weasel. He was a wretch of a creature with scarcely a
+virtue&mdash;cruel, deceitful, cold-blooded; and yet I grew to love
+that brute as much as if he had had the gentleness of a dove. You know
+how it is."</p>
+
+<p>Walter nodded. For the moment the two came together on a plane of real
+contact and sympathy, and the smile the elder gave him bound the lad
+to his new employer as no spoken words could possibly have done.</p>
+
+<p>But a second later Mr. Crowninshield's mood had changed and he was
+storming at Mary, the waitress, and demanding whether she meant to
+freeze them all by leaving the outside door open. Walter could see the
+girl flush red and as he leaped forward to close the door she flashed
+him a grateful, tremulous smile. Then Mr. Crowninshield turned toward
+his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"Mollie," he replied, "this is Walter King who is going to look after
+your dogs. Come and speak to him."</p>
+
+<p>The mistress of the house came. She was wearing a long blue traveling
+coat and a jaunty little hat against which the gold of her hair was
+resplendent as sunshine. Tucked under her arm was a wee dog with soft
+brown fur and sharp little eyes. Mrs. Crowninshield was very pretty,
+especially when she spoke. As Walter looked into her face he found it
+so amazingly youthful that it was difficult for him to believe she was
+actually the mother of a grown son and daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"So it is you who are to be master of the kennels?" smiled she,
+showing her even white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mrs. Crowninshield," faltered His Highness, a trifle overcome by
+this new title.</p>
+
+<p>From head to foot her glance swept over him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said she at length, "if you keep the puppies as tidy as you
+keep yourself I fancy we shall get on nicely together."</p>
+
+<p>A flood of color mounted to the lad's forehead. He had not anticipated
+such close inspection and instinctively he began to fumble with the
+corner of his sweater and look nervously down at his hands. They must
+be very dirty from making the fires. And he had been actually greeting
+Mr. and Mrs. Crowninshield with paws like those! The horror of it
+chilled his blood.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently the woman, with swift intuition, read his thought for she
+dimpled at him in friendly fashion.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not worry about your hands, my boy," said she. "You have been
+doing useful things to soil them, things to bid us welcome and make us
+more comfortable. I can see you started out clean. I have a boy of my
+own, you know. Richard," she went on, turning to a tall youth who was
+bending over the luggage, "this is Walter King who is coming to look
+after the kennels. He must be about your age."</p>
+
+<p>The boys stared at each other awkwardly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am fifteen," announced Walter for the lack of something more
+brilliant to say.</p>
+
+<p>"I beat you by a year," was the shy retort of the other boy. "I am
+sixteen."</p>
+
+<p>Then Nancy interrupted them with her breezy comment.</p>
+
+<p>"Fifteen, are you?" she put in. "My, I should not have thought it! You
+must be pretty crazy about dogs to give up all your summer vacation to
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"My mother needs the money," was the simple answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!"</p>
+
+<p>He saw her blush as if regretting her thoughtless remark.</p>
+
+<p>"It is nice of you to help your mother," she observed quickly. "I am
+sure you will not find the place so bad. We shall try to make you
+happy."</p>
+
+<p>With that she was gone but she left behind her a memory of sweetness
+and appealing kindliness.</p>
+
+<p>"You might run out to the garage now, sonny," declared Jerry with a
+desire to help the lad make his escape. "They will be landing the pups
+there soon, and you may as well be on hand."</p>
+
+<p>Only too glad to beat a retreat His Highness picked up his cap and
+slipping from the room raced across the lawn in the direction of his
+own quarters.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h3>
+
+<h4>THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>Jerry's prediction proved to be quite true for as His Highness neared
+the garage a hum of activity pervaded it. Four mud-caked cars stood in
+the driveway and chauffeurs in their shirt sleeves hurried in and out
+the building, shouting to one another and carrying in their hands
+grimy rags and cans of oil. A short half hour had transformed the
+quiet spot to a beehive of noise and bustle. The rush seemed
+contagious for wherever one looked moving figures could be seen. Some
+crossed the lawn bearing belated satchels or traveling wraps which in
+the confusion had found their way into the wrong place; some strode
+toward the boathouse, some toward the garden, some to the stables. Men
+appeared to have risen through the earth so quickly had their numbers
+multiplied.</p>
+
+<p>No longer was there the leisurely loitering and smoking that had
+marked the week before. A spirit of activity was infused into the air
+until even those who had no cause to hurry scrambled with the rest.</p>
+
+<p>As Walter approached the garage he was waylaid by a young chauffeur
+with rosy cheeks and a crisp, pleasant voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Say, youngster, don't you want to lend a hand with these cushions?"
+interrogated he, beaming ingratiatingly. "They have got to be beaten
+and brushed before they can go back in the car. Chuck them over on the
+floor for me, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure!" was the ready answer. "I'll beat them for you if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a good-natured little cuss," grinned the man. "I'm not asking
+you to do that, though."</p>
+
+<p>"But I'd be glad to."</p>
+
+<p>"Suit yourself. But in my opinion you are a fool to take on jobs you
+are not hired to do and get no money for."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't care about the money."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't, eh?" chimed in the derisive note of another chauffeur who
+had at the instant come out of the doorway. "Say, who are you, anyway?
+One of the Vanderbilts?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quit heckling the young one, Peters," put in the chauffeur of the red
+cheeks. "He's a good sort, all right."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha, ha, Wheeler! You think that because you've jollied him into doing
+your work for you, you old shirk."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't jolly him into anything. He offered."</p>
+
+<p>"A likely story."</p>
+
+<p>"But he did."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you should have told him better," sniffed the other. "You know
+well enough it isn't etiquette round here to do a stroke of work for
+anybody else or accept a stroke. <i>Every man for himself</i> is the
+motto."</p>
+
+<p>"But that's a rotten way!" Walter ejaculated impulsively. "I'd hate to
+live like that&mdash;never being willing to help anybody or ask them
+to help me."</p>
+
+<p>The man called Peters gave him a contemptuous stare.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find there's no whining or asking help of other people here,"
+announced he, with a sneer. "Those that are darn fools enough to get
+into holes get out of them as best they can. It's their hunt."</p>
+
+<p>Spitting emphatically on the ground he proceeded to go into the garage
+with the tire he was carrying.</p>
+
+<p>Walter took up a stick he saw lying near by.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do?" demanded the red-cheeked man, regarding
+him with unconcealed surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Beat the cushions."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but&mdash;heavens, sonny! Didn't you hear what Peters
+said?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I heard. I don't have to sign up to a creed like that,
+though, if I don't want to, do I?"</p>
+
+<p>"We all do. We agree neither to borrow, lend, nor ask favors."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I shan't make one of the gang then," observed Walter, with
+a smile so good-humored that the words could not offend.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the more fool you, that is all I can say," laughed Wheeler. "By
+the end of a month you won't have so much as a collar button to your
+name. Everything you own will be gone, especially your tools. We're a
+lot of pirates. I give you fair warning."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not afraid you'll want much that I've got," grinned Walter.</p>
+
+<p>The upraised stick descended in a series of rhythmic blows, sending
+into the air a cloud of dust.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the brush?" panted the boy, when he had beaten until his arm
+ached.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, kid, I'm not going to have you breaking your back over my job,"
+asserted Wheeler in a friendly tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not breaking my back."</p>
+
+<p>"But what on earth are you doing it <i>for</i>?" questioned the man, his
+eyes narrowing with curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know myself," returned the lad shyly. "It was just the way I
+was brought up, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>For an interval only the sweeping of the brush broke the stillness.</p>
+
+<p>"I was brought up to be decent, too," observed Wheeler slowly, "but
+somehow since I've been knocking round I've got to be an awful brute.
+There isn't any very high standard among the crowd I mix in. Still,
+I'm afraid that isn't much of an excuse for shifting back into a
+savage." He paused thoughtfully, then added, "I'm much obliged to you,
+sonny, for your help, and just to show you I don't forget it, sometime
+when you are hard put hunt me up and ask me to give you a lift. I'm a
+human being though you may not think so."</p>
+
+<p>With a little glow at his heart Walter moved away toward the kennels.</p>
+
+<p>He had made a friend, and in this new environment where he was
+conscious of being very much of an outsider the consciousness brought
+him a sense of comradeship and happiness.</p>
+
+<p>It was fortunate, however, that his altruism had detained him no
+longer for before he reached the spot where the dogs were to be
+quartered he heard a chorus of sharp yelps and saw what appeared to be
+a dozen dogs coming across the lawn accompanied by Mrs. Crowninshield
+and two of the stablemen. Some of the pack were being led, while
+others, wild with joy at finding themselves unconfined, leaped and
+capered wildly about their mistress. A great police dog, straining at
+the leash, gave Walter a thrill of mingled admiration and timidity. He
+was a huge creature with mottled coat and mighty jaws, and within his
+open mouth, from which lolled his red tongue, were cruel white teeth
+that could do unthinkable things. His wide brown eyes, his pointing
+tail, his upright ears moving with every sound, his alert poise all
+bespoke keenness and intelligence. A dog one would far rather have for
+an ally than an enemy, thought the boy.</p>
+
+<p>Beside pranced two Airedales and a white Sealyham and to their babel
+of barking was added the shrill, sympathetic note of five or six
+Pekingese, one of which Mrs. Crowninshield carried under her arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Achilles!" she cried. "Hush, all of you! Stop your racket this
+instant! They are excited at being together again," explained she to
+Walter who had approached. "The Belgian and Airedales have been
+boarded out during the winter and have not seen the others for months.
+So, you see, this is a sort of reunion for them and they have to bark
+to show their delight. Moreover, they have had a long trip and are
+tired and hungry. I am going to feed them now and this meal will last
+most of them until to-morrow at the same hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Are they fed only once a day?" gasped Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"That is all. You see you will not have many meals to prepare,"
+laughed Mrs. Crowninshield. "Only the Peeks have breakfast, but only
+part of a square of puppy biscuit or some bread; so it is very simple.
+Dinner, however, is much more complicated and later I shall give you
+your directions as to just what every dog must have; to-night we are
+to treat the lot to some raw meat, toast, and spinach."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll let me help you," pleaded Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. That is why I came out. I want you to feed the dogs and
+learn their names. In order to get on with them you must get
+acquainted with them and understand the peculiarities of each one.
+They are just persons, you know, and have their little whims and
+queernesses. But kindness will win them to you very quickly. It is far
+better than a whip. So is feeding. A dog usually obeys the person who
+feeds him. He is afraid not to."</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke she entered the wired enclosure and putting the smaller
+dogs in half of it and shutting the wicket gate upon them she told the
+men to slip the leashes from the collars of the others. In a second
+the Belgian, Airedales, and the fluffy Sealyham were bounding about
+her. Then she beckoned to Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Achilles," went on she, with her hand on the head of the
+great monster. "He is as gentle and kind as a kitten, although he does
+look as if he could swallow us alive. Don't touch him but stand still
+and let him sniff you all over. It is his way of getting acquainted."</p>
+
+<p>Obediently the boy remained motionless while the panting jaws and
+moist black nose of the dog came nearer. He could feel the creature's
+hot breath on his hands, face, and hair. Then over his clothing moved
+the quivering nostrils. At length the brown eyes met his and he
+whispered softly:</p>
+
+<p>"Achilles!"</p>
+
+<p>The dog wagged his tail.</p>
+
+<p>"You have nothing to fear from him now," announced Mrs. Crowninshield.
+"The Airedales are Jack Horner and Boy Blue. And the Sealyham, Miss
+Nancy's dog, is called Rags."</p>
+
+<p>Sensing that he was being talked about, the dog blinked with friendly
+eyes at Walter through its mop of coarse white hair.</p>
+
+<p>"In the other pen," continued Mrs. Crowninshield, "are the Pekingese
+pups and I shall expect you to take the best of care of them. They are
+sensitive little creatures and very valuable. I myself, however, care
+very little for the money value of a dog. It is the lovable traits it
+has that interest me. I should adore wee Lola, here, if she were not
+worth a cent. But Mr. Crowninshield likes to own blue ribbon dogs and
+enter them at the shows and therefore I will caution you that Lola,
+Mimi, and Fifi," as she spoke she pointed out the dogs in question,
+"cost quite a fortune and their loss or illness would be a great
+calamity. So you must follow the directions concerning them most
+carefully. And should any question arise about them come at once to
+me."</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke she occasionally glanced at the boy beside her with a
+quick, bright smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have the menu for each dog sent you every day&mdash;at least
+for the present&mdash;together with directions as to how to prepare
+the meal as it should be prepared. The meat for the small dogs must be
+put through a meat chopper and no gristle allowed to get into it; the
+larger dogs can have bigger pieces, and Achilles a bone. You will find
+in the room inside an ice chest in which to keep such foods as spoil.
+There are also glassed-in shelves where tins of various kinds of dog
+bread and puppy biscuit will be stored that they may be out of the
+dampness. You are not to trouble the servants at the big house for
+anything. They do not like to be interfered with. All your supplies
+will be here, and you can warm whatever it is necessary to heat on
+your small electric stove. Be sure to scald out the dishes after they
+have been used; and also never forget to keep the bowls filled with
+plenty of fresh water."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure you will," returned Mrs. Crowninshield kindly. "And do not
+worry if it takes a little time to win all the dogs over to your
+authority. Dogs are like children when they change masters. They will
+try to play it on you at first. Just be firm with them and soon you
+will have them tagging at your heels, docile as lambs."</p>
+
+<p>The task of preparing the food was soon completed and the mistress
+looked on and encouraged while Walter doled it out to the famished
+animals.</p>
+
+<p>How daintily the wee dogs coquetted with what was given them! And how
+greedily the larger ones gobbled down their allowance and lapped the
+plate for more! Achilles, crouched on the lawn with his bone, crunched
+it with terrifying zeal, cracking the big joint between his jaws as if
+it were made of paper. His dinner devoured he ambled over toward
+Walter, once more sniffed his shoes and clothing, at last nestled his
+moist nose against the boy's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you have won Achilles to your colors already," said Mrs.
+Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"He does seem friendly," returned His Highness, more pleased by the
+dog's good will than he would have been willing to own.</p>
+
+<p>"Achilles can be very friendly when he chooses," retorted his owner.
+"He can also be quite the reverse. You should see him sometime when he
+is on the scent of a foe. Last summer when a man broke into the
+boathouse it transformed Achilles into a lion. I was certain he would
+kill the fellow; as it was he mauled him badly before we could coax
+him off. The thief almost died of fright and I do not wonder. He did
+not need any further punishment."</p>
+
+<p>She unfastened the gate to go back to the house.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately there was a rush.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you can't come, not one of you," declared she, addressing the
+yelping pack through the netting. "I have far too much to do to be
+bothered with any of you. Be good and take a nap. You're tired enough
+to rest."</p>
+
+<p>Still the animals barked, rebellious at their captivity.</p>
+
+<p>"When I am out of sight you can let Achilles out," called she, as she
+moved away. "He can be trusted to roam the place and always does when
+we're here. The Airedales and the Sealyham can also run about alone as
+soon as they get used to obeying you. But the little dogs must never
+be let off the leash unless they are watched every instant, for
+something might happen to them."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be careful."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right; do."</p>
+
+<p>The woman gave him a pleasant nod of farewell and walked with
+springing step back in the direction of the house. As she went Walter
+saw her halt and speak to old Tim, who was at work in the rose garden,
+and beheld the gardener leap proudly forward to cut for her a blossom
+she had evidently admired.</p>
+
+<p>It was even as Jerry had said. She was the idol of Surfside.</p>
+
+<p>After she had disappeared he opened the wicket and stepped out,
+letting Achilles follow him.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the great creature put his nose to the ground and with a
+joyous bark he was gone in search of his mistress.</p>
+
+<p>It was now or never with the new master of the hounds.</p>
+
+<p>The lad whistled but the dog did not turn. Again he gave a quick call.
+This time the rushing beast paused, looked round, and then slackening
+his pace, continued to jog along on his way.</p>
+
+<p>Helplessly the boy saw him go farther and farther out of reach.</p>
+
+<p>He must compel obedience somehow.</p>
+
+<p>"Achilles!" shouted he sternly. "Achilles! Back, sir!"</p>
+
+<p>Although he uttered the words he had not the slightest faith they
+would have any effect and was amazed to see the dog waver in his
+tracks.</p>
+
+<p>"Achilles, come here!" repeated he sharply.</p>
+
+<p>With reluctance the dog turned and looked at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, sir!" called Walter, with coaxing cadence.</p>
+
+<p>The dog continued to regard him intently but he did not move. Then
+suddenly there was a rush and with panting jaws widespread the Belgian
+came bounding toward him. It was not until he was close at hand that
+he abated his speed. Then he came to the side of his new master and
+gently laid his cold nose on his sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>Walter patted the great head affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>The battle was won. He had conquered Achilles.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h3>
+
+<h4>HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>Before a week had passed the strangeness of living at Surfside had to
+a certain extent abated and Walter found himself not only content in
+his new position but enjoying it. He rose early, feeding the dogs,
+exercising them, and making fresh their quarters before he breakfasted
+himself. Afterward, despite the score of odd duties with which the
+morning was filled, he contrived to do many little kindnesses for
+Jerry, Tim, Wheeler, and the other men. He was always willing to do a
+favor and amid an atmosphere where generosity was rare the virtue of
+aiding others rendered him immensely popular.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime he had made such headway in the affections of Achilles
+that the big Belgian not only tagged at his heels everywhere he went,
+but at night insisted upon extending his giant frame before the boy's
+doorsill from which vantage ground neither threats nor persuasions
+could stir him. In consequence the lonely hours the lad might have
+experienced were put to rout by the companionship of this silent
+comrade.</p>
+
+<p>The Airedales, on the other hand, were less successfully won over to a
+new allegiance. Although Richard, who owned them, took not the
+smallest care of them and serenely passed them over to some one else
+to be ministered unto, nevertheless they apparently sensed the
+arrangement was one of convenience and returned scant gratitude for
+what was done for them. They were polite, tolerant, but never
+whole-heartedly cordial. Dick was their master and they would have no
+other.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately Miss Nancy's Sealyham, Rags, was more responsive;
+nevertheless, although she frolicked about Walter's feet and accepted
+food from his hand it was more because she loved to play and was
+hungry than because her affection for the boy went very deep.</p>
+
+<p>As for the troupe of Pekingese, with aristocratic noses tilted high in
+air, they submitted to being washed, brushed, and fed by Walter much
+as they would have accepted the services of any other maid or valet.
+They seemed to be conscious of their pedigree and claim attention as
+their right. An occasional wag of the tail or the rare passage of a
+rough little tongue across one's hand was all the gratitude His
+Highness ever received from them.</p>
+
+<p>With the Crowninshield family, however, the boy made better progress
+and as he and Dick became acquainted many a pleasant hour did they
+spend together. Not infrequently, when the eager yelps of the dogs
+heralded the fact that they were off for their afternoon run, the New
+York lad would join the party and while the animals raced this way and
+that the two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and kindred
+interests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="i003"></a>
+<img src="images/003.jpg" width="350" height="531"
+alt="" title="" />
+</div><br />
+<h5>The two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and<br />
+kindred interests. <i>Page</i> 76</h5>
+
+<p>"Do you happen to know anything about wireless?" inquired Richard one
+day when, with Achilles prancing far ahead and Boy Blue, Jack Horner,
+and Rags dashing to keep up with him, the group strode along the
+beach.</p>
+
+<p>"I ought to," was Walter's smiling response. "I've a brother who is an
+operator at the Seaver Bay station."</p>
+
+<p>"No! Really?" The exclamations voiced both surprise and admiration.
+"How old is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty-two or three."</p>
+
+<p>"Gee! And he can really send and receive messages?"</p>
+
+<p>"He sure can."</p>
+
+<p>"How did he learn?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he first got interested in wireless through the papers and picked
+up quite a lot of information that way. Later he and his chum Billy
+Hicks bought a manual and with the help of the physics teacher at the
+High School they rigged up a homemade receiving apparatus on Billy's
+grandfather's barn. For a while it wouldn't work for a cent, although
+they tinkered with it night and day. Then one evening they did
+something to it and caught their first message. You should have seen
+Bob! He was crazy and came rushing straight home to make Ma drop
+everything she was doing and go down to Hicks's. Now Mother was
+elbow-deep in bread and declared she couldn't spoil her biscuit for
+any wireless on earth. Besides, she had never had any faith in the
+thing. You see, Bob had teased her for wireless money and she had told
+him time and time again it was dollars thrown into a hole. My father
+used to joke her about not having a scientific mind and I guess she
+hasn't one. At any rate, whenever Bob would read her the wonderful
+things being done with wireless, all she would say was that it wasn't
+likely folks could send speeches and music loose through the air.
+Those who pretended to hear them were either fibbing or were genuinely
+mistaken. So when Bob did get a broadcast you can imagine how wild he
+was to convince her it wasn't all bluff."</p>
+
+<p>"And did he?" asked Dick with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, after a fashion," replied Walter, smiling at some amusing
+memory.</p>
+
+<p>"Like enough I shouldn't have known much about it, either, if Bob had
+not told me," continued Walter. "Bob, however, talked nothing else
+morning, noon, and night. Often I would drop asleep while he was
+chattering of induction coils, wave lengths, and antenna. It makes me
+yawn now to think of it. My goodness, weren't Ma and I sick to death
+of hearing nothing but radio! Bob would rush into the house at
+mealtime, swallow his food whole, and tear off to Hicks's with a piece
+of pie in his hand, leaving all the chores to me. I got pretty sore, I
+can tell you." He gave a short laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Between Mother begrudging the poor chap every cent he spent for
+batteries and wire, and me pitching into him for forgetting to chop
+the kindlings, I'm afraid his early wireless career wasn't a very
+pleasant one."</p>
+
+<p>Once more the lad laughed, this time with comic ruefulness.</p>
+
+<p>"Even when the apparatus actually did begin to work and Bob and Billy
+were able to get a concert or lecture now and then, Ma insisted they
+were bluffing her. She listened in but wasn't convinced, declaring
+they had fastened a victrola to the receivers and that such sounds
+never could come through the air. Finally they did succeed in getting
+her to half believe they were telling her the truth and were not just
+working her for money. But when they tried to explain the outfit to
+her in detail, she put her hands over her ears, protesting that they
+were wasting their breath to tell her of damped and undamped waves,
+detectors, and generators. With that they gave up further attempts to
+educate her."</p>
+
+<p>Both boys chuckled.</p>
+
+<p>"But she must be proud of your brother now," asserted Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she is&mdash;tremendously, although what she chiefly thinks about
+is the danger Bob is in of getting struck by lightning or
+electrocuted."</p>
+
+<p>Achilles, who had been pursuing some sandpipers along the rim of the
+surf and sent them circling into the air, now raced back to his
+friends with a sharp bark of salutation and Dick bent to pat the
+shaggy head.</p>
+
+<p>"So really," reflected he, "your brother taught himself wireless."</p>
+
+<p>"Not wholly. He simply laid a foundation," the other boy explained.
+"He could never have taken a job on what he had picked up because,
+you see, he knew nothing of sending messages, was ignorant of all the
+rules an operator has to have at his tongue's end, and had no very
+thorough knowledge of electricity. It was not like a complete
+training, by any means. The war gave him that. When it broke out he
+enlisted in the navy, and because he was partially equipped in radio
+they sent him off posthaste to a wireless school. At the time he was
+crazy because his dream was to get across and be in the fighting. To
+sit at home studying was the last thing he wanted to do. Later,
+though, when he began to see what a big part wireless was playing in
+the scrimmage, he commenced to be more resigned to his lot. Besides he
+got his chance before long, for he worked into being a crackerjack at
+speed and passed his exams so well that he had no trouble in winning
+his first-class operator's certificate.</p>
+
+<p>"There are grades of radio men, you know, just as there are grades of
+everything else. There are the sharks, or first-class chaps, who are
+able to pass every sort of test on the adjustment of apparatus and how
+to use it; who can both send and receive messages at the rate of at
+least twenty words a minute, and who can often go much faster; and who
+have all the rules governing the exchange of radio messages stowed
+away in their heads. They are the A1 men and every first-class ship is
+obliged by law to have aboard it two of them. Then there are the
+second-class certificate fellows who practically have as much radio
+but cannot hit such a gait, and can only manage to send between
+twelve and nineteen words a minute. They can go on first-class ships
+provided more skilled operators are aboard. Sometimes, even, they
+substitute for them under supervision. Their chief jobs, however, are
+on ships that use wireless only for their personal benefit; that is,
+to talk with their own crews. Often a fishing fleet, for instance,
+will carry a man of this class to communicate with its other vessels.
+They can talk, too, with shore stations when it is necessary. But the
+law does not allow them to take positions where there is a great rush
+of business and general responsibility. They must have the topnotchers
+for such work."</p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea there were so many rules about radio," mused Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"There are&mdash;strict ones, too," replied his companion. "Moreover,
+the government keeps tabs on all radio people to see they obey the
+rules. Every wireless man is examined, classified, and given a license
+just as an automobile driver is. He has to keep it handy, too, and be
+ready to trot it out on request. You can't get by with bluffing. If an
+operator is found to be unfamiliar with the rules, or is discovered
+breaking any of them, his certificate can be withdrawn. No chap wants
+to risk that, especially if he is trying to earn his living by
+wireless. And if a ship, and not its radio operator, is found to be
+breaking the rules, the coastal stations may be notified not to have
+anything to do with her. In other words she is boycotted and the land
+operators told neither to receive her messages nor answer them."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be some boycott!"</p>
+
+<p>"The shipboard radio stations, you see, come under the authority of
+the commanding officer of the ship. It has to be so, because in case
+of accident he would be the person responsible for sending out
+distress calls and answering them. The radio man couldn't just grab
+the power. There has to be one boss of every job."</p>
+
+<p>"I can see that," nodded Dick. "But why such a network of other
+rules?"</p>
+
+<p>"There have to be. It all has to be charted in black and white or
+there would be terrible mix-ups."</p>
+
+<p>"And do foreign ships have to fall into line and do as our ships do
+when they come here?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are expected to, Bob said," answered Walter. "In case they do
+not, however, they cannot be meddled with by underlings. Instead they
+are immediately reported to the government and the two countries
+involved settle their dispute by arbitration. It is too delicate a
+matter for others to butt in on, for some blunderer might offend
+another country and get us into war just through being stupid.
+Conversely, when our ships are in foreign waters they must keep the
+naval rules of the nation they are visiting."</p>
+
+<p>"That's fair."</p>
+
+<p>"It sure is," agreed Walter. "Besides that, all the shipboard radio
+stations have to carry with them their license to prove that they are
+authorized by their countries to operate a wireless outfit, and that
+they fulfil the requirements of the government whose flag they fly.
+Should any trouble arise when they are in a foreign port they can be
+asked to produce this license; and if the foreign authorities whom
+they are visiting have reason to suspect they are not meeting the
+standards the license demands they can complain to the government that
+is responsible for the ship."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose the government didn't know anything about such a ship?"</p>
+
+<p>"Great Scott! But it does, man," ejaculated Walter. "There are lists
+that contain not only the name and nationality of all ships but even
+the names and addresses of its radio operators. There is no getting by
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"So the ships themselves are not allowed to take up their own quarrel
+if they are challenged?" commented Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"No. They simply have to stay perfectly polite and keep their mouths
+shut, no matter how mad they are," grinned His Highness. "Otherwise
+there would be squabbles all the time, for there are always
+misunderstandings and grudges, and people who enjoy picking on one
+another. All the ships would be fighting and the countries that owned
+them, too, if everybody rolled up his sleeves and pitched into the
+other fellow when things went wrong. Governments are supposed to be
+more slow-moving, fair, and impartial. And anyhow, it is their job to
+look out for their own citizens and see they are squarely treated. Bob
+says it is a more dignified way than for individuals to fight out
+their own quarrels. It certainly carries more weight. Nobody is going
+to bully a ship and make trouble for its crew if a big nation stands
+behind it. It serves as a check on the men, too, Bob told me, for when
+they are in other countries and have shore leave they have to remember
+that they must behave themselves and not disgrace their governments."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't sail out of reach of Uncle Sam, eh? Apparently he knows in
+a general way just how you are conducting yourself all the time,"
+smiled Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"That's about it," acquiesced Walter.</p>
+
+<p>Whistling to the dogs, they turned about.</p>
+
+<p>"What a pile you know about all this," Dick presently observed.</p>
+
+<p>"Shucks! No, I don't," blushed His Highness. "I am only repeating what
+Bob spieled off to me. He likes to talk when he's home and I like to
+listen. It's interesting&mdash;at least I think so. Besides, I'm proud
+of Bob knowing such a lot. I wish I did."</p>
+
+<p>The lad dug his heel into the moist sand and watched the hole fill
+with water.</p>
+
+<p>"Somehow I'm an awful boob at books," he suddenly confessed. "I hate
+so to study that Ma fairly has to haul me along by the hair or I'd
+never go to school. I barely skinned through this year. Up to the very
+last minute we all had cold chills for fear I wouldn't."</p>
+
+<p>Dick shot the offender a sympathetic glance.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like reading about things myself so well as doing them," he
+confided. "I'm crazy about machinery. It's fun to tinker with
+it&mdash;take it to pieces and put it together again. I like nothing
+better than to overhaul an engine."</p>
+
+<p>He held up two grease-stained hands.</p>
+
+<p>"It horrifies my mother," he continued, "but my father doesn't seem to
+mind if I am all black with oil from my car or the motor boats. What I
+want now is a wireless outfit. I'm going to strike Dad for one my
+birthday. It comes the last of this month and he might as well give me
+that as anything else. Do you suppose if he got it we could rig it up
+together?"</p>
+
+<p>Walter's eyes opened at the casualness of the observation.</p>
+
+<p>In his family a birthday was an occasion for a chocolate cake, some
+neckties, and perhaps a pair of rubber boots or a similar useful gift.
+Or it sometimes brought with it a book and a box of candy. Never by
+any chance did its felicitations expand into a gift so colossal as a
+wireless apparatus. The breach between the two lads, which during the
+exchange of confidences had narrowed into nothingness, widened
+abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"A good set would be some present," he commented, thinking, perhaps,
+the other boy might be ignorant of its value.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I guess it would not break Dad," smiled Dick serenely. "He gave
+me my car last year, and the year before&mdash;let me think&mdash;oh,
+the pups!" He pointed to the Airedales, a streak of buff against the
+green of the distant marsh. "Wireless couldn't cost much more."</p>
+
+<p>"N&mdash;o, I don't believe it would," His Highness admitted slowly,
+the contrast in their financial standards seeping in on him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I imagine I could have a set all right if I said the word,"
+continued Dick, with the indifference of one to whom such presents
+brought no agitation. "The question is, could we set it up if we had
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't," came promptly from Walter. "I think, though, that if Bob
+was home on leave he might help us."</p>
+
+<p>"Your brother? I had forgotten him. So he is at home sometimes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes. He gets off for a day now and then."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be a whole lot of a bore to be tied down in a wireless
+station listening for messages all the time," observed Dick
+carelessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Operators do not have to sit with their ears glued to the receivers
+every second, man," declared the village lad. "The men are relieved at
+regular hours. Besides, all stations both on shore and on shipboard
+are divided into classes and have their hours carefully mapped out for
+them. There are three different varieties of shipboard stations, for
+example. Some have constant service; that is, operators are always
+listening while the ship is underway. Then there is a second sort
+where the operator listens in only during specified hours when the
+office is open for business. A third class has no fixed hours at all,
+the radio man just listening the first ten minutes of each hour."</p>
+
+<p>"So the men just suit themselves, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Suit themselves! You bet they don't," laughed Walter. "The government
+defines their hours when their license is issued. The class they are
+put in decides it."</p>
+
+<p>"That's news to me," said Dick. "And the shore stations?"</p>
+
+<p>"The shore stations are a chapter in themselves," Walter replied.
+"There are several different kinds and each kind has its own rules."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't propose to tell me about them, then," retorted the New
+Yorker mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>"It's too long a yarn," answered the other. "Besides, I might not get
+it straight. Sometime, though, if you want me to, I'll pass on what I
+know. But to-day I guess we ought to be hiking back. It is close onto
+the time the pack is fed and I may have them yelping at my throat if I
+don't hurry."</p>
+
+<p>Quickening their pace the boys whistled to the dogs who came dashing
+through the clumps of bayberry that dotted the field. They were
+panting with thirst and only too ready to turn homeward. Across the
+sandy hillocks, through pine-shaded stretches of woods, along the road
+walled in with June roses they raced and chased, stopping now and
+again to look back and make certain that their masters were following.
+When the spit of sand narrowed to a ribbon and the entrance to
+Surfside was reached they halted, lying down to cool off in the fresh
+sea breeze until they should be overtaken. At the gate Dick and Walter
+parted.</p>
+
+<p>It was amusing to see the Airedales waver, then lured by hunger,
+desert their owner and pursue Walter and Achilles.</p>
+
+<p>They came up with lolling tongues at the kennels just as His Highness
+was unlocking the door.</p>
+
+<p>While he fumbled with the latch he noticed they sniffed excitedly
+about and that Achilles barked.</p>
+
+<p>"You're starved, poor old chaps!" remarked he aloud. "Well, no matter.
+You shall have your dinner right off now."</p>
+
+<p>Coaxing them in he banged the wicket behind him and passed through
+into the pen where the Pekingese, clamoring for their food, came
+yelping to meet him.</p>
+
+<p>Instinctively he scanned the fluffy-coated group. Lola was not there.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery, however, caused him no concern for often Mrs.
+Crowninshield carried the prize-winner up to the big house or took her
+for a ride in the car. Therefore, although her bright eyes were
+missing he did not worry, but fed the other dogs and gave them fresh
+water.</p>
+
+<p>The task completed, he sauntered toward the garage.</p>
+
+<p>How still it was everywhere. With the exception of Dick's racer every
+car was gone and all the chauffeurs with them. Even Jerry was nowhere
+about; and the gardeners were far down on the south slope where he
+could just detect the clip of their shears as they trimmed the privet
+hedge.</p>
+
+<p>The grounds were as deserted as if the earth had swallowed up every
+inhabitant. Surfside, deprived of its accustomed hum and bustle, was
+actually lonely. With uncertain step the boy loitered in the sun,
+glancing at the expanse of sea and at a knockabout that heeled
+dangerously in the rising wind. Thinking he might find Jerry and thus
+banish solitude he meandered up the avenue toward the house.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry, however, was nowhere to be seen but the silence was broken by
+the siren horns of approaching motors and the Crowninshield cars came
+rolling in through the broad entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Since he chanced to be on the spot he may as well go up to the
+veranda, meet the family, and bring Lola back with him to be fed and
+tucked up for the night.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly he hurried along and was at the steps almost as soon as
+the automobiles came to a stop.</p>
+
+<p>Together with a company of laughing guests, Nancy and Mr. and Mrs.
+Crowninshield alighted.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a beautiful ride as we've had, Dick!" called Mrs. Crowninshield
+to her son. "We've been over to Harwich and picked up the Davenports,
+you see, and brought them home for the evening. I think, Mrs.
+Davenport, you remember my son, Richard. Nancy, take Janet and Marie
+in with you so they can leave their wraps. You young people will have
+just about time for a set of tennis before dinner."</p>
+
+<p>The cars had shot away and she was about to go indoors when the
+mistress of the house espied Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you wish to see me?" she called.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I'd take Lola down to the kennels."</p>
+
+<p>"Lola! Is she here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you had her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"But she must be here at the house."</p>
+
+<p>"No, she isn't. I never leave her with the maids. She is at the
+kennels."</p>
+
+<p>"I've just come from there."</p>
+
+<p>"And she wasn't there?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Positive!"</p>
+
+<p>"But my dear boy, didn't you leave her there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But I thought you took her when you went to drive. You have a
+key."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't."</p>
+
+<p>"And you did not give the key to any of the maids?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, she isn't there," announced Walter, a tremor of trepidation
+passing over him.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! She must be. Where else could she be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you haven't half looked," smiled Mrs. Crowninshield reassuringly.
+"Lola is such a tiny dog she often gets hidden away out of sight. I'll
+come and find her for you."</p>
+
+<p>Excusing herself to her guests she followed Walter across the grass
+and in silence they unfastened the wire gate that led into the
+enclosure where the Pekingese were kept. But search as they would they
+failed to discover the missing dog. Lola was gone! <i>Gone!</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h3>
+
+<h4>THE PURSUIT OF LOLA</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>Yes, Lola was gone; there could be no question about that.</p>
+
+<p>Had not Walter scented trouble he would soon have been made aware of
+it by the excitement that prevailed in the Peeks' kennels. Every dog
+of the lot was barking furiously and with gleaming eyes and tail erect
+striving to communicate tidings of importance. Yet bark as they might,
+the message they sought to voice remained, alas, untold.</p>
+
+<p>"If they could only speak we should soon know what has happened,"
+bewailed the lad to Mrs. Crowninshield, as for the hundredth time they
+searched every nook and corner for a clue to the mystery.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they know&mdash;poor little things," their mistress agreed.
+"They are trying their best to tell the story, too. I'd give worlds to
+know what it is."</p>
+
+<p>"And I."</p>
+
+<p>"You are certain you locked everything up when you took the other dogs
+out."</p>
+
+<p>"Positive. Dick was with me and we both tried the gate before we
+started."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing seems to be disturbed."</p>
+
+<p>"No. That is the strange part of it."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Crowninshield stopped, hot and breathless from her search.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot believe but that the mite will turn up. Have you asked Jerry
+or Tim?"</p>
+
+<p>"They were nowhere about when I got back," Walter replied. "The whole
+place was still as the grave. I was just going to hunt up Jerry when I
+saw the cars coming up the avenue."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I must not delay any longer now," announced Mrs. Crowninshield.
+"The Davenports will be wondering what has become of me and so will
+everybody else. Just find Jerry and Tim and quietly make sure they
+have not taken the dog. In the meantime I will inquire of the maids at
+the house. We will not, however, make too much talk about it, and send
+out an alarm until we are certain there is a real tragedy. If I can
+keep Mr. Crowninshield in ignorance of the matter until our guests
+have gone I shall be glad. He will be dreadfully upset for he took
+great pride in his possession of Lola and has declined numberless
+offers to sell her."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it," groaned Walter. "If it were only one of the other dogs
+that was missing!"</p>
+
+<p>"The fact that it isn't is what alarms me," returned the woman. "Lola
+is a quiet little thing and has been petted so much that it would not
+be like her to run away. Some of the other dogs might but she
+wouldn't. She is far too timid."</p>
+
+<p>"How could she run away, even if she had a mind to, with the gate
+locked?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know. That is another ominous fact." Mrs. Crowninshield shook her
+head. "I'm afraid&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"That she has been stolen."</p>
+
+<p>"Stolen!" gasped Walter. "But how could she with&mdash;with everybody
+around?"</p>
+
+<p>"But you yourself just said that nobody was around."</p>
+
+<p>"Jove! That's true. Still somebody must have been here some time
+during the afternoon. It is not likely Jerry, Tim, and all the rest
+were out of hearing all the time I was gone."</p>
+
+<p>"That is what we must find out."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go and hunt up Jerry now."</p>
+
+<p>"Do. But work quietly; do not make a fuss. It will be time enough to
+get everybody up in arms when we have to. I dread to think what Mr.
+Crowninshield will say. He will be furious, simply furious."</p>
+
+<p>With this dubious prediction his wife walked away.</p>
+
+<p>She herself was upset. It was easy enough to see that. She strove,
+however, to be calm, clinging desperately to the hope that the dog
+might be discovered in the care of some of the men or maids. She
+idolized Lola and although she did not admit it, His Highness knew
+only too well that if it really proved that her pet was gone she, too,
+would be furious.</p>
+
+<p>"A nice mess!" commented the lad to himself as he hurried across the
+lawn in search of Jerry. "A nice hole I am in the very first thing!
+Between them they will tear me to pieces. And Ma&mdash;Ma will say,
+'<i>I told you so!</i>' That's all the sympathy I'll get from her. She'll
+have to know, of course, for Mr. Crowninshield will fire me bag and
+baggage. I must expect that. Jerry as good as told me so when I came.
+I sha'n't have a chance to defend myself. They will just believe I
+left the gate of the kennels unlocked when I went out and that Lola
+made off as fast as her four small feet could carry her. They will
+either think that, or they will think&mdash;" he stopped aghast at the
+possibility that had taken possession of his mind. "They couldn't
+think I left it open on purpose for some one to get in and <i>take</i>
+Lola! They couldn't think that! But suppose Mr. Crowninshield did
+decide I was an accomplice what proof have I but my word that I
+wasn't. It does look bad&mdash;my being gone and taking Achilles and
+the other dogs with me. Still, I've done it every day since I've been
+here. And anyway, they would know I could not entice Jerry and Tim
+away even if I had wanted to."</p>
+
+<p>The boy took courage.</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course they couldn't think <i>I</i> had anything to do with Lola
+being gone," he murmured.</p>
+
+<p>By this time he had overtaken Tim and his fellow workers who were
+still busy clipping the hedge.</p>
+
+<p>"Tim!" he called.</p>
+
+<p>There was no answer but the crisp snip, snip of the shears.</p>
+
+<p>"Tim!"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you call?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. You haven't seen Lola, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lola? Indeed I haven't. What would she be doing round here, I'd like
+to know?"</p>
+
+<p>His Highness struggled to smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I just thought you might have seen her."</p>
+
+<p>"She's not at the kennels?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, then the mistress took her up to the house. She often does. She
+is clean daffy over that dog. Give yourself no concern, sonny; the pup
+is with the master and missis, being shown off to company, most
+likely."</p>
+
+<p>"Probably she is. So you and the men have been here all the
+afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"That we have. A hot job, the cutting of this hedge."</p>
+
+<p>"It looks fine," declared Walter, turning away.</p>
+
+<p>"It ought to," Tim growled. "Goodness knows it's trouble enough! A
+privet hedge is the devil to keep even."</p>
+
+<p>Walter, however, did not wait to hear the virtues and vices of privet
+hedges discussed. He was in too much of a hurry. Furthermore, he had
+secured the information which he had come to seek. Tim and his host
+knew nothing of the whereabouts of Lola. Nothing else mattered. In
+fact, bewildered, anxious, and excited, it seemed at the moment as if
+nothing else would ever matter again. He must find that dog&mdash;he
+<i>must</i>!</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless he remembered he must not appear agitated and therefore,
+instead of racing across the lawn and shouting for Jerry as would have
+been his inclination, he walked decorously along the path until he
+came to the boathouse from which door Jerry was at that instant
+issuing.</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't seen Lola, have you, Jerry?" he asked as indifferently as
+he could.</p>
+
+<p>"Lola? No. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"It&mdash;it is just her dinner time," stammered the lad, "and I
+wanted to find her."</p>
+
+<p>"She'll be up at the house, most likely, if she isn't at the kennels,"
+announced Jerry. "There's visitors and Lola will be on deck to see
+'em. She's a vain little lady and likes to be shown off."</p>
+
+<p>Walter greeted the remark with a sickly grin.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you been doing?" inquired he idly.</p>
+
+<p>"Me? Why, I was just starting to fix that hasp on the gate to the
+chicken coop when Minnie came running down from the house to say
+somebody wanted to speak to me on the telephone. It was a
+long-distance call and kept me there most half an hour; and what it
+was all about I don't know now. Some feller I never heard of kept
+talking and talking, and I couldn't make head nor tail out of anything
+he said. Finally I told him so and hung up the receiver. I can't
+imagine who he was. Nobody ever telephones me."</p>
+
+<p>"So you didn't get the hasp fixed on the hen yard."</p>
+
+<p>"I would have hadn't the cook held me up just as I was leaving and
+wanted I should put a new washer on the kitchen faucet. I saw it
+needed it the worst way. In fact, I had planned to do it before the
+folks came and it had slipped my mind. So I tinkered with that and
+got nothing else done. I'm just after mending a hinge on the boathouse
+door. A profitless afternoon, I call it."</p>
+
+<p>"So you haven't been back to your diggings since noon."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a once. Why? Did you want me?"</p>
+
+<p>"N&mdash;o. Oh, no."</p>
+
+<p>"That's lucky. Apparently everybody else did," concluded Jerry grimly.</p>
+
+<p>So went Walter's quest! Nobody had seen Lola. Nobody knew anything
+about her. Question as he would, not the faintest trace of the missing
+dog could be obtained; and when the Davenports rolled down the drive
+the lad faced the awful moment when his secret must be divulged and
+the alarm sounded that Lola, the Crowninshields' most valued
+possession, was missing. Rapidly he turned the prospect of the coming
+storm over in his mind.</p>
+
+<p>Since the dog had been left in his charge the only manly thing to do,
+he argued, was to go directly to Mr. Crowninshield and himself
+acquaint him with the direful tidings. It would be cowardly to shunt
+this wretched task off on somebody else. It was his duty and his
+alone. Nevertheless, as he stood for a moment summoning his courage,
+he would have given all he possessed to escape the interview that
+awaited him.</p>
+
+<p>He would be scolded, blamed, discharged&mdash;that he knew&mdash;and
+he must bear bravely censure for something which he could not feel was
+his fault. Yet notwithstanding the fact that his conscience
+exonerated him it made the coming scene no less dreadful to
+anticipate.</p>
+
+<p>If Bob were only at hand to offer him his advice and sympathy. Bob was
+such a bully comforter. He never jumped on a man when he was down.
+Besides, he had a level head and always knew exactly what to do in an
+emergency. The instant this awful talk with Mr. Crowninshield was over
+and he was actually "fired" he should call Bob on the telephone and
+tell him the whole story. He must tell somebody, and Bob would
+understand better than anyone else just how everything had happened.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime there was nothing to be gained by further delay.</p>
+
+<p>Pulling himself together, His Highness (a very meek bit of royalty
+now) dragged himself up the flower-bordered path toward Surfside. As
+he went it seemed as if every pansy flanking the walk stared out at
+him and whispered, "Aha, young man! You're in for it now!"</p>
+
+<p>Alas, he did not need to be told that! He knew it only too well. He
+cleared his throat, wondering how he should begin his confession.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Crowninshield, I have some very sad news to impart to
+you&mdash;etc."; or "Mr. Crowninshield, I regret to say a very
+terrible thing has happened." Such an introduction was easily
+delivered. It was the next sentence that appalled him. He could not
+get it off his tongue. "<i>Lola has disappeared!</i>" He could see now the
+great man's face as it flushed with anger and surprise. What would
+<i>he</i> say&mdash;that was the question?</p>
+
+<p>Probably his reply would be something like this.</p>
+
+<p>"Young fellow, when I hired you, you undertook to look out for my dogs
+and see that nothing happened to them. I agreed to pay you good wages
+to perform that service and you, on your part, promised to do it
+satisfactorily. How have you kept that promise? You knew Lola's value
+and you should have looked out for her. It's up to you. You must
+either produce that dog or you must pay for her."</p>
+
+<p>He had by this time reached the house and like a criminal who faces
+execution and mounts the scaffold steps he climbed the broad flight
+leading to the front door. Mr. Crowninshield was on the veranda,
+sitting quietly in a big wicker chair, looking out toward the sea. He
+was thinking so intently on some imagining of his own that he did not
+hear the lad's footfall and Walter was obliged to address him twice
+before he answered. Then he started suddenly, as if annoyed at being
+disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" interrogated he.</p>
+
+<p>The fine introduction that His Highness had planned to utter, together
+with everything else he had arranged to say, fled from his memory and
+he stood speechless before his employer.</p>
+
+<p>"You wish to see me?" Mr. Crowninshield repeated in a less sharp tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, despite the heavy pause the words the boy sought would
+not come. Instead a plaintive jumble of phrases tumbled incoherently
+forth, astounding the lad himself almost as much as they did the
+person to whom they were addressed:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir, I've lost your dog, Lola! I didn't mean to and I didn't
+really lose her. She was gone when I got back from my walk with
+Achilles and the others. I left her locked in all right&mdash;I know I
+did. Where she is or how she got out I've no idea. I'm terribly sorry.
+I can't possibly pay for her, and you'll just have to put me in
+prison. It's the only way, I guess. Don't blame my mother or Bob,
+please, or Jerry either, because I've turned out to be such a duffer.
+It isn't their fault. And perhaps I better go straight home. I suppose
+you won't want me round here any more."</p>
+
+<p>A great gasp strangled any further utterance and only the lad's
+sobbing breath broke the stillness.</p>
+
+<p>Nerved to receive a scourge of maledictions or a blow the culprit
+waited. But nothing came&mdash;neither vindictives nor chastisement.
+He ventured to raise his head and confront his judge.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crowninshield was sitting looking far out to sea exactly as before
+and Walter actually began to wonder whether he had been turned to
+stone or had been stricken with deafness.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Crowninshield!" he at last ejaculated when the silence had become
+intolerable.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear what I said?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sonny."</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;well&mdash;what are you going to do with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, my boy."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"This job about Lola is nothing to do with you, my son. It has
+evidently been planned for a long time and carefully executed by
+professionals. Had you been on the spot they would have contrived to
+circumvent you just as they did Jerry. A gang have beaten us, that's
+all. But I will show them I am not to be beaten so easily. I'll have
+that dog back if it takes every dollar I have in the world. And I'll
+land those chaps behind the bars, every one of them, or my name isn't
+Crowninshield."</p>
+
+<p>A tide of angry color surged over the face of the speaker and he rose
+abruptly, as if forgetting the lad's presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir!" he continued. "I'll round up those thieves. They needn't
+put me down for such an ass. Of course it's Daly and that New York
+bunch that set them on. They have always wanted Lola and been mad as
+hatters that I refused to sell her. Only the last time I saw Jake Daly
+he said, 'What I can't get by fair means I sometimes get by foul,
+Crowninshield, so you'd better look out for your precious dog.' I did
+not heed the threat at the time, attributing it to temper. But
+evidently he meant just what he said. He intended to have the dog,
+whether or no. But by thunder," Mr. Crowninshield brought down his
+fist on the piazza rail, "he won't win out in the deal! I'll jail him
+and all his tribe&mdash;see if I don't!"</p>
+
+<p>Walter, watching, hardly knew whether to go or stay. The man's rage
+was terrible and he thanked his lucky stars that it was not directed
+toward himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Is&mdash;is&mdash;there anything I can do, Mr. Crowninshield?" he at
+last managed to stammer after the master had ceased his pacing of the
+veranda and at length became conscious of his presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a thing, little chap," returned his employer, flashing him one of
+his rare smiles. "You have been mighty white about this, though. I
+guess it took some nerve to come up here and tell me this, didn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, it did."</p>
+
+<p>"I wondered what you'd do."</p>
+
+<p>"Wondered?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Mrs. Crowninshield told me about Lola the minute the Davenports
+went. I saw the affair had nothing to do with you. Nevertheless, I
+wasn't sorry to try you out and see how much of the man was in you.
+You're all right, boy. Cheer up! Nobody is going to pack you home to
+your mother, so don't worry. And far from blaming you, if I want help
+about finding Lola, I'll add you to my detective force. You may be
+useful, who knows?"</p>
+
+<p>The words, designed merely to be comforting, were idly, kindly spoken,
+and carried little real weight. Had the master of the house really
+suspected how true they were to prove he would have been astonished.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h3>
+
+<h4>A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>As if a weight had been removed from his soul Walter moved away. The
+whole world had suddenly become a different place. Although the
+calamity of Lola's disappearance was none the less distressing at
+least on his own particular horizon there no longer loomed the spectre
+of discharge and all the disgrace that accompanied it. He could have
+tossed his cap into the air for very joy and gratitude. In his relief
+he was bursting to talk to somebody, and as he had permission to use
+the telephone in order to keep in touch with his family it occurred to
+him that now was the moment to call up Bob and impart the exciting
+tidings of the afternoon. Bob was always off duty at this hour and if
+he had the good luck to find him at the station just the sound of his
+voice would be infinitely comforting.</p>
+
+<p>Hastening in the side door he glanced into the wee telephone closet.</p>
+
+<p>No one was there, and he took down the receiver and called the Seaver
+Bay station. In another instant Bob's <i>Hello</i> came cheerily over the
+wire.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Walter, Bob."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything the matter, kid?"</p>
+
+<p>"N&mdash;o. Yes. That is, something <i>was</i> the matter but it is all
+over now. I just wanted to talk to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, fire ahead. What do you want to say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a lot. I hardly know how to start." The boy laughed nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"You're not sick?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we can't hold this line forever, son, so break away and tell
+your tale as fast as you can."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try to, Bob."</p>
+
+<p>Incoherently the lad poured out his story. Once launched it came
+readily from his tongue and he continued to the end of it without
+interruption from his distant listener. When, however, he had
+finished, Bob's crisp tones came singing over the wire:</p>
+
+<p>"You went out to walk about three, you say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And returned?"</p>
+
+<p>"It must have been half-past four or five, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"And there was nobody about the place all that time?"</p>
+
+<p>"The men were all busy somewhere else. Strangely enough even Jerry,
+who usually is on deck, had a telephone call and had to go up to the
+big house."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he did!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It was funny, too, because it was somebody he didn't know at all
+and he couldn't find out what the fellow wanted."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" The interrogation was sharp and tense.</p>
+
+<p>"Jerry just said it was some man up in Brockton whom he didn't know
+and as he couldn't make head nor tail out of the message he hung up
+the receiver. Nobody ever telephones to Jerry. It was queer they
+should do it to-day, wasn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very. Did you tell Mr. Crowninshield about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, indeed. He was too busy about Lola to think of anything
+else."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, I would tell him."</p>
+
+<p>"What for? It wouldn't interest him."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it might&mdash;a good deal. You tell him. Do you know whether
+he has done anything yet or not?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't. I didn't dare ask him what he was going to do."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose not. Well, I'm glad you got out of this snarl so well, kid.
+It's a pity they've lost the dog. You take mighty good care of the
+rest of the pups and don't let any more of them disappear."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try. And Bob&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't stop to talk any longer now, old chap. So long! If they get a
+line on the thief you might ring me up again. I shall be interested.
+Good-by."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, Bob."</p>
+
+<p>How fair Bob always was, reflected the boy, as he emerged into the
+open and made his way back to the kennels. Some brothers would
+probably have blurted out, "That's you all over!" or "Trust you to get
+into a mess!" But Bob never enjoyed seeing somebody else miserable.
+Instead he always tried to make everybody's troubles smaller than they
+really were. One could confess one's sins to Bob, knowing that he
+would be merciful.</p>
+
+<p>So thought Walter as he sped down the gravel path to greet the
+clamoring pack of animals that hungrily awaited his coming.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, old sports!" called he as he turned the key in the lock, "I
+guess you are ready for your supper. Wondering where your boss was,
+eh? I'm not very late. Only a quarter of an hour. It isn't late enough
+to warrant your making such a fuss. Down, Achilles! What's the matter
+with you? Anybody'd think you were crazy to see you jumping up and
+whining this way. What's got you, old man? Down, I say!"</p>
+
+<p>He pushed the dog from him and started to enter the room where the
+food was kept; but again Achilles was in his path.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out of my way, you beggar!" smiled Walter, playfully attempting
+to shake the creature off. "What is it? Are you clean starved? If you
+are you must stand out of the way so I can get you something to eat."</p>
+
+<p>But the dog refused to move.</p>
+
+<p>Planting himself squarely in the lad's pathway he began to bark
+furiously.</p>
+
+<p>Then he raced to the gate, sniffed, and struggled to get out.</p>
+
+<p>"What on earth has struck you, you giant?" inquired Walter, regarding
+the great creature in bewilderment. "Don't you want your dinner?"</p>
+
+<p>It was plain in an instant that no matter what the lure of a bone
+might ordinarily be to-day, it held no charms for the big police dog.
+He had one wish and only one, and that was to be released from the
+wire enclosure in which he was penned and left free to follow some
+plan of his own which evidently absorbed him. So insistent was his
+demand that it was not to be denied and Walter slipped the bolt and
+allowed him to race away. Then the boy turned his attention to feeding
+the other dogs.</p>
+
+<p>"Achilles probably has a bone buried somewhere," he muttered to
+himself, "and is going to dig it up. Just why he prefers stale food to
+fresh I can't see; but apparently he does."</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless His Highness had scarcely finished giving the dogs their
+dinner before Achilles was back again, and with no bone, either. On
+the contrary he was hot, breathless, and panting from what had
+obviously been a long run through the woods. Pine needles clinging to
+his furry coat attested that he had been over in the grove that
+flanked the estate on the west.</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't find your hidden treasure, eh, old boy?" commented Walter.
+"Gone, was it? Some other dog taken it?"</p>
+
+<p>But Achilles failed to accept the jest with the cordiality such jokes
+commonly evoked. He neither wagged his tail nor stretched his jaws
+into a grin. Instead he began to yelp and bound back and forth upon
+the lawn.</p>
+
+<p>"You act possessed. What on earth is the matter?" asked the boy,
+coming toward the gate and starting to open it.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was his hand on the latch, however, than the Belgian raced
+up with sharp barks of delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Want me to come out, do you? Got something to show me?"</p>
+
+<p>Again Achilles barked joyfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you the tyrant, though?" remarked Walter. "I've just been to
+walk and am tired as the deuce. What do I wish to go tramping over the
+country again for?"</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, despite his grudging protest, nothing else would satisfy
+the dog and at length, curious to see what caused the creature's
+excitement, he slipped the lock and stepped outside on to the turf.
+Instantly an exultant bark came from Achilles and he dashed away, only
+to return and take the lead through the woods, his nose to the ground
+and his ears erect. The boy followed. It was a race to keep up with
+the rapidly running vanguard. Now the chase skirted the lawn, now
+dipped into the pine woods. On and on went the dog, and in pursuit of
+him on and on went Walter.</p>
+
+<p>They floundered along the slippery matting of copper, stumbling this
+way and that, and presently emerged where the land dropped down to the
+shore. The lad paused. He had no mind to scramble through the tall
+salt grass or sink ankle deep in the stretch of sand that adjoined it.
+But Achilles compelled. It was now no longer a matter of choice. The
+beast approached and catching the corner of the lad's sweater in his
+mouth tugged at it resolutely, even angrily.</p>
+
+<p>Walter dared not resist. He let himself down over the edge of the bank
+into the sharp-edged grass, and wading through it reached the sand.
+Here Achilles halted. The end of their pilgrimage had, then, been
+reached. What was it all about? For a moment dog and man faced one
+another. Then, glancing about, His Highness gave a little cry. There
+were footprints in the sand,&mdash;deep footprints that the moisture
+had kept indelible. A train of them came and went toward a ribbon of
+automobile tracks that narrowed away up the beach and were finally
+lost in the confusion of a much traveled wood road.</p>
+
+<p>Walter's heart leaped within him as the significance of the discovery
+rose before his imagination. This was the way Lola had gone.</p>
+
+<p>A thief, familiar with the country and knowing the isolation of this
+sequestered cove, had driven through the wood road, left the car
+behind the dunes, and skulking through the woods, had successfully
+carried out a daring robbery. Perhaps he had been lingering concealed
+about the gardens all day or even many days. Who could tell? At any
+rate, he had chosen a propitious moment, provided himself with a
+skeleton key, and carried Lola away in the waiting motor car. Where
+they were now, who could tell? A car travels fast and a long distance
+could be covered in the two hours that had elapsed. Certainly no more
+time must be wasted.</p>
+
+<p>With Achilles leaping before him Walter raced back to Surfside. Mr.
+Crowninshield, irritable and excited, was just coming out of the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>"May I speak to you a moment, sir?" panted the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if it is important. I'm in a rush so do not delay me."</p>
+
+<p>"But it's about Lola."</p>
+
+<p>"Lola! Go ahead, then, if you have anything to say."</p>
+
+<p>The lad told his story.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! Well done, Achilles!" exclaimed the financier when the tale was
+told. "Well done, old fellow! And well done you too, little shaver!
+Between you you have given us a big boost toward catching the thief.
+Now just one thing, sonny. I meant to caution you before you left but
+forgot it. You are not to speak of this affair to any one&mdash;not to
+any one at all. Do you understand? A false move on our part might undo
+everything and ruin our cause. Nobody is going to be caught red-handed
+with that dog in his possession. Rather than be trapped he would kill
+her. We mustn't let that happen. We shall follow up our man quietly
+without letting him suspect that he is being watched. That is the only
+way we can hope to get the pup back again. So mind you hold your
+tongue. Not a word to anybody on your life. Not a syllable. Be dumb as
+the grave and let me see how capable you are of keeping your own
+counsel. The trouble with most people is they blab everything. They
+can't wait to tell it. Let anything happen and they are off to confide
+it to some one before you can say Jack Robinson. Now don't you do
+that&mdash;at least not this time. Hold your tongue. This isn't your
+secret; it's mine."</p>
+
+<p>In terror Walter hung his head. Should he confess that he had already
+telephoned Bob or should he keep silent.</p>
+
+<p>Of course Bob wouldn't tell. There wouldn't be anybody to tell way off
+there at Seaver Bay. Besides, he himself could ring him up and caution
+him not to. Why need Mr. Crowninshield know anything about it?</p>
+
+<p>But suppose Bob had told already and harm was done? Certainly it would
+be more honest to speak.</p>
+
+<p>The boy took a big swallow.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid, sir, that I have already told some one," he blurted out
+miserably. "I didn't know it would do any harm and so I called up my
+brother and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You young idiot!" burst out Mr. Crowninshield indignantly. "Why in
+thunder couldn't you keep still? We're in a nice mess now! If the
+story gets about and the police start to track down the thief it is
+good-by to Lola. Why did you have to run hot-footed to the telephone
+the first thing? Jove!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm very sorry, sir. I had no idea it would do any harm."</p>
+
+<p>"But you have an idea of it now, haven't you?" inquired the master
+grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I see what you mean."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crowninshield heaved an exasperated sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"The game's up now, I guess," he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>"But my brother lives off by himself in a very lonely place," the lad
+explained desperately. "Just he and another fellow have a house out on
+a point of land a long way off from everywhere. They couldn't tell
+anybody about Lola if they wanted to, especially if I call them right
+up and ask them not to."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Seaver Bay."</p>
+
+<p>"Never heard of it&mdash;or, stop a minute, isn't there a wireless
+station there or something?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. My brother&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no matter about your brother now. You go into the house and
+call him up. When you get the line let me know and I will speak with
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir." Nevertheless the lad lingered. "I'm&mdash;I'm awfully
+sorry," repeated he.</p>
+
+<p>"There, there, go along. You meant no harm. You just blundered. But
+blunders are expensive things sometimes and this one may prove so
+unless we can prevent it."</p>
+
+<p>Still His Highness did not go.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked his employer impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother told me to tell you that Jerry had a telephone message
+this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"A telephone message? What has that got to do with it?" burst out Mr.
+Crowninshield at the end of his patience.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Bob just said to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead then."</p>
+
+<p>Hurriedly the boy related the facts of the mysterious communication.</p>
+
+<p>"So! Your brother has some brains if you haven't," said Mr.
+Crowninshield on hearing the story, and Walter saw him smile. "That
+was neat of them, very! They took the precaution to get Jerry, who is
+unfailingly about, out of the way."</p>
+
+<p>"They?"</p>
+
+<p>"The thieves, youngster. It was a Brockton call, you say."</p>
+
+<p>"That was what Jerry told me."</p>
+
+<p>"Good! That gives us another clue."</p>
+
+<p>It was evident the information had put the master in rare good humor.</p>
+
+<p>"Trot along, now, and call up this brother of yours. I shall be glad
+to talk with him, for he sounds as if he might be worth talking to. As
+for you, son, cheer up! No milk is spilled yet and perhaps it won't be
+if you have as wise a big brother as it appears. I might never have
+known of Jerry's message but for him. Jerry himself would not have
+placed enough importance on it to tell me, I am sure&mdash;or you,
+either, for that matter. So perhaps, after all, you did a good thing
+to enlist your brother in our behalf."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, sir. I meant no harm; really I didn't."</p>
+
+<p>"There, there, don't think of it again," said Mr. Crowninshield
+kindly. "I should have remembered you are not a man's age and cannot
+be expected to have the judgment that goes with fifty or sixty years
+of living. Even old codgers like myself blunder sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>His eyes twinkled and in the radiance of his smile Walter saw the last
+cloud of wrath roll from his brow. Truly, as Jerry had affirmed, Mr.
+Crowninshield's rages were like thunderstorms&mdash;awesome while they
+lasted but unfailingly followed by sunshine.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h3>
+
+<h4>MORE CLUES</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding Mr. Crowninshield's comforting words, however, Walter
+could not shake off the consciousness that take it all in all he had
+blundered desperately throughout the entire train of events connected
+with Lola and his vanity was sadly hurt. If any good had come out of
+what he had done it was more by chance than as a result of wise
+calculation. He had meant well, that was all that could be said, and
+the patronage these words implied was by no means flattering to one
+anxious to make himself valuable to his employer.</p>
+
+<p>What a boob he was; what a blunderer! The name Mr. Crowninshield had
+so wrathfully bestowed on him was unquestionably deserved. It fitted
+him like a glove. The fact that the great man had afterward sought to
+palliate the sting of the term did not actually help matters any. What
+he had thought in the beginning and so spontaneously declared was what
+he really believed, and as his dispirited retainer observed to
+himself, who could blame him?</p>
+
+<p>He couldn't have made a worse start at a job had he tried. In his
+depression he almost wished he had never seen Surfside, the
+Crowninshields, or anything belonging to them.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was his melancholy lightened when he found on entering the house
+that the telephone line was busy and that some one was calling Mr.
+Crowninshield. Goodness only knew how long it might be now before the
+wire would be free for the master to reach and warn Bob to keep secret
+the tidings his brother had tattled to him. Wasn't it infernal luck to
+encounter this delay? If he had only held his tongue in the first
+place! Well, it had taught him a lesson. The next time he got mixed up
+in somebody else's affairs he would keep them to himself.</p>
+
+<p>Meandering aimlessly outdoors he sat down on the steps to wait until
+the owner of the house should finish his conversation.</p>
+
+<p>For a time he remained quite quiet; but when the minutes lengthened
+into a quarter of an hour he began to fidget. Would the talkers never
+stop? Why, their chattering seemed to be endless? Even through the
+door he could hear Mr. Crowninshield's curt tones and the eager rise
+and fall of his voice. Once he laughed as if pleased, and twice Walter
+heard a cry of "<i>Good!</i>" When he did appear on the piazza his face was
+wreathed in smiles.</p>
+
+<p>"That brother of yours is a Jim Dandy!" he exclaimed, rubbing his
+hands. "You did a mighty clever thing, young one, to get him on the
+job. We never can thank you enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly you! Why didn't you tell me more about this family paragon
+of yours? I didn't take in he was a radio operator."</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I&mdash;I don't know," replied Walter, bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, his quick action has helped us no end&mdash;that is all I can
+say," announced the owner of Surfside triumphantly. "The instant he
+got your message he went to work with his wireless outfit. He flashed
+messages to all the stations in the outlying cities or else
+telephoned, and inside of half an hour every road to Boston and to New
+York was watched. You see a man with a little dog had stopped at his
+station for water. The wood road skirting our shore goes right by
+Seaver Bay and probably the thief reasoned that no one would be on the
+lookout for him on such an out-of-the-way thoroughfare. At any rate he
+had to have water for his engine and he took a chance. He told your
+brother he was touring the Cape, and had you not called Bob up he
+would have thought no more of the happening. But when you told him
+about Lola immediately he pricked up his ears. The dog tallied
+perfectly with what you had previously told him and the fact that it
+was a Pekingese made him suspicious. Leaping at the possibility that
+his visitor was in reality the man wanted, he sent out a broadcast
+describing the culprit.</p>
+
+<p>"With an accurate description of the man, car, and dog we cannot fail
+to get tidings soon. And at any rate we have something definite to
+work on. We know what the thief looks like, what he had on, the make
+of his car and all about him. Unquestionably he will be stopped either
+between here and Boston or between here and New York,&mdash;for he is
+probably aiming for one of those cities. I myself rather think he will
+go straight through to Boston. He would not venture to try New York
+until later because he would be well aware that the authorities there
+would be waiting for him. He isn't going to be trapped. So he will try
+to do the thing he figures I will not calculate upon." Mr.
+Crowninshield rubbed his hands and laughed. "Little does he know we
+have him down cold already! And it has all been so quietly and
+promptly done. That is the beauty of it. You must have got home from
+your walk very soon after the wretch had left. Therefore the loss was
+discovered sooner than he had planned. Doubtless he was delayed by
+Jerry's being about and had to wait until his accomplice up in
+Brockton called him off. I presume they had agreed upon some hour when
+they would summon the unsuspecting caretaker to the telephone." As the
+scheme of the robbery began to unfold, Walter mirrored his employer's
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"And if the other chap is in Brockton doesn't that indicate that this
+fellow who was here will most likely expect to pass through there and
+pick him up?" he ventured, feeling very much of a personage to be thus
+taken into Mr. Crowninshield's confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly!"</p>
+
+<p>His Highness glowed with satisfaction. Some of his self-esteem was
+returning.</p>
+
+<p>"Fortunately your brother had the good sense to warn his allies to act
+carefully and not alarm the thief, so that the life of the dog might
+not be jeopardized. He seems to have thought of everything, this
+brother Bob of yours. If we get Lola back it will be largely his
+doing&mdash;and yours. I sha'n't forget the fact, either."</p>
+
+<p>Walter flushed under the great man's praise.</p>
+
+<p>"It was just a happen," murmured he. "I thought I had blundered."</p>
+
+<p>He saw Mr. Crowninshield color at having his own word hurled back at
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of the most fortunate strokes in our lives are achieved by
+chance," replied he, laughing. "See how capable I am of shifting my
+philosophy," he added with good humor. "Nevertheless, although this
+indiscretion of yours has turned out well I still maintain that,
+generally speaking, a silent tongue is a great asset. In nine cases
+out of ten keeping still does far less harm than talking. Jerry is a
+shining example of my creed. In all the years he has been here he has
+never let his tongue outrun his solid judgment. And yet," concluded he
+with a twinkle, "had we trusted to Jerry, we should never have heard
+of his Brockton telephone communication. So there you are! Which is
+the better way? It seems to be a toss up in this case."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess the better way is never to make a mistake," smiled Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know the infallible person who can boast such a record?" came
+whimsically from Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"N&mdash;o, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I."</p>
+
+<p>A pause fell between them and Walter rose to go.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you suppose you will hear anything more to-night?" questioned he
+shyly.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no telling. We may have news at any moment; or again we may
+hear nothing until into the night or till morning."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm crazy to get tidings, aren't you?" In his earnestness the lad had
+forgotten that they were not of an age or quite of the same station.</p>
+
+<p>The master smiled indulgently.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm every bit as crazy to hear as you are," said he, quite as if Lola
+were their joint possession.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you'll get any message before I go to bed?"</p>
+
+<p>Once more Mr. Crowninshield regarded him with friendly comradeship.</p>
+
+<p>"That depends on what time you turn in."</p>
+
+<p>"At home Ma makes me go at nine o'clock. I've done it pretty much,
+too, since I've been here. She wanted I should."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a sensible fellow. Nine o'clock is late enough for anybody to
+sit up, although I will admit," the man chuckled mischievously, "that
+in New York we occasionally sit up later than that."</p>
+
+<p>But Walter ignored the jest.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you will hear by nine?" persisted he.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no way of knowing, sonny," was the kind answer. "The best
+thing for you to do, however, is to go to bed as you usually do. You
+are tired out with excitement. I can see that."</p>
+
+<p>"No I'm not," contradicted the boy, his eyes very wide open.</p>
+
+<p>"But you are&mdash;a deal more fagged than you realize. I am myself.
+Now I'll tell you what we'll do. I'll go to bed and you go to bed; and
+if any message comes I'll tell them to waken me and then I'll waken
+you. I can call you on the wire that goes from the house down to your
+quarters. How will that do?"</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose I shouldn't hear it?" objected the lad.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody will. The chauffeurs do not go to sleep as early as you do,
+I rather fancy. I will give orders for one of them to tell you if a
+call comes."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd much prefer to sit up, sir. Why couldn't I just sit here on the
+piazza? It wouldn't disturb anybody and I should be on the spot."</p>
+
+<p>"You might sit here all night and catch your death of cold, and no
+tidings come until morning, sonny. No, my plan is much the better one.
+You trot along to bed. I'll fulfill my part of the contract and go
+also. And if there is anything to tell before morning you shall hear
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Reluctantly the lad moved away.</p>
+
+<p>He was not in the least sleepy. Nevertheless because he had given his
+word he dragged himself across the lawn, mounted the stairs to his
+room, and began to undress. His spirits were very high. Within an hour
+or two&mdash;three hours at the very most&mdash;the telephone would
+ring and Mr. Crowninshield would announce to him the glad tidings that
+the thief had been caught. Then some one would motor to Barnstable,
+Brockton, or wherever it was, recapture Lola, and bring her back, and
+the events of the past few hours would be only a nightmare. And it
+would be Bob&mdash;he and Bob&mdash;who brought about this glorious
+climax to a day of catastrophes. And if such a result was accomplished
+had not the owner of Surfside promised that he would never forget the
+service?</p>
+
+<p>For his own part Walter wanted nothing. If Lola could only be found
+his happiness would be complete. But if only Mr. Crowninshield would
+do something wonderful for Bob! Perhaps he might give him a big sum of
+money; he could well afford to. Or maybe he would put him in the way
+of earning it. There was no telling what Aladdin-like feats he might
+perform. Such a man was all powerful. Why, he could send Bob to Europe
+if he chose! Or pay the mortgage on the house. He could make Bob's
+fortune.</p>
+
+<p>The younger boy thrilled at the thought.</p>
+
+<p>With these optimistic and intriguing fancies in mind he slipped into
+bed and soon dozed off into dreams wilder and even more extravagant.
+He slept soundly and awoke with a bewildered cry when a knock came at
+the door.</p>
+
+<p>"It's I&mdash;Wheeler, shaver! The boss wants you on the telephone."</p>
+
+<p>Up scrambled Walter, his stupor banished by the agitation of the
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>He did not wait to don his clothes but in his pajamas took the stairs
+two at a time and soon had his ear to the receiver.</p>
+
+<p>"Walter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we have some news, such as it is." Mr. Crowninshield's voice
+sounded dubious and discouraged. "They tracked the car we were after
+to Buzzard's Bay and found it there empty; its occupants had
+disappeared."</p>
+
+<p>"Disappeared!" repeated the astounded boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they're gone! Vanished in thin air! Not a trace of them is to be
+found. The abandoned automobile with its number removed, was
+discovered on a side road."</p>
+
+<p>"The man must be hiding somewhere in the vicinity then."</p>
+
+<p>"That does not follow, son; I wish it did."</p>
+
+<p>"What else could he do?"</p>
+
+<p>"His accomplice from Brockton could meet him with another car, for one
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>"A different car, and throw us off the scent!"</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely."</p>
+
+<p>For a second neither of them spoke. Walter was too nonplussed and his
+employer too disheartened.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't that the limit!" the lad presently gathered indignation enough
+to ejaculate.</p>
+
+<p>"I expected something of the sort," was the reply. "We are up against
+professionals, you see, and not amateurs. This gang is being paid big
+money and does not intend either to fail in what it has undertaken or
+be trapped. We had it too easy at the beginning and were too much
+elated by our initial success."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've wired New York for detectives. I ought to have followed my first
+impulse and done it immediately, and I should have had we not seemed
+on the high road to success without help. The plain-clothes men will
+probably be miffed at being called in now that we have meddled with
+the case and messed it all up."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't see how we have done any harm," retorted His Highness,
+feeling it a little ungrateful of Mr. Crowninshield to veer so quickly
+from commendation to censure.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, untrained people never can compete with skilled ones in any
+line," was the sharp answer. "I ought to have remembered it. Doubtless
+in our zeal we betrayed ourselves somehow and our man became
+suspicious and adopted other tactics in consequence."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe so," Walter maintained stoutly. "I'll bet this is
+just what he had arranged to do anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, perhaps it was. We cannot tell about that," yawned the man at
+the other end of the wire. "The result, however, is the same. Instead
+of netting our catch we have allowed it to slip through our fingers."</p>
+
+<p>There was an edge of exasperation in the tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe we'll have better luck than you think," ventured the lad, not
+knowing what else to say, and unwilling to betray his chagrin.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have neither good luck nor bad in future," responded the master
+curtly. "After this we keep our hands off and the detectives manage
+the affair. There have been blunders enough."</p>
+
+<p>With this ungracious comment the great man hung up the receiver and
+stumbling through the darkness His Highness felt his way upstairs and
+dropped into bed.</p>
+
+<p>Like a house of cards his roseate dreams for the future had suddenly
+collapsed. There would be now no wonderful career for Bob, no bag of
+gold, no fairy fortune! Instead of being a hero he had again become a
+mere duffer, a blunderer, had played the fool.</p>
+
+<p>Since failure had come in place of the coveted success Mr.
+Crowninshield would most likely blame it all to him.</p>
+
+<p>Fleeting, indeed, was the favor and gratitude of princes!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h3>
+
+<h4>BOB</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>By late afternoon of the following day the New York detectives arrived
+and Wheeler drove their dusty and travel-stained car around to the
+garage.</p>
+
+<p>"Must have speeded up some!" commented he, on viewing the throbbing
+machine. "Left New York at midnight," they said. "Some friends of the
+master's likely, come to play golf."</p>
+
+<p>Ever given to frankness it was on the tip of Walter's tongue to
+declare the real identity of the strangers, but fortunately he
+bethought him in time to halt the words.</p>
+
+<p>"What did they look like?" inquired he, eager to know and yet anxious
+not to appear inquisitive.</p>
+
+<p>"Look like? Like any other dusty, muddy guys," grumbled Wheeler,
+eyeing with disdain the grimy automobile which he knew he would be
+expected to clean.</p>
+
+<p>"Old or young?" persisted His Highness.</p>
+
+<p>"Old enough to know better than to heat up an engine this way, but
+young enough to do it," snapped Wheeler. "Shouldn't think their car
+had seen water in years, it's that filthy. A rum job for me!"</p>
+
+<p>Walter, however, did not reply. He was not in the least interested in
+the mud-caked car. It was its occupants that aroused his curiosity. In
+all his life he had never seen a genuine detective and he was all
+impatience for a peep at persons allied with such an intriguing
+profession. While his reason told him they must, of course, look
+precisely like other men, nevertheless the hope would persist that
+perhaps, after all, they didn't. And even if they did appear like
+ordinary mortals were there not their myriad disguises? He hoped with
+all his heart they would wear some of these, that the exigencies of
+the case would compel it.</p>
+
+<p>Very great, then, was his surprise and disappointment when on being
+summoned to the big house soon after the arrival of these interesting
+creatures he was presented to two commonplace beings who, although
+charming gentlemen, were not in the least different from anybody else.
+Mr. Dacie, the younger of the men, was a pleasant, blond-haired fellow
+who instantly ingratiated himself in the boy's affections by asking
+him if he collected stamps and bestowing on him two rare ones from
+China. In fact he seemed to like everything a boy liked and appeared
+to be almost a boy himself.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyman was older but he, too, when he was not being stern and
+business-like, was very jolly. No one could possibly be afraid of
+either one of them and then and there His Highness's faith in the
+ultimate success of Mr. Crowninshield's cause dwindled and died. They
+weren't disguised at all; and if they had pistols they must have had
+them well concealed for the only suspicious articles produced from
+their pockets were notebooks and pencils. He had expected to be quite
+awed by their presence but on the contrary he found, when he started
+out to show them the kennels and the place where he had seen the
+automobile tracks, that he was chattering away to both of them quite
+as if he had known them all his life.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Dacie was particularly friendly, and as they walked along he
+talked much of sports, dogs, and fishing. Furthermore he was intensely
+interested in Bob and listened attentively to all that was told him
+about this remarkable big brother. He had a bully brother himself, he
+said. In short, before a half hour had passed His Highness had not
+only decided to become a detective but to become one exactly like Mr.
+Dacie.</p>
+
+<p>And yet as he thought it over afterward the hero of his sudden
+adoration had not uttered one syllable about jails, criminals,
+robberies, or crimes of any sort. In fact he had talked really very
+little. What he had done had been to smile, nod, and let the other
+fellow babble. It had, to be sure, been a delightful experience to
+find yourself a lion, and everything you did of interest to your
+listener; but you did not learn much about the business of being a
+detective, reflected Walter, a bit mortified by his discovery. Well,
+the next time he was with Mr. Dacie he would ask him some questions
+and let him relate everything about his mysterious calling.</p>
+
+<p>Strange to say, however, the moment for such disclosures never
+appeared to come right. There was always so much else to talk of. Mr.
+Dacie wanted most terribly to catch some flounders and wondered if
+there were any to be found; and of course as Walter knew of three
+secret places where flounders were sure to lurk he eagerly told his
+new friend about them. And then he had to talk swimming and
+school&mdash;and how he hated it! Why, there were endless things to
+tell Mr. Dacie. The visit of the two men was, moreover, surprisingly
+short. They remained at Surfside only one night and the next morning,
+together with Mr. Crowninshield, who led the way in his car, they
+disappeared leaving His Highness none the wiser and regretfully
+mourning his lost opportunity to be initiated into the gruesome
+mysteries of a detective's career.</p>
+
+<p>The realization that in exchange for telling everything he knew or
+ever had thought Mr. Dacie had told him nothing suddenly caused the
+lad to speculate as to whether after all both Mr. Dacie and his
+associate, Mr. Lyman, were not cleverer than they looked to be.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed incredible to recall, now that they were gone, that he had
+not once asked them what they thought about Lola and whether they had
+any idea where the man who had taken her had gone. How much better it
+would have been had he made that inquiry instead of chattering about
+his own affairs. But somehow when there had been a lull in the
+conversation they had always been busy measuring footprints or
+automobile ruts, and writing down these unending dimensions.
+Moreover, something which he was unable to explain always halted the
+questions.</p>
+
+<p>Well, it was useless to regret his vanished opportunities. The
+detectives were now far beyond his reach and probably he would never
+see them again. He might as well go about his work and put them,
+together with Lola and her baffling disappearance, out of his mind.
+This he tried valiantly to do, but in spite of his utmost endeavor his
+thought constantly reverted to the missing dog, and when toward dusk
+Mr. Crowninshield's car came whirling up the avenue His Highness had
+all he could do not to rush out and demand of the master whether he
+had secured any further information.</p>
+
+<p>To remember that he must keep constantly in the background was, in
+fact, one of the most difficult aspects of Walter's job. As a
+democratic young American who had always mingled in the best society
+Lovell's Harbor had to offer he had been free to give a hail to
+anybody he desired to greet. But at Surfside everything was different.
+He must stifle his natural impulses and curb his tongue, a role very
+hard for one who had had no previous experience with class
+distinctions. Difficult as it had been he had made up his mind to
+being excluded from the gayety that went on about him. It was, to be
+sure, no fun to view automobile loads of young people roll out of the
+drive bent on a day of pleasure; to look on while motor boats pulled
+up anchor and puffed across the blue of the bay. And how he would have
+adored to try his hand at a set of tennis on that fine dirt court!
+Ah, there were moments when to a normal, healthy boy the world
+appeared a very unfair place; and the lot of one who worked for a
+living a wretched one.</p>
+
+<p>And then, when his spirits had reached their lowest ebb, he would
+resolutely take himself to task. Was there not his pay envelope to
+compensate him? He was not at Surfside to have a good time; he was
+there to earn his daily bread and very fortunate was he to have so
+good a place. Having read himself this lecture he was wont to turn to
+his duties with lighter heart, closing his ears to the laughter and
+his eyes to the merriment that made up the days of the idle. But what
+he never could get used to was the fact that he must not ask questions
+or voice his opinions. In a free country where one man was as good as
+another the mandate seemed absurd. But it wasn't done. That was all
+there was about it. Jerry said so and so did Tim.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of piping, "Hi, Mr. Crowninshield, did you find out anything?"
+one awaited the information until it was voluntarily imparted.</p>
+
+<p>In this particular case, as good fortune would have it, His Highness's
+impatience had seethed and bubbled only a half hour before who should
+come strolling down to the kennels but the very gentleman the lad was
+feverish to interrogate.</p>
+
+<p>Arrayed in a cool Palm Beach suit and a soft hat of white felt he
+sauntered up as indifferently as if the boy's curiosity were not at
+the boiling point and said, "Good evening," in a perfectly calm,
+self-possessed tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening, sir," Walter replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Dogs all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"No more of them missing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not on your&mdash;no, sir."</p>
+
+<p>The great man turned away to conceal a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I've been seeing your brother to-day," remarked he.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Bob?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crowninshield nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. We went over to the Seaver Bay wireless station."</p>
+
+<p>The lad waited.</p>
+
+<p>"You have a very fine brother, youngster, and one whom you may well be
+proud of."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>(What was the use of telling him that? His Highness knew what a corker
+Bob was without being told. Much better tell him what had happened at
+Seaver Bay, what the detectives said, and whether Lola had been
+found!)</p>
+
+<p>"We had, in fact, quite a talk with your brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir." The reply came automatically.</p>
+
+<p>"He was able to furnish us with much information regarding the man we
+are chasing up."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," ruminated Mr. Crowninshield with evident satisfaction, "we have
+the thief sketched in quite clearly."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"With the details your brother gave us Dacie and Lyman have a most
+encouraging foundation on which to work."</p>
+
+<p>"Have they found out anything yet, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>The question would out despite all Walter could do to stop it. He knew
+the instant it had left his tongue that he shouldn't have asked it and
+he stood there hot and embarrassed at his own audacity.</p>
+
+<p>Much to his surprise, however, Mr. Crowninshield did not appear to be
+in the least offended. On the contrary he seemed pleased by the lad's
+eager interest and smiled at him kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we've found out something," said he, "but it is not very good
+news, I am sorry to say. Dacie and Lyman traced the car that carried
+Lola as far as Buzzard's Bay and discovered that there&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" interrupted Walter, so intent on the story that he was
+unconscious of interrupting.</p>
+
+<p>"There," repeated Mr. Crowninshield, "the thieves embarked on a
+private yacht that awaited their coming; steamed through the Canal,
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't say they are gone, sir!" cried the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid so, sonny."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if that isn't the limit!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is, indeed," rejoined the elder man heartily.</p>
+
+<p>His Highness had staggered back against the door in consternation. If
+Mr. Crowninshield had affirmed that the thieves had taken flight in an
+aeroplane he could not have been more astonished than by the turn
+affairs had taken.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose they'll do now?" demanded he.</p>
+
+<p>"We've no idea. They may make for New York, Boston, or some other port
+where they think they will be safe. There is no way of knowing. Or it
+may be that the person who hired them to get Lola is on the yacht and
+having now secured what he has been in search of he may simply cruise
+about and not land at all for months. Anything is possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Could they get the name of the boat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she's called the <i>Siren</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I should think it would be easy enough to track her down, board
+her, and bring Lola away," said Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds simple, doesn't it?" Mr. Crowninshield returned. "But I am
+afraid it is not going to be as easy as that. We have no way of
+proving that Lola is aboard the yacht, in the first place. Moreover,
+even did we know that she was there, there are a thousand and one
+places where she could be hidden and defy discovery. And were the
+villains actually cornered nothing would be less difficult than to
+wring the puppie's neck and throw her overboard so that nothing would
+remain to identify the wretches with their crime."</p>
+
+<p>"Scott!"</p>
+
+<p>"You see now that to recover Lola is not such an easy matter."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not, sir," was the dispirited response.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crowninshield glanced at the dejected figure before him.</p>
+
+<p>"We mustn't give up beaten yet, however," affirmed he, struggling to
+be cheerful. "The game isn't up, you know. Dacie and Lyman are clever
+men and I have given them a free rein as to money. If there is
+anything to be done they ought to be able to accomplish it."</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless optimistic as the words were it was plain to see that Mr.
+Crowninshield was not really as sanguine as he would have Walter
+think. There was a pucker of annoyance about the corners of his mouth,
+and his eyes looked dull and discouraged. Say what he might His
+Highness knew without being told that deep down in his heart of hearts
+Lola's master had resigned himself to never seeing her again.</p>
+
+<p>For a few seconds the capitalist lingered, musing. Then he broke the
+stillness, hurling a bomb into the air with the words:</p>
+
+<p>"By the by, I have made your brother an offer. I've suggested that he
+leave Seaver Bay and come here. I am going to give Dick a radio set
+for his birthday and I should like the aid of an expert in rigging it
+up. Besides, last season I installed a wireless on my yacht and shall
+need some one to operate it. This Bob of yours is precisely the sort
+of chap I want."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Crowninshield!" was all Walter could stammer.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd like having him here then?"</p>
+
+<p>"You bet your&mdash;yes, sir, I would," gasped His Highness, making a
+dash after his manners.</p>
+
+<p>"That's good," remarked the financier, much amused. "I hope he'll
+decide to come. You must use your influence to persuade him."</p>
+
+<p>This time Walter did not forget his etiquette.</p>
+
+<p>"I will, sir," replied he meekly.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h3>
+
+<h4>THE DECISION</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>That night when his day's duties had been discharged and he was free,
+the first thing His Highness did was to pen a much blotted and
+somewhat incoherent note to Seaver Bay. Almost every sentence of it
+was underlined and some of the persuasive adjectives and verbs were
+even emphasized in red pencil. Certainly what the epistle lacked in
+neatness and beauty of appearance was compensated for in sincerity and
+earnestness. This document mailed and reinforced by an ardent appeal
+over the telephone, there was nothing to do but possess one's soul of
+patience until Bob decided what it was best for him to do.</p>
+
+<p>To throw up a government job with practically assured employment for a
+private venture which might be of short duration seemed madness and
+the young radio man with his level head and sober judgment was not one
+to leap at a decision. Carefully he weighed the pros and cons and
+while he did so Walter, and even Mr. Crowninshield himself, fidgeted.
+His Highness would not have hesitated a moment; and that any one
+should do so appeared to him incomprehensible. As for the master of
+Surfside who was accustomed to having his business offers snapped up
+the instant they were made, the younger man's deliberation piqued his
+interest and respect as almost nothing else could have done. He had
+thought the terms suggested very generous and had expected them to be
+seized with avidity. It was something new to have a penniless youth
+waver as to whether to accept or reject them.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime while the days passed no tidings came from the New
+York detectives and the dwellers at Surfside were compelled to settle
+down to their customary routine and put Lola's disappearance out of
+their minds. Gardeners toiled, flowers blossomed, Jerry mugged about
+with his misty blue eyes following every seed that was planted, every
+turn the lawn mower made; they followed, too, what Walter was doing
+and saw to it that the dogs were well cared for and that his young
+prot&eacute;g&eacute; neglected nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Walter saw little of Dick now, for the house was filled with guests
+and the place humming with laughter and the rush of unending sports
+and picnics. There were tennis tournaments, golf matches, swimming
+races, regattas when small fleets of knockabouts maneuvered in the
+bay. In the midst of such a whirl of merriment it taxed all one's
+forbearance to be nothing more than the boy who cared for the dogs.</p>
+
+<p>On one particularly fine, bracing June morning after the lad had
+returned from a solitary cross-country tramp with Achilles and the
+rest of the pack, his lot seemed to him especially unenviable. There
+was evidently to be a ball game. College boys with crimson H's on
+their shirts; men with a blue Y; together with a group of
+short-sleeved players not yet honored with insignia from their
+universities were hurrying out to the lawn with bats, balls, and
+catcher's mitts.</p>
+
+<p>"You must pitch for the Blues, Dabney," called one fellow to another.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's going to catch for the Crimson team?" piped another.</p>
+
+<p>"I choose to play for Yale," came shrilly from another man who was
+lounging across the grass in immaculate white flannels.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on and help Harvard along, Cheever," put in a strident voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Not on your sweet life!" bawled Cheever, with a vehemence that made
+everybody laugh. "Goodness knows she needs help; but I'm not going to
+be the one to offer it."</p>
+
+<p>Again there was a good-humored shout from the bustling throng.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll line up with Yale to beat you though," Cheever added with a
+chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"You can line up, you shrimp, but we're going to do the beating,"
+retorted an ardent Harvard supporter.</p>
+
+<p>So the banter went on while the nines were being organized.</p>
+
+<p>At length, however, there was a shout of dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"We're lacking one man," announced the captain of the Crimsons, with
+sudden consternation. "Haven't you another chap who can play, Dick?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody, I'm afraid, unless you want to haul in some of the
+chauffeurs," Dick answered idly.</p>
+
+<p>"Jove! That's hard luck. We've got to have a shortstop. What are we
+going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wasn't there a boy around here somewhere this morning with the dogs?
+It seems to me I saw somebody&mdash;a stocky little chap with a snub
+nose."</p>
+
+<p>The description was not flattering and Walter winced.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that was King, who has charge of the kennels," replied Dick
+quickly. "I'm afraid he hasn't come back with the bunch of poodles
+yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he has. I saw him skulking round the garage just now. Can't we
+drum him up?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, if you can find him."</p>
+
+<p>"There he is!" cried Cheever. "I say, you master of the hounds, come
+on over here. We want you."</p>
+
+<p>Blushing red His Highness approached the noisy group.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever play baseball, kid?" inquired the captain of the Harvard
+team.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so&mdash;once or twice," answered Walter soberly.</p>
+
+<p>"Want to come in with us as shortstop?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure!"</p>
+
+<p>"I've a glove that will fit him," put in a man called Richardson.</p>
+
+<p>With scant ceremony His Highness was hustled into it and before he
+sensed what he was doing he was yelling with the rest, and head over
+ears in as exciting a game of ball as he had ever participated in.</p>
+
+<p>There were excellent players on both teams and the scoring ran so even
+that it was a toss-up who would win. From jest the game dropped into
+deadly earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"It's your turn at the bat, Stubby," asserted Richardson to Walter
+unceremoniously. "Now remember who you're playing for. Don't hand Yale
+the game if you can help it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do my best," was the modest reply as the lad gripped the bat,
+then rubbed his hands in the dirt to make his hold more certain.</p>
+
+<p>The pitcher twirled a ball.</p>
+
+<p>"One strike!" droned the umpire.</p>
+
+<p>Again the leather disc spun through the air.</p>
+
+<p>"Two strikes," called the warning voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Great Scott, Stubbie, look out. Don't waste strokes like that, you
+boob. Let the things go by if they don't suit you. You don't <i>have</i> to
+hit them."</p>
+
+<p>Once more the ball spun through the air. A smart crack followed and up
+into the blue leaped the ball, defying the pursuit of catcher or
+baseman.</p>
+
+<p>"Beat it into home plate, George!" coached the captain excitedly.
+"Move along, you fellows! It's a run for Stubbie! Slide in, Stubbie!
+Pick up your heels and sprint! Go it! Go it! Keep out of the way, you
+chaps. Hurray! Bully for you, kid! A beauty! <i>Harvard! Harvard!
+Harvard!</i> Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah, <i>Harvard</i>!" The
+familiar cheer echoed loud above the shouting.</p>
+
+<p>"That lays them out! They're dead men!" cried Richardson
+triumphantly. "Where did you learn to play ball, young one?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's no fair borrowing a professional," the Yale leader objected,
+trying to make a joke of his defeat.</p>
+
+<p>"Jove, but that was a pretty hit!" Dick said quietly to Walter. "A
+peach!"</p>
+
+<p>"You're all right son!" affirmed the Harvard catcher. "Any time you
+are out of a job I'll recommend you to the Braves."</p>
+
+<p>A general laugh went up.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether the morning was a glorious day of comradeship, nor did it
+lessen His Highness's happiness when he returned to his quarters to
+see disembarking from Mr. Crowninshield's motor car the familiar form
+of Bob.</p>
+
+<p>"I brought your brother back from Seaver Bay with me," explained the
+financier. "It took him so long to make up his mind whether he'd come
+here or not that I went over there to-day to find out whether he was
+dead or alive."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crowninshield was plainly enjoying Walter's amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"And you've come to stay?" His Highness, all delight and confusion,
+contrived to stammer.</p>
+
+<p>"So they tell me," Bob laughed.</p>
+
+<p>He was a tall, handsome fellow with a grave mouth and thoughtful brown
+eyes; and when he spoke it was in a voice low and pleasing to the ear.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Bob and I have lots of secrets we haven't let you into, little
+chap," affirmed the master of Surfside gaily.</p>
+
+<p>"I never was so surprised!" gasped Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"We meant you should be. Your brother settled everything up over the
+telephone a day or two ago."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Bob, I don't see how you managed to get away from Seaver Bay so
+soon. You said it would probably be weeks before they could act on
+your resignation, even should you send it in, and afterward they would
+have to find some one to take your place."</p>
+
+<p>"Luck came my way," Bob replied. "The government was closing the Bell
+Reef station and they simply shifted the two men who were there over
+to our place."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you and O'Connel both decide to leave?"</p>
+
+<p>Bob's eyes twinkled.</p>
+
+<p>"O'Connel has just answered an advertisement as operator aboard a
+private yacht," said he, exchanging a glance with Mr. Crowninshield.
+Evidently there was some jest between them that amused them vastly.</p>
+
+<p>Curiously Walter looked from one to the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Better tell him, Bob," murmured the New Yorker in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Why you see, kid, O'Connel had a chance to go as wireless man aboard
+the <i>Siren</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Not&mdash;not the yacht that has Lola on it!"</p>
+
+<p>"The very same&mdash;at least we hope it has Lola."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but&mdash;I don't understand," muttered His Highness as if
+dazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Evidently, so far as we can make it out, the <i>Siren</i> passed through
+the Canal and not daring to land, cruised along the coast where she
+must have met with rough weather. Of course that is purely surmise on
+the detective's part. Anyhow, her radio operator broke his arm and had
+to be replaced by another man so they advertised for some one. Luckily
+Dacie saw the item in the want column of the New York paper and set
+O'Connel on the job. The arrangements have all been by letter through
+the general mail delivery of New York so we still have no notion as to
+where the <i>Siren</i> is. On Tuesday, however, O'Connel is to go over to
+New York, an agent is to meet him, and he is to be told where to go."</p>
+
+<p>"And I suppose Mr. Dacie or Mr. Lyman will be on hand and go along too
+to nail their man!" cried the delighted Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so fast, son," returned Mr. Crowninshield. "We are not going to
+track them down so close and scare them off at the outset. No, we
+sha'n't send any one with O'Connel. He'll go and meet the agent and
+follow up directions precisely as if he knew nothing about Lola. With
+Bob here operating a wireless and O'Connel in constant communication
+with him, we will have all the inside information we're after.
+O'Connel can soon let us know where the yacht is; whether Lola is
+aboard of her; and exactly when and where the owners of the <i>Siren</i>
+are proposing to land. They can't make a move which we shall not know
+about in a flash. A pretty neat arrangement, I call it!" The New York
+magnate rubbed his hands together softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Gee! Well, Mr. Lyman and Mr. Dacie have sure been busy!" was Walter's
+comment.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not mention that I, too, have been busy," chuckled Mr.
+Crowninshield. "While you have been chasing the dogs over the fields
+and playing baseball," he winked at Bob, "I have been telephoning to
+the city for a radio set&mdash;a corking fine one&mdash;for Dick's
+birthday. Bob, here, is going to install it with the aid of some New
+York electricians. It should be all in place inside a few days. Then
+if O'Connel has any messages for us we shall be ready for him. In the
+meantime Bob is going to break in you youngsters so that you or Dick
+can listen in and get any news that may come when he is off duty or
+aboard the yacht. If those fellows who bagged Lola think themselves so
+all-fired clever they will find they are mistaken. I did not go into
+this game to be beaten." Mr. Crowninshield squared his jaw with
+bulldog resolution.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you and Bob trot off and have a visit together. Show him where
+his quarters will be. There is a room beside you where Jerry says he
+can bunk," continued the master of the estate. "Until the apparatus
+arrives from New York there won't be much he can do, so you better
+take the chance to go home and see your mother to-night&mdash;both of
+you. By to-morrow or the next day at the latest the electricians
+should be here with their stuff. Then things will hum!"</p>
+
+<p>With a jaunty wave of his hand Mr. Crowninshield wheeled about and Bob
+and Walter were left alone.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h3>
+
+<h4>LESSONS</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>The joy of Mrs. King when she was informed that both her sons were to
+be all summer at Surfside cannot be pictured.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it is like a dream or an answer to prayer!" ejaculated she.
+"Think of having you so near! Now were Bob to be electrocuted, I could
+get to him within half an hour."</p>
+
+<p>The fact evidently caused her profound satisfaction and each of her
+sons laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not planning to end my days by electrocution," smiled Bob.</p>
+
+<p>"Few do plan to," was the grim retort. "But anyway, whether or no, it
+is wonderful to have you so close at hand. I shall feel as if I had a
+great prop behind me."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, Mater," Bob said affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you'll not have much time to be spending at home, though,"
+mused the mother presently. "Your work, likely, will keep you busy."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect it will, especially during the next fortnight," Bob
+answered. "There will be all the apparatus to set up and get into
+working order; and in addition the equipment aboard the yacht must be
+overhauled. I want both wireless outfits in perfect condition for
+much depends on their being trim and tight."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't probable you'll have much to handle that is important,"
+declared Mrs. King. "It won't be like dealing with government messages
+or wrecks." The two boys exchanged a glance. Much as they wished to
+they dared not initiate their mother into the secrets of Surfside.</p>
+
+<p>"You never can tell what messages you'll catch by wireless," Bob
+returned ambiguously. "Besides, Mr. Crowninshield intends to have some
+of his business relayed to him from New York."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I shall find plenty to do," the elder boy remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I reckon you will at that rate. But do be careful, won't you?
+And don't let Walter go dabbling with those evil wires."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll look out for him."</p>
+
+<p>The evasive answer did not, however, satisfy the woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely you don't mean to start Walter in learning about wireless, do
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I may give him a few lessons, yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Now don't you do it," retorted Mrs. King in spirited protest. "He was
+always a blunderer and were he to go messing about with electrical
+currents I should not have a happy moment. It is bad enough to have
+one of you in constant danger without two."</p>
+
+<p>"But it isn't dangerous," Walter interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>"Much you know about it," declared his mother, wheeling on him with
+scorn. "What experience have you had with radio, pray?"</p>
+
+<p>Meekly the lad closed his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to give some lessons to Mr. Crowninshield's son, Mater,
+and it seemed to me it was a good chance for Walter to learn
+something, too," Bob responded gently. "Sometime the kid might find it
+useful to have such knowledge. You never can tell. Nothing we learn is
+ever wasted."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I suppose not," was the grudging reply. "Well, just stand over
+him and see that he doesn't kill himself."</p>
+
+<p>"I've no desire to have him killed."</p>
+
+<p>"No more you have. Of course not," Mrs. King smiled. "But you know if
+there is any way of crossing the wires he'll do it. He's made that
+way. Still, unlucky as he is, I'd not care to lose him."</p>
+
+<p>Fondly she beamed on the ill-starred Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll keep at his elbow, Mother," said Bob soothingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I know you will. You were ever good to your brother." She patted the
+big fellow's hand. "And mind the pair of you come to see me when you
+can. You'll be busy, I know; but you mustn't forget your mother."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll not do that," cried the boys in chorus.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless in spite of the promise there were few opportunities
+during the next few days for either of them to go a-visiting. The New
+York electricians arrived and with them came aerials, generators,
+detectors, tuners, insulators, amplifiers, and all the hundred and one
+parts necessary for a perfectly equipped radio station. Mr.
+Crowninshield had indulged in no cheap outfit. On the contrary he had
+purchased the best there was to be had and as the coils of copper
+wire, glistening wire rope, and spotless porcelain insulators were
+unpacked Bob's eyes sparkled with anticipation. With the touch of a
+connoisseur he handled the materials, examining the quality of each.
+What was Greek to the others was familiar ground to him.</p>
+
+<p>A low building adjoining the boathouse had been hurriedly constructed
+and it was here, where the new station was to be situated, that an
+interested audience congregated daily. Perched on an overturned
+packing case Mr. Crowninshield surveyed the installment of the novel
+toy which was not only to gratify Dick's birthday longings but also,
+he hoped, bring to him the information he coveted concerning Lola.</p>
+
+<p>Much as he knew about stocks and bonds he was as much of a novice in
+the presence of things electrical as were either his son or Walter
+King, and therefore to their avalanche of questions he added still
+others, gratefully accepting the information Bob offered with the
+eagerness of one who is not too superior to learn.</p>
+
+<p>"What is that thing they are putting in place now?" inquired he. "And
+what is it for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, even I can answer that, Dad!" cried the delighted Dick. "That is
+the aerial or antenna and it catches the wireless waves as they travel
+through the air. The higher and longer it is the better, so far as
+messages are concerned&mdash;that is, within certain limits."</p>
+
+<p>His father's eyes twinkled.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you pick up so much knowledge?" chuckled he.</p>
+
+<p>"Bob told me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be bound he did," sniffed the man. "I wasn't asking about the
+antenna, though. Green as I am I recognized that. It was that other
+wire that interested me."</p>
+
+<p>"The lead in?" asked Bob quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess so, although I never was introduced to it by name before."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody laughed at the naive reply.</p>
+
+<p>"The lead in, sir, is the conductor that carries the wireless waves
+from the aerial into the house. The idea is not to have it too long.
+It must run as directly as possible and be very carefully insulated
+from any buildings, trees, or masts because of the current."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. And that other thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is the lightning arrester. It can be fastened inside or outside
+the station, as is most convenient; but it is compulsory to have it to
+satisfy the insurance companies. The antenna is secured to it and by
+means of a ground wire any electrical discharges will in a great
+measure pass off through the earth."</p>
+
+<p>"Mater should see that," murmured Walter mischievously to Bob.</p>
+
+<p>The elder brother nodded humorously.</p>
+
+<p>"The ground helps a lot in radio work," continued he. "In fact were
+it not for good old Mother Earth furnishing her aid, we should have no
+wireless at all. One side of our circuit passes through the ground and
+the other half, which completes it, goes through the air between the
+aerials of the different stations. Therefore you can readily see that
+it is most important to make sure of a good earth connection. Often
+city water pipes are resorted to, the contact being made by soldering
+a wire to the water faucet. Down here on the Cape, however, where
+there are only wells and windmills we shall have to sink some metal
+plates in the ground and connect the wires with these."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is all that goes outside the building?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. The lead in brings the wires into the station and they are
+then connected up with the receiver. Sometimes there are separate
+antenn&aelig; for sending and receiving messages. Of course the big
+stations always have two. But for a place this size and doing such a
+small amount of business we can send and receive from the same wire.
+With a tuner, which can be tuned to bring you into the same key with
+the station you are listening to; a detector to catch the signal after
+the persons talking have been brought into tune; and an amplifier that
+intensifies or increases the sound you have your receiving outfit.
+Batteries you know about without my telling you; and the head 'phones
+too, which you have of course seen telephone operators wear hundreds
+of times."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I believe I should recognize one of those," laughed Mr.
+Crowninshield. "So that is all there is to it, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is about all there is to receiving, yes."</p>
+
+<p>"The sending part of the machine is more complicated, is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. And so is the job," smiled Bob.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to learn to transmit as well as receive," put in Dick.</p>
+
+<p>His Highness grinned derisively.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you indeed!" said he. "Well, there is nothing like aiming high.
+But I guess for the present you'll be pretty well content if you get
+so you can take down the Morse code as it comes in."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it so hard?"</p>
+
+<p>"That depends on how good you are at memorizing dots and dashes.
+French verbs are nothing compared to it."</p>
+
+<p>"I hadn't thought of learning to read code."</p>
+
+<p>"You have to, son, if you are going into wireless. With a tutor here
+on the spot, it should not be difficult. Besides, that is half the
+fun. I want you to learn this thing intelligently and not just make a
+plaything of it. I've done my part by buying you the best outfit there
+was to be had. The rest is up to you."</p>
+
+<p>"That's square, Dick," chimed in Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure it is. I'll go to it and do my darndest, too, Dad," returned the
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the proper spirit!" exclaimed his father.</p>
+
+<p>His Highness smiled with ironic satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"If Bob is to tutor you you will study harder than you ever did in
+your precious life," whispered he. "I know Bob. He can be stiff as any
+college professor. He tutored me in Latin once to pull me through my
+exams and I barely lived. I don't envy you, old man."</p>
+
+<p>"Gee! Will it be that bad?"</p>
+
+<p>"You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's all. Take it from
+me," was the teasing rejoinder.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I hope he won't bone down as hard as that," wailed Dick
+dolefully. "I want to get some sport out of this thing. I wasn't
+planning to be turned into a galley slave during hot weather."</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that he had his victim thoroughly terrified Walter thought it
+time to shift the jest.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't fret. I was only jollying, old chap," declared he. "Bob won't
+really stand over you with a whip. He is the best fellow alive. Still,
+he will expect you to work if you set out to do so. He is always
+terribly in earnest about whatever he undertakes. I suppose that is
+why he has got on so well and never failed to make a success of what
+he has tried to do. You can count on him to duff into this job with
+the same spirit. You'll get your money's worth of instruction, you may
+be sure, if he has been hired to give it."</p>
+
+<p>Dick shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess I can stand it if he is not too rough on me," responded
+he. "I do not mind studying so much if it is about a subject I like;
+and I am crazy about wireless."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="i004"></a>
+<img src="images/004.jpg" width="350" height="530"
+alt="" title="" />
+</div><br />
+<h5>"You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's<br />
+all. Take it from me." <i>Page</i> 154.</h5>
+
+<p>"Oh, it isn't the wireless part I object to," drawled His Highness.
+"It is that dot and dash code that gets me. I never could learn it if
+I tried ten years; and as for taking twenty words a minute in any
+language&mdash;well, they could have the whole outfit before I'd do
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be interested to see what speed I can make," mused Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Speed! You won't make any speed at all&mdash;at least not at first,
+so do not hope or expect to. If you even get the words correctly you
+will be going some," sniffed Walter. "Still, I guess you need not
+worry for the present about receiving or sending messages for Bob will
+give you a lot to think about before that. As for the Morse code, you
+may not meet it for weeks."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" Dick inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Bob will get right down to brass tacks at the start and find out
+what you know about electricity and wireless anyway. That is the way
+he did to me when he tutored me in Latin. He wasn't content with just
+translating Caesar but must needs splash right into Roman history and
+make me hunt up everything I could find about the Goths and the rest
+of those heathen tribes. Gee, but he made me sweat! He will do that
+with you and your wireless. If you think you are going to begin taking
+messages in code you don't know Bob."</p>
+
+<p>Having delivered himself of these brotherly appreciations His Highness
+walked away, leaving Dick to ponder on the joyous prospects they
+contained. His sinister prediction Richard Crowninshield soon found to
+be true. Thorough was no name for Bob King. Before a week had passed
+Dick whimsically remarked to his father that it must be a task to Bob
+to swim on the top of the sea without diving down with a spy glass and
+examining every particle that was on the ocean's bottom. The fact that
+the new tutor never dipped into any subject but instead explored it
+greatly delighted Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't mind letting that young chap tutor me a little," observed
+he half jestingly to his wife. "I am as vague as a fog when it comes
+to this wireless business. I should get a lot of information if I
+listened in on Dick's lessons."</p>
+
+<p>The words, idly spoken, much to the amusement of all became a reality.
+After drifting in to the first talk Mr. Crowninshield came to the
+second lesson and from then on he became a regular pupil.</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't be afraid I have come here to criticize," explained he
+with appealing simplicity. "I'm green as grass and have come to
+learn."</p>
+
+<p>"It is just that you have not had the time to take up radio, sir," was
+Bob's modest answer. "We all have our specialties."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," agreed the capitalist. "Sometimes I fall to wondering
+whether it is better to know something about everything or everything
+about something."</p>
+
+<p>"To know something about everything would be spreading it pretty thin,
+I am afraid," was Bob's characteristic reply.</p>
+
+<p>"That wouldn't do for you, eh?" remarked Mr. Crowninshield with a
+chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"It would not satisfy me; no, sir. As it is I cannot begin to master
+what there is to be known concerning this one branch of science. Were
+my head to be filled with a little of everything I should feel as if
+it were a grab bag."</p>
+
+<p>"Many heads are," was the laughing retort. "Still, with each
+successive generation rolling up its accumulation of knowledge the
+intellectual snowball is getting to be of ponderous size. History's
+remedy for this malady has always been to knock the whole structure to
+pieces every now and then and begin again. Perhaps we shall have to
+have another period of the Dark Ages and another Renaissance to set us
+right."</p>
+
+<p>Thoughtfully he puffed his cigar.</p>
+
+<p>"This wireless now&mdash;think of the new fields it has opened up. Not
+only are our ships equipped so that they can send and receive all
+sorts of messages, get their location, be informed concerning harbor
+entrances and coast lines; set their compasses and clocks but soon
+wireless telephones will be installed in the staterooms of all
+passenger steamers so that those crossing the ocean can talk with
+their friends ashore any time they may elect to do so. Of course there
+are times when such a thing might have its advantages; but for tired
+people&mdash;doctors and the like&mdash;who are trying to get to a
+spot where they cannot be reached by business cares it will be a
+negative sort of blessing. I, myself, for example, always count on my
+stay on shipboard as a sort of vacation, an interval when nobody can
+bother me with office matters. But if in future I must have a
+wireless telephone at my bedside I shall be no more isolated than I
+should have been had I remained at home. Pretty soon there will be no
+place under the sun where a man can go and get peace and quiet. The
+Maine woods will be full of radio outfits and the tops of distant
+mountains in touch with the stock market. Even an aeroplane carries
+its wireless. It is hideous to contemplate!" he sighed. "As for city
+life, we shall be beset wherever we go. And if the fashion set by some
+of our city police of having wires tucked away in uniforms and a
+wireless receiver carried in the pocket prevails in due time even when
+we walk the streets we shall all be in constant touch with our
+particular headquarters."</p>
+
+<p>At his rueful expression Bob could not but laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"There certainly is no question that a great day for wireless is
+coming," replied he. "Whether we like it or not the thing has come to
+stay and as yet we have only half discovered what can be done with it.
+It is undoubtedly rough on those who want isolation. But most people
+don't. They are glad to feel, for instance, that the ocean is so small
+they can talk with their friends while they are crossing it. Besides,
+you must not forget how much good ship surgeons and doctors can now do
+for those who otherwise would have no aid at hand. Remote lighthouses
+and small ships that need medical service often signal the big liners
+now and ask advice of the ship's doctor. I heard a little while ago of
+a lighthouse keeper whose leg was amputated under the wireless
+direction of one of our great surgeons. Had instructions not been
+available the man would probably have died of blood poison. And many
+times there is sickness aboard small vessels that are out to sea. They
+signal the symptoms of their patients and the doctor hundreds of miles
+away replies with a remedy. As all boats carry medicine chests the
+distant physician can easily designate what dose to give."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a fine idea!" nodded Mr. Crowninshield. "I hadn't thought of
+treating illness by radio. A bit tough on the doctor, though. It must
+keep him busy."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid it does. In fact some of the ship's surgeons are
+demanding higher pay because of the rush of work put on them. To have
+the health of a large ship under one's supervision is task enough
+without treating all the people sailing the ocean. They say some
+doctors are all in after a trip simply because of the extra calls that
+pour in from outside ships and stations. It keeps them hopping day and
+night, for of course no decent doctor will ever refuse aid to those
+who are suffering."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! That is quite a new phase of wireless."</p>
+
+<p>"It proves it can save life not only at a time of shipwreck but in
+other crises as well," Bob responded with enthusiasm. "Now all that
+remains is for some clever fellow to come along who shall find a
+remedy for the difficulties that baffle the radio man. Then the
+science will come into its own. We must get rid of static
+interference&mdash;our greatest bugbear."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, son! You must not spring any of your technical terms on
+me. Remember that while I am old in years I am still young in radio
+knowledge. Before you go slipping those phrases jauntily off your
+tongue you have got to begin at the very beginning and tell us the
+laws on which the radio telephone is based."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a rather big order, sir," Bob replied modestly. "However, I
+am willing to try to fill it. I can at least pass on to you all that I
+know myself."</p>
+
+<p>"That will satisfy me," affirmed the capitalist. "I see no reason,
+either, why your young brother cannot arrange his work so that he can
+join our class. The more the merrier. I even propose to drag in my
+wife and daughter. If in future we are to have wireless apparatus
+wherever we go it will be unintelligent not to know something about
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid it is going to pursue us pretty much to every corner of
+the earth," smiled Bob gravely. "You see, one of its great advantages
+is that it can go where the telephone with its myriad wires and poles
+cannot. It would be out of the question, for example, to string
+telephone wires through densely wooded sections and to the tops of
+high mountains, and even if the impossible could be accomplished the
+expense of keeping such lines in proper repair would be so great that
+no one could afford to shoulder it. Poles rot and wires rust out with
+wear and exposure to weather. Then there is the damage from gales,
+ice-storms, and falling timber. Even under the best of conditions
+linemen would be kept busy all the time repairing the equipment. And
+as if these difficulties were not great enough in times of peace think
+of the added burden of protecting miles and miles of telephone wires
+in time of war. Contrast with this the small district to be protected
+when it comes to a wireless station. Instead of having soldiers
+scattered through miles of territory the few needed can be
+concentrated within easy reach of provisions and reinforcements. And
+the same advantages that the radio telephone has on land prevail as
+well at sea for transmission of messages by cable is a frightfully
+expensive thing. Not only is the laying of such a line difficult,
+dangerous, and costly, but to maintain it is expensive and hard as
+well. In time of war it is particularly at a disadvantage since the
+cable can be cut and all communication with the outside world easily
+severed. Wireless, on the other hand, is not dependent on any such
+extravagant equipment. It finds its own way through air, water, and
+earth with very little help from us; and if it has its defects we must
+not forget that the first telephones were far from perfect, and that
+both telephone and cable have also their disadvantages."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h3>
+
+<h4>INFORMATION FROM A NEW SOURCE</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>During the interval when the new radio station was being put in order
+and the parts of the outfit assembled Bob King and the two city
+electricians toiled early and late. They scarcely stopped to eat, so
+feverish was their haste. Mr. Crowninshield had let it be known that
+if the wireless apparatus was in condition to send and receive
+messages within a week he would add to the regular wages of the
+mechanics a generous bonus and this incentive was sufficient to cause
+the avaricious workmen to transgress the laws of the labor unions and
+forget any fatigue they may have experienced.</p>
+
+<p>As for Bob he was far too eager to get into touch with O'Connel and
+the <i>Siren</i> to covet extra pay for rushing through the installment of
+the new service. A private signal had been agreed upon between him and
+his former associate and also an hour set when each day the operator
+aboard the yacht was to call him. O'Connel was to allow seven days for
+the work at Surfside to be finished and then his messages were to
+begin and both Mr. Crowninshield and his alert employee meant to be
+ready for him.</p>
+
+<p>Hence Bob whipped on his helpers, using every ray of daylight that
+could be turned to the purpose and much of the night. Even after
+everything was placed and connected up there would yet remain a great
+deal of testing out and tinkering before the set would be in perfect
+working condition and it was for this delay he was preparing.</p>
+
+<p>Much to his surprise, however, the parts went together with
+astonishingly little trouble. They had been well made and fitted
+perfectly. Everything needed was at hand and in consequence there was
+no sending to the city for materials and waiting until they could be
+shipped. Therefore as the allotted time sped by the job that
+accompanied it moved rapidly to its end.</p>
+
+<p>"We are going to make it, sir," ejaculated Bob with shining eyes,
+beaming enthusiastically on the master of the estate. "She will be all
+set up and working by Saturday. That is the day O'Connel was to make
+his first try to get into communication with us. I can hardly wait to
+hear what he has to say."</p>
+
+<p>"I am pretty anxious to know myself," returned the elder man. "If he
+can get a message through we should then find out where the yacht is
+and whether Lola is aboard her."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm crazy to learn what has become of the villains who pinched the
+dog," added Bob. "Do you take it they are still cruising with the
+boat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they must have been paid off and landed somewhere," was the
+answer. "There would be no sense in detaining the thieves on the ship
+until now. It would only mean paying them and having them to feed;
+besides one does not care to make two rascals members of a house
+party."</p>
+
+<p>"You think they have escaped us then."</p>
+
+<p>"If by escaping you mean getting to the city yes," nodded Mr.
+Crowninshield. "But I do not feel at all sure with Dacie and Lyman on
+their track that they will be entirely safe and unmolested in town.
+Those detectives are like bloodhounds and will run them down no matter
+where they may be hiding. The mere fact that they have got to New York
+or Boston will not be much protection."</p>
+
+<p>"You intend to get them then as well as to recover Lola."</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly do," retorted Mr. Crowninshield with emphasis. "I am
+going to recover my property, jail the thieves, and bring the people
+who received the stolen goods to justice."</p>
+
+<p>"They have a week's start of us," Bob observed doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"But we have not been idle all that time, man, Dacie and Lyman have
+been working; O'Connel has been using his eyes and ears&mdash;I hope;
+and we have this wireless set up."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we have certainly accomplished something," admitted Bob.</p>
+
+<p>"Accomplished something! I should say we had! Besides, this is not the
+sort of case one need hurry on. Nothing is going to be done suddenly,"
+explained the financier. "Having got the dog the people on the yacht
+will move at their leisure. They do not fear that any one is at their
+heels chasing them up. Furthermore the sea offers unending
+concealment for their crime should they be pursued and trapped. It is
+the thieves themselves who are the scapegoats and the ones in danger,
+according to their reckoning."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose so," agreed Bob. "Still, I cannot help wishing we might
+have got after them without even these few days intervening."</p>
+
+<p>"You forget, my son, that our wireless is going to cover space so
+quickly that hereafter we shall have our information very quickly and
+shall be exactly as well off as most detectives used to be in double
+the time."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is so."</p>
+
+<p>"Once we are in touch with O'Connel we can know every thought they
+think aboard the <i>Siren</i> as soon as they have thought it."</p>
+
+<p>The uncertainties that clouded the younger man's face vanished.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," smiled he. "From now on we should be able to checkmate
+them pretty neatly."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crowninshield put his finger to his lips significantly. The two
+city electricians were approaching.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," began the foreman, "I guess your wireless tests out
+pretty near right; we've signalled our home company and got a reply
+from New York clear as a bell. With this chap at hand," he motioned to
+Bob, "you won't be needing us much longer, I reckon."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you got to rush back to another job?" questioned the financier.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there is always plenty to do," grinned the man good-humoredly.</p>
+
+<p>"You couldn't remain over a few days and overhaul my yacht, could you?
+She is anchored out in the bay close at hand. If you could be
+tightening things aboard her and seeing everything is right I would
+keep this young man at this shore station."</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;" the mechanic hesitated, fingering the roll of bills that
+stuffed his pocket. "Why," repeated he, "I imagine we could fix things
+up with the boss and stick round until whatever you wanted done was
+completed, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Arrange it then. Get the yacht into condition quickly so we can put
+to sea any day now that we choose."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll do that, Mr. Crowninshield," responded the men in chorus.
+"Unless there is a lot to do to the outfit&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't. It was all new in the fall; and we have been in Florida
+this winter too, so the ship has been in commission and constantly
+taken care of."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case there will probably be little repairing," nodded the
+spokesman. "Maybe tightening and oiling, and a few small parts to be
+replaced."</p>
+
+<p>"That is about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't I&mdash;" Bob began but Mr. Crowninshield held up a
+cautioning finger.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather have you on shore," announced he quietly. Then turning to
+the electricians he added, "I suppose the radio aboard the yacht does
+not differ much from this set. There will be nothing but what you can
+handle."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, sir; nothing at all," was the answer. "Besides, we are quite
+familiar with shipboard equipment. We do a lot of such work. Just
+before we came down here we went down to Long Island and put the
+<i>Siren</i>, a very fine steam yacht, into shape."</p>
+
+<p>"The <i>Siren</i>, eh?" repeated Mr. Crowninshield as indifferently as he
+could.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. Perhaps you know the boat, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I've never been aboard her," replied the capitalist slowly. "She
+belongs to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To Mr. Daly, sir. As fine a yacht as was ever in the water."</p>
+
+<p>Daly! At the name both Bob and his employer started. It was the very
+man Mr. Crowninshield had suspected.</p>
+
+<p>"So Daly has a place down on Long Island, has he?" drawled he.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, sir. Mr. Daly's place is on an island off the Maine coast. He
+had just put in at the Long Island port for some minor repairs. He
+said he was going to cruise a while this summer and wanted to be sure
+everything was shipshape before going to Maine. The mate told me they
+were waiting to pick up some people at Buzzard's Bay."</p>
+
+<p>"Going to take the yacht through the Canal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"An interesting trip," observed Mr. Crowninshield slowly. "That Canal
+is quite a time saver for New Yorkers." He yawned and started to move
+away. Bob held his breath, waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you don't know where Daly was going for his cruise,"
+inquired he over his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, I don't," was the response of the workman who seemed
+flattered at having aroused this degree of interest in his story. "I
+believe, though, that before they started they were to put into
+Newport for provisions."</p>
+
+<p>Newport! Then it was doubtless Newport where O'Connel was to be taken
+aboard! Bob dared not raise his eyes lest the excitement that danced
+in them be detected.</p>
+
+<p>"And after provisioning up there Daly was to cruise, eh?" called Mr.
+Crowninshield. "Well, the Atlantic is wide and he will have plenty of
+room."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, sir," chuckled the mechanic, delighted by the
+condescension of the great man whom all New Yorkers knew by
+reputation. Think of hobnobbing in this pleasant fashion with one of
+the big financiers of Wall Street!</p>
+
+<p>"How simple and kind a gentleman Mr. Crowninshield is!" commented he
+patronizingly after the capitalist was out of hearing. "And so
+artless!"</p>
+
+<p>Bob struggled not to smile.</p>
+
+<p>Kind Mr. Crowninshield might be but hardly simple. Certainly not
+artless. What a rare lot of amusing incidents the world contained!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h3>
+
+<h4>BOB AS PEDAGOGUE</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>The wireless was now in commission and the next morning, after having
+waited until the hour designated for O'Connel's signal and received no
+message, Bob and his pupils assembled for their first lesson, not in a
+stuffy room but on the broad, well-shaded veranda of Surfside. A cool
+breeze rippled the water, stirring it into tiny waves and as Dick
+dropped into one of the big wicker chairs he fidgeted to be out in the
+freshly-painted knockabout that bobbed invitingly at the float.</p>
+
+<p>His father intercepted his yearning glance and instantly interpreted
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, now!" said he half playfully. "Quit making sheep's eyes at that
+boat, son. An hour's wireless lesson isn't going to cut your morning
+very short or prevent you from having plenty of time to sail, swim, or
+motor. Whether it does or not you've got to endure it. Your summer
+holiday is long enough in all conscience. If I had until October with
+nothing more arduous to do than put up with an hour's instruction
+early each day I should think myself almighty lucky."</p>
+
+<p>"I am lucky, Dad," conceded Dick quickly, "only&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Lucky! I should say you were! You don't know what work means. Well,
+it was you who wanted this radio outfit. You were all for it
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I am for it still, Dad," interrupted Dick eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then go to it and master it," retorted his father. "If you do not
+relish the lessons swallow them down for the sake of the fun you are
+going to have later; for if you are intelligent enough to handle your
+wireless with some brain and understanding you are going to enjoy it a
+hundred per cent. more in the end."</p>
+
+<p>"I know I shall," Dick agreed. "It is only that I am crazy to get at
+the thing itself."</p>
+
+<p>The boy's father shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"You are like all your generation," said he severely. "Eager to leap
+the preliminaries and land at the top of the ladder with the first
+bound. It is an impatient age and the vice extends to the old as well
+as the young. Nobody wants to fit himself for anything nowadays. In my
+youth men expected to serve apprenticeships and did not hope to
+achieve a position until they had learned how to fill it. But now
+everybody leaps at the big job and the big salary that goes with it
+and blunders along, taking out his ignorance and lack of experience on
+the general public. As for you youngsters, you covet at fifteen
+everything that those who are fifty have. You want automobiles, boats,
+victrolas and radio telephones before you know how to run them, much
+less pay for them. Look at Bob, here. He is worth two of you for he
+can earn what he has. Often I tell myself I am a fool to indulge you
+and Nancy as I do. I ought by rights to make you do without what you
+want until you can foot the bill for it." Mr. Crowninshield took a few
+hasty paces across the piazza. "Still," added he, his voice softening,
+"I fancy that scheme would be a sight harder on me than on you, for I
+like nothing better than to get you what you want."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment he paused, looking fondly at his son. Then as if afraid
+of himself he bristled and continued: "But to return to this
+wireless&mdash;remember that if you do not learn something about it
+and how to use it I shall take it away. I mean it, mind!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Dad," was the timid answer.</p>
+
+<p>With this awful alternative looming like a specter in his path was it
+to be wondered at that Dick resolutely turned his gaze from the
+allurements of the harbor and settled himself in the big chair with
+all his attention focussed on Bob King's radio lesson. Moreover, human
+nature is selfish enough to like company in its misery and were not
+his mother, Nancy and Walter consigned to the same fate as himself?</p>
+
+<p>Therefore the initial lesson began gayly.</p>
+
+<p>At first Bob, seated in the chair of state facing his class, was shy
+and embarrassed; but soon he forgot himself in his subject and losing
+his hesitancy he spoke with the authority of one who has mastered his
+art.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to begin," said he, "just as they began with me at the
+radio station for I think if you get the principles of wireless at the
+outset you will find it much easier to understand it. And to do this
+we shall not start with wires, generators, detectors, or anything of
+that sort; instead we must go back of them all to the earth and the
+air, and learn how it is possible for sound to travel without the aid
+of human devices. For in reality there is something that takes the
+place of man-made wires. This is the ether. Surrounding the earth
+moves the air we breathe; and as we go higher this air becomes thinner
+and thinner until, by and by, a height is reached where the air gives
+place to ether, a sort of radiant energy that bridges the zone between
+the air space that encircles the earth and the sun, and brings to us
+its heat. This great sea of ether is made up of particles that are
+never still and which are so small that they get between every
+substance they encounter, thereby becoming a universal medium for
+transmitting light, heat, color and many other things to our earth.
+Without this body of ether, there would be no agency to pass on to us
+(as well as to the many other planets of our solar system and those
+outside it) the energy the sun generates, which is the thing that
+keeps us alive."</p>
+
+<p>Bob waited a moment to make sure that his point was clear and then
+proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"Now this energy as it moves through the ether takes the form of
+waves; and these waves go out not in a single train but since the
+ether is continually disturbed by the sun, in series of wave trains
+that vary in frequency. Such waves are electromagnetic in character,
+and light, heat, sound, and the waves carrying wireless messages are
+all of a similar type, differing only in their relative rates of
+vibration. If unobstructed, and moving through free ether, all of them
+travel at practically the same velocity, that is about one hundred
+eighty-six thousand miles a second. When, however, they encounter
+other substances, as they are continually bound to do, this rate of
+velocity changes. The waves of sound, for example, sent out by the
+wireless telephone are very slow compared with the high-rate
+vibrations that produce waves resulting in light."</p>
+
+<p>Again the youthful teacher paused.</p>
+
+<p>"Now this constant turmoil in the ether which creates the magnetic
+area explains why the magnetized needle of a compass unfailingly
+points north and south. This one simple fact is a certain proof of its
+existence. And once granting a magnetic field to be there it is less
+difficult to understand how wireless waves are produced in this
+congenial medium and find their way through it, following in their
+journey the curve of the earth's surface."</p>
+
+<p>Bob smiled at his audience encouragingly.</p>
+
+<p>"If you can once get this wave law through your heads the rest is not
+hard," asserted he, "for the whole wireless system is based on wave
+motion."</p>
+
+<p>"With an ocean spread out before us we ought to be able to understand
+waves," interpolated Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"We ought," nodded Bob. "And yet better than using the ocean as an
+illustration imagine a small pond. Think, instead, of a nice quiet
+little round pond if you can. Now when you chuck a stick or a pebble
+into that still water you know how the ripples will at once go out.
+There will be rings of them, and the bigger they get the fainter they
+will be. In other words, as the area widens the strength of the waves
+decreases; and as this same principle applies to radio you can see
+that it takes a lot of energy from a wireless station to reach a
+receiver a great distance away."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got that!" cried Dick with such spontaneity that every one
+laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Wave lengths, however, have nothing to do with actual distance," went
+on Bob quickly. "Of course we think of the wave length as the distance
+between one ridge of water and another. There is, though, no law that
+would make it possible to translate these spaces into our scale of
+miles, for sometimes they are near together, sometimes far apart.
+Distance, therefore, depends on the speed with which the wave travels
+and the frequency with which the water is disturbed. If you keep
+tossing things in quick succession into the water you will get a
+correspondingly quick succession of waves. The law governing wireless
+waves is exactly the same. Their length depends on the velocity of the
+wave and the frequency of the oscillations that cause it. Or to put it
+another way, in order to reckon a wave length you must determine its
+velocity (which is not impossible when you remember that sound travels
+about one thousand one hundred and twenty feet every second) and the
+number of vibrations the particular note causing the wave is making
+per second. Now science has been able to compute just how many
+complete vibrations a certain note, key, or pitch as you may please to
+call it, makes each second, or how many times the particles of air
+vibrate back and forth when that especial note is sent out.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose, for example, a note makes 240 complete vibrations a second
+while traveling 1,120 feet; if we divide 1,120 by 240 we shall get
+4.66 as the wave length of this note. So it is the pitch to which a
+note is keyed that helps determine its distance; and the force
+employed to start the note sent out through the magnetic field. That
+is why a message projected into the ether from a high-power station
+carries a greater distance than one sent from a station where the
+power is weaker. It is by power and pitch, then, not by length that we
+gauge wireless waves. Do you see that?"</p>
+
+<p>A chorus of assent greeted the question.</p>
+
+<p>"That's bully!" Bob announced boyishly; then blushed at the
+undignified ejaculation.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you be fussed, young man," smiled Mr. Crowninshield. "We're all
+of an age here."</p>
+
+<p>"I quite forgot," apologized the tutor.</p>
+
+<p>"That is exactly what I want you to do," returned the master of
+Surfside. "Ignore us old people. We are only listening in, anyway, and
+have no earthly right to be here."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, I wish to treat you with&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right, Bob. We understand," put in Mrs. Crowninshield
+reassuringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, if you will excuse me I'm off again," replied the boy.
+"And now that we've got wave lengths settled to our satisfaction we
+must remember some other things. One is that sound travels not only
+through the air but through the water. In fact, sounds are louder
+under water than they are above it. Water is not only a better medium
+for carrying sound but also, since it contains fewer obstructions,
+sound waves travel farther through it. Another thing which we must not
+forget is that our ears do not hear all the sounds that go on about
+us. The merciful Lord has arranged that when there are less than
+twenty-four vibrations a second, or more than forty thousand they
+escape us. But a wireless instrument, on the contrary is spared
+nothing, having attached to it a detector that catches every sound and
+an amplifier that magnifies it and makes it discernible to our ears.
+When you listen in on a wireless telephone you will be uncontestably
+conscious of this. Also you must take into consideration that the
+waves sent out by a radio transmitter are not choppy, irregular ones
+such as you get when a stone is tossed into the water; wireless waves
+go out in regular, well-formed relays that neither overlap nor obscure
+one another. Were this not so the signals made would be jumbled
+together and utterly unintelligible."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure they would!" Bob's young brother nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Now to insure these several results we are compelled to resort to the
+help of scientific apparatus. Therefore at every receiving station we
+have devices that will intercept the waves as they come in;
+retransform them into electrical oscillations; and catching the weak
+oscillations make them strong enough to be read. Hence we use some
+type of induction coil by means of which a battery current of such low
+pressure and diffused flow as scarcely to be felt will be transformed
+or concentrated into a pressure that is very powerful. In order to
+form wireless waves we must have a frequency of at least one hundred
+thousand vibrations a second; and as it is out of the question to
+produce these by mechanical means we employ a group of Leyden jars.
+Such jars you have of course seen. They have in them two pieces of
+tinfoil separated by glass, which is a nonconductor of electric
+currents, and various other acids and minerals. When you connect a
+number of these small jars together you have a battery as powerful as
+that of a large single jar."</p>
+
+<p>"I never saw jars like those," objected Dick.</p>
+
+<p>Bob beamed at the intelligence of the demurrer.</p>
+
+<p>"When I say jar," explained he, "it does not necessarily mean that
+these jars are of the round, cylindrical shape that comes to mind when
+you mention the word; on the contrary Leyden jars are often flat
+because such a form makes them more compact. That is also why we use
+several little ones instead of one big one. But whatever their shape
+the principle involved is always the same. When the terminals are
+connected with a current the jar will not only receive but will retain
+a charge equal in pressure to that of the device sending the current.
+And when you go even farther and bring the terminals near together,
+the quick discharge that takes place creates an electric spark which
+is in reality a series of alternating flashes that come so fast as to
+be blurred into what appears to be one. Could we separate these
+flashes we should find that each of them lasts less than a thousandth
+part of a second. The frequency of such oscillations is regulated by
+what is technically termed capacity, that is the size of the Leyden
+jar. The smaller the capacity the greater the frequency of the
+flashes.</p>
+
+<p>"Now this spark, or oscillatory discharge emitted from the Leyden jar,
+does not result from a single traveling of the current all in one
+direction; instead the electricity moves back and forth, or
+alternates, and the space where the discharge takes place (and which,
+by the way, can be lengthened or decreased as pleases the operator) is
+known as the spark gap."</p>
+
+<p>"But I should think this explosion of the spark would make a noise,"
+commented Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Bully for you, little brother!" returned Bob, smiling at His
+Highness. "You are quite an electrician. If the current is strong, or,
+in other words, if the discharge is a high frequency one, it does.
+Hence something has to be used to deaden the sound just as a muffler
+is used on a motor boat. It is important, however, that this muffler
+should not prevent the operator from watching the condition of his
+spark for otherwise he could not keep track of his battery or know
+whether it was on the job or not. So you will find little peepholes
+of mica or glass in the sides of the muffler."</p>
+
+<p>"Windows," murmured Nancy grasping the idea and translating it into
+the vernacular.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," Bob agreed. Evidently his audience were understanding what
+he was trying to make clear to them.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we have our high frequency oscillations occurring in the spark
+discharged from the Leyden jar and jumping the spark gap; nevertheless
+they would not do us any good were there not some way to use and
+regulate them. This brings us to the induction coil of which I spoke a
+second ago."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds very terrible," smiled Mrs. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't, though," answered Bob, returning the smile. "In fact it is
+a very simple device&mdash;nothing more than a dozen or so twists of
+copper wire reeled about a wooden frame exactly as strands of thread
+might be wound round a spool. One end of the inductance is connected
+permanently with the ground and from the other end two movable wires
+go out, one of which can be connected with the spark gap and the other
+with the antenna that goes into the air and catches the sound waves.
+There isn't anything very terrible about that, you see."</p>
+
+<p>"Antenna is what butterflies have," suggested Nancy vaguely.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite right!" assented the wireless man. "Only radio antenn&aelig;
+are not to feel with&mdash;at least not in the same way. Nevertheless
+they do reach out and capture the sound. On all wireless stations you
+will notice the masts that support them. Sometimes there is one wire,
+sometimes a group. It is the wires themselves, remember, not the
+masts, which are the antenn&aelig;. Nowadays, however, you will
+occasionally see an indoor aerial used in connection with small,
+low-power outfits. It does away with the masts and outside equipment
+and frequently serves the same purpose quite satisfactorily. But most
+persons prefer the older method and for long-distance work it has, up
+to date proved to be indispensable. Now the antenna has both
+electrical capacity and inductance, and when connected up with the
+apparatus a wireless operator can at will cause it to disturb the
+magnetic fields surrounding the earth."</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't say how high these masts had to be, Bob," put in Mr.
+Crowninshield. "Are they always the same length?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, indeed, sir," was the prompt response. "Their length varies
+according to the type of service required of them. I'm glad you asked
+the question. Sometimes the masts are about two hundred feet high;
+again they may approximate four hundred and eighteen feet. And
+sometimes in emergencies you will discover no masts at all, the wires
+being fastened instead to captive balloons or kites which hold them in
+place long enough to send or receive hasty messages. This latter
+method is usually resorted to in wartime or during army or navy
+maneuvers. There are also compact radio sets to be had that can be
+carried on mule-back and set up and taken down on a hurried army
+march. On shipboard the ordinary masts of the vessel serve, of
+course, to support the antenna."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Bob. That is exactly what I wanted to know," said Mr.
+Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad, sir. Now you'd think by this time we had everything
+necessary to produce our wireless waves and yet we haven't. There is
+still one thing almost more important than all the rest that we have
+not yet spoken of."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that, Bob?" piped Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"The tuner. You recall that at the beginning I mentioned the pitch,
+note, or key of the sound produced or received?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," returned the class in chorus.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is in that tune or pitch, or whatever you prefer to call it,
+that a large measure of the secret of wireless lies. To be successful
+in getting and sending messages we must tune the oscillations, or key
+the signals caused by the discharge of the battery in our Leyden jar,
+so that they will be in harmony (or at precisely the same pitch) with
+the antenna circuit. That is, the parts of the instrument must
+synchronize, just as two persons who would talk together must speak in
+the same language. This adjustment is made in the inductance coil
+because although both the Leyden jar where the spark is generated that
+causes the oscillations and the antenna can be regulated independently
+of each other a few turns of the inductance coil affects each circuit.
+After the two circuits have been adjusted to the same frequency they
+are said to synchronize. Often to reach this result a device is used
+that states precisely the wave length, and after the frequency of one
+circuit has been ascertained the other can easily be adjusted to
+correspond with it. The length of the wave is, you see, dependent on
+the largeness of the antenna and the capacity, or strength of current,
+of the Leyden jar. Just as a child uses a big stone to produce the
+largest splash and greatest waves so we must have a powerful force
+behind our wave lengths to make them carry most successfully. In
+accordance with this law, generally speaking, we find short wave
+lengths used for low power, short-distance outfits; and long wave
+lengths for high-power circuits whose aim is to traverse continents
+and oceans."</p>
+
+<p>Bob pushed back his chair.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," said he, "we have now come to a good stopping place and we
+will call the lesson off for to-day. If you digest all I have told
+you, you will have had an ample radio starter."</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't said much about sending messages," complained Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"That is quite another story," smiled the boy's tutor, "and such a
+long one that were I to tell it to you now it would mean you would get
+no sailing or swimming to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Instantly Dick was on his feet, Leyden jars and inductance coils
+forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll cut it out then," he laughed. "Who is for a swim? I'll race any
+man to the bath-house!" And off he went at top speed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h3>
+
+<h4>TIDINGS</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>Two days later O'Connel's first signal came.</p>
+
+<p>Bob was at his early morning task of oiling and tightening up his
+apparatus and cleaning it, and both Dick and Walter were hovering
+near, watching him and learning all they could concerning the proper
+care of the equipment. Having made everything shipshape the young
+radio operator slipped the double head receiver over his forehead and
+prepared to listen in for his customary interval. Suddenly the boys
+saw him start excitedly and motion them to stop talking. With face
+alight he was leaning forward eagerly. Then came the sharp click of
+the Morse code and after an interval with radiant face the elder lad
+wriggled out of his trappings.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it? What is it?" cried his two companions, hardly able to
+contain their curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"It was O'Connel."</p>
+
+<p>"What did he say? Is the dog there? Where was the yacht?"</p>
+
+<p>Breathlessly the questions tumbled one over the other.</p>
+
+<p>"The <i>Siren</i> is anchored off Gloucester and bound north, probably to
+Bar Harbor. A dog they call Trixie, but which O'Connel thinks is
+Lola, is aboard the boat. The description we gave him seems to fit
+her. He says she isn't very well&mdash;won't eat and seems either
+homesick or seasick. Mr. Daly is quite worried about her."</p>
+
+<p>"For goodness' sake don't tell Dad or Mother that. They'll have a
+fit," Dick cried. "Should Lola die I believe my father would shoot
+Daly down."</p>
+
+<p>"But I've got to give him the message."</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't repeat all of it, need you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I think you ought to tell them," Walter put in. "They would
+rather know, I'm sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Dad will storm fit to raise the dead."</p>
+
+<p>"We can't help it," answered His Highness.</p>
+
+<p>"I am of the kid's opinion," Bob replied slowly. "I think we should
+tell your father and mother the whole truth just as O'Connel has sent
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Prepare for a nice, pleasant tornado, then," said Dick, "for you will
+get it all right."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could have talked with O'Connel," declared Bob thoughtfully.
+"I did all I dared. You see, until our license comes I am not expected
+to transmit messages from this station. We have to get from the
+government both an operator's license and a permit for the station;
+and although I put in the application promptly there is so much red
+tape about it that it seems as if the inspector would never show up.
+If I had been caught sending a message this morning without these
+blooming papers there would have been the deuce of a row. However, I
+took a chance because I felt the emergency demanded it, and because
+being one of Uncle Sam's own men he couldn't very well put up the kick
+that I was not competent to handle a wireless outfit. Still, I shan't
+dare do it again."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't there anything we can do to hustle up the inspector?" inquired
+Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not, son. Government inspectors are not a hurrying race,"
+was Bob's whimsical reply. "However, I telephoned our local man
+yesterday and something may happen to-day. He and I used to be on
+quite good terms when he occasionally dropped in at Seaver Bay. I told
+him that if I could not get a station license pretty soon our whole
+outfit would be no good to us this season. He promised he would take
+up the matter at once. With that I had to be satisfied. Whether he
+does anything or not remains to be seen."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose O'Connel understands this difficulty, doesn't he?" mused
+Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he knows, all right, why I can't answer him. I've assured him
+that his tidings have come through and that is all he wants to know,"
+Bob answered. "He has dealt with the government himself and is
+familiar with its deliberate habits. Besides, there really isn't much
+we can say."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe you think that," grinned Dick, "but wait until you tell Dad
+that Lola is sick and hear him sputter. You will believe then that
+there is quite a bit that can be said. And if you get my mother to add
+her comments you will have plenty to relay over the wire."</p>
+
+<p>The prophecy was indeed true, as Bob King proved after he had raced
+across the grass and overtaken Mr. and Mrs. Crowninshield on a tour of
+inspection to the rose gardens.</p>
+
+<p>"News, Bob?" questioned the capitalist, wheeling about to meet the
+flying figure. "What is it? Let us have it quickly."</p>
+
+<p>Carefully the message was repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"Off Gloucester, eh, and bound north? Humph! And they've re-christened
+the poor little pupsie Trixie! Hang them! O'Connel thinks she isn't
+well? Of course she isn't seasick. Lola has been out on our yacht a
+hundred times. The reason she won't eat is because she is
+lonesome&mdash;misses her home and family. The wretches! I wish I had
+Daly here! I'd wring his neck," blustered Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't there anything we can do, Archibald? We simply must get that
+dog back before she dies. Poor little Lola! She was such a dependent
+little creature. It is terrible, terrible!"</p>
+
+<p>"There, there, my dear! Don't go all to pieces over it. Aren't we
+doing all we can? Do you want Daly to smell a rat and toss his stolen
+property into the sea? Dacie says to give him rope enough and in time
+he will hang himself, and I am inclined to think the advice wise.
+Still, that does not prevent me from wishing I could lay hands on
+Daly. I'd like nothing better than to thrash the life out of him."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you will telephone the detective the news we've received,"
+suggested Bob, in order to quell the rising storm and divert Mr.
+Crowninshield's attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'll get New York on the wire right away. It is as well Lyman
+and his pal should know Lola is sick and that they can't dally round
+forever."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall you be back for the wireless lesson?" called Bob, uncertain
+whether to ask the question or not.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sure! It won't help matters for us to sit around and wail the
+whole morning. We'll be on deck for your radio talk at the usual
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, sir."</p>
+
+<p>True to their agreement, at the appointed hour both Mr. and Mrs.
+Crowninshield made their appearance on the piazza and joined the group
+of young people who awaited their coming. They had, as Bob expressed
+it, cooled off a bit and were no longer in such an agitated frame of
+mind; nevertheless anxiety had left its mark by keying the master's
+voice to a sharper note, and shadowing the lady's brow with a frown of
+annoyance.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you let out on O'Connel, didn't you, after he got through
+talking this morning?" was the first remark of the owner of Surfside.</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't say more than a word. Our license hasn't come yet, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"That's so, darn it! I never saw anything in all my born life with so
+many rules attached to it as this wireless business. It is one tangle
+of rules, rules, rules! You might as well be tied up in a net,"
+fretted the man.</p>
+
+<p>"There do seem to be a good many rules at first glance," returned Bob
+pleasantly. "However, when you examine them most of them are both
+necessary and wise. And after all when each radio operator knows in
+black and white what he can do and what he can't it is far simpler."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose so," grumbled Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"Besides, there are always slackers at every job," continued Bob.
+"Rules help to keep such persons up to the mark and prevent
+carelessness and accidents."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I fancy that is so," came more graciously from the still irate
+gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"Then all stations are not alike. That compass station at Bell Reef,
+for example, that you were asking me about yesterday; the government
+lays out specific duties and makes special rules for such a station,
+as in fact it does for all radio stations. Some of these rules relate
+to the care of the place and the cleaning and general overhauling of
+apparatus at stated intervals. There are, you see, certain instruments
+which must be cleaned and readjusted every day; certain others every
+week, others every month, and some every six months. It simply means
+making sure that your outfit is in the pink of condition with every
+part functioning as it should. There are, of course, operators who
+would see that this was done anyway, rules or no rules; but like every
+other profession there might be men who, off on an isolated spot with
+no one to keep them up to the mark, would grow careless and slovenly.
+Too much depends on wireless stations to run the risk of errors
+through imperfections in the equipment."</p>
+
+<p>"I can understand all that; but aren't there a score of other
+regulations?"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean about what they shall and shall not do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"There certainly are. There have to be because we have several
+different types of land stations. Just as the shipboard stations have
+their special kinds of work so do those on shore. For example, there
+are two different classes of radio compass stations,&mdash;those that
+operate independently and are located with a view to giving good
+cross-bearings to vessels that are from fifty to a hundred miles out
+to sea; and those known as harbor stations which are governed by a
+central control station and designed to inform ships within thirty
+miles of the entrance to outer channels of their position. The
+function of each of these stations is, as you can see, quite different
+and therefore each of them is obliged to have its own set of rules."</p>
+
+<p>"I never knew anything about radio compass stations before," announced
+Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"That is because you never sailed the seas and had to call on one for
+aid," smiled Bob. "If you did you would be very thankful, I guess,
+that the government has so carefully provided some one to answer just
+the sort of question you wished answered. I try to remember this when
+I get hot under the collar because the license for our station does
+not arrive. Uncle Sam can't help it if his men are slow. The plan at
+the top is all right. There must be rules to govern wireless stations,
+be they governmental, commercial, or private; rules to regulate the
+wave lengths each may use; rules to make sure the operators who have
+charge of them know their job; and inspectors to make sure that every
+such rule is obeyed."</p>
+
+<p>"Who has the big chore of following up all these people and making
+certain that they are conforming to the law?" questioned Mr.
+Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"The Department of Commerce issues the licenses for all private and
+commercial stations and sends its inspectors to keep an eye on
+whatever comes under their control. It is this department that will
+have jurisdiction over Surfside if the license is granted. Government
+radio stations on the other hand, not only the high-power class but
+the coastal stations and everything that pertains to their relations
+with commercial stations afloat or ashore, whether in the United
+States or in foreign lands are entirely under the control of the
+Director of Naval Communications of the Navy Department."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd tell us something more about compass stations," Dick
+said. "Were you ever stationed at one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, for a little while I was on an island off the coast," replied
+Bob. "But I did not like it very well and applied for a transfer."</p>
+
+<p>"It must have been lonely as the dickens on an island; worse, even,
+than being at Seaver Bay. Why in goodness did they build the station
+there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you see, a compass station that operates independently as that
+one did is usually situated on a lightship or an island because that
+location is best suited to the sort of work it has to do."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is?"</p>
+
+<p>"To give ships their positions when they sing out to ask exactly where
+they are," replied Bob. "Since the station is fairly well out to sea
+itself, it is able to furnish excellent cross-bearings and set the
+vessel on her course in case she is off it. Ships have been known to
+miss their way, you know, especially in a fog; and if they have not
+missed it they are often very grateful to be assured they have not and
+that their own calculations were correct. So the rule is that an
+operator must always be listening in for at least three minutes at
+ten, twenty-five, forty, and fifty-five minutes past the hour and be
+ready to answer a Q T E when he hears it."</p>
+
+<p>"What's a Q T E?" inquired both Dick and Walter simultaneously.</p>
+
+<p>"Those particular letters mean: <i>What is my true bearing?</i> It takes
+less time to send the letters than to spell out the entire sentence
+and therefore a simple code which means the same in all languages is
+used. When such a call is received the operator replies: Q T S
+(meaning: Your true bearing is) and then follows it with the number of
+degrees from his radio post stated in words, and also the name of the
+station responding to the message. It is a general rule, by-the-by,
+that all numerals used in any wireless communication must be spelled
+out to make sure of their being perfectly understood."</p>
+
+<p>"What a bother!" ejaculated Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"It prevents mistakes, brother; and if it does that it is certainly
+worth the trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose so," answered His Highness a trifle crestfallen.</p>
+
+<p>"Then what do you say next?" interrupted Dick, who was much interested
+in the subject in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, after you have given the true bearing the ship wires: Q T F."</p>
+
+<p>"And that means?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What is my position?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"And you have to repeat those words before giving it just as you did
+before?" asked Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Always," nodded Bob. "Every question asked is always repeated by the
+operator answering it to make sure that each party fully understands
+what is being talked about. You can't risk having a ship complain:
+'Oh, I thought those figures you sent me were so-and-so.' No, indeed.
+Everything must be so explicit that there will be no room for
+blunders. So after you have repeated the question you send the
+latitude and longitude <i>in words</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess there is sense in the rules after all," smiled Mrs.
+Crowninshield. "Thus far we have not discovered any which, on being
+examined, were not both reasonable and wise."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the way I feel," Bob rejoined. "After being in radio work and
+seeing the opportunities there are for mistakes I have decided
+operators cannot be too careful. You see it is not like talking with
+a person face to face. Those you are communicating with are usually
+miles and miles away. Such stations as I have been telling you about
+are on the lookout for any six-hundred-meter calls and they answer in
+this tune. After communication with a ship is established, however,
+the tune shifts to seven hundred and fifty-six meters if a Navy vessel
+should be talking; if not, the six-hundred-meter wave length assigned
+is used. This leaves the shorter range waves to commercial vessels and
+greatly simplifies matters."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a good rule, too," chimed in Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"And now about the harbor stations," suggested Dick.</p>
+
+<p>The young tutor smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"I had not intended to give you all this stuff this morning,"
+protested he, "but since you are interested in it we may as well go on
+with the subject. The task of the harbor stations, then, is to listen
+both on a six-hundred-meter range, and one of nine hundred and
+fifty-two&mdash;the first wave length for commercial and the latter
+for Navy ship's calls. Then in response to inquiry the operator
+directs the vessel how to enter that particular harbor, stating just
+where the entrance buoys are and where the channel lies. If the man at
+the wheel is new to the port this aid is invaluable."</p>
+
+<p>"Not much like the navigation of the old days, is it?" mused Mr.
+Crowninshield. "I should think such stations would put pilots out of
+business."</p>
+
+<p>"They do to some extent," was the reply. "There are, however, always
+ships that cannot make a landing under their own steam, ships that
+have to be towed. So the pilots still find something to do."</p>
+
+<p>"And are these harbor stations on islands too?" questioned Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Many of them are. A small proportion of them, though, are in
+lighthouses. It all depends on which place has the more favorable
+location."</p>
+
+<p>"But do not the land stations that send messages sometimes interfere
+with these stations?" queried Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"There are rules to prevent <i>that</i>," laughed Bob. "Of course the
+difference in wave length to which the various types of stations are
+limited solves a part of this difficulty. As I told you commercial
+stations have their own particular wave length and must stick to it;
+and private stations such as this one here have their range of two
+hundred meters in which to operate and are confined to not more than
+one kilowatt for sending messages. You cannot use more than this
+without special permission from the Secretary of Labor. Should you do
+so you are liable to a fine of one hundred dollars if your offense is
+deliberate; if, however, it is proved that your apparatus was out of
+adjustment and overreached itself you may get off with a
+twenty-five-dollar fine. In that case you must see at once that your
+radio error is corrected and your outfit set right."</p>
+
+<p>"But sometimes along the coast aren't there big government stations
+belonging to the army or navy? I should think these, with their press
+of business, would butt in on the smaller ones and raise havoc with
+them," ventured Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"Where there are such mix-ups and private or commercial stations
+interfere with important government outfits the smaller ones are not
+allowed to send messages during the first fifteen minutes of each
+hour, such time being reserved for government business. The
+government, on the other hand, must respect the rights of the littler
+chap and use this particular interval for transmitting. In fact, when
+licenses are issued this condition is made with private owners and the
+station is so listed. Of course, however, should an S O S call come,
+all rules go by the boards and the distress call has the right of way
+in every case."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Crowninshield, smiling mischievously, rose from her chair.</p>
+
+<p>"There is an S O S coming in right now for a lemonade," said she,
+fanning herself with her filmy handkerchief. "Who will join me?"</p>
+
+<p>A chorus of "I!" "I!" greeted the question.</p>
+
+<p>She touched a bell.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring lemonade for six, Emelie," said she. "Put in some slices of
+orange, some strawberries, and plenty of cracked ice. What a warm day
+it is! I am glad I am not out on some hot, sun-baked island answering
+radio calls."</p>
+
+<p>"You probably would not be hot if you were on an island out to sea, my
+dear," her husband returned playfully. "However, I'll agree that this
+veranda is good enough for me on a July day."</p>
+
+<p>The tinkling of ice cut short the conversation. Far away through the
+house its distant cadence sounded.</p>
+
+<p>"The first and tallest lemonade must be for Bob," Nancy announced. "He
+has certainly earned it."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h3>
+
+<h4>MIRACLES</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>Although throughout the day Mr. Crowninshield did not wander far from
+the telephone no word came from the New York detectives and evening
+saw him quite discouraged.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot imagine what those fellows are up to," fretted he. "Now that
+they know where the yacht is and have had all day to do something
+about it, it is beyond my comprehension why they haven't. Lola will be
+dead before they get round to moving on Daly."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe they are sitting idle," Bob declared in an effort to
+cheer his patron. "Probably there will be news to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe," sighed the financier. "But if something does not happen by
+to-morrow, I shall start myself in my own yacht to chase up Daly."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt if that would do any good, sir," protested Bob. "It might
+simply, as you said yourself, precipitate a crisis."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, a crisis is better than having nothing done," fumed the man
+irritably.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not forget there is O'Connel."</p>
+
+<p>"Much good he is doing. We have only heard from him once and as we
+have no license you can't talk to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, he is on the job at his end of the line," Bob answered.
+"He has a lot of common sense, too. You can trust him to keep tabs on
+how things are moving."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe I can. I hope so," was the dismal retort.</p>
+
+<p>Evening, however, saw no improvement in Mr. Crowninshield's mood. "Not
+a yip of any sort from those chaps in New York. One would think they
+were dead," he growled. "Well, I'll give them one more day and then if
+they haven't something to show I will send them to blazes and take up
+the case myself. I almost wish I had done it in the first place. Here
+I am paying a small fortune and getting no results."</p>
+
+<p>Again Bob struggled to soothe the perturbed mind and raise the
+capitalist's spirits.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we'll hear something to-morrow, I guess," said he with an
+optimism he did not altogether feel. "Maybe my license will come; or
+the inspector may appear; or O'Connel may send tidings; or news may
+come from New York. Something is sure to happen. Why don't we all go
+over to the station and listen in on the broadcasting to-night. We are
+sure to get something that will be interesting and now that the 'loud
+speaker' is in position we shall be able to hear without using
+individual receivers. You haven't any of you really heard what our
+wireless can do."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it," acknowledged the gentleman. "You see, just about every
+night during broadcasting hours we have either had company or I have
+been busy."</p>
+
+<p>"But are you to be busy to-night?" inquired Bob.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I fancy we're not. Mrs. Crowninshield said there was nothing on."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why don't we light up the boathouse, and all of us listen to
+what is going on in the world," Bob suggested. "I wish, too, Jerry
+might come. He has not had a chance to see the outfit at all, much
+less hear it. If it would not annoy you and the ladies just to let him
+sit at the back of the room he could hear everything now that the horn
+is on." Bob hesitated. "He has been so kind about helping
+us&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure! Ask him by all means," Mr. Crowninshield assented heartily. "Or
+better yet, I will ask him myself. I am glad you reminded me of it.
+Jerry is my right-hand man and I like to give him pleasure when I can.
+What time will your show begin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, from seven o'clock on there is usually something doing, sir. But
+the most interesting part of the program begins at eight."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be on hand, then."</p>
+
+<p>This promise won Bob imparted the tidings to Dick and Walter and the
+two assistants, as they dubbed themselves, hastened to prepare the new
+radio building for the reception of guests. Comfortable chairs and gay
+cushions were brought from the house and in his enthusiasm Dick even
+went so far as to drape a flag over the entrance of the low room.</p>
+
+<p>"We might have hung out bunting if we'd known sooner they were
+coming," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they won't care about the bunting once they are inside the
+place," Walter asserted in a comforting tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you hope the outfit will show up well? I do," declared Dick.
+"It would be just our luck to have something act up so we couldn't
+hear anything. Then Dad, who is feeling pretty much on edge anyway,
+would announce that a wireless was simply money thrown in a hole."</p>
+
+<p>"We're not responsible for the conditions," laughed Bob. "If static is
+bothersome it is not our fault."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, Dad wouldn't understand that. He would just think we
+did not know how to operate the thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we'll pray for moderate quiet," smiled Bob. "Of course I'd like
+the apparatus to show off at its best. But like a child, it probably
+won't. We shall have to take our luck; and if we do not get
+satisfactory results to-night why the audience will have to come again
+to-morrow or some other time."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe it won't&mdash;at least maybe Dad won't," Dick answered
+incoherently. "If he starts off in the yacht to-morrow&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he won't set off to chase Daly to-morrow, don't you fret," put in
+His Highness. "He was only sputtering. What good could he do? He
+wouldn't have any right to search the <i>Siren</i> even if he overtook her;
+nor could he arrest the criminals aboard her. Daly would pitch Lola
+over the side of the boat before he would stand by and let your father
+board his yacht and he knows it."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe he does," admitted Dick. "Still, he was tremendously in earnest
+this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"He has calmed down some now," His Highness replied.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he'll stay calmed," Dick smiled. "Perhaps, unless our show
+goes wrong and he gets irate at the radio company, he will."</p>
+
+<p>In fact had the three young wireless operators been willing to admit
+it they were far more perturbed when they heard the invited company
+approaching than they would have been willing to confess. In the heart
+of each of them was the same thought: the new radiophone must justify
+itself and prove that it was worth all the money that had been
+expended upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, here we are! And here's Jerry, too. He said he couldn't
+possibly come&mdash;tried to make me believe he was too busy, the
+rascal. But I labored with him and finally got him here," announced
+the master triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p>Very hot and very uncomfortable under the general banter Jerry
+blushed.</p>
+
+<p>"Now where do you wish to put us, Dick?" inquired the boy's mother.
+"We are under your orders to-night&mdash;yours and Bob's."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you will be able to hear in any of these chairs&mdash;that
+is, if we hear at all," Dick responded nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by <i>able to hear at all</i>?" put in his father
+sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;eh&mdash;sometimes conditions vary," was the ambiguous
+answer. "One does not always hear equally well." It seemed wiser to
+prepare his father's mind for possible disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Bob was tinkering with the plugs.</p>
+
+<p>"Everybody ready?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"All on deck!" came from Mr. Crowninshield whose depression, it was
+plain to be seen, had momentarily vanished.</p>
+
+<p>"Then here goes!" cried Bob.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the quiet of the room was transformed into a chaos of sound.
+There was a shrill piping as of a singing wind, and a wail that echoed
+hauntingly through the air as the tuner revolved.</p>
+
+<p>"What in the name of goodness&mdash;&mdash;?" began Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Dad! It is always like that," explained Dick hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"But it's horrible."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know. But wait."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't something out of order?"</p>
+
+<p>"No." Dick smiled patronizingly.</p>
+
+<p>"My soul and body," whispered Jerry from his corner, "did anybody ever
+hear such a sound? Ain't it the wind outside. Seems as if a gale must
+have come up&mdash;a hurricane, tornado, or something. If a storm's
+coming I can't sit round here. I'll have to be seeing to the awnings
+or they'll be ripped to pieces." He half rose from his chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't worry, Jerry; everything's all right outside," interrupted
+Walter reassuringly.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean to say it's just in here?" murmured the bewildered Jerry.
+Enjoying the old man's confusion, Walter nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"What you hear is the rise of our pitch," explained Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"I should think it was the rise of something," grumbled Mr.
+Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"We are running up our meters in order to catch the higher tuned
+waves," Bob added. "That is part of the bedlam."</p>
+
+<p>"And the rest?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is static interference."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, static is the big bugbear of radio," answered Bob, pausing a
+moment in regulating his tuner and detector. "It is caused by stray
+waves moving in various directions through the atmosphere, and by
+electrical conditions. It is the defect all wireless people have to
+fight. Sometimes it is worse than others and unfortunately to-night it
+promises to be pretty bad. You see it has been a close, heavy day and
+no doubt thunderstorms are in the air. A thunderstorm will kick up no
+end of a rumpus with wireless."</p>
+
+<p>"But we haven't had any thunderstorm," Nancy called above the hubbub.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but somebody else's thunderstorm would bother us almost as
+much," Bob explained good-humoredly.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind the thunderstorms now," put in Mr. Crowninshield. "Aren't
+we going to hear anything but this whistling and groaning? Whee! There
+it goes again. It is for all the world like a chorus of cats."</p>
+
+<p>"It is more like a siren horn tooting up and down," laughed Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>A spluttering crackle blotted out the wail.</p>
+
+<p>"You would think they were frying doughnuts," grinned Dick, "wouldn't
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"And you really believe a thunderstorm would cause a noise like this?"
+queried Mrs. Crowninshield incredulously.</p>
+
+<p>"It might. We have no way of knowing exactly what is raising the
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say that a storm that wasn't round here at all
+could&mdash;&mdash;" burst out Jerry, then stopped embarrassed.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed it could," replied Bob, answering the unfinished question.
+"You see thunderstorms cause powerful electrical waves that affect
+apparatus miles and miles distant. Of course such waves vary in length
+but nevertheless they act on all aerials to a greater or less degree.
+Then, too, the atmospheric conditions are never quite identical,
+changing with the hour of the day, the season of the year, and local
+weather disturbances. Fortunately, since the air is positively
+electrified and the earth negatively, certain of these differences are
+remedied by the aerial that connects the two, the current discharges
+partially seeping off through the ground. Sometimes, however, in spite
+of every device used, such currents are strong enough to cause a roar
+in the receiver. In addition there is the interference from other
+radio stations which are busy transmitting messages, and although
+there are rules that aim to reduce this annoyance, it is, to a certain
+extent, always to be reckoned with."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think somebody ought to invent something to prevent such
+troubles," declared Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you, Sis?" asked Dick wickedly.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is terrible to have the air so full of noise," continued the
+girl, as she made a little face at her brother. "I've always thought
+of the air as being still."</p>
+
+<p>"It is still in a general sense," smiled Bob. "It is only when the
+amplifier of the wireless magnifies the sounds that we realize how
+many of them our ears fail to hear."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a downright mercy they do!" exclaimed Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"You're right there, Jerry!" agreed Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"But how do messages come through such a chaos?" Dick inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes they don't," laughed Bob. "But nine cases out of ten they
+do because there are ways of combating static interference. You can,
+for instance, tune your apparatus to a higher or lower pitch and
+thereby escape from the zone where the noise is. That whine you hear
+is produced by my turning the tuning knob and increasing our range of
+meters. Already with the higher vibration you will notice the hubbub
+has lessened."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, things are ever so much clearer," agreed a chorus of voices.</p>
+
+<p>"That is one way, then, out of the difficulty. There are, in addition,
+other mechanical means that can be resorted to when you learn more
+about handling the outfit. Suffice it to say that in a general way
+whatever tends toward inertia, or a lack of electrical activity,
+decreases static interference."</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause in which above the crackling and the wailing of the
+instrument a faint sound became audible.</p>
+
+<p>"Gee! Did you hear that?" cried Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I heard a voice quite distinctly."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still, can't you?" Dick remarked unceremoniously.</p>
+
+<p>Then plainly into the room came the words:</p>
+
+<p>"Station (WGI) Amrad Medford Hillside, Mass. 360 meters. Stand by for
+Boston Police reports."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the police news," whispered Dick to Nancy. "Among other
+things it gives the automobiles that are lost, their numbers, and a
+description of each."</p>
+
+<p>"Want to hear it?" asked Bob of his audience.</p>
+
+<p>"Not unless they can tell us they have found Lola," responded Mr.
+Crowninshield promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no," his wife hastened to add, "let's not listen to a long
+string of crimes. Goodness knows there are enough of them to read in
+the papers."</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head warningly at Bob and motioned toward her husband.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather hear some music," put in Nancy. "Can't we?"</p>
+
+<p>There was an ascending wail from the tuner.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't that a band?" cried Jerry excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's an orchestra!" Nancy ejaculated in the same breath.</p>
+
+<p>"It's gone!"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll get it again," was Bob's confident answer as he twirled the
+knobs of both tuner and detector.</p>
+
+<p>"There it is!" burst out Jerry. "It's a brass band, as I live!"</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you suppose it is?" speculated Mrs. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"Pittsburgh or Chicago; or perhaps Newark."</p>
+
+<p>"Not Chicago&mdash;out West! You're fooling," observed Jerry with
+scorn.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I'm not. Wait and you'll hear in a few moments exactly who it
+was."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll not believe it unless I do," the old man announced, with a zest
+that provoked a general laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"What time is it? Can any one tell?" asked Bob.</p>
+
+<p>"What difference does that make," Walter inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"It will give us a cue as to who it is," was the explanation. "All
+these broadcasting stations have certain hours for their programs."</p>
+
+<p>"I've seen those lists published in the papers, but I never took any
+stock in them," growled Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to now, Jerry," said Nancy mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>She saw him scratch his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I dunno," was his laconic reply. "The whole thing beats me. If
+that band was in Chicago&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!"</p>
+
+<p>The crash of instruments had come to an end and over the wire in
+accents unmistakably distinct came the words:</p>
+
+<p>"Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company KYW Chicago,
+Illinois. Stand by fifteen minutes for&mdash;&mdash;" but the rest of
+the sentence was lost, for with a mighty slap of his knees Jerry
+roared:</p>
+
+<p>"It was in Chicago&mdash;that band! Well, I'll be buttered!"</p>
+
+<p>Overwhelmed the Cape Codder had risen to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Chicago! Pittsburgh! Medford! My eye, but this will do me to talk
+about until the day of my death. It don't seem possible; I'm beat if
+it does."</p>
+
+<p>Helplessly he dropped back into his chair again, silenced by very
+wonder.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime out of the wailing and whining and piping the sharp,
+clear-cut click of a telegraph instrument could be discerned.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the Morse code," explained Bob. "Some commercial station is
+sending a message. It seems to be about a shipment of lumber and
+isn't particularly interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you can read it," said Dick enviously.</p>
+
+<p>"Naturally. That is part of my job, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"What is a commercial station?" inquired the still bewildered Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"A station that sends only messages for the general public. Probably
+this load of lumber started out of port without the captain of the
+ship having the least idea in the world where he was to market it. In
+the interval since it left, however, the company's shore agents have
+secured a customer for it, perhaps in New Bedford, Boston, Providence,
+or some other coast city and they are now notifying the ship where to
+deliver it. Such an arrangement is quite common nowadays. Were the
+captain obliged to hold his cargo in port until he had a purchaser, as
+was the usual rule in the past, he would be wasting much precious
+time. By this method he can set forth the moment the vessel is loaded
+and during his voyage let his managers search for buyers. In all
+probability by the time he nears New England harbors his wares will be
+sold and orders sent him where to deposit them."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a neat little scheme!" observed Walter.</p>
+
+<p>But poor Jerry was too much overcome by the marvels he had witnessed
+to comment on this added miracle. All he could do was to reiterate
+feebly: "It beats me&mdash;hanged if it don't!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h3>
+
+<h4>THE LAWS OF THE AIR</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>Morning found Mr. Crowninshield in no more tractable a mood. Even
+before Bob could reach his post at the wireless station and adjust his
+double head receiver to his ears his employer came briskly across the
+grass with his after-breakfast cigar between his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," began he, when he was within calling distance, "any news yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not yet, sir. It is still early."</p>
+
+<p>The great man took out his watch.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it almost time for O'Connel to signal?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is nearing the time."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if he will have any tidings for us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly hope so." The wish was uttered with deep sincerity. A
+speculation was forming in the young operator's mind as to how he was
+going to pacify the irascible gentleman before him should no tidings
+come.</p>
+
+<p>"Since I'm here I believe I'll drop down and wait until you get into
+touch with the <i>Siren</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"It is liable to be quite a little while. Sometimes there is delay."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter. I've nothing especial to do to-day."</p>
+
+<p>With sinking heart Bob turned away and began to fuss with his oil can
+and a bit of cotton waste.</p>
+
+<p>"As you will, sir," was all he said.</p>
+
+<p>"You think, don't you, that we will hear something definite this
+morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no telling."</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course not. Nevertheless O'Connel can at least let us know
+whether Lola is worse or better."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we ought to ascertain that."</p>
+
+<p>"He wouldn't be such an idiot as to stand by and see the dog die,
+would he?"</p>
+
+<p>"One never can predict just what another person will do. However, I
+feel sure you can trust O'Connel. I never knew him to bungle anything
+yet."</p>
+
+<p>With that comfort Mr. Crowninshield was obliged to content himself.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding it, however, he began to pace nervously back and
+forth, and every time there was a sound in the room he would whisk
+about with the quick remark:</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you hear something?"</p>
+
+<p>But although he fretted and fumed, strolled out the door and in again,
+no amount of impatience appeared to hurry matters.</p>
+
+<p>Even Bob began to lose his poise and fear no message was coming when
+suddenly the well-known signal came and the familiar clockwork began
+to be clicked off.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it he?" demanded Mr. Crowninshield in a tense whisper.</p>
+
+<p>Bob nodded.</p>
+
+<p>On clicked the code. Then suddenly it stopped and the man who was
+watching saw the operator raise the discs of rubber from his ears and
+shake himself free of his metal trappings.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" inquired Mr. Crowninshield in quick staccato.</p>
+
+<p>"It was O'Connel. All he said was: <i>Wait developments.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word about Lola?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a reference of any sort?"</p>
+
+<p>"That was all."</p>
+
+<p>"But that is no kind of a message," announced the exasperated owner of
+Surfside. "Why, it might mean almost anything."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds hopeful to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see any hope in it," was the despondent answer.</p>
+
+<p>"It least it gives us to understand that something is brewing."</p>
+
+<p>"But why couldn't he have told us more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he did not dare to. They may have begun to suspect he was
+sending private messages."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! I had not thought of that."</p>
+
+<p>"Or possibly he may have been in a rush. He sent the letters at a
+tremendous pace&mdash;so fast that I had to race him. It seemed as if
+he was afraid he might not be able to get the message through."</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't answer anything, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"Only my signal to let him know I was listening."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think there is nothing more to be done at present but sit
+right here and see what happens?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not see how we can do anything else."</p>
+
+<p>"It's frightfully annoying."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Nevertheless it is our only course."</p>
+
+<p>"You've no inkling whether the developments he mentioned are to be
+soon or not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not the ghost of an idea."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there is nothing for it but to hold on right here a while
+longer, I'm afraid. And since we are all to be tied to the spot you
+may as well come up to the house later and give Dick his usual radio
+lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, sir."</p>
+
+<p>With a curt nod the financier went out the door and after seeing that
+everything was right Bob locked up the building and followed him.</p>
+
+<p>He found the little group assembled in the lee of the awnings waiting
+for him. Mr. Crowninshield was there, too, gnawing fiercely at a fresh
+cigar.</p>
+
+<p>"I hear you have had a message, Bob," Mrs. Crowninshield said as he
+approached.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; a rather hopeful one, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so excited! We all are. What do you suppose is in the wind?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've no idea. Something good, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that Morse code hard to learn?" inquired Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"The Morse Continental? That depends on what you consider hard,"
+smiled Bob. "If your memory is good and you are quick at catching
+sounds it ought not to be very awful. Numberless persons do learn it."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course sending messages after you have the code learned cannot be
+so bad, for you can take your own time," Dick put in. "It is receiving
+them that would fuss me."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll fix you up with a buzzer and let you and Walter practice later
+if you want a try."</p>
+
+<p>"Could you?" asked Dick eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure! Moreover, there are phonograph records made on purpose to be
+used by beginners. Perhaps your father will get you some of those. It
+is a fine way to learn, training your ear to the sounds and giving you
+lots of practice."</p>
+
+<p>"What a bully scheme!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a good proof of how one science can help another, isn't it?"
+observed Mrs. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose transmitting is a great deal harder than receiving anyhow,
+isn't it?" pursued Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, of course there is more to it. In the rough it is merely the
+reverse of receiving; but in reality to project a message through the
+air requires a more elaborate outfit."</p>
+
+<p>"But you said our wireless would send as well as receive."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it will. It was made with both ends of the service in view. Your
+apparatus would first have to be adjusted and tuned until it was at
+the same frequency as the station with which you were talking. That
+you have to do anyhow, whether you are sending or receiving. And I
+told you, you remember, how to regulate that. Your antenna is
+connected through an adjustable induction coil, and moreover you have
+a small condenser which together with it forms a closed circuit. It is
+simple enough when you understand the principle to adjust the
+vibratory motion in the antenna by moving the connection. The
+frequency of the closed circuit can be adjusted, too. Tuning is
+nothing more than putting these two circuits into accord with the
+waves you receive. Your detector does a good part of the work for you,
+for it responds to every oscillation set up in the receiver. When,
+however, you are transmitting a message, you must take care to cut out
+your receiver by turning on the switch. Never forget that. You won't
+be likely to, either, when you are told why. You see it requires power
+to send out transmission waves and therefore to do it you have to
+employ a high-pressure current. Receiving, on the other hand, demands
+delicately adjusted instruments which are equipped to catch every
+faint, incoming wave. Should you let the strong charge of electricity
+used for transmission pass through your fragile receiving apparatus
+you would ruin it in no time."</p>
+
+<p>"I can see that," replied Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Grasp that notion and you have one big principle of the difference
+between sending messages and receiving them," said Bob. "Skill in
+learning to take messages either in code or cipher comes with
+practice. The more you work at it the faster you can go. You have a
+keyboard all installed and the only thing standing between you and an
+expert operator is patience. Speed comes sooner than you think, too,
+if you practice persistently every day. As for the Morse code you
+press the key lever down quickly and instantly release it to make a
+dot. A dash is equal to three dots; the space between the parts of the
+same letters is equal to a dot; that between two letters to three
+dots; and between two words to five dots. You must train your ear
+until the span of these intervals becomes unmistakable. When you get
+some skill and are ready to try out what you can do, you will find
+that there are several ways of getting wider practice. There are, for
+example, local clubs that broadcast in code and send messages limited
+in speed to an amateur's capacity. Such centers are considerate enough
+to transmit at the rate of not more than five or ten words to the
+minute. It is persistence and a willingness to go slowly and carefully
+that win out in the end. A moderately delivered message that is
+without errors is worth a dozen fast, inaccurate ones; for when you
+blunder and have to go back and repeat, you not only waste your time
+and that of the man at the other end of the line but you annoy and
+usually confuse him. You will never gain anything if you are content
+with being a sloppy operator since above everything else radio
+messages must be correct. That is their chief value. Therefore, if
+after trying with all your might you find you cannot qualify as a
+topnotch, high-speed man be content to drop into the class below and
+be an accurate, slower operator. There are always certain things we
+do better than others. Speed may not be one of your gifts. That is no
+sign you have not other talents, however. Face the fact and go into
+the class where you belong. You won't get so nervous and fussed up,
+and by and by you may surprise yourself by finding that with time and
+experience the desired speed will come."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not aiming to be a crackerjack like you," grinned Dick. "If I
+can take down and send any messages at all I shall feel pretty cocky."</p>
+
+<p>"You think that now," returned Bob, ignoring the flattery contained in
+the observation. "But by and by you will find yourself discontented
+and as crazy to make time as you are in an automobile. There is a
+fascination about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't the Morse Continental bother you a bit?" inquired Mr.
+Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a particle. In fact, it has come to be almost as easy reading as
+straight English," answered Bob. "The thing that does fuss me
+sometimes though is to send and receive in cipher."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! Do they do that too?" gasped Mrs. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. Often both in time of war and times of peace confidential
+messages which it is not desirable all the world should know have to
+be transmitted. Sometimes these are government communications;
+sometimes business or personal ones. At any rate, their senders wish
+them kept private and hence they are sent in cipher. Many of them are
+queer enough, too, when they come in."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you understand them yourself?" asked Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not. It is not intended that any one except the person for
+whom they are intended shall know what they mean."</p>
+
+<p>"But I should think since they make no sense you would wonder whether
+you had them right," commented Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"I do wonder sometimes," admitted Bob honestly. "When you get a
+sequence of queer words or combinations of letters you cannot help
+wondering. However, there is not much chance for a mistake, either in
+the transmission or in the delivery of such messages, for the operator
+is always obliged to send them slower than he does ordinary stuff,
+spacing the letters or groups of letters with unusual care.
+Furthermore, code words are always repeated once. This gives the man
+receiving them a chance to print the letters by hand rather than write
+them, a precaution that does much to prevent mistakes. The address and
+signature must also be very carefully transmitted. With such
+watchfulness at each end of the line it would be only a colossally
+stupid person who would blunder."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose the operator who is transmitting went faster than you
+could?" murmured Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"He doesn't as a general rule. It isn't wireless ethics. And even
+should he be a more skillful radio man he knows he would gain nothing
+by hustling the chap at the other end for he would only lose time by
+having to go back and repeat."</p>
+
+<p>"Is all the general transmission of messages given such care?"
+inquired Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course cipher communications are fussier," Bob said. "Nevertheless
+the rules are pretty strict for all messages. And since accuracy is
+the keynote of radio and to get it your outfit must be in A1
+condition, every care must be taken to have strong, clear, and
+effective sending and receiving power. That means you must constantly
+clean your apparatus and tighten it up; test out your detector by the
+buzzer intended for the purpose and make sure that it is in sensitive
+condition; and assure yourself that every part of your set is OK.
+Moreover, an operator who is on duty listening in is expected to wear
+the double head receiver all the time, so no sound, however faint, may
+get by him. He must also see that his detector is adjusted to its
+greatest degree of sensibility and his tuner to the proper wave
+length. If your station happens to be near another, or if you are one
+of a group of ships and other vessels near yours are sending, you must
+watch out and either weaken the coupling of your detector or open your
+switch and cut it out altogether when those around you are using
+powerful currents for transmission; else you will wreck this delicate
+part of your instrument."</p>
+
+<p>"Gee, but there are things to remember!" ejaculated Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so many, really, if you use ordinary brains," Bob returned. "You
+just have to think, that is all. A few big principles hold throughout.
+The other <i>don'ts</i> are simply to make your own work and the other
+fellow's smoother; prevent mistakes; do away with as much interference
+as possible; and protect your outfit. For example, I found I could
+often lessen the interference by loosening the coupling of my
+receiving set after I had heard a call and reduce the sound to a point
+where it was just readable. You get your message all right but you do
+not get so much else with it. Then you can save wear and tear if you
+only run your generator while you are sending messages. That you
+cannot transmit at the hours reserved for naval radio stations to send
+out the time signals by which navigators set their chronometers, or
+when operators are broadcasting, goes without saying. Any dunce would
+know that."</p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea there were hours for sending out the time," confessed
+Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed there are. It is very important, too, that ships know the
+correct time to prevent disasters. There are shore stations whose sole
+duty it is to supply to ships the time and their location. Don't you
+recall my mentioning such coastal stations?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; I guess I do remember now," returned Dick, a trifle
+confused.</p>
+
+<p>"What happens if you call a station and nobody answers?" interrogated
+Nancy. "I have been meaning to ask. Do you just keep on calling as you
+do at the telephone?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed," was the instant reply. "Should you do that you would
+cause no end of interference and make yourself a nuisance to
+everybody. The rule is that after you have called a station three
+times at two-minute intervals you must stop for a quarter of an hour
+before you call again. If you happened to be calling a fleet of ships
+it is desirable to alter your tune rather than keep repeating the
+summons in the same key. It saves time. Merchant ships and coast
+stations must, however, be called in the wave length definitely
+specified for their use."</p>
+
+<p>"Shipboard stations seem to have more rules than the others,"
+commented Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Not more rules but different ones," Bob said. "You see their nearness
+to other ships makes this imperative. Each ship has to take care not
+to knock out the apparatus of its neighbor by inconsiderate use of a
+high-power current; also it must not cause undue interference. In
+other words, a bevy of ships, like a group of persons, must be
+courteous to one another. If a ship within a ten-mile radius of
+another is receiving signals that are so faint that they are difficult
+to distinguish, a neighboring vessel should not complicate matters by
+trying to transmit a message until the other ship has received what
+was coming in. This rule makes for ordinary politeness, that is all."</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't the ship waiting to talk send a message in a different wave
+length?" inquired Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; that would be quite possible, if the tune varied enough to
+make it perfectly distinct."</p>
+
+<p>"But what about high-power stations?" demanded Walter. "They handle
+important stuff and of course cannot keep stopping for other people
+to talk. Don't their powerful currents damage the receiving sets in
+stations near them? I should think they might even injure their own."</p>
+
+<p>"High-power, or long-distance stations have still another problem to
+meet and they meet it in a different way," responded Bob. "In order
+that the currents they are obliged to use shall not destroy detectors
+and other delicate receiving apparatus they carry on what are known as
+duplex operations. That is, the receiving station is constructed
+at some distance from the sending station&mdash;often several
+miles away&mdash;and the two parts of the service are performed
+independently by different antenn&aelig;. In this way sending and
+receiving can be carried on at the same time in slightly varying wave
+lengths."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can they talk and act as one station if they are so far
+apart?" questioned His Highness much puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not as impossible as it seems. The operator at the sending
+station has a small sending key connected by electricity with a relay
+at the receiving station. By means of a lever and certain complex
+paraphernalia this key can be used as the sending key for the main
+apparatus. Thus the station operated by distant control carries on a
+duplex system of transmission so that both sending and receiving
+stations are kept in touch with one another."</p>
+
+<p>"That is clever!" interrupted Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"A high-power station has to be ingeniously equipped," responded Bob,
+"for it does a great deal of business, rapid business and business
+that is important. In some stations so fast do the messages come in
+and so long are they that an automatic tape not unlike that seen at
+the stock exchange is used to make perforated records of the dots and
+dashes. Later this punctured slip can be run through a Morse writer
+and the message taken down at leisure by the operator. Or sometimes
+photographic or phonographic records are resorted to and these like
+the others can be reproduced at a slower rate of speed and interpreted
+by the operator."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like that and then I wouldn't have to hurry," murmured
+Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be jolly to be an operator in a long-distance station," mused
+Dick, "where real things are going on."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it is," was Bob's nonchalant answer. "I fancy, though, that
+very vital government messages go in cipher. Uncle Sam isn't risking
+having his secrets published far and wide over the face of the whole
+earth. Although for that matter all radio messages are secret."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can they be if any and everybody can listen in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, on a high-power wave length probably ordinary persons would not
+be able to listen in. Their apparatus would not be equipped for it.
+Should a station be able to, however, during critical periods, such as
+times of war, the government takes no chances and orders all but
+certain specified stations dismantled. That puts an end to intruders
+unless a spy has a hidden wireless somewhere; and if he has he takes
+an almighty risk with his neck, that is all I can say," concluded Bob
+with a grin.</p>
+
+<p>"But operators have tongues and can talk," Mrs. Crowninshield
+suggested. "Don't they sometimes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Usually they do not know what the message passing through their hands
+means," Bob answered. "But even should they contrive to study it out
+they would not dare repeat it because of the penalty entailed."</p>
+
+<p>"Penalty?"</p>
+
+<p>The young operator nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"You would not have to concern yourself much about blabbers if you
+heard what happens to them," piped Walter, who suddenly found himself
+on ground which previous instruction had rendered familiar. "It's off
+with their heads!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not really!" gasped the horrified Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he does not mean literally," the elder brother explained. "But it
+is away with their license which is almost as disastrous a fate to a
+man who has planned to make his living by wireless. Nor is the loss of
+the license all that happens. In addition one is liable to a
+two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar fine or three years' imprisonment."</p>
+
+<p>"Jove! They do come down on you!" Dick averred.</p>
+
+<p>"Ra-<i>ther</i>! You know, of course, that if you violate any clause of
+your radio agreement you may be fined one hundred dollars; and should
+an operator fake a distress call the fine is twenty-five hundred
+dollars, or five years in prison and perhaps both. Even the smallest
+fine one can get off with for such an offense is two years behind the
+bars. It makes you think twice before playing that little joke. The
+government is wise, too, to spread it on thick, for to fake an S O S
+which is given the right of way over every other signal would be a
+contemptible trick. Mild punishments like fines and imprisonments
+would be too good for the wretch who would so deliberately mislead
+people. Moreover a few such offenses would cause the importance of the
+call to be discredited so that in time nobody would be in a rush to
+pay attention to it."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't realize an S O S so invariably had the right of way,"
+meditated Dick. "Of course I knew it was the distress signal at sea."</p>
+
+<p>"S O S in the International Morse Code is the universal distress call
+adopted by the common consent of our civilized nations at the wireless
+convention held at Berlin in 1906. Every radio station ashore or
+afloat is obliged to give it first place and do everything possible to
+further its demands. When a distress call is heard all ships and
+stations everywhere that hear it are in honor bound to stop whatever
+they may be doing and listen; nor must they try to talk with the ship
+herself unless she asks them to. Instead, after she has sent out her
+call for attention, which is equivalent to our <i>Hello</i> of the
+telephone, she gives her name; the name of the station or ship she
+wishes to talk with; states what the matter is; and defines as nearly
+as she is able her position. This done she sends out a general call
+and if the station or ship she has asked aid from has not caught the
+signal and fails to answer her, any operator within hearing may do so.
+The instant he begins to talk with her, however, all the others
+listening in must remain silent. At last, when the message is
+delivered or the necessary conversation at an end, then the ship's
+radio man sends out a broadcast to let everybody know that he has
+finished so that all stations may resume their regular routine."</p>
+
+<p>"Some system!" breathed Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you would think there was some system if you were to see a
+book of radio rules," returned Bob. "I'll show you mine some day. All
+the various shore stations have their many regulations, as I have told
+you before; shipboard stations have theirs; and even the amateurs are
+protected so that every class may get fair play and not bother his
+neighbor. Wireless stations, you see, are not mere toys. They have
+work to do and must be able to do it unhampered."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like a glimpse of that manual," suggested Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bring it round to-morrow," Bob answered, glancing at his watch
+and rising.</p>
+
+<p>The others rose too.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it would be no use to listen in for O'Connel again,"
+remarked Mr. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"I will if you like," Bob responded. "I doubt, though, if it would do
+any good."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I guess it wouldn't. We shall just have to wait," sighed the
+man.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h3>
+
+<h4>THE NET TIGHTENS</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>When on the morrow no call of any kind came from O'Connel Mr.
+Crowninshield was, as his son expressed it, "fit to be tied."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't see why we do not hear something to-day," fumed he. "He can't
+expect us to <i>wait developments</i> forever. Are you sure you did not
+miss the signal, Bob."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how I could have missed it," replied the operator
+patiently.</p>
+
+<p>"But he always does call, doesn't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has for the last few days."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why not to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot imagine. Perhaps he couldn't."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't suppose anything has happened to Lola, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who can tell?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are right; it was a foolish question," admitted the financier,
+accepting the rebuke gracefully. "Still, I cannot help being anxious
+and wondering."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not."</p>
+
+<p>"If only that miserable inspector would turn up and you could get your
+license! It is absurd that you cannot send a message, a man of your
+experience!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am as sorry about the delay as you are," Bob answered. "Perhaps I
+am more so. Nevertheless I am not going to break the rules. Besides,
+were we to call O'Connel, it might arouse suspicion and get him into
+trouble. It is far better to leave the calling to him."</p>
+
+<p>"But he hasn't called."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there is some good reason, I'll be bound. He knows what he is
+about when he says to await developments."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe he does," sighed the elder man. "However, I am not much used to
+waiting. When I want a thing done, I want it done."</p>
+
+<p>Bob smiled at the characteristic remark.</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot whisk everything off like that," observed he. "Sometimes
+it is necessary&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To wait? Yes, I suppose so," put in Mr. Crowninshield. "Well, I will
+hold my horses for one more day. But I warn you to-morrow I shall do
+something. I can't be hanging around like this&mdash;not knowing
+anything or hearing anything."</p>
+
+<p>"It is hard," Bob returned sympathetically.</p>
+
+<p>"It is hard for one born in New York and accustomed to seeing things
+hum," asserted the owner of Surfside with a wry smile. "Well, we must
+try to forget it, that's all. Come, get your books and let us go on
+with our radio lesson from the point where we left it yesterday. The
+rest of them are waiting and there seems to be nothing better that we
+can do."</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately Bob was not sensitive enough to be hurt by the thrust.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be right along," agreed he, "as soon as I have locked up here."</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the veranda he found his class assembled and the first
+comment to reach his ears was:</p>
+
+<p>"No news from O'Connel, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Dick."</p>
+
+<p>"What in thunder do you suppose has become of him?"</p>
+
+<p>Bob put his finger to his lips and taking the hint the boy abandoned
+the subject, inquiring instead:</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it a bore to have to listen in at just such a time every day
+whether it is convenient or not&mdash;I mean when you are in charge of
+a station."</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes it is," Bob responded. "Still, it is your job and you
+expect to put it first and fit your own affairs in around it. Besides,
+you get used to the regularity of the hours and soon do not notice the
+monotony of the rules. You can readily understand why, at all official
+radio stations, somebody must always be on the watch for S O S calls.
+On shipboard there are three classes of wireless stations: those
+having continual service with an operator who always has his ear to
+the receiver while the ship is in motion; those where the office is
+open only at stated hours and an operator listening merely for a
+limited time; and those whose operators have no fixed time beyond
+listening in the first ten minutes of each hour."</p>
+
+<p>"The ship decides which kind of station it will have, I suppose,"
+Nancy remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed it doesn't," Bob contradicted, with a shake of his head. "The
+government saves the vessel that trouble. It defines exactly the sort
+of station when it issues the license. Uncle Sam also bestows on each
+of these stations a name or combination of letters by which it shall
+be known and under which it is officially listed. Each country has a
+prescribed number of such letters allotted for its use at the
+International Convention at Berne, and our nation is authorized to use
+groups beginning with N and W; also triple groups of KIA to KZZ. You
+will find all these call letters in a book that contains the wireless
+telegraph stations of the world, a volume issued by the international
+publication office at Berne."</p>
+
+<p>"Can any one get one?" inquired Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, if he has the price," smiled the older brother. "I guess
+you do not need one, though. A local call book would answer most
+purposes. It would hardly be necessary for you to call any foreign
+offices, and I even doubt if you would need to summon Sayville,
+Tuckerton, New Brunswick, Marion, or Annapolis."</p>
+
+<p>"Those are our trans-Atlantic stations, aren't they?" asked Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of them," Bob said. "We have others, though, that can talk with
+Europe. There is one at San Diego; Pearl Harbor in Hawaii; and Cavite
+in the Philippines. There are also Marconi stations at Kahuka and
+Bolinas. In addition to these, the government has a number of
+high-power stations scattered throughout the country. Arlington,
+Virginia&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Sends out the time," put in Walter with disconcerting promptness.</p>
+
+<p>"It sure does, sonny."</p>
+
+<p>"How many foreign countries can talk with us?" inquired Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"A short time ago there were eight that could talk direct. One is at
+Funabashi, Japan; one at Carnarvon, Wales; two in France, one at
+Nantes and one at Lyons; Rome, Italy, has one; Germany has one at
+Nauen and one at Eilvese, Hanover; and Norway has one at Stavanger.
+Then in Canada there are two transatlantic stations."</p>
+
+<p>"Glace Bay!" piped the incorrigible Walter.</p>
+
+<p>Bob patted his head with a mock fatherly gesture.</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, son," said he, at which everybody laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"These stations," he went on, "are all equipped with very high power,
+varying in wave length anywhere from 17,600 to 6,000 meters. Most of
+our stations are pretty powerful, anyway. Pearl Harbor, for instance,
+has a 13,000 wave length; Cavite 12,000; Sayville, 11,600; Tuckerton,
+owned by a French company, about 8,700; New Brunswick, New Jersey,
+13,600; Marion, Massachusetts, 14,400; and Annapolis, 17,600. Only a
+few foreign stations can match these in range. Carnarvon has two wave
+lengths: 14,000 and 11,500; Lyons, 15,500; Nantes, 10,000; Rome,
+11,500; Nauen, 12,550; Eilvese (Hanover), 15,000 and 9,600; and
+Stavanger, Norway, 9,600. There are many, however, that vary from
+7,000 to 4,000 and can transmit messages by relaying them."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish my set could send farther," Dick murmured regretfully.</p>
+
+<p>"It sends as far as the law allows. We must therefore abide by Uncle
+Sam's judgment and be content. The scale is very carefully planned and
+the classifications made most intelligently, I think. Amateurs are
+limited to about a 200-meter wave length; low-power stations come next
+and are grouped under 1,600 meters. Of these the 750 wave is reserved
+for government stations such as radio compass stations, etc.; 600
+meters is the commercial tune for large merchant ships; 476 that of
+submarines, aircraft, and small war vessels; and 300 meters is the
+commercial tune for small vessels. After that we pass into the higher
+group, all of which come under the head of medium-power stations.
+These range from 4,000 to 1,800 meters and first on the list are the
+government ships which have continuous waves and a length of from
+3,000 to 4,000 meters. Following them come the experimental and
+miscellaneous stations with a 3,000 to 2,000-meter range; and after
+them the 1,800-meter class which is the commercial tune for continuous
+waves."</p>
+
+<p>"And the high-power stations are the last, I suppose," put in Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, those designed for trans-oceanic service. These range from
+20,000 to 6,000 meters. The distinctions are, you see, quite
+positively made and everybody must keep within his assigned
+pigeon-hole."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon I'll keep in mine," announced Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"I should advise it if you want smooth sailing," retorted Bob. "You
+will hardly&mdash;&mdash;" but the sentence was never finished for a
+maid approached Mr. Crowninshield at the moment and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"The telephone, sir; New York is speaking."</p>
+
+<p>"New York, Dad!" exclaimed Dick excitedly. "It may be Lyman or Dacie."</p>
+
+<p>"More likely it is the office," replied his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Some business matter, I fancy," said Mr. Crowninshield as he rose.
+"I'm sorry to interrupt the lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"I was just about through, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be back in a moment probably."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor father always has telephone calls," lamented Nancy
+sympathetically. "If he ever starts out to play golf somebody is sure
+to want him. Sometimes I wish that New York office was in the bottom
+of the sea."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you'd have precious little bread and butter if it was,"
+announced Dick with brotherly sarcasm.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly you wouldn't be able to provide me with any," Nancy flashed
+back with a teasing laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Children!" interposed Mrs. Crowninshield.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's Dad! Well, Pater, what was it?" asked Dick. Then on observing
+his father was unwontedly excited he repeated, "What's up, Dad?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was Lyman," Mr. Crowninshield answered. "The New York police have
+run down two men and Mr. Lyman wants Bob to come over and see if he
+can identify either of them as the one who kidnapped Lola."</p>
+
+<p>"You could identify him, couldn't you, Bob?" Walter put in.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I could. Didn't the chap come into the station to get water
+for his machine?" was the instant reply. "I talked with him quite a
+bit while he was fixing up his engine. He seemed in a powerful rush to
+be off and wasn't overgracious."</p>
+
+<p>"But could Bob leave now, Archibald?" questioned his wife. "Isn't
+there the possibility of news from Mr. O'Connel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Jove! I had forgotten that."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe O'Connel won't call; he didn't to-day, you know," Nancy said.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me Bob ought to go and land those chaps if there is a
+chance of doing it," Dick declared. "He would not need to be gone more
+than one night, would he?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Nevertheless, he would miss the morning wireless," returned Mr.
+Crowninshield. "Should there be important news we should not get it."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pity you boys can't take a message," Nancy remarked, turning
+toward her brother and Walter. "If you only had your Morse code
+learned you might be quite some good to us now."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had whooped up on it faster," bewailed Dick, with engaging
+candor. "I'm an awful rotter&mdash;plain lazy, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know but we'd better let Bob go, all things
+considered," observed Mr. Crowninshield, who had been quietly thinking
+the matter over.</p>
+
+<p>"I say Bob goes, too," reiterated Dick. "It is worth something to put
+such fellows as those dog thieves behind the bars."</p>
+
+<p>"You can connect with the Fall River boat or one passing through the
+Canal and be in New York in the morning, Bob," the elder man asserted.
+"Lyman will meet you, hustle things along, and send you home on the
+noon train. With Dick's racing car to pick you up somewhere along the
+line there is no reason why we should not have you back here before
+another morning. You've no time to spare, though, for lingering and
+discussing wireless and its wonders. Trot along and pack up your duds
+and get some luncheon. I'll call up Wheeler and have him ready to
+carry you to the train. Do not bother your head about connections; I
+will look up everything and tell you exactly what to do."</p>
+
+<p>In a flurry of anticipation off hastened Bob.</p>
+
+<p>"Gee! Isn't it the limit that we haven't brains enough to get
+O'Connel?" murmured Dick to Walter in a disgusted whisper. "I ought to
+have duffed in harder on the blamed code. But I thought there was no
+hurry. We seemed to have all summer to learn it."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe he won't call," His Highness suggested hopefully.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope to blazes he doesn't," was the retort. "I'd feel cheap as dirt
+to have that ticker go clicking out a message and I not be able to get
+a word of it."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h3>
+
+<h4>WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>With Bob gone and radio lessons suspended the following morning seemed
+to both Dick and Walter an unwontedly quiet one. Moreover with a
+scorching sun high in the heaven, no breeze, and a dead low tide most
+of the activities to which the boys might have resorted were out of
+the question.</p>
+
+<p>"Think of the sailing breeze we've seen blowing lots of mornings when
+we couldn't go out," grumbled Dick. "Isn't it infernal luck?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you take your car and go for a spin," Nancy suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Wheeler has it, silly. He's meeting Bob."</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't go motoring anyway," put in Walter. "I've got the dogs to
+chase round."</p>
+
+<p>"You're not going out with them now," objected Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite yet. I had them out before breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say we go over and fool round with the radio a while?"
+Dick yawned. "We've nothing better to do."</p>
+
+<p>"All right. We can at least listen in for a spell. We've got that
+far."</p>
+
+<p>"You boys better not go getting that wireless all out of order while
+Bob is away," cautioned Nancy. "He'd be ripping mad to get home and
+find it out of commission. Father wouldn't like it, either."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we're not going to hurt the precious radio," sniffed Dick. "Don't
+you think we know anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not much," fluted Nancy as she flounced away.</p>
+
+<p>"At least she does not flatter us," grinned His Highness, quite
+unruffled by the girl's frankness.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sisters never think a fellow knows anything, especially when
+they're older," Dick grumbled, as he unlocked the door of the low
+building and met the blast of close, stifling air that came out.
+"Scott! The place is like an oven, isn't it? Open a window, can't
+you?" he continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure! There is some heat, I'll say. Just as well we dropped round if
+only to air the place out," Walter replied.</p>
+
+<p>Together they switched on the current, regulated amplifier, detector,
+and tuner, and each with a head receiver tight to his ears sat down.</p>
+
+<p>"Whee, but it is thick, to-day!" shouted Dick. "Run the tune up, kid,
+and see if we get anything."</p>
+
+<p>"It is always bad a day like this," called Walter. "Besides, everybody
+seems to be butting in in the morning. Infernal, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let her go up to O'Connel's pitch. It can't do any harm."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't time for him to call, is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty near."</p>
+
+<p>"But what good would it do even if we did get his signal?"</p>
+
+<p>"We should at least know he had something to say to us."</p>
+
+<p>"I should consider that a negative satisfaction," Walter replied. "It
+would just be an aggravation. However, here she goes! As you say, it
+can harm nobody to get the right meter."</p>
+
+<p>"There's that old commercial station up the Cape," announced Dick,
+presently. "That fellow is always on the job at this hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Probably he has to be, poor soul," Walter returned. "We'll get rid of
+him in a minute. <i>What was that?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"It is some one on our line. That's the <i>Siren's</i> call. It's O'Connel!
+Jove! What are you doing, man? What are you going to do?" asked Dick
+excitedly as he saw Walter's hand go out.</p>
+
+<p>"Paper! Pencil! Hurry, can't you?" gasped Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let's both take it down in dots and dashes. Between us we may be able
+to make some sense out of it afterward. Quick!"</p>
+
+<p>Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off. Then there was
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Get any of it?" Walter demanded, breathlessly tossing the receiver
+aside and shutting off the current.</p>
+
+<p>"About two words. He went so fast&mdash;&mdash;Did you get anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I've got something; but whether it will make any sense remains to
+be seen," said His Highness eagerly. "Where is the key! Toss it
+over."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="i005"></a>
+<img src="images/005.jpg" width="350" height="529"
+alt="" title="" />
+</div><br />
+<h5>Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off.<br />
+Then there was silence. <i>Page</i> 240</h5>
+
+<p>"Here we go. Dot, dash,&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's the letter A, you squarehead! I know what that first part is;
+it is always the same and we needn't fuss to translate it. <i>Aboard
+yacht Siren.</i> I don't care, either, where she is. What we want to get
+at is what she wants to say."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can we tell where all that stuff leaves off?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to tell," declared Walter with determination.</p>
+
+<p>"But there is punctuation and other rubbish mixed in with the
+letters."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter. Have a little patience, man!"</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, in spite of all the patience and perseverance the boys
+could muster the magic message remained an enigma and at the end of an
+hour both were obliged to admit themselves beaten.</p>
+
+<p>"It is worse than getting no message at all," lamented Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly does not do us much good," assented Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you suppose your father knows anything about the Morse code?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dad? Good heavens, no! Still we might take the thing up to the house
+and show it to him."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't imagine it is right, do you?" speculated Walter. "No doubt we
+missed some of it or made mistakes. Still, what we contrived to write
+agrees fairly well, so some of it must be correct. Let's take it to
+your father. What do you say?"</p>
+
+<p>"I feel like such a boob not to be able to make it out," Dick
+answered with evident reluctance at confessing himself floored.</p>
+
+<p>"But we'll have to tell him O'Connel called. We've got to do that
+anyhow; so he may as well know the rest of it," Walter persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"All right. We'll hunt him up. I warn you, though, that he will josh
+us most unmercifully. He'll pitch into me, too, and ask me why I
+haven't learned my Morse International before this. See if he
+doesn't."</p>
+
+<p>"It is one thing to learn the code out of a book and quite another to
+be smart enough to read it or take it down," Walter maintained
+stoutly. "Nobody ought to expect you to be able to get a message the
+way Bob does. Why, he has been at the job years!"</p>
+
+<p>"I know he has," Dick responded, slightly comforted. "Still, Dad will
+rag me, just the same. See if he doesn't!"</p>
+
+<p>Locking the door and pausing to gain courage they set out over the
+lawn. Then suddenly, midway across the grass, His Highness came to a
+stop.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Burns!" he cried, wheeling round. "Why didn't I think of him
+before?"</p>
+
+<p>"What on earth are you talking about?" asked Dick, astounded by his
+companion's strange conduct.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Burns!" repeated Walter. "Come along. Can't one of the chauffeurs
+take us down there?"</p>
+
+<p>"For mercy's sake who is Mr. Burns, and why do you want to go and see
+him hot off the bat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Burns, the telegraph operator," Walter contrived to stammer. "He
+must know Morse International. He has to know both the Morse American
+which telegraph operators use on land, and the other code, I'm pretty
+sure."</p>
+
+<p>"But maybe what we've got down doesn't make sense," objected Dick.
+"You've a husky nerve to go toting that scrawl of ours to a
+professional."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," grinned Walter. "I'm not afraid of Mr. Burns. He's
+driven me out of the station too many times when I was a kid. I will
+own, however, that I have more respect for him since I've learned what
+it means to run a telegraph."</p>
+
+<p>"He may drive you out of the station this time," Dick ventured with a
+grimace.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet he won't," was the sanguine response. "We've made it up
+since then. I've even helped old Burnsie shovel his snow now and then.
+He'll do a good turn for me, I'll bet."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on then, if you are so sure of it," Dick answered, striding
+toward the garage.</p>
+
+<p>"You're sure your father won't mind our taking the car?"</p>
+
+<p>"He doesn't want it this morning. He is going to hang round and see if
+Bob calls him from New York. Besides, he said it was too hot to motor.
+Will Burns be at the station now?"</p>
+
+<p>"He will if a train is due," announced Walter. "If the office is
+locked we can chase him to his house."</p>
+
+<p>"All right! This is your party, remember," Dick said a trifle
+wickedly. It was evident he had no faith in the expedition.
+Notwithstanding his skepticisms, however, he ordered out the car and
+he and Walter sped away on their errand.</p>
+
+<p>"It is time for a train," announced Walter in an undertone, as they
+neared the station. "See, there are people waiting. It is the noon
+train from Boston."</p>
+
+<p>"Burns will be too busy then to bother his head over fake messages, I
+guess," sniffed Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe not. At least we can try him," was His Highness's optimistic
+assertion. "Hi, Mr. Burns!" The lad was out of the car and hastening
+along in the wake of a much sunburned station agent in blue denim
+overalls.</p>
+
+<p>"Wal, if it ain't Walter King! What you after, young one? I hear
+you've become the proprietor of Surfside&mdash;bought out the whole
+darn place for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"I did buy it but I'm going to sell it again. It's too small. I can't
+get room enough to stretch up there," came impishly from the lad on
+the platform.</p>
+
+<p>"Show! You don't say!" drawled Mr. Burns with obvious relish of the
+joke. "Well, it ain't wise to be cramped. Maybe you wouldn't get your
+growth if you were."</p>
+
+<p>He cast a glance toward the short, thick-set figure behind him.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Mr. Burns," burst out Walter, "are you terribly busy? I've got
+something I want to show you."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" demanded the man, halting and holding suspended in his
+hand a cerulean blue egg case.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what it is&mdash;that's just the trouble," answered
+Walter mysteriously.</p>
+
+<p>"What you up to anyhow?" demanded Mr. Burns suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>Walter thrust forth the sheet of paper he had drawn from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>In his rough, grimy hand the telegraph operator took it.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get this?" demanded he, glancing sharply over the top
+of his spectacles.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we have a wireless up at Surfside and this thing&mdash;or
+something like it that we didn't know enough to write down, came this
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"But I heard your brother Bob was up there."</p>
+
+<p>"He had to go to New York yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"And left you to tend the tape, did he?" grinned the old man.</p>
+
+<p>"Not much. He knows I'd be a duffer at the job," affirmed Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Mebbe you ain't as much of a duffer as you think. You managed to get
+this down on paper."</p>
+
+<p>"We managed to together&mdash;Dick and I," explained Walter. "I don't
+suppose, though, we got it anywhere near straight. Does it make any
+sense at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure it makes sense!" announced Mr. Burns with a vim that quite took
+Walter's breath away. "There's queer spots in it here and
+there&mdash;a few letters that ain't needed, perhaps. Still, you can
+omit 'em since they serve no particular purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is the message? What does it say?" clamored Walter all
+impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it ain't so thrillin' you need to go into a thousand pieces
+over it," commented the Cape Codder dryly. "Some friend of Mr.
+Crowninshield's 'pears to be comin' down here on the afternoon train
+bringin' with him his wife&mdash;either his wife or daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" Walter ejaculated weakly.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what he says," continued Mr. Burns, calmly rereading the
+document he held. "Evidently some relation&mdash;or at least a person
+who feels he has the right to boss, for he says he wants to be met at
+the train."</p>
+
+<p>"Did I get the name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's here. I may's well read you the whole thing with the
+exception of the extra touches you've added."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to goodness you would."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tain't nothin' interestin', as I said before," insisted Mr. Burns,
+readjusting his spectacles. "'<i>Coming on afternoon train and bringing
+Lola. Meet me, O'Con&mdash;&mdash;</i>' Where in thunder you goin'?" The
+operator gazed in amazement as a pair of chubby legs vanished up the
+platform.</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right, Mr. Burns! I don't want the paper back. You can
+keep it to remember me by. Thanks!" Then to Dick he shouted as he
+sprang into the car:</p>
+
+<p>"We're off for home fast as we can make it, old man! Such news! Your
+father will be crazy! Whee! Hurrah!"</p>
+
+<p>"If it is all the same to you," observed Dick with scorching sarcasm,
+"it would be pleasant to know the import of the message I took down."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> took down&mdash;well I like that! <i>You</i> took down! Why, man,
+you could not even read it yourself! It is the message <i>I</i> took down,
+my son."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>We</i> took down," corrected Dick.</p>
+
+<p>They both laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"O'Connel's coming this afternoon! What do you say to that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Great Scott! But what&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He's bringing his wife or daughter," continued Walter with a wicked
+twinkle in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" exclaimed his bewildered listener.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, this is rich! Rich!" continued His Highness with a paroxysm of
+laughter. "Wait until we tell your father! My soul and body! I'm sick
+laughing!"</p>
+
+<p>"You might tell me the joke."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't&mdash;I can't!" roared the boy. "It is too good!"</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;and what about Lola?" stammered Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you see Burns thought&mdash;my, but it's rich! Ha, ha! Burns
+understood that&mdash;oh, it's a scream!" and with that Dick was
+forced to be content.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h3>
+
+<h4>THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS</h4> <span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<p>When Walter and Dick returned to Surfside with their tidings Mr.
+Crowninshield's satisfaction and delight could hardly be expressed.
+How he laughed at Burns's interpretation of O'Connel's message! And
+how Dick laughed when at last the joke was imparted to him!</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you two boys have been almighty clever between you," commented
+the elder man. "I would not have credited either of you with so many
+brains. To think of your getting that radio call! It is marvelous. And
+then to take it to Burns! That was a master stroke. The idea would
+never have entered my head. But what puzzles me is the message itself.
+Do you suppose O'Connel has kidnapped Lola; or how has he got
+possession of her? And how has he contrived to escape from the yacht
+without being held up? I don't understand it at all. It isn't likely
+Daly has let him walk off unmolested with the dog. The thing is more
+than I can fathom."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps Mr. Daly has relented and is sending Lola back," suggested
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Not on your life, youngster! You don't know Daly," was the instant
+reply. "He would never admit himself beaten and give up that pup.
+Moreover the affair has cost him too much money, risk and trouble for
+him to abandon his scheme. If he wanted Lola bad enough to hire
+somebody to steal her he still wants her, mark my word! No, there is
+something behind all this that we haven't reached. O'Connel has made
+off with the dog somehow. Just how I am at a loss to tell. We shall
+have to wait until he himself comes and enlightens us."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything heard from Bob?" questioned Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I've had a wire. They've got the men they were after all right
+and he will be back to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"What did he say about it?" asked Dick eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. You cannot tell an entire story in a telegram, you know. But
+he has accomplished what he went for. I fancy he always does," added
+the master of the estate with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Generally, sir," nodded Walter proudly.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crowninshield took a turn or two across the room.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to keep Bob with us this winter if I can prevail upon him to
+stay," remarked the financier presently. "He is too able a chap to
+lose sight of. I can find a big paying berth for him in New York and
+if he will take it, your mother won't have to worry any further about
+money affairs. And if you, sonny, make good and do as well as your
+brother"&mdash;he patted Walter's shoulder, "I'll do the same for you
+some day. You have done well this summer. Finish up your school work
+and then we'll see."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind, Mr. Crowninshield," the boy stammered.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit. We all ought to give the chap who is willing to climb a
+hand up the ladder. What are we in the world for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know my mother will be&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There, there!" interrupted the great man. "Your mother has two fine
+sons that she may well be proud of. She has had a little hard sledding
+to get them on their feet, that's all. Now it is their turn to lift
+the burden and repay her. I am simply going to see that they get the
+chance to do it. The rest I feel certain I can leave to them."</p>
+
+<p>"We do want to help mother," Walter replied with sincerity.</p>
+
+<p>"I know you do; both of you have proved it this summer. From now on I
+intend your mother shall have no anxiety about her finances. We'll put
+her where she will be perfectly independent of those uncles of yours,
+and of summer boarders as well."</p>
+
+<p>The lip of His Highness trembled and he could not speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Some day I expect Dick and Nancy will be looking out for their mother
+and me just this way," continued Mr. Crowninshield half humorously.
+"There will be Lola to support, too."</p>
+
+<p>Dick burst into a peal of laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have to cut out indulging in so many detectives if I'm to
+pay the bills, Dad," answered he.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you must not deprive me of my little luxuries," returned his
+father. "One must have some amusement, remember."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you will have to choose a cheaper one then."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll think it over. If, however, I discover you cannot maintain me
+and my trifling pleasures I may abandon you and turn to Walter to
+support me in my old age."</p>
+
+<p>Lighting a cigar he strolled away.</p>
+
+<p>The boys ambled toward the boathouse. There was still three hours
+before the Boston train, bringing O'Connel, would arrive. In the
+meantime they indulged in a swim; took the dogs for a run; had
+luncheon; paddled round the bay in Dick's canoe; and did everything
+they could think of to hurry the moments along.</p>
+
+<p>And when the car bearing Mr. Crowninshield and O'Connel did actually
+roll into the drive what a state of excitement they were in!</p>
+
+<p>Yes, there was Lola&mdash;there was no contesting that! She was a
+weak, wretched little dog but it was she.</p>
+
+<p>"However did you manage it, Mr. O'Connel?" cried Mrs. Crowninshield
+who had come racing down the steps and gathered her favorite into her
+arms.</p>
+
+<p>Breathlessly the group clustered about the wee puppy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the first thing I did was to convince myself the dog aboard
+the yacht was really the one we were after. One day when the party
+went ashore I hunted up the supposed Trixie and called her by her real
+name. You should have seen her prick up her ears, poor little mite! I
+had her licking my hand inside a minute. From that instant I began to
+scheme. I found I couldn't send you many radio calls because
+they watched me too closely. I think the mate suspected
+something&mdash;just what, I could not make out, for I don't think he
+was in the secret of the dog's capture. Anyway, I decided to steer
+clear of the wireless and trust to luck. At last my chance came. Some
+equipment was needed and it was decided I was to be put ashore and get
+it. By this time Lola, who for the last few days had refused to eat,
+had begun to show decidedly alarming symptoms. I diagnosed the case as
+plain homesickness and privately resolved to get her off the yacht if
+it was a possible thing; but Mr. Daly thought she had distemper or
+something and was mightily cut up. He didn't want the animal to die on
+his hands after all he had gone through to get her. Altogether he
+began to be pretty uneasy and you may be sure I did my part to make
+him so. Every chance I got I would remark how sick his dog seemed. Of
+course I wasn't supposed to know it wasn't one he had had for years. I
+kept harping on the puppie's health until I had him fussed to death.
+At last he said: 'I don't know but what you are right about Trixie,
+O'Connel. If they are going to put you ashore at Boston to buy
+supplies, why wouldn't it be a good plan for you to take the dog to
+the animal hospital there? You could leave her and later we could go
+back and get her. She does seem ailing, and I haven't the ghost of an
+idea what to do with a sick dog. Besides, she is a nuisance on the
+yacht if she must be catered to all the time.' Well, as you can
+imagine, I jumped at the chance although I took every pains not to let
+him suspect I did. I told him that of course if he wanted me to take
+the dog I should be glad to do it. I liked animals and also I wished
+to accommodate him. There was no denying, however, that to carry Lola
+with me would delay me in town. Still, if he desired it I would do my
+best to see that she was taken <i>where she would get well</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The big fellow paused and laughed heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"I've kept that promise, too," grinned he. "I have sent a note back to
+the <i>Siren</i> recalling the phrase to Mr. Daly, and telling him that
+having decided Lola would recover more completely if placed under the
+protection of her rightful owners I was taking her back there."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to see his face when he gets that letter!" said Mr.
+Crowninshield, rubbing his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"So should I," roared O'Connel, his broad shoulders shaking.</p>
+
+<p>"But won't he&mdash;&mdash;" Mrs. Crowninshield looked anxious.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't he what, my dear?" inquired her husband.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you afraid he will be angry and&mdash;&mdash;" she held the
+wee dog closer in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>"He will be angry all right," agreed O'Connel. "But you need have no
+fears that he will do anything more, ma'am. He is on too dangerous
+ground. In the first place he cannot accuse me of appropriating his
+dog for I can answer him that it was stolen in the first place. And he
+cannot say I deserted his ship for all is fair in love and war, you
+know. No, Daly is a good sport and he will instantly understand that
+he has been beaten. We have been one too many for him, that is all.
+Moreover, he won't be feeling any too comfortable for he is still
+uncertain as to what Mr. Crowninshield may be planning to do with him.
+Oh, Daly won't stir up trouble. You can trust him for that. On the
+contrary he probably will clear out of reach of any possible storm. It
+is his only course and he will be canny enough to take it."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are not going to let him go scott free, are you Dad?"
+demanded Dick.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know. What's the use of fighting a skunk like that? We
+have our dog back and Daly must acknowledge that he has been beaten.
+That is about all I want. He won't try anything more for I have a
+whiplash over him as he is well aware. Any time I can prosecute him
+for receiving stolen goods and being an accomplice in a robbery. With
+the evidence I have such a case would go overwhelmingly against him
+should it reach the courts. He is not for bringing that issue to a
+head, you may rest assured of that."</p>
+
+<p>"But you do mean to jail the men who actually took Lola, Father," put
+in Nancy. "If you do that, won't the whole affair have to be aired and
+Mr. Daly dragged into the trial?"</p>
+
+<p>Her father did not answer immediately and before he had framed his
+reply wheels were heard and Wheeler, driving Dick's racing car, drew
+up at the steps.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Bob, as I live!" shouted Walter. "Hello, Bobbie! Hello, old
+chap!"</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome home, Bob!" called Mr. Crowninshield going forward to meet
+the lad.</p>
+
+<p>"We have a surprise for you, Bob!" called Nancy. "Guess who's here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't," smiled the wireless man coming up to the piazza and shaking
+hands all round. Then his eye lighted on O'Connel.</p>
+
+<p>"My word! How did you get here, old top? Fired from your job?"</p>
+
+<p>For answer Mrs. Crowninshield held up Lola.</p>
+
+<p>"The pup herself! Well, well! What's been happening in my absence,
+anyhow?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wonder you want to know," cried Nancy above the general
+clamor.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! Do stop everybody. You are making a far worse noise than ever
+came through that radiophone."</p>
+
+<p>"First let's have Bob's story. We haven't heard that yet," Mr.
+Crowninshield said. "Tell us what happened to you in New York, my
+boy."</p>
+
+<p>Bob dropped into a chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, as I wired you, Dacie and Lyman have landed your men. I
+recognized the fellow who came to Seaver Bay for water the instant I
+set eyes on him. He recognized me, too, and knew the game was up. It
+seems, though, that he and his pal are wanted in California on a prior
+charge. A big burglary, I think it is. Anyway, they have got to be
+taken out there and tried first. In the meantime our complaint can be
+lodged against them and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't we to have the fun of jailing them after all?" asked Dick in
+dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"They will be jailed, never fear," returned Bob. "They will get a
+stiff sentence, too, I imagine."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crowninshield was silent and his wife now glanced toward him.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you disappointed, Archibald?" inquired she.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess," responded he slowly, "that is a good way out of our
+dilemma. The villains will be carried far away from this vicinity and
+will without doubt get all that's coming to them. What more can we
+ask? We've won the game&mdash;taken every trick and made a clean sweep
+of the whole business. Now that I've got Lola home I don't much care
+about the rest of it. What do you say we let well enough alone and
+drop it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should say that with every day of your life you were growing wiser,
+my dear," answered his wife softly.</p>
+
+
+<h5>FINIS.</h5>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 94px;">
+<img src="images/logo.png" width="94" height="133"
+alt="logo" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h6><i>The first volume in "The Invention Series"</i></h6>
+
+<h2>PAUL AND THE<br />
+PRINTING PRESS</h2>
+
+<h5><i>By</i> SARA WARE BASSETT</h5>
+
+<h6>With illustrations by A. O. Scott</h6>
+
+<h6><i>12mo. Cloth. 218 pages.</i></h6>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<p>Paul Cameron, president of the class of 1920 in the Burmingham High
+School, conceives the idea of establishing a school paper, to the
+honor and glory of his class. So <i>The March Hare</i> comes into
+existence, and Paul and his schoolfellows bend all their energies to
+making it a success. They have their difficulties and Paul in
+particular bears the brunt of their troubles, but <i>The March Hare</i>
+lives up to its reputation for life and liveliness and becomes not
+only a class success, but a town institution. This is the first volume
+in "The Invention Series."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the sort of story that boys of fourteen years and upward
+will enjoy and ought to enjoy, a combination that is rarely
+achieved."&mdash;<i>Boston Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A welcome volume which will appeal to boys who want a good story that
+will give some information as well."&mdash;<i>New York Evening Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>"'Paul and the Printing Press' not only has a keen story interest, but
+has the advantage of carrying much valuable information for all young
+folks for whom the mysterious and all-powerful printing press has an
+attraction."&mdash;<i>Boston Herald.</i></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<h5>LITTLE, BROWN &amp; CO., <span class="smcap">Publishers</span></h5>
+
+<h6>34 <span class="smcap">Beacon Street, Boston</span></h6>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Walter and the Wireless, by Sara Ware Bassett
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Walter and the Wireless, by Sara Ware Bassett
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Walter and the Wireless
+
+Author: Sara Ware Bassett
+
+Illustrator: William F. Stecher
+
+Release Date: December 4, 2007 [EBook #23728]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WALTER AND THE WIRELESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sigal Alon, David T. Jones, La Monte H.P.
+Yarroll and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WALTER AND THE WIRELESS
+
+By Sara Ware Bassett
+
+_The Invention Series_
+
+
+PAUL AND THE PRINTING PRESS
+STEVE AND THE STEAM ENGINE
+TED AND THE TELEPHONE
+WALTER AND THE WIRELESS
+
+
+[Illustration: "K Y W Chicago, Illinois. Stand by fifteen minutes
+for----." FRONTISPIECE. _See page_ 208.]
+
+
+
+
+
+The Invention Series
+
+WALTER AND
+THE WIRELESS
+
+BY
+SARA WARE BASSETT
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+WILLIAM F. STECHER
+
+BOSTON
+LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
+1923
+
+
+_Copyright, 1923_,
+BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+Published March, 1923
+
+PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+To
+PAUL MARBLE
+AND HIS COLLIE BOBS,
+THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY
+DEDICATED
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                                PAGE
+
+    I HIS HIGHNESS                                        1
+
+   II THE NEW JOB                                        17
+
+  III WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING                             36
+
+   IV WALTER MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER               50
+
+    V THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES                           64
+
+   VI HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE                         75
+
+  VII THE PURSUIT OF LOLA                                92
+
+ VIII A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT                     104
+
+   IX MORE CLUES                                        116
+
+    X BOB                                               127
+
+   XI THE DECISION                                      138
+
+  XII LESSONS                                           147
+
+ XIII INFORMATION FROM A NEW SOURCE                     162
+
+  XIV BOB AS PEDAGOGUE                                  169
+
+   XV TIDINGS                                           183
+
+  XVI MIRACLES                                          197
+
+ XVII THE LAWS OF THE AIR                               210
+
+XVIII THE NET TIGHTENS                                  228
+
+  XIX WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH                      238
+
+   XX THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS                       248
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+"K Y W CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. STAND BY FIFTEEN MINUTES
+  FOR----"                                       _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                          PAGE
+
+THE TWO BOYS WOULD DISCUSS BOATS, FISHING AND
+  KINDRED INTERESTS                                         76
+
+"YOU WILL GET ALL THE WIRELESS COMING TO YOU,
+  THAT'S ALL. TAKE IT FROM ME"                             154
+
+CLEARLY AND EVENLY THE MESSAGE TICKED ITSELF OFF.
+  THEN THERE WAS SILENCE                                   240
+
+
+
+
+WALTER AND THE WIRELESS
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+HIS HIGHNESS
+
+
+His Highness came by the nickname honestly enough and yet those who
+heard it for the first time had difficulty in repressing a smile at
+the incongruity of the title. In fact perhaps no term could have been
+found that would have been less appropriate. For Walter King possessed
+neither dignity of rank nor of stature. On the contrary he was a
+short, snub-nosed boy of fifteen, the epitome of good humor and
+democracy.
+
+His hair was red and towsled, his face spangled with great golden
+freckles which sea winds and sunshine had multiplied until there was
+scarce room for another on his beaming countenance. Hands and arms
+were freckled too, for when one lives in a bathing suit six months of
+the year and is either in the water or on it most of the time the skin
+fails to retain its pristine whiteness of hue. But His Highness did
+not care a fig for that. He was far too busy baiting eel and lobster
+traps, mending fish nets, untangling lines, and painting boats to give
+a thought to his personal beauty.
+
+Indeed his mother often bewailed the fact that he was not more
+interested in his appearance and there were times when it seemed as if
+she were right. Certainly when her son ambled home at dusk with every
+rebellious hair standing upended upon his head and a string of
+flounders dripping salt from the tips of their slimy tails she was
+justified to a degree in wishing he had more regard for the niceties
+of life.
+
+"Look at the mess you're making!" she would pipe indignantly. "I've
+just mopped this floor, Walter."
+
+"You have? Now isn't that the dickens! Well, no matter, Ma; I'll swab
+the place down again when I've finished cleaning these fish. They're
+beauties, aren't they? A batch of them fried won't go bad for supper
+to-night. I'm hungry as a bear. Shouldn't think I'd eaten anything in
+ten years. Say, Ma, what do you s'pose? Dave Corbett was out in the
+_Nancy_ three hours and never got a bite. What do you think of that?
+The wind died down, his engine got stalled, and he and Hosey Talbot
+had to row home from the Bell Reef Shoals. Haw, haw! Maybe I didn't
+roar when I saw them come pulling in against the tide, mad as two
+man-eating sharks. Fit to harpoon the first person they met, they
+were. I sung out and asked them were they practicing for the Harvard
+and Yale boat race and Dave was that peeved he shied an oarlock after
+me. Haw, haw, haw!"
+
+"You ought not to provoke Dave, Walter."
+
+"Provoke him? But he was provoked already, Ma. There's no harm
+putting an extra stick on the fire when it's burning, anyhow. Besides,
+Dave is never in earnest when he bawls me out. He just likes to hear
+himself scold."
+
+"He has a terrible temper."
+
+"Oh, I know half the town is scart to death of him. But he always will
+take a jolly from me. We understand each other, Dave and I. Say, Ma,
+these rubber boots leak. Did you know that? Yes, siree! They leak like
+sieves. I might as well be without 'em."
+
+Mrs. King sighed.
+
+"I don't see," murmured she, "how you manage to go through everything
+you have so quickly, Walter. Nothing you wear lasts you more than a
+week."
+
+"Oh, I say, make it a month. Do, now!"
+
+He saw his mother smile faintly.
+
+"Well, a month then."
+
+"You couldn't stretch it to two?"
+
+"Not possibly. Four weeks seems to be your limit."
+
+The sharpness of her tone, however, had weakened.
+
+"Four weeks, eh? I did think I'd had these rubber boots longer than
+that. It is amazing how attached you can get to things even in a
+little while."
+
+Holding aloft the knife with which he was preparing to behead the
+unlucky flounders, His Highness gazed reflectively down at his feet.
+
+"It's awful that I have to keep having so many things, isn't it? I
+hate to be costing you money all the time. Now if you'd only let me
+ship for the Grand Banks when the _Katie B._ goes out----"
+
+"Walter! What is the use of digging up that old bone again? I never
+shall let you ship for the Grand Banks or any other Banks so long as I
+live. We've had this out hundreds of times before. You know you and
+Bob are all I've got in the world. Do you suppose I want you lost in a
+fog and never heard from again?"
+
+"Oh, Great Scott, Ma! They don't lose fishing boats now as they used
+to. They carry wireless, and the fleet keeps in touch every minute."
+
+"The dories have no wireless aboard them," observed Mrs. King grimly.
+
+"I suppose not, no, probably they don't," His Highness admitted
+reluctantly.
+
+"Anyway, wireless or no wireless, you are not going on a fishing
+cruise to the Grand Banks."
+
+"I hear you, Ma," grinned the boy.
+
+"There is plenty of work right here on the land if you're looking for
+it. Why must you always be wanting to go to sea to earn money?"
+
+"Faith, Mother, I don't know," laughed Walter. "I expect it's because
+I see chores to do when I'm afloat that I can't see ashore. It is the
+way I was born."
+
+"A poor way."
+
+"Maybe it is. At any rate I can't help it."
+
+"I'm afraid you do not try to help it very hard."
+
+The lad shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"There's that chance you have to hire out at the Crowninshields' for
+the summer."
+
+"Those snobs."
+
+"Beggars cannot be choosers. Besides, they may not be snobs at all.
+What makes you think they are?"
+
+"Oh, I don't mind the lugs they put on," protested Walter, evading the
+issue. "I suppose all New York swells do that. It's what they want me
+for that gets my goat." Again the knife he held was tragically
+upraised. "How would you like to be nursemaid to six or eight
+brainless little pups no bigger than rats? Not but what I like dogs.
+I'd like nothing better than to own a fine dog of some spirit. But
+those imitations! Why, before a week was out, I'd have their necks
+wrung."
+
+"Mr. Crowninshield promised to pay you well."
+
+"What's money if all the kids in town are going to josh you?"
+
+"Money is a good deal when you need it." His mother shook her head
+gravely. "Have you ever considered how badly we are in want of money,
+Walter?"
+
+"What do you mean, Ma?" The boy wheeled about, startled.
+
+"I haven't said anything about it, dear, because I could not bear to
+have you boys bothered," was the quiet answer. "But lately things have
+not been going well and I have been pretty much worried. The money
+your Uncle Henry invested for us isn't paying any dividends; there
+seems to be something the matter with the company's affairs. As for
+your Uncle Mark Miller, I've heard nothing from him in months. His
+ship was to put in at Shanghai for cargo and I ought to have had a
+letter by now; but none has come and I am afraid something must be the
+trouble. He is a good brother and never fails to send me money. I can
+ill afford to be without help now when the mortgage is coming due and
+I have so many bills to meet. It takes a deal of money to live
+nowadays. You boys do not realize that."
+
+"Why, I had no idea you were fussed, Mother, and I'm sure Bob hadn't
+either," declared Walter soberly.
+
+"Then I have done better than I thought I had," returned his mother,
+with the shadow of a smile. "I wanted to keep it secret if I could."
+
+"But you shouldn't have tried to keep it a secret, Mater dear," Walter
+replied. "I'm sure we'd rather know--at least I would."
+
+"But what use is it?"
+
+"Use? Why, all the use in the world, Ma. I shall go ahead and take Mr.
+Crowninshield's job for one thing."
+
+"But you said----"
+
+"Shucks! I was only fooling about the dogs, Mother. I shan't really
+mind exercising and taking care of them at all. Of course, I won't
+deny I'd rather they were Great Danes or police dogs; I'd even prefer
+Airedales or Cockers. Still I suppose these little mopsey Pekingese
+must have some brains or the Lord would not have made them. No doubt I
+shall get used to them in time."
+
+"It is only for the summer vacation anyway, you know," ventured his
+mother. "The Crowninshields go back to New York in October."
+
+"I certainly ought to be able to bear up a few months," laughed
+Walter, with a ludicrously wry twist of his mouth. "I hate to think
+you've been bothered and have been keeping it all to yourself."
+
+"Misery does like company," Mrs. King returned with an unsteady laugh.
+"I believe I feel better already for having told you. But you must not
+worry, dear. We shall pull through all right, I guess. How I came to
+speak of it I don't know. It was only that it seemed such a pity to
+toss the Crowninshield offer aside without even considering it. Nobody
+knows where it might end. The village people say Mr. Crowninshield is
+a very generous man, especially if he takes a fancy to anybody."
+
+"But he may not take a fancy to me."
+
+"He must have done so already to be asking you to help with the dogs."
+
+"Nonsense, Ma! Did you think Mr. Crowninshield picked me out himself?
+Why, he's never laid eyes on me. That great privilege is still in
+store for him. No, he simply told Jerry Thomas, the caretaker, to find
+somebody for the job before the family arrived. He doesn't care a darn
+who it is so long as he has a person who can be trusted with his
+priceless pups. Why, I heard the other day that a dealer from New York
+had offered five thousand dollars for the smallest one."
+
+"Walter!"
+
+"Straight goods!"
+
+"Five thousand dollars for a dog!" gasped Mrs. King.
+
+Her son chuckled at her incredulity.
+
+"Sure!"
+
+"But it's a fortune," murmured she. "I had no idea there was a dog on
+earth worth that much."
+
+"All of them are not."
+
+"But five thousand dollars!" she repeated. "Why, Walter, I wouldn't
+have you responsible for a creature like that for anything in the
+world. You might as well attempt to be custodian of a lot of gold
+bonds. I shouldn't have a happy moment or sleep a wink thinking of it.
+Suppose some of the little wretches were to run away and get lost? Or
+suppose they were to be stolen? Or they might get sick and die on your
+hands."
+
+"That is why they want a responsible person to keep an eye on them."
+
+His Highness squared his shoulders and threw out his chest.
+
+"But you are not a responsible person," burst out Mrs. King with
+unflattering candor.
+
+"Mother!"
+
+"Well--are you?" she insisted.
+
+The boy's figure shriveled.
+
+"No," he confessed frankly, "I'm afraid I'm not."
+
+"Of course you're not," continued his mother with the same brutal
+truthfulness. "It isn't that you do not mean to be, sonny," added she
+kindly. "But your mind wanders off on all sorts of things instead of
+the thing you're doing. That is why you do not get on better in
+school. All your teachers say you are bright enough if you only had
+some concentration to back it up. What you can be thinking of all the
+time I cannot imagine; but certainly it isn't your lessons."
+
+"I know," nodded Walter without resentment. "My mind does flop about
+like a kite. I think of everything but what I ought to. It's a rotten
+habit."
+
+"Well, all I can say is you'd be an almighty poor one to look after a
+lot of valuable dogs," sniffed his mother.
+
+"I'll bet I could do it if I set out to."
+
+"But would you set out to--that is the question? Would you really put
+your entire attention on those dogs so that other people could drop
+them from their minds? That is what taking care means."
+
+"I couldn't promise. I could only try."
+
+"I should never dare to have you undertake it."
+
+"That settles it, Ma," announced His Highness. "I've evidently got to
+prove to you that you are wrong. I'm going up to Crowninshields' this
+minute to tell Jerry he can count on me from July until October."
+
+"You're crazy."
+
+"Wait and see."
+
+"I know what I'll see," was the sharp retort. "I shall see all those
+puppies kicking up their heels and racing off to Provincetown, and Mr.
+Crowninshield insisting that you either find them and bring them back
+or pay him what they cost him."
+
+"Don't you believe it."
+
+"That is what will happen," was the solemn prophecy.
+
+"But you were keen for me to take the job."
+
+"That was before I knew what the little rats were worth."
+
+"You just thought it was a cheap sort of a position and that I was to
+race round and make it pleasant for a lot of ordinary curs, didn't
+you?" interrogated the lad with mock indignation.
+
+In spite of herself his mother smiled.
+
+"Well, you see you were wrong," went on Walter. "It is not that sort
+of thing at all. It is a job for a trustworthy man, Jerry Thomas said,
+and will bring in good wages."
+
+"It ought to," replied his mother sarcastically, "if a person must
+spend every day for three months sitting with his eyes glued on those
+mites watching every breath they draw."
+
+"It isn't just days, Mother; I'd have to be there nights as well."
+
+"_What!_"
+
+"That's what Jerry told me. I'd have to sleep on the place. Mr.
+Crowninshield wants some one there all the time."
+
+"But Walter----!" Mrs. King broke off in dismay.
+
+"I know that would mean leaving you alone now that Bob has a regular
+position at the Seaver Bay Wireless station. Still, why should you
+mind? I have always been gone all day, anyhow; and at night I sleep so
+soundly that you yourself have often said burglars might carry away
+the bed from under me and I not know it."
+
+"You are not much protection, that's a fact," confessed Mrs. King.
+"Fortunately, though, I am not a timid person. It is not that I am
+afraid to stay here alone. My chief objection is that it seems foolish
+to run a great house like this simply for myself."
+
+"Couldn't you get some one to come and keep you company?"
+
+"Who, I should like to know?"
+
+"Why--why--well, I haven't thought about it. Of course there's Aunt
+Marcia King."
+
+"Mercy on us!" exclaimed his mother, instantly flaring up. "I'd rather
+see the evil one himself put in an appearance than your Aunt Marcia.
+Of all the fault-finding, critical, sharp-tongued creatures in the
+world she is the worst. Why, I'd let burglars carry away every stick
+and stone I possess and myself thrown in before I would ask her here
+to board."
+
+"My, Mother! I'd no idea you had such a temper. You're as bad as Dave
+Corbett," asserted Walter teasingly.
+
+His mother tossed her head but he saw her flush uncomfortably.
+
+"I suppose you wouldn't want a regular boarder," suggested the boy in
+order to turn the conversation.
+
+"A _boarder_!" There was less disapproval than surprise in the
+ejaculation, however.
+
+"Lots of people in the town do take summer boarders," added he.
+
+"The thought never entered my head before," reflected his mother
+aloud. "There certainly is plenty of room in the house, and we have a
+royal view of the water. Besides, there's the garden. Strangers are
+always coming here in vacation time and asking if they may look at it
+or sketch it. It never seemed anything very remarkable to me for most
+of the flowers have sown themselves and grow like weeds, but of course
+there's no denying the hollyhocks, poppies, and larkspur are pretty.
+But visitors always call it wonderful."
+
+"Most likely you could get a big price if you were to rent rooms."
+
+"I'm sure I could," replied Mrs. King thoughtfully. "It would help
+toward the mortgage and the other bills, too. I've half a mind to try
+it, Walter."
+
+"It would mean extra work for you."
+
+"Pooh! What do I care for that? Not a fig! In fact, with both of you
+boys away I'd rather be busy than not," was the quick retort.
+
+"Do you suppose Bob would mind?"
+
+"Bob? Why, he's seldom at home nowadays. Why should he care?"
+
+"Aunt Marcia might think----" began the boy mischievously. But the
+comment was cut short.
+
+"Oh, I know what your Aunt Marcia would say," broke in Mrs. King.
+"She'd hold up her hands in horror and announce that it was beneath
+the dignity of the family to take boarders."
+
+They both laughed.
+
+"I believe the very notion of scandalizing her will be what will
+decide me," concluded his mother with finality. "I'll put an
+advertisement in the Boston paper to-morrow and see what luck I have.
+If the right people do not turn up, why I don't have to take them."
+
+"Sure you don't."
+
+"It's a good plan, a splendid plan, Walter. Boarders will give me
+company and money too. I wonder it never occurred to me to do it
+before." Then she patted the lad's shoulder, adding playfully, "I
+guess if you have brains in one direction you must have them in
+another. Still, as I said before, I do not fancy your being
+responsible for those dogs."
+
+"Pooh! You quit worrying, Ma, or I shall be sorry I told you they were
+blue ribbon pups."
+
+"I should have heard of it, never fear. You hear of everything in this
+town. You can't help it. Like as not everybody in the place will know
+by to-morrow morning that I am going to take boarders. Luckily I don't
+care--that's one good thing. And as to the dogs, if you are resolved
+to accept that position all I can say is that you must keep a head on
+your shoulders. You cannot hire out for a job unless you are prepared
+to give a full return for the money paid you. It is not honest. So
+think carefully what you mean to do before you embark. And remember,
+if you get into some careless scrape you cannot come back on me for
+money for I haven't any to hand over."
+
+"I shall shoulder my own blame," responded Walter, drawing in his
+chin.
+
+"Well and good then. If you are ready to do that, it is your affair
+and I have nothing more to say," announced Mrs. King, preparing to
+leave the room.
+
+But Walter stayed her on the threshold.
+
+"I don't see," he began, "why you always seem to expect I'm going to
+get into a scrape. You are never looking for trouble with Bob."
+
+"Bob! Bless your heart I never have to! You know that as well as I do.
+Any one could trust Bob until the Day of Judgment. He never forgets a
+word you tell him. Ask him to do an errand and it is as good as done.
+You can drop it from your mind. From a little child he was dependable
+like that. His teachers couldn't say enough about him. Wasn't he
+always at the head of his class? The way he's turned out is no
+surprise. Think of his picking up wireless enough outside school hours
+to get a radio job during the war, and afterward that fine position at
+Seaver Bay! Few lads his age could have done it. And think of the
+messages he's entrusted with--government work, and sinking ships, and
+goodness knows what not!"
+
+The proud mother ceased for lack of breath.
+
+"I wish I was like Bob," sighed Walter gloomily.
+
+"Nonsense!" was the instant exclamation. "You're yourself, and
+scatter-brain as you are, I'd want you no different. You're but a lad
+yet. When you are Bob's age you may be like him. Who knows?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," came dismally from Walter. "I haven't started out as
+Bob did."
+
+"What if you haven't? There's time enough to catch up if you hurry.
+And anyway, I do not want my children all alike. Variety is the spice
+of life. I wouldn't have you patterned after Bob if I could speak the
+word."
+
+"You wouldn't?" the boy brightened.
+
+"Indeed I wouldn't! Who would I be patching torn trousers or darning
+ripped sweaters for if you were like Bob, I'd like to know? Who'd be
+pestering me to hunt up his cap and mittens? And who would I be frying
+clams for?"
+
+"Bob never could abide clam fritters, could he?" put in the younger
+brother.
+
+"Bob never had any frivolities," mused Mrs. King, shaking her head.
+"Sometimes I've almost wished he had if only to keep the rest of us in
+countenance. Many's the time I've feared lest he was going to die he
+was that near perfect."
+
+"Well, Ma, you haven't had to lie awake worrying because I was too
+good for this world, have you?" chuckled His Highness, breaking into a
+grin.
+
+His mother regarded him affectionately.
+
+"Oh, you'll make your way too, sonny, some day. It won't be as Bob has
+done it; but you'll make it nevertheless. Folks are going to do things
+for you simply because they cannot help it."
+
+The boy studied her with a puzzled expression.
+
+"What do you mean, Mater?"
+
+As if coming out of a reverie Mrs. King started, the mistiness that
+had softened her eyes vanishing.
+
+"There! Look at the way you've splashed up my nice clean sink!"
+complained she tartly. "Did any one ever see such a child--always
+messing up everything! Come, clear out of here and take your fish with
+you. It does seem as if you needed four nursemaids and a valet at your
+heels to pick up after you. Be off this minute."
+
+With a cloth in one hand and a bar of soap in the other, she elbowed
+him away from the dishpan.
+
+"You'll fry these flounders for supper, won't you, Ma?" called the lad
+as he disappeared into the shed.
+
+"Fry 'em? I reckon I'll have to. It's wicked to catch fish and not use
+'em."
+
+But he saw his mother's eyes twinkle and her grumbling assent did not
+trouble him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE NEW JOB
+
+
+May at Lovell's Harbor was one of the most beautiful seasons of the
+year. In fact the inhabitants of the town often remarked that they put
+up with the winters the small isolated village offered for the sake of
+its springs and summers. Certain it was that when easterly storms
+swept the marshes and lashed the harbor into foam; when every boat
+that struggled out of the channel returned whitened to the gunwale
+with ice, there was little to induce anybody to take up residence in
+the hamlet. How cold and blue the water looked! How the surf boomed up
+on the lonely beach and the winds howled and whined around the eaves
+of the low cottages!
+
+One buttoned himself tightly into a greatcoat then, twisted a muffler
+many times about his neck, pulled his cap over his ears, and rushed
+for school with a velocity that almost equaled the scudding schooners
+whose sails billowed large against the horizon. At least that was what
+His Highness, Walter King, invariably did.
+
+But from the instant the breath of spring stole into the air,--ah,
+then Lovell's Harbor became a different place altogether. The stems of
+the willows fringing the small fresh-water ponds mellowed to bronze
+before one's very eyes; the dull reaches of salt grass turned emerald;
+the steely tint of the sea softened to azure and glinted golden in the
+sun. How shrill sounded the cries of the redwings in the marsh! How
+jolly the frogs' twilight chorus!
+
+The miracle went on with amazing rapidity. Soon you were scouring the
+hollows in the woods for arbutus or splashing bare-legged into the
+bogs for cowslips. You even ventured knee-deep into the sea which
+although still chill was no longer frigid. And then, before you knew
+it, you were hauling out your fishing tackle and looking over your
+flies; inspecting the old dory and calking her seams with a coat of
+fresh paint. Then came the raking of the leaves, the uncovering of the
+hollyhocks, and the burning of brush; and through the mists of smoke
+that rose high in air you could hear the resonant chee-ee of the
+blackbirds swinging on the reeds along the margin of the creek.
+
+And afterward, when summer had really made its appearance, what days
+of blue and gold followed! Was ever sky so cloudless, grass so vividly
+green, or ocean so sparkling? Ah, a boy never lacked amusement now! He
+wriggled into his bathing suit directly after breakfast and was off to
+the shore to swim, fish, or sail, or do any of the thousand-and-one
+alluring things that turned up. And things always did turn up in that
+small horseshoe where the boats made in. It was the club of Lovell's
+Harbor.
+
+Here all the men of the village congregated daily to smoke, swap
+jokes, and heckle those who worked.
+
+"That's no way to mend a net, Eph," one of the spectators would
+protest. "Where was you fetched up, man? Tote the durn thing over here
+and I'll show you how they do it off the Horn."
+
+Or another member of the audience would call:
+
+"Was you reckonin' you'd have enough paint in that keg to finish your
+yawl, Eddie? Never in the world! What are you so scrimpin' of it for?
+Slither it on good and thick and let it trickle down into the cracks.
+'Twill keep 'em tight."
+
+Oh, one learned to curb his temper and bend to the higher criticism if
+he carried his work down to the beach. He got an abundance of advice
+whether he asked for it or not and for the most part the counsel was
+sound and helpful. There you heard also tales of tempests, wrecks,
+strange ports, and sea serpents,--weird tales that chilled your blood;
+and sometimes the piping note of an old chanty was raised by one whose
+sailing days were now only a memory.
+
+What marvel that to be a boy at Lovell's Harbor was a boon to be
+coveted even if along with the distinction went a throng of homely
+tasks such as shucking clams, cleaning cod, baiting lobster pots, and
+running errands? No cake is all frosting and no chowder all broth. You
+had to take the bad along with the good if you lived at Lovell's
+Harbor. And while you were sandwiching in work and fun what an
+education you got! Why, it was better than a dozen schools. Not only
+did you learn to swim like a spaniel, pull a strong oar, hoist a sail,
+and gain an understanding of winds and tides, but also you came to
+handle tools with an ease no manual training school could teach you.
+You made a wooden pin do if you had no nail; and a bit of rope serve
+if the whittled pin were lacking. Instead of hurrying to a shop to
+purchase new you patched up the old, and the triumph of doing it
+afforded a satisfaction very pleasant to experience.
+
+Moreover, as a result, you had more pennies in your pocket and more
+brains in your head. Both Bob and Walter King, as well as most of the
+other village lads, outranked the town-bred boy in all-round practical
+skill. They may not have cut such a fine figure at golf or dancing;
+perhaps they did not excel at Latin or French; but they had at the
+tips of their tongues numberless useful facts which they had tried out
+and proven workable and which no city dweller could possibly have
+gleaned.
+
+His Highness might be freckled and towsled and, as his mother
+affirmed, forgetful and careless, but like a sponge his active young
+mind had soaked up a deal no books could have given him. You would
+best beware how you jollied Walter King or put him down for a "Rube."
+More than likely you would later regret your snap judgment.
+
+No doubt it was this realization that had stimulated Jerry Thomas to
+ask him to come to Surfside, the Crowninshields' big summer estate,
+and look after the dogs. Jerry was an old resident of Lovell's Harbor,
+and having watched the boy grow up, he unquestionably knew what he
+was about. That there were plenty of other boys at the Harbor to
+choose from was certain. If the honor descended to His Highness rest
+assured it was not without reason.
+
+Hence Jerry was not only pleased but immensely gratified when on the
+morning following Walter rounded the corner of the great barn and
+appeared in the doorway.
+
+"I've come to say Yes to that job you offered me the other day,"
+announced he, without wasting words on preliminaries.
+
+"Good, youngster!"
+
+"When shall you want me?"
+
+"When can you come?" grinned Jerry.
+
+He was a lank, sharp-featured man with china blue eyes that narrowed
+to a mere slit when he smiled, and from the corners of which
+crowsfeet, like fan-shaped streaks of light from the rising sun,
+radiated across his temples. His skin was tanned to the hue of old
+hickory and deep down in its furrows were lines of white. He had a big
+nose that was always sunburned, powerful hands with a reddish fuzz on
+their backs, and gnarled fingers that bore the scars of innumerable
+nautical disasters. But the chief glory he possessed was a neatly
+tattooed schooner that sailed under full canvas upon his forearm and
+bore beneath it the inscription:
+
+    The Mollie D. The finest ship afloat.
+
+The words had been intended as a tribute rather than a challenge for
+Jerry was a peaceful soul, but unfortunately they had proved
+provocative of many a brawl, and had the truth been known a certain
+odd slant of Jerry's chin could have been traced back to this
+apparently harmless assertion. Possibly had this mate of the _Mollie
+D._ foreseen into what straits his boast was to lead him he might not
+have expressed it so baldly in all the naked glory of blue ink; but
+with the sentiment once immortalized what choice had he but to defend
+it? Therefore, being no coward but a sturdy seaman with a swinging
+undercut, he had in times past delivered many a blow in order to
+uphold the _Mollie D.'s_ nautical reputation, after which encounters
+his challengers were wont to emerge with a more profound respect not
+only for the bark but for Jerry Thomas as well.
+
+All that, however, was long ago. Since the great storm of 1890 when so
+many ships had perished and the _Mollie D._, bound from Norfolk to
+Fairhaven, had gone down with the rest, Jerry had abandoned the sea.
+It was not the perils of the deep, nevertheless, that had driven him
+landward, or the fear of future disasters; it was only that since his
+first love was lost he could not bring himself to ship on any other
+vessel.
+
+Accordingly he took to the shore and for a time a very strange misfit
+he was there. How he fumed and fidgeted and roamed from one place to
+another, searching for some spot in which his restless spirit would
+find peace! And then one day he had wandered into Lovell's Harbor and
+there he had stayed ever since. For several seasons he had taken out
+sailing parties of summer boarders or piloted amateur fishermen out to
+the Ledges; but the timidity and lack of sophistication of these city
+patrons at length so rasped his nerves that he gave up the task and
+was about to betake himself to pastures new when he fell beneath the
+eye of Mr. Glenmore Archibald Crowninshield, a New York banker, who
+had bought the strip of land forming one arm of the bay and was on the
+point of erecting there a diminutive summer palace.
+
+From that instant Jerry's fortune was made. Mr. Crowninshield was a
+keen student of human nature and was immediately attracted to the
+sailor with his ambling gait and twinkling blue eyes. Moreover, the
+New Yorker happened to be in search of just such a man to look out for
+his interests when he was not at Lovell's Harbor. Hence Jerry was
+elevated to the post of caretaker and delegated to keep guard over the
+edifice that was about to be erected.
+
+In view of the fact that up to the moment Jerry had been the most
+care-free mortal alive and had never from day to day been able to
+remember the whereabouts of his sou'wester or his rubber boots, his
+ensuing transformation was nothing short of a miracle. Promptly
+settling down with doglike fidelity he began mildly to urge on the
+lagging carpenters; but presently, magnificent in his wrath, he rose
+above them, whiplash in hand, and drove them forward. His watery blue
+eyes followed every stick of timber, every foot of piping, every nail
+that was placed. There was no escaping his watchfulness. If corners
+were not true or moldings did not meet he saw and called attention to
+it. Many a time a slipshod workman was ready to throw him over the
+cliff into the sea and perhaps might have done so had he not been
+conscious of the justice of the criticism.
+
+In consequence the Crowninshield house was built on honor; and when
+the bills began to come in and showed a marked falling off in
+magnitude the owner of the mansion could not but express gratitude.
+Jerry, however, did not covet thanks. Instead he tagged along at his
+employer's heels, proudly calling notice first to one skillful bit of
+work and then to another. The house and all that concerned it became
+his hobby. It was to him what the _Mollie D._ had been, the primary
+interest of his life. He knew every inch of plumbing; where every
+shut-off, valve, ventilator, and stopcock was located. Moreover, he
+could have told, had not his jaws been clamped together tightly as a
+scallop shell, exactly how much every article in the mansion cost.
+
+Later he superintended the grading of the lawns, the laying out of
+tennis courts, and the building of garages, boathouses, and
+bathhouses. By this time Mr. Crowninshield would willingly have
+trusted him with every farthing he possessed so complete was his
+confidence in his man Friday.
+
+Jerry, however, was modest. He declared he had only done his duty and
+insisted that it go at that. But having set this high standard of
+fidelity for himself it followed that he demanded a like faithfulness
+in others; and if he were not merciful to those who came under his
+dictatorship at least no one of them could deny that he was just.
+Hence Walter King did not shrink from the prospect of working with
+him, stern though he was reputed to be. One can only do one's best and
+that the boy was determined to do. Therefore he smiled up into Jerry's
+misty blue eyes and answered:
+
+"I could begin work when school closes toward the end of June."
+
+"Humph! I wish you could make it earlier. Well, we must put up with
+that since it is the best you can do. Goodness knows I'd be the last
+one to discourage learning in the young. I got all too little of it
+when I was a shaver. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I'd had my
+chance. I shipped to sea when I was only twelve--would go--nothing
+would stop me--and I've been knocking round ever since, picking up
+here and there what scraps of knowledge I could get. Don't let
+anything tempt you to sea till you're full-grown, sonny, for you'll
+live to regret it, sure as my name is Jerry Taylor."
+
+Walter flushed guiltily, wondering as he did so whether Jerry's little
+blue eyes had bored their way into his skull and read there his
+aspirations.
+
+"Nope!" went on the sailor. "Take it from me, seafaring is a man's
+job. You much better stay ashore and----" he stopped as if at a loss
+and then smiling broadly added, "play governess to a pack of dogs."
+
+"I figure that is about what I'm going to do," replied His Highness
+with a comic air of resignation.
+
+"Well, what's the matter with that?" inquired Jerry sharply. "You'll
+be getting paid for it, won't you--well paid? And you'll have cozy
+quarters all to yourself, and three good meals a day. Land alive! Some
+folks want the earth! Why, when I was your age, I was swung up in a
+hammock between decks with not an inch of space that I could call my
+own. If I wanted to stow away anything I hadn't a place to put it
+where it wasn't common property. As for meals I took what I could get
+and was thankful that I didn't starve. And here you come along and
+tilt up your freckled pug nose at a room and board and ten a week.
+Bah! What's come over this generation anyway?"
+
+"I wasn't turning up my nose," Walter ventured to protest. "It turns
+up anyhow."
+
+"Then you need to be careful how you make it go higher," grinned
+Jerry.
+
+"And--and--I had no idea you meant to pay me that much."
+
+"What do you think we are up here?" bristled Jerry. "A sweatshop? No
+siree! We stand for the square deal every time, we do. Only you've got
+to understand, young one, that it's to be square on both sides. You're
+to do no shirking; if you do you'll get fired so quick you'll wonder
+what hit you. But if you do your part you need have no worries. Now
+think good and plenty before you embark on the cruise."
+
+"I have thought."
+
+"All right then. We'll haul up anchor and be off the latter part of
+June."
+
+"You'll have to tell me exactly what you want me to do."
+
+"Oh, I'll tell you right 'nough," drawled Jerry, with a humorous twist
+of his lips. "You'll get a chart to sail by. Still, it won't wholly
+cover your duties. The thing for you to do is to keep your eyes peeled
+and look alive. Watch out and see where there's a hole an' be in that
+hole so it won't be empty. That's the best recipe I know for being
+useful."
+
+"I'll try."
+
+"If you honestly do that I reckon there'll be no cause for you to
+worry," observed the caretaker kindly. "Towards the end of June, then,
+I'll be on the lookout for you. Your quarters will be all ready,
+shipshape and trim as a liner's cabin."
+
+"Where will they be?" inquired Walter.
+
+"Want to see 'em?"
+
+"I'd like to, yes."
+
+"I s'pose you would," nodded Jerry. "You can as well as not; only they
+ain't fixed up as they'll be later. Look kinder dismal."
+
+"Oh, I shan't mind."
+
+The big man smiled at the eagerness of the boy's tone.
+
+"Likely you ain't never been away from home before, son," said he, as
+he took a key out of a glass case on the wall of the barn and slipped
+it into his pocket.
+
+"No--that is, not to stay."
+
+"Quite some adventure, eh?"
+
+The lad shot a bright glance toward him.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, well! Count yourself lucky, youngster, that you've had a good
+home and a good mother up to now; and bless your stars, too, that
+since you are going to start branching out you're coming to a place
+like Surfside rather'n somewhere else."
+
+His voice was gentle and his misty eyes mistier than ever.
+
+Striding ahead he crossed the lawn, unlocked a low building, and
+mounting the stairs, stopped before a door in the hall above. With a
+turn of the key it swung open, disclosing a small sheathed room
+containing a white iron bed, bureau, table, chairs, and bookshelves.
+
+"Think this will suit your Highness?" grinned he.
+
+"It's--it's corking!" stammered Walter, almost too delighted to reply.
+
+"'Tain't bad," admitted Jerry, strolling over to one of the windows
+that faced the sea and looking out. "Mr. Crowninshield makes it a rule
+never to stow away other folks where he wouldn't be stowed himself. It
+isn't a bad principle, either. You'll have a couple of the chauffeurs
+for company." With his thumb he motioned to other rooms flanking the
+narrow hall. "They may josh you some at first. That's part of starting
+out in the world. Keep a civil tongue in your head and if you don't
+mind 'em they'll soon quit. If they don't it's up to you to find the
+way to get on with 'em. Half of life is learning to shy round the
+corners of the folks about you. And old Tim, who used to be gardener
+for Mr. Crowninshield's father and has been in the family 'most half a
+century, bides here, too. A rare soul, Tim. You'll like him. Everybody
+does. Simple as a child, he is, and so gentle that it well-nigh breaks
+his heart to kill a potato bug. You can count on Tim standing your
+friend no matter what the rest may do, so cheer up."
+
+"And the dogs?"
+
+"Oh, the kennels, you mean? They're close by where you'll get the full
+benefit of the pups' barking in the early morning," said Jerry, with a
+twinkle. "'Twill give you a pleasant feeling to be certain your
+charges are alive. Most often, though, they do no yammering until
+about six, and goodness knows all Christians ought to be up at that
+hour. You'll find the dogs fitted out comfortable as the rest of us.
+They've a fine enclosure to stay in when they want to be out of doors;
+a big airy room if it's better to have 'em under cover; steam heat
+when it's cold; and blankets and brushes without end. Sometimes Lola,
+the pet of 'em all, sleeps up at the big house; but mostly she's here
+with the rest. There's too big a caravan of 'em to have the lot live
+with the family. Besides, the folks like to sleep late in the morning
+and not be disturbed by the noise of a pack of puppies. Then there's
+guests here off and on. So take it all in all, the dogs are best by
+themselves."
+
+"But I don't know anything about taking care of dogs," faltered
+Walter.
+
+"I thought you'd had a dog yourself."
+
+"So I had once. But he wasn't like any of these. He was just a dog.
+All you had to do was to chuck him a bone."
+
+"Well, you'll have a darn sight more to do for these critters than
+that," announced Jerry.
+
+"But how'll I know----" began the boy, alarmed by the prospect before
+him.
+
+"Oh, you'll get your instructions from the Madam, most likely--get 'em
+all written down in black and white along with the history of every
+dog. She'll tell you just what every one of 'em is to eat, and how
+much; and where they're all to sleep. And if she don't Miss Nancy or
+Mr. Dick will. You'll get yards and yards of directions before you're
+through," chuckled Jerry. "You want to listen well to every word you
+hear too, son, for these dogs ain't like your Towser--or whatever his
+name was; a crumb of food too much might kill 'em. Or a blast of air."
+
+"Scott!"
+
+"Oh, there's no use getting panicky at the outset," declared Jerry
+comfortably. "Follow orders and use your brains; and remember that if
+you get addled you can always consult Tim. Tim has a world of common
+sense and a heap of knowledge of odd sorts. And more than that, he's
+never swept off his feet by the cost of things. Having been brought up
+in the company of Rolls-Royce cars, and diamond rings, and
+thousand-dollar dogs they don't move him an inch. He just treats 'em
+same's he would anything else and often it's the best plan. Instead
+of losing his head, and standing wringing his hands 'cause the prize
+roses have got bugs on 'em he sets to work and kills the bugs; sprays
+the plants same's he would ordinary bushes, and they go to growing
+again like any other civilized flowers. An orchid ain't no more to him
+than a buttercup. He's too used to 'em. He's used to dogs as well, and
+with the shifting fashions he's seen during his fifty years with the
+family he's had experience with most every kind of dog that ever was.
+For there's fashions in dogs, you know, as well as in coats and hats.
+So turn to Tim when you're in a tight place. He'll help you, never
+fear."
+
+"I hope he will," sighed His Highness ruefully. "I shall need him."
+
+"Nonsense! Why, Mr. Dick has often cared for the pups when there was
+no one else; and certainly you ought to have as many brains as he."
+
+"Tell me about him."
+
+"Richard? You've seen him round town lots of times--you must have. At
+the village and other places."
+
+"Oh, of course I've seen him," agreed Walter quickly. "In the summer
+he drives past our house almost every day in his car. But I don't know
+him any."
+
+"You will now," asserted Jerry. "He's a great chap, Mr. Dick is! About
+your age, too, I guess. Quite a mechanic and always tinkering with
+tools and machinery. If there's anything wrong with the motor boat he
+can usually fix her up all right. As for mending a car, he beats all
+the chauffeurs out. They know it and have to say so. Likely you've
+seen him fluking through the main street in his racer. She's a trim
+little thing and could go like the wind if his Pa hadn't forbidden
+letting out the engine. I reckon Mr. Crowninshield is afraid he'll
+either kill himself or somebody else, and I will own the thing ain't
+no proper toy for a lad his age. Still, city folks ain't content with
+what would please you or me. They must have the biggest, the fastest,
+the most expensive article there is or 'tain't good for nothin'. The
+mere knowin' it's the biggest, fastest, and cost the most seems to
+make 'em happy somehow. Funny, ain't it?"
+
+His Highness did not reply. He was thinking.
+
+"And Miss Nancy?" interrogated he presently.
+
+"Ha! There's a girl for you!" ejaculated Jerry with enthusiasm.
+"She'll be either seventeen or eighteen come June. Swims like a fish.
+In fact, I ain't sure she couldn't outdistance some of 'em. And such
+an oar as she pulls! It's strong and steady as any man's. Besides
+that, she can beat the crowd at tennis, golf, and those other fool
+games such folks play. Has a runabout of her own, too, and drives it
+neat as a pin."
+
+"She's better at sports than Mr. Dick, then."
+
+"Oh, she can wipe the ground up with him," sniffed Jerry. "She can
+swim overhand to the raft and get back almost before her brother has
+started. By Guy! I never saw a woman swim as she does! Dick gets
+kinder peeved with her sometimes when she jollies him. But let her car
+play a prank and he has her, for she's no more idea what to do with
+an engine than the man in the moon. She treats brother Richard with
+proper respect then, I can tell you."
+
+Walter smiled.
+
+"And Mrs. Crowninshield?"
+
+"She? She's all right! You'll like her and she'll like you--that is,
+if you get on with the pups. Dogs are her hobby. What she don't know
+about raisin' 'em ain't worth knowin'. But I just warn you not to
+think that because she's so pleasant she's easy goin', 'cause she
+ain't. Slip up on your job and she'll be down on you like a thousand
+of brick. She's a fair-weather sailin' craft--that's what she is;
+floats along nice as anything until something goes wrong and then--my
+soul--but she kicks up a sea. Yet with all that you'll like her. We
+all do. Almost everybody on the place would get down and let her walk
+on 'em. She has a kind of way with her that makes you itch to please
+her. Tim would let her cut his head clean off if she wanted to and I
+ain't sure I wouldn't. Have a smart sore throat once and see the
+things she'll do for you. And she'll do 'em herself, too--not set
+other people on the job. I believe that woman has the biggest heart in
+the world."
+
+"And--and--Mr. Crowninshield?" ventured Walter.
+
+"The boss?" Jerry cleared his throat and for the first time hesitated.
+"You've got to understand the boss, my son," said he earnestly. "He
+ain't like other men. And in order that you may, I better give you a
+pointer or two for it will most probably save you trouble. The boss
+is something like a big dog that barks fit to murder you and don't
+mean a thing by it. You've seen the kind. To hear him go on when he's
+roused you'd believe he was going to have your blood. My, how he does
+orate!" Jerry smiled and shook his head indulgently. "I've seen the
+men stand up before him with their knees shaking until you'd expect
+'em to give way every second. And the master would rage and rage
+because they'd done something he didn't want done. And then, like a
+hurricane that's blown itself out, he'll calm down and the next you
+know he's given you a smile that's made you forget all the rest of it.
+That's him all over. Learn not to be afraid of him, that's the only
+thing to do. He wouldn't hurt a fly really. He just gets to blusterin'
+and tearin' round from force of habit. It don't mean nothin'--not a
+thing in the world. And with all his money he ain't a mite cocky. To
+see him you'd scarce dream he had a copper in his pocket. Yet he could
+paper the house with thousand-dollar bills was he so minded. There's
+no end to his money, seems to me. Just the same, you don't want to go
+wastin' it for him on that account. Remember you ain't got the right
+to, not havin' earned it. If he chooses to splash it round that's his
+hunt. He made it. But it ain't yours or mine to slosh away. Jot that
+down in your log. It may help you later."
+
+Jerry paused.
+
+"You deal square and honorable with the boss, standing up to what
+you've done like you was a trooper at your gun, and he'll deal square
+and honorable with you. But go to hoodwinking and imposing on him and
+instead of a lamb you'll find you've got a rattlesnake at your heels.
+Now you have an idea, I guess, what you're going to be up against
+here," concluded the caretaker, taking out his pipe and cramming it
+with tobacco. "If there's anything else you want to know now's your
+chance, for after to-day I am never going to open my lips again about
+any of the Crowninshield family. You'll be one of the employees and
+your job will be to hold your tongue on them and their affairs, and be
+loyal to 'em. Their bread will be feeding you and 'twill be only
+decent. After you once have got your place the keeping of it will rest
+with you. That's fair, ain't it?"
+
+Walter nodded.
+
+Yet he turned slowly toward home, depressed by a throng of misgivings.
+Suppose he was not able to hold the job at Surfside once it was his?
+What then?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING
+
+
+By the middle of May Lovell's Harbor had fully awakened from its
+winter's sleep. Freshly painted dories were slipped into the water;
+newly rigged yawls and knockabouts were anchored in the bay; the float
+was equipped with renovated bumpers, and a general air of anticipation
+pervaded the community.
+
+Yes, hot weather was really on the way. Already the summer cottages
+were being opened, aired, and put in order, and even some of the
+houses had gayly figured hangings at the windows and a film of smoke
+could be seen issuing from the chimneys.
+
+At Surfside workmen bustled about, hurrying across the lawn with
+boards, paint pots, and hammers. Tim Cavenough and his little host of
+helpers scurried to uncover the flower beds, and from morning to night
+trudged back and forth from the greenhouses bearing shallow boxes of
+seedlings which they transplanted to the gardens. Shutters were
+removed and stored away, piazza chairs brought out, awnings put up,
+and lawns and tennis courts rolled and cut.
+
+As far as one could see a spangled expanse of ocean dazzled the eye
+and the tiny salt creeks that meandered across the meadows were like
+winding ribbons of blue. Certainly it was no weather to be shut up in
+school and boys and girls went hither with reluctant feet, checking
+off the days on their fingers and even counting the hours that must
+drag by before they would be free to roam at will amid this panorama
+of beauty.
+
+To Walter King it seemed as if the closing period of his captivity
+would never be at an end. He studied rebelliously, and with only a
+half--nay, rather a quarter--of his mind on his lessons. All his
+thought was centered around Surfside and the novel experiences that
+beckoned him there. So impatient was he to begin his new duties that
+he found it impossible to settle down to anything.
+
+"You'll be failing in your last examinations, Walter, if you don't
+watch what you're doing," cautioned his mother. "And should you do
+that, little profit would it be that you are hired out to Mr.
+Crowninshield for the summer. In the fall you'd have to stay behind
+your class, and think of the disgrace of that! Why, I'd be ready to
+hide my head with shame! Money or no money, you must buck up and put
+the Crowninshields and their doings out of your head. To lose a year
+now would mean just that much longer before you could graduate and
+take a regular job. I almost wish Jerry Thomas had never asked you to
+come up there, I do indeed."
+
+"Oh, don't go getting all fussed up, Ma," returned His Highness,
+irritated because he recognized the truth of his mother's words. "I'm
+going to buckle down until the term is over, honest I am. It is hard,
+though, with the weather so fine. It seems as if I must be out. It's
+like being on a leash."
+
+"You're thinking of those dogs again!"
+
+The lad flushed sheepishly.
+
+"No, I wasn't."
+
+"But you were--whether you realized it or not. It is all you talk of
+nowadays--_dogs_! What it will be after they get here and you're up at
+Surfside living with them I don't know. Whatever else you do, though,
+you must not fail in your lessons and at the last moment spoil your
+whole year's record. School is your first duty now and you have no
+moral right to put anything else in its place."
+
+"I know it, Ma," Walter agreed.
+
+"Of course you know it," was the tart response. "Just see that you do
+not forget it, that's all."
+
+With this final admonition Mrs. King whisked about and taking up her
+cake of Sapolio and pail of steaming water ascended the stairs. Like
+the rest of Lovell's Harbor she was busy as a bee in clovertime. She
+had rented all her rooms and had so many things to do in preparation
+for her expected guests that she had not a second to waste.
+
+After she had gone Walter loitered in the kitchen, whistling absently
+and at the same time winding a piece of string aimlessly over his
+fingers. His mother's words had stirred a vague, uncomfortable
+possibility in his mind. What if he were to fail in those final exams?
+It would be terrible. Such a disaster did not seem real. It couldn't
+happen--actually happen--to him. It would be too awful. Nevertheless,
+try as he would to banish them, visions of Surfside with its myriad
+fascinations would dance in his head.
+
+He had never been away from home for more than a night before and to
+take up residence elsewhere for an entire season was in itself a
+novelty. Then there were the tennis courts, the golf links, the
+automobiles, motor boats, and the yacht! Why, it would be like
+fairyland! The next instant, however, his spirits drooped. It was
+absurd to imagine for a moment that he was to have any part in those
+magic amusements. He was not going to Surfside for recreation but for
+work. Notwithstanding that fact, though, it was beyond his power to
+forget that all these many activities would be going on about him and
+there was the chance, the bare chance, that an occasion might arise
+when he would be invited to participate in some of them.
+
+Fancy spinning over the sandy roads of the Cape in that wonderful
+racing car! Or sailing the blue waters of the harbor in one of those
+snowy motor boats! As for the yacht, with its trimmings of glistening
+brass and spotless decks, had he not dreamed of going aboard it ever
+since the day it had first steamed into the bay two summers ago?
+People said there was every imaginable contrivance aboard: ice-making
+machines, electric lights, and electric piano, goodness only knew
+what! Simply to see such things would be wonderful. And if it ever
+should come about (of course it never would and it was absurd to
+picture it--ridiculous) but if it ever _did_ that he should go sailing
+out of the bay on that mystic craft what a miracle that would be!
+
+With such visions floating through his mind what marvel that it was
+well-nigh out of the question for Walter King to focus his attention
+on algebra, Latin, history, and physics. X + Y seemed of very little
+consequence, and as for the Punic Wars they were so far away as to be
+hazy beyond any reality at all.
+
+Possibly, although she was quite unconscious of it, some of the fault
+was his mother's for she kept the topic of his departure to the
+Crowninshields' ever before him.
+
+"I have your new shirts almost finished, son," she would assert with
+satisfaction, "and they're as neat and well made as any New York
+tailor could make them, if I do say it; and you've three pairs of
+khaki trousers besides your old woolen ones and corduroys. With your
+Sunday suit of blue serge and those fresh ties and cap you'll have
+nothing to be ashamed of. Then you've those denim overalls, and your
+slicker, and Bob's outgrown pea-coat. I can't see but what you have
+everything you can possibly need. Do be watchful of your shoes and use
+them carefully, won't you, for they cost a mint of money? And remember
+whenever you can to work in your old duds and save your others. You
+can just as well as not if you only think of it. Your washing you'll
+bring home and don't forget that I want you to keep neat and clean.
+Rich folks notice those things a lot. So scrub your hands and neck
+and clean your nails, even if I'm not there to tell you to. Just
+because you are going to traipse round with the dogs is no excuse for
+looking like 'em," concluded she.
+
+"I'll remember, Ma," returned His Highness patiently.
+
+"And if you eat with the chauffeurs and a pack of men, don't go
+stuffing yourself with food until you're sick. There's a time to stop,
+you know. Don't wait until you've got past it and are so crammed that
+you can't swallow another mouthful."
+
+"I won't, Ma," was the meek response.
+
+"Brush your teeth faithfully, too. I've spent too much money on them
+to have them go to waste now."
+
+"Yes," came wearily from Walter.
+
+"Of course there's no call for me to talk to a person your age about
+smoking," continued his mother. "When you've got your full growth and
+can earn money enough to pay for such foolishness you've a right to
+indulge in it if you see fit; but until then don't start a habit that
+will do you no good and may make a pigmy of you for life."
+
+"I promise you right now, Ma, that I----"
+
+"No, don't promise. A promise is a sacred thing and one that it is a
+sacrilege to break. Never make a promise lightly. But just remember,
+laddie, that I'd far rather you didn't smoke for a few years yet. But
+should you feel you must why come and tell me, that's all."
+
+"I will, Ma," answered the boy soberly. Somehow going away from home
+suddenly seemed a very solemn business.
+
+"I guess that's the end of my cautions," smiled Mrs. King, "the end,
+except to say that I hope you won't like Surfside so well that you'll
+forget to come home now and then and tell me how you are making out.
+Of course I'll have my boarders and work same's you; still, there'll
+be times when we won't be busy and can see each other," her voice
+trembled a little. "Nobody will be more anxious to hear of your doings
+than I--remember that. I shall miss you, sonny. It's the first time
+you've been away from me and I can't but feel it's a sort of
+milestone. You'll be getting grown up and leaving home for good now
+before I know it, same as Bob has."
+
+Her eyes glistened and for an instant she turned her head aside.
+
+"Oh, I shan't be branching out to make my fortune yet, Mother,"
+protested Walter gayly. "I don't know enough. I'm not clever like
+Bob--you said so yourself only the other day."
+
+"You're clever as is good for you," was the ambiguous retort. "I'm
+glad you're no different."
+
+"Think of the money I'd be handing in if I could only earn as much as
+Bob."
+
+"The money? Aye, there's no denying it would be a help. However, with
+what you and Bob and I are going to earn this summer we should make
+out very well, even if your Uncle Mark Miller has left us in the lurch
+and your Uncle Henry King's investments have gone bad on us. I'll be
+turning a tidy penny with my boarders, thanks to you. And for a lad
+your age ten dollars a week is not to be sneezed at. Why, we'll have
+quite a little fortune between us!"
+
+He saw her face brighten.
+
+"Now if Bob could only be near at hand like you I believe I should be
+entirely happy," she sighed. "I hate to think of him way out there on
+that spit of sand with the sea booming all around him and nothing for
+company but the other fellow, who's asleep whenever he's awake, and
+that clicking wireless instrument. Imagine the loneliness of it! The
+solitude would drive me crazy inside a week--I know it would."
+
+"Bob doesn't mind."
+
+"He's not the lad to say so if he did," replied the mother grimly.
+"Nobody'd be any the wiser for what Bob thinks. Often at night I fall
+to wondering what he'd do was he to be taken sick."
+
+"Oh, he'd be all right, Mother," answered His Highness cheerfully.
+"O'Connel is there, you know."
+
+"And what kind of a nurse would he be, do you think, with his ear to
+that switchboard from daylight until dark?"
+
+"Not quite that. Mother."
+
+"Well, almost that, anyhow. It is all well enough for you to say so
+jauntily that Bob doesn't mind being off there with the wind howling
+round him and nothing to do but listen to it."
+
+"Nothing to do!" repeated Walter. "Why, Ma, he's busy all the time."
+
+"Tinkering with those wires, you mean?" was the indignant question.
+"Yes, I grant he has plenty of that, especially in bad weather. But I
+mean pleasures----"
+
+"Moving pictures, church sociables, strawberry festivals," interrupted
+the lad mischievously.
+
+"Yes, I do," maintained Mrs. King stoutly. "Folks must have something
+to brighten up their lives. Bob doesn't have a thing."
+
+"He often has days that are lively enough, according to his stories."
+
+"When there's wrecks, you mean?" She shook her head gravely. "It isn't
+those that I'm talking about. It's sitting day after day and listening
+to the meaningless taps and buzzings that come whining through that
+instrument."
+
+"They're not meaningless to him."
+
+"No-o, I suppose not," sighed the woman. For a moment she paused only
+to resume her complaints. "Then there's the responsibility of it. I
+never did like to think of that. Should he tap once too much or too
+little when sending one of those dot and dash messages, think what it
+might mean! And suppose he heard a dot too much and didn't get the
+thing the other fellow was trying to tell him straight?"
+
+"But he has been trained so he does not make mistakes."
+
+"All human clay makes mistakes," was the tragic answer, "although I
+will say Bob makes fewer than most. And then the thunder storms--I'm
+always worried about those."
+
+"Yes, I'll confess there is some danger from lightning," owned Walter
+unwillingly. "And of course there is danger from the current at all
+times if one is not careful. Even then accidents sometimes happen.
+However, Bob explained once that accidental shocks seldom result
+fatally unless the person is left too long without help. The man in
+charge of the radio outfit would almost never get the full force of
+the current, because part of it would be carried off through the wires
+and ground. Such accidents are mainly due to the temporary and faulty
+contact of the conductors."
+
+"I can't help what they're due to," sniffed Mrs. King. "The point is
+that Bob might get knocked out and die."
+
+"Nonsense, Mother. You would not worry if you understood more about
+it. Besides, should a man get a shock, if you go promptly to work over
+him and keep at it long enough, you can almost always bring him back
+to consciousness. They do just about the same things to restore him
+that they do for a person that's been drowned. The aim is to make him
+breathe. If you can get him to, he will probably live. Of course,
+though, you have to break the circuit first."
+
+"The circuit?"
+
+"Stop the current that is going through his body," explained Walter.
+
+"But how can you?"
+
+"Bob told me how. He saw a chap knocked out once and helped fix him
+up. You had to be awfully careful about moving him away from the
+apparatus, Bob said, or you might get a shock yourself. They took a
+dry stick because it was a nonconductor of electricity, you know, and
+rolled the man over to one side, so he was out of reach of the wires.
+Had you covered your hands with dry cloth you could have moved him,
+too; rubber gloves are best but Bob did not happen to have any handy
+at the minute. So they poked the fellow out of the way with the stick,
+turned him over on his back, loosened his collar and clothing, and
+went to work on him. You know how they always roll up a coat or
+something and stuff it under drowned persons' shoulders to throw their
+head backward? Well, they did that; and afterward they began to move
+his arms up and down to make him breathe. The idea is to depress and
+expand the chest. We learned it in our 'first aid' class. Of course
+there are lots of things you have to do besides, and if you can get a
+doctor he will know of others that are better still. But Bob said the
+chief point was not to get discouraged and give up. Sometimes people
+die just because the folks fussing over them do not keep at it long
+enough. They get tired and when they see no results they decide it is
+no use and stop trying. You ought to work an hour anyhow, repeating
+the exercises at the rate of sixteen times a minute, Bob said. Then,
+if the poor chap does not come to, you can at least feel you have done
+all you can."
+
+"Ugh! It makes me shiver to think of it!"
+
+"You didn't shiver when Minnie Carlton fell off the float and almost
+got drowned," remarked Walter significantly.
+
+"I had too much to think of," was Mrs. King's laconic reply.
+
+"It was the fussing you did over her that saved her life."
+
+"They said so."
+
+"You know it was."
+
+"Mebbe it was," admitted his mother modestly. "But it wasn't any
+credit to me. I've always lived near the water and I feel at home with
+drowned people."
+
+"These electric accidents are much the same--easier, if anything,
+because the lungs are not filled with water."
+
+"I hadn't thought of that."
+
+"This is just a straight case of making a man breathe. You did that
+for Minnie."
+
+"I contrived to, yes."
+
+"Well, this stunt is the same. Bob said if you once got that through
+your head and kept in mind what you were driving at instead of flying
+off the handle you would get on all right."
+
+"Perhaps he's right. He generally is," sighed Mrs. King. "Still it is
+a worrisome business having him tinkering with those wires all the
+time. I am thankful you are not doing it. I'd rather you tended dogs."
+
+"But you've forgotten what they're worth," put in His Highness.
+
+"So I had. Oh, dear! I don't see but what I've got to worry about both
+of you."
+
+"Pooh, Ma! Don't be foolish. Think of the money we'll have by fall,
+the three of us. Why, we'll be rich!"
+
+"Not rich, with that last payment on the mortgage looming ahead."
+
+"But it _is_ the last--think of that! We won't ever have another to
+make."
+
+A radiant smile flitted over Mrs. King's face but a moment later it
+was eclipsed by a cloud.
+
+"There'll be other things to pay; there always are," fretted she.
+
+"Oh, shucks, Ma! Why borrow trouble? It's always hanging round wanting
+to be borrowed. Why gratify it?"
+
+"I know. It is a foolish habit, isn't it? Still, it was always my way
+to be prepared for the worst. I've done it all my life."
+
+"Then why not whiffle round now and just for a change be prepared for
+the best?"
+
+In spite of herself his mother laughed.
+
+"I expect that if I was as young as you and as happy-go-lucky I'd
+never worry," she answered not unkindly. "But since I'm made with a
+worrying disposition and bound to worry anyhow, at least I've got
+something perfectly legitimate to worry about this summer, and you
+can't deny it. With one son liable to be electrocuted by wireless and
+the other likely to be run into jail for losing a million-dollar dog I
+shall have plenty to occupy my mind, not to mention all those
+boarders that are coming."
+
+"Now, Ma, you know you are actually looking forward to the boarders,"
+Walter declared. "Already you are simply itching to see them and find
+out what they are like."
+
+"And if I am, what then?" admitted his mother flushing that she should
+have been read so accurately. "Seeing them isn't all there is to it by
+a good sight. There is feeding them, and to keep them filled up in
+this bracing climate is no small matter."
+
+"Did you ever know any one to go hungry in this house?"
+
+"Well, no; I can't say I ever did."
+
+"Do you imagine boarders will eat more than Bob or I?"
+
+"Mercy on us! I hope not."
+
+"Well, you always gave us enough to eat. I guess if you contrived to
+do that you needn't worry about your boarders," chuckled His Highness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+WALTER MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER
+
+
+The last day of June dawned dismal and foggy. A grim gray veil
+enshrouded Lovell's Harbor, rendering it cold and dreary. Had one been
+visiting it for the first time he would probably have turned his back
+on its forlornity and never have come again. The sea was wrapped in a
+mist so dense that its vast reach of waves was as complete a secret as
+if they had been actually curtained off from the land. On every leaf
+trembled beads of moisture and from the eaves of the sodden houses the
+water dripped with a melancholy trickle.
+
+It was wretched weather for the Crowninshields to be coming to
+Surfside and yet that they were already on the way the jangling
+telephone attested.
+
+"I wouldn't have had 'em put in an appearance a day like this for the
+world!" fretted Jerry Taylor, who for some unaccountable reason seemed
+to hold himself responsible for the general dampness and discomfort.
+"Fog ain't nothin' to us folks who are used to it. We've lived by the
+ocean long enough to love it no matter how it behaves. But for it to
+go actin' up this way for strangers is a pity. It gives 'em a bad
+impression same's a ill-behaved child does."
+
+"But you can't help it," ventured Walter, who had just come into
+sight.
+
+"N-o. Still, somehow, I'm always that anxious for the place to look
+it's prettiest that I feel to blame when it doesn't."
+
+The boy nodded sympathetically. Deep down within him lay an
+inarticulate affection for the hamlet in which he had been born and
+the great throbbing sea that lapped its shores. He therefore
+understood Jerry's attitude and shared in it far more than he would,
+perhaps, have been willing to admit. Nevertheless he merely knocked
+the drops from his rubber hat, muttered that it was a rotten day, and
+loitered awkwardly about, wondering just what to do.
+
+At last school was at an end. He had squeaked through the examinations
+with safety if not with glory, and having wheeled his small trunk up
+to Surfside on a wheelbarrow and deposited it in his room he
+speculated as to what to do next. There was plenty he might have done.
+There was no question about that. He might at the very moment have
+been unpacking his possessions, hanging his clothes in the closet, and
+stowing away his undergarments in the chest of drawers provided for
+the purpose. Moreover, there were books to tuck into place on his
+bookshelves and other minor duties relative to the settling of his new
+quarters.
+
+Oh, there were a score of things he might have done. His Highness,
+however, was in much too agitated a frame of mind to turn his
+attention to such humdrum tasks. Furthermore, since he had pledged
+himself to bear a hand wherever it was needed, he felt he should be on
+the spot and within call. And if beneath this worthy motive lurked a
+certain desire to see whatever there was to be seen, who can say his
+curiosity was not pardonable? One does not set forth every day to make
+his fortune. The adventure was very alluring to him who had never
+tried it.
+
+Possibly Jerry Taylor had enough of the boy in him to understand this.
+However that might be, he did not hurry the lad indoors to unpack even
+though he sensed full well that precious time was being wasted;
+instead, as he started across the lawn he called back over his
+shoulder:
+
+"If you've nothing better to do, sonny, than to stand shivering in the
+barn, come along up to the house with me and help bring up some wood;
+I'm going to start fires burning in the rooms to cheer the folks up
+and dry 'em off when they get here. To my mind there ain't nothin'
+like an open fire to right you if you're out of sorts. And likely they
+will be out of sorts. Mr. Crowninshield will, that's sure. Now I
+myself don't mind a gray day off and on. It's sorter restful and
+calming. But these city people can't see it that way. My eye, no! They
+begin to groan so you can hear 'em a mile away the minute the sun is
+clouded over; and by the second day of a good northeaster they are
+done for. You'd think to listen to 'em that the end of the world had
+come. No motoring! No golf! No tennis! Why, they might as well be
+dead. They begin to wonder why they ever came here anyway and talk of
+nothing but how nice it is in New York. Why, you would split your
+sides laughing to hear Mr. Crowninshield moan for Wall Street and
+Fifth Avenue. Three days of fog is his limit. After that ropes
+couldn't tie him here. He tumbles his traps into a suitcase and off he
+goes to the city."
+
+"Great Scott!" Walter ejaculated.
+
+"Oh, 'tain't a bad thing to have him go, take it by and large. He
+ain't much addition here when he's fidgeting round, poking into
+everything and suggesting it better be done some other way. He's much
+better off somewhere else--he's happier and so are we. By and by he
+comes back again cheerful as if nothing had happened. Mebbe it's as
+well you should be told what's in store for you in foggy weather,"
+concluded Jerry, with a touch of humor, "for you'll come in for your
+share together with the rest of us. Everybody gets it. Most likely
+you'll hear that an egg-beater is a much better thing to smooth down a
+dog's hair with than a brush; that all the world knows that and only
+an idiot uses anything else. Don't smile or venture a yip in reply.
+Just say you'll be glad to use the egg-beater if he prefers it. Remark
+that, in fact, you quite hanker to try the egg-beater. To agree with
+him always takes the wind out of his sails quicker'n anything else.
+He'll calm down soon as he sees you aren't ruffled and go off and hunt
+up somebody else to reform. And when the fog blows out to sea his
+temper will go with it and he will forget he ever suggested an
+egg-beater. Oh, we understand the boss. He's all right! If you only
+know how to take him you'll never have a mite of trouble with him."
+
+By this time they had reached the house and having removed rubbers and
+dripping coats they entered the basement door and proceeded to the
+cellar. It was not the sort of cellar with which His Highness was
+familiar although his mother's cellar was clean, as cellars go. This
+one was immaculate. Indeed it seemed, on glancing about, that one
+might have done far worse than live in the Crowninshields' cellar.
+Every inch of the interior was light, dry, and spotless with
+whitewash, paint, and tiling. Even the coal that filled the bins had
+taken on a borrowed glory and shone as if polished.
+
+"This is my kingdom!" announced Jerry proudly. "You could eat off the
+floor were you so minded."
+
+"I should say you could!"
+
+"When once you've set out it's no more work to keep things shipshape
+than to let 'em go helter-skelter. Now here's a basket. Load into it
+as many of those birch logs as you can carry and bring 'em upstairs.
+I've kindlings there already."
+
+While Walter was obeying these instructions Jerry himself was piling
+up on his lank arm a pyramid of wood, and together the two ascended
+the stairway and tiptoed through the kitchen. As they went the boy
+caught a glimpse of gleaming porcelain walls; ebon-hued stoves
+resplendent with nickel trimmings; a blue and white tiled floor; and
+smart little window hangings that matched it.
+
+"They don't cook here!" he gasped.
+
+"Everything in the house is electric," explained Jerry, as if he were
+conducting a sight-seeing party through the Louvre. "All the baking,
+washing, ironing, bread-making, and cleaning is done by electricity.
+There's even an electric sewing-machine to sew with, and an electric
+breeze to keep you cool while you're doing it. If I hadn't seen the
+thing with my own eyes I'd never have believed it."
+
+He paused to watch the effect of his words.
+
+"'Tain't much like the way you and me are used to," he grinned.
+
+"No."
+
+"I suppose in time you get so nothing knocks the breath out of you.
+I'm just coming to looking round here without feeling all of a
+flutter. The place did used to turn me endwise at first, it was so
+white and awesome. I actually hated to set foot within its walls.
+Seems 's if my fingers was always all thumbs every time I come inside
+the room. Still, I had to come in though; there were things I had to
+do here. So I schooled myself to forget the whiteness, and the
+blueness, and all the silvery glisten and call it just a kitchen.
+Besides, I found that grand as it is, it ain't a patch on some of the
+other things in the house. My eye! It's like the Arabian Nights!"
+
+The Cape Codder stopped quite speechless from retailing these marvels.
+
+"Yes," he went on presently, "they've got almost everything the
+electric market has to offer. Last year, though, Mr. Dick got a
+hankerin' for a wireless set. It appears that you can buy an outfit
+that will make you hear concerts, sermons, speeches, and about
+everything that's going on; at least that's what Mr. Crowninshield
+undertook to tell me, though whether he was fooling or not I couldn't
+quite make out. Still, it may be true. After what I've seen in this
+house I'm ready to believe about anything. Was he to say you could put
+your eye to a hole in the wall and see the Chinese eating rice in
+Hongkong it wouldn't astonish me."
+
+Walter laughed.
+
+"You _can_ hear music and such things. My brother, who is a
+wireless operator, told me so. They broadcast all sorts of
+entertainments--songs, band-playing, sermons, and stories so that
+those who have amateur apparatus can listen in."
+
+"Broadcast? Listen in?" repeated Jerry vaguely.
+
+"Broadcasting means sending out stuff of a specified wave length from
+a central station so that amateurs with a range of from two hundred to
+three hundred meters can pick it up."
+
+Jerry halted midway in the passage.
+
+"Do you mean to say," inquired he, "that a person can sling a song off
+the top of a wire into the air and tell it to stop when it's gone two
+hundred meters?"
+
+"Something like that," chuckled Walter, amused.
+
+"I don't believe it!" declared Jerry bluntly.
+
+"But it can be done; really it can."
+
+"No doubt you think you are speaking the truth, youngster," returned
+the skeptic mildly. "Somebody's stuffed you, though. Such a thing
+couldn't be, any way in the world."
+
+As if that were the end of the matter Jerry opened a door confronting
+him and stepped into the great hall, the splendor of which instantly
+blotted every other thought from Walter King's mind.
+
+Not only was the interior spacious and imposing but it was
+bewilderingly beautiful and contained marvel after marvel that the lad
+longed to examine. The large tiger-skin rugs that covered the floor
+piqued his interest, so did the chiming clock, and a fountain that
+welled up and splashed into a marble pool filled with goldfish. Why,
+he could have entertained himself for an hour with this latter wonder
+alone!
+
+There was, however, no leisure for loitering for on hearing the
+cadence of the chimes Jerry ejaculated in consternation:
+
+"Eleven o'clock already! Land alive! We'll have to get the fires
+blazing lively. Why, the folks may be here any minute now. Here, hand
+me one of those long sticks you've got, sonny; or rather--wait! You
+know how to lay a fire, don't you?"
+
+"I reckon I've done such a thing once or twice in my lifetime," was
+the dry response.
+
+"Then go ahead. You build this fire while I go upstairs and start the
+others," said Jerry. "After you've got this one going you can make one
+in the library, that red room through those curtains."
+
+"All right."
+
+"Step lively! Don't take all day about it."
+
+With awkward gesture Jerry swooped up some of the logs with his long
+arm and disappeared into the hall above.
+
+As for Walter, he had built too many fires in his mother's kitchen
+stove and started too many blazes of driftwood on the beach to be at a
+loss as to how to proceed. Almost in a twinkling scarlet flames were
+roaring up the wide-throated chimneys and he had placed fenders before
+them to keep in captivity any straying sparks. While he looked about
+for a spot in which to deposit the remaining birch sticks there was a
+sound of horns, a crunching of gravel, and Jerry's scurrying feet came
+pattering down the stairs.
+
+"It's the folks!" he announced excitedly. "We warn't a minute too
+soon. Tuck those logs into the brass box; pick up your cap, laddie,
+and light out of here quick."
+
+The order, alas, came too late. His Highness had only time enough to
+hurry the birch wood into the box and bang down the cover before
+flying footsteps filled the house, maids appeared from every door, and
+there was a blast of wind, a babel of voices, and the discomfited boy
+found himself face to face with his employers.
+
+His first impression of Mr. Crowninshield, muffled to the chin in a
+heavy motor coat, was of a large, red-cheeked man who, although he
+moved with little apparent stir, nevertheless in an incredibly short
+interval had shaken hands with most of the servants, directed where
+each piece of luggage was to be put, commented on a new lock on the
+front door, and noticed that the clock was two minutes slow. His
+moving eye had also been caught by the roses on the table and he
+turned to ask from which garden they came.
+
+"All this he did, Ma," explained Walter to his mother afterward,
+"before you could say Jack Robinson. And in between he was scolding
+all the time about the weather and saying how idiotic it was to leave
+a warm, comfortable city like New York and come to a damp hole like
+the Cape."
+
+"Is this the best day you could manage to get together, Jerry?"
+growled he. "Pretty beastly, I call it."
+
+"It certainly is wet, sir."
+
+"Wet! I should say it was! It's infernally wet! How long is it going
+to keep up like this?"
+
+"I can't say, sir."
+
+"Well, you have the sun out to-morrow or I shall go straight back
+where I came from. Little old New York is good enough for me when the
+place looks like this."
+
+At that instant he espied His Highness lurking near a distant window.
+
+"Who are you, young man?" he called.
+
+"Walter King, sir."
+
+"Oh, the young chap who is going to look after the dogs?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Humph! Like dogs?"
+
+"I--yes, sir," answered the lad at a warning glance from Jerry.
+
+Ruthlessly the hawklike eyes devoured him.
+
+"So you think you can take care of a lot of prize pups, do you?"
+
+"I am going to try," was the modest reply.
+
+"You can't stop with trying, my son. You've got to do it," announced
+the man sharply.
+
+"I shall do my best."
+
+"That is all I shall ask."
+
+A sudden smile melted the stern countenance into geniality and the
+master held out a hand.
+
+"So King is your name."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"It is a royal one and gives you something to live up to."
+
+As the boy did not know what to answer he was silent.
+
+"And you like dogs?" said the inquisitor more kindly.
+
+"I like all animals," returned Walter evasively, "and I am sure I
+shall like your dogs because you always like anything you take care
+of."
+
+"So you do! I remember when I was about your age I tamed an old brown
+weasel. He was a wretch of a creature with scarcely a virtue--cruel,
+deceitful, cold-blooded; and yet I grew to love that brute as much as
+if he had had the gentleness of a dove. You know how it is."
+
+Walter nodded. For the moment the two came together on a plane of real
+contact and sympathy, and the smile the elder gave him bound the lad
+to his new employer as no spoken words could possibly have done.
+
+But a second later Mr. Crowninshield's mood had changed and he was
+storming at Mary, the waitress, and demanding whether she meant to
+freeze them all by leaving the outside door open. Walter could see the
+girl flush red and as he leaped forward to close the door she flashed
+him a grateful, tremulous smile. Then Mr. Crowninshield turned toward
+his wife.
+
+"Mollie," he replied, "this is Walter King who is going to look after
+your dogs. Come and speak to him."
+
+The mistress of the house came. She was wearing a long blue traveling
+coat and a jaunty little hat against which the gold of her hair was
+resplendent as sunshine. Tucked under her arm was a wee dog with soft
+brown fur and sharp little eyes. Mrs. Crowninshield was very pretty,
+especially when she spoke. As Walter looked into her face he found it
+so amazingly youthful that it was difficult for him to believe she was
+actually the mother of a grown son and daughter.
+
+"So it is you who are to be master of the kennels?" smiled she,
+showing her even white teeth.
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Crowninshield," faltered His Highness, a trifle overcome by
+this new title.
+
+From head to foot her glance swept over him.
+
+"Well," said she at length, "if you keep the puppies as tidy as you
+keep yourself I fancy we shall get on nicely together."
+
+A flood of color mounted to the lad's forehead. He had not anticipated
+such close inspection and instinctively he began to fumble with the
+corner of his sweater and look nervously down at his hands. They must
+be very dirty from making the fires. And he had been actually greeting
+Mr. and Mrs. Crowninshield with paws like those! The horror of it
+chilled his blood.
+
+Apparently the woman, with swift intuition, read his thought for she
+dimpled at him in friendly fashion.
+
+"Do not worry about your hands, my boy," said she. "You have been
+doing useful things to soil them, things to bid us welcome and make us
+more comfortable. I can see you started out clean. I have a boy of my
+own, you know. Richard," she went on, turning to a tall youth who was
+bending over the luggage, "this is Walter King who is coming to look
+after the kennels. He must be about your age."
+
+The boys stared at each other awkwardly.
+
+"I am fifteen," announced Walter for the lack of something more
+brilliant to say.
+
+"I beat you by a year," was the shy retort of the other boy. "I am
+sixteen."
+
+Then Nancy interrupted them with her breezy comment.
+
+"Fifteen, are you?" she put in. "My, I should not have thought it! You
+must be pretty crazy about dogs to give up all your summer vacation to
+them."
+
+"My mother needs the money," was the simple answer.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+He saw her blush as if regretting her thoughtless remark.
+
+"It is nice of you to help your mother," she observed quickly. "I am
+sure you will not find the place so bad. We shall try to make you
+happy."
+
+With that she was gone but she left behind her a memory of sweetness
+and appealing kindliness.
+
+"You might run out to the garage now, sonny," declared Jerry with a
+desire to help the lad make his escape. "They will be landing the pups
+there soon, and you may as well be on hand."
+
+Only too glad to beat a retreat His Highness picked up his cap and
+slipping from the room raced across the lawn in the direction of his
+own quarters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES
+
+
+Jerry's prediction proved to be quite true for as His Highness neared
+the garage a hum of activity pervaded it. Four mud-caked cars stood in
+the driveway and chauffeurs in their shirt sleeves hurried in and out
+the building, shouting to one another and carrying in their hands
+grimy rags and cans of oil. A short half hour had transformed the
+quiet spot to a beehive of noise and bustle. The rush seemed
+contagious for wherever one looked moving figures could be seen. Some
+crossed the lawn bearing belated satchels or traveling wraps which in
+the confusion had found their way into the wrong place; some strode
+toward the boathouse, some toward the garden, some to the stables. Men
+appeared to have risen through the earth so quickly had their numbers
+multiplied.
+
+No longer was there the leisurely loitering and smoking that had
+marked the week before. A spirit of activity was infused into the air
+until even those who had no cause to hurry scrambled with the rest.
+
+As Walter approached the garage he was waylaid by a young chauffeur
+with rosy cheeks and a crisp, pleasant voice:
+
+"Say, youngster, don't you want to lend a hand with these cushions?"
+interrogated he, beaming ingratiatingly. "They have got to be beaten
+and brushed before they can go back in the car. Chuck them over on the
+floor for me, won't you?"
+
+"Sure!" was the ready answer. "I'll beat them for you if you like."
+
+"You're a good-natured little cuss," grinned the man. "I'm not asking
+you to do that, though."
+
+"But I'd be glad to."
+
+"Suit yourself. But in my opinion you are a fool to take on jobs you
+are not hired to do and get no money for."
+
+"Oh, I don't care about the money."
+
+"You don't, eh?" chimed in the derisive note of another chauffeur who
+had at the instant come out of the doorway. "Say, who are you, anyway?
+One of the Vanderbilts?"
+
+"Quit heckling the young one, Peters," put in the chauffeur of the red
+cheeks. "He's a good sort, all right."
+
+"Ha, ha, Wheeler! You think that because you've jollied him into doing
+your work for you, you old shirk."
+
+"I didn't jolly him into anything. He offered."
+
+"A likely story."
+
+"But he did."
+
+"Then you should have told him better," sniffed the other. "You know
+well enough it isn't etiquette round here to do a stroke of work for
+anybody else or accept a stroke. _Every man for himself_ is the
+motto."
+
+"But that's a rotten way!" Walter ejaculated impulsively. "I'd hate to
+live like that--never being willing to help anybody or ask them to
+help me."
+
+The man called Peters gave him a contemptuous stare.
+
+"You'll find there's no whining or asking help of other people here,"
+announced he, with a sneer. "Those that are darn fools enough to get
+into holes get out of them as best they can. It's their hunt."
+
+Spitting emphatically on the ground he proceeded to go into the garage
+with the tire he was carrying.
+
+Walter took up a stick he saw lying near by.
+
+"What are you going to do?" demanded the red-cheeked man, regarding
+him with unconcealed surprise.
+
+"Beat the cushions."
+
+"But--but--heavens, sonny! Didn't you hear what Peters said?"
+
+"Of course I heard. I don't have to sign up to a creed like that,
+though, if I don't want to, do I?"
+
+"We all do. We agree neither to borrow, lend, nor ask favors."
+
+"I'm afraid I shan't make one of the gang then," observed Walter, with
+a smile so good-humored that the words could not offend.
+
+"Then the more fool you, that is all I can say," laughed Wheeler. "By
+the end of a month you won't have so much as a collar button to your
+name. Everything you own will be gone, especially your tools. We're a
+lot of pirates. I give you fair warning."
+
+"I'm not afraid you'll want much that I've got," grinned Walter.
+
+The upraised stick descended in a series of rhythmic blows, sending
+into the air a cloud of dust.
+
+"Where's the brush?" panted the boy, when he had beaten until his arm
+ached.
+
+"Say, kid, I'm not going to have you breaking your back over my job,"
+asserted Wheeler in a friendly tone.
+
+"I'm not breaking my back."
+
+"But what on earth are you doing it _for_?" questioned the man, his
+eyes narrowing with curiosity.
+
+"I don't know myself," returned the lad shyly. "It was just the way I
+was brought up, I guess."
+
+For an interval only the sweeping of the brush broke the stillness.
+
+"I was brought up to be decent, too," observed Wheeler slowly, "but
+somehow since I've been knocking round I've got to be an awful brute.
+There isn't any very high standard among the crowd I mix in. Still,
+I'm afraid that isn't much of an excuse for shifting back into a
+savage." He paused thoughtfully, then added, "I'm much obliged to you,
+sonny, for your help, and just to show you I don't forget it, sometime
+when you are hard put hunt me up and ask me to give you a lift. I'm a
+human being though you may not think so."
+
+With a little glow at his heart Walter moved away toward the kennels.
+
+He had made a friend, and in this new environment where he was
+conscious of being very much of an outsider the consciousness brought
+him a sense of comradeship and happiness.
+
+It was fortunate, however, that his altruism had detained him no
+longer for before he reached the spot where the dogs were to be
+quartered he heard a chorus of sharp yelps and saw what appeared to be
+a dozen dogs coming across the lawn accompanied by Mrs. Crowninshield
+and two of the stablemen. Some of the pack were being led, while
+others, wild with joy at finding themselves unconfined, leaped and
+capered wildly about their mistress. A great police dog, straining at
+the leash, gave Walter a thrill of mingled admiration and timidity. He
+was a huge creature with mottled coat and mighty jaws, and within his
+open mouth, from which lolled his red tongue, were cruel white teeth
+that could do unthinkable things. His wide brown eyes, his pointing
+tail, his upright ears moving with every sound, his alert poise all
+bespoke keenness and intelligence. A dog one would far rather have for
+an ally than an enemy, thought the boy.
+
+Beside pranced two Airedales and a white Sealyham and to their babel
+of barking was added the shrill, sympathetic note of five or six
+Pekingese, one of which Mrs. Crowninshield carried under her arm.
+
+"Hush, Achilles!" she cried. "Hush, all of you! Stop your racket this
+instant! They are excited at being together again," explained she to
+Walter who had approached. "The Belgian and Airedales have been
+boarded out during the winter and have not seen the others for months.
+So, you see, this is a sort of reunion for them and they have to bark
+to show their delight. Moreover, they have had a long trip and are
+tired and hungry. I am going to feed them now and this meal will last
+most of them until to-morrow at the same hour."
+
+"Are they fed only once a day?" gasped Walter.
+
+"That is all. You see you will not have many meals to prepare,"
+laughed Mrs. Crowninshield. "Only the Peeks have breakfast, but only
+part of a square of puppy biscuit or some bread; so it is very simple.
+Dinner, however, is much more complicated and later I shall give you
+your directions as to just what every dog must have; to-night we are
+to treat the lot to some raw meat, toast, and spinach."
+
+"You'll let me help you," pleaded Walter.
+
+"Certainly. That is why I came out. I want you to feed the dogs and
+learn their names. In order to get on with them you must get
+acquainted with them and understand the peculiarities of each one.
+They are just persons, you know, and have their little whims and
+queernesses. But kindness will win them to you very quickly. It is far
+better than a whip. So is feeding. A dog usually obeys the person who
+feeds him. He is afraid not to."
+
+As she spoke she entered the wired enclosure and putting the smaller
+dogs in half of it and shutting the wicket gate upon them she told the
+men to slip the leashes from the collars of the others. In a second
+the Belgian, Airedales, and the fluffy Sealyham were bounding about
+her. Then she beckoned to Walter.
+
+"This is Achilles," went on she, with her hand on the head of the
+great monster. "He is as gentle and kind as a kitten, although he does
+look as if he could swallow us alive. Don't touch him but stand still
+and let him sniff you all over. It is his way of getting acquainted."
+
+Obediently the boy remained motionless while the panting jaws and
+moist black nose of the dog came nearer. He could feel the creature's
+hot breath on his hands, face, and hair. Then over his clothing moved
+the quivering nostrils. At length the brown eyes met his and he
+whispered softly:
+
+"Achilles!"
+
+The dog wagged his tail.
+
+"You have nothing to fear from him now," announced Mrs. Crowninshield.
+"The Airedales are Jack Horner and Boy Blue. And the Sealyham, Miss
+Nancy's dog, is called Rags."
+
+Sensing that he was being talked about, the dog blinked with friendly
+eyes at Walter through its mop of coarse white hair.
+
+"In the other pen," continued Mrs. Crowninshield, "are the Pekingese
+pups and I shall expect you to take the best of care of them. They are
+sensitive little creatures and very valuable. I myself, however, care
+very little for the money value of a dog. It is the lovable traits it
+has that interest me. I should adore wee Lola, here, if she were not
+worth a cent. But Mr. Crowninshield likes to own blue ribbon dogs and
+enter them at the shows and therefore I will caution you that Lola,
+Mimi, and Fifi," as she spoke she pointed out the dogs in question,
+"cost quite a fortune and their loss or illness would be a great
+calamity. So you must follow the directions concerning them most
+carefully. And should any question arise about them come at once to
+me."
+
+As she spoke she occasionally glanced at the boy beside her with a
+quick, bright smile.
+
+"I shall have the menu for each dog sent you every day--at least for
+the present--together with directions as to how to prepare the meal as
+it should be prepared. The meat for the small dogs must be put through
+a meat chopper and no gristle allowed to get into it; the larger dogs
+can have bigger pieces, and Achilles a bone. You will find in the room
+inside an ice chest in which to keep such foods as spoil. There are
+also glassed-in shelves where tins of various kinds of dog bread and
+puppy biscuit will be stored that they may be out of the dampness. You
+are not to trouble the servants at the big house for anything. They do
+not like to be interfered with. All your supplies will be here, and
+you can warm whatever it is necessary to heat on your small electric
+stove. Be sure to scald out the dishes after they have been used; and
+also never forget to keep the bowls filled with plenty of fresh
+water."
+
+"I will, ma'am."
+
+"I am sure you will," returned Mrs. Crowninshield kindly. "And do not
+worry if it takes a little time to win all the dogs over to your
+authority. Dogs are like children when they change masters. They will
+try to play it on you at first. Just be firm with them and soon you
+will have them tagging at your heels, docile as lambs."
+
+The task of preparing the food was soon completed and the mistress
+looked on and encouraged while Walter doled it out to the famished
+animals.
+
+How daintily the wee dogs coquetted with what was given them! And how
+greedily the larger ones gobbled down their allowance and lapped the
+plate for more! Achilles, crouched on the lawn with his bone, crunched
+it with terrifying zeal, cracking the big joint between his jaws as if
+it were made of paper. His dinner devoured he ambled over toward
+Walter, once more sniffed his shoes and clothing, at last nestled his
+moist nose against the boy's hand.
+
+"I think you have won Achilles to your colors already," said Mrs.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"He does seem friendly," returned His Highness, more pleased by the
+dog's good will than he would have been willing to own.
+
+"Achilles can be very friendly when he chooses," retorted his owner.
+"He can also be quite the reverse. You should see him sometime when he
+is on the scent of a foe. Last summer when a man broke into the
+boathouse it transformed Achilles into a lion. I was certain he would
+kill the fellow; as it was he mauled him badly before we could coax
+him off. The thief almost died of fright and I do not wonder. He did
+not need any further punishment."
+
+She unfastened the gate to go back to the house.
+
+Immediately there was a rush.
+
+"No, you can't come, not one of you," declared she, addressing the
+yelping pack through the netting. "I have far too much to do to be
+bothered with any of you. Be good and take a nap. You're tired enough
+to rest."
+
+Still the animals barked, rebellious at their captivity.
+
+"When I am out of sight you can let Achilles out," called she, as she
+moved away. "He can be trusted to roam the place and always does when
+we're here. The Airedales and the Sealyham can also run about alone as
+soon as they get used to obeying you. But the little dogs must never
+be let off the leash unless they are watched every instant, for
+something might happen to them."
+
+"I'll be careful."
+
+"That's right; do."
+
+The woman gave him a pleasant nod of farewell and walked with
+springing step back in the direction of the house. As she went Walter
+saw her halt and speak to old Tim, who was at work in the rose garden,
+and beheld the gardener leap proudly forward to cut for her a blossom
+she had evidently admired.
+
+It was even as Jerry had said. She was the idol of Surfside.
+
+After she had disappeared he opened the wicket and stepped out,
+letting Achilles follow him.
+
+Instantly the great creature put his nose to the ground and with a
+joyous bark he was gone in search of his mistress.
+
+It was now or never with the new master of the hounds.
+
+The lad whistled but the dog did not turn. Again he gave a quick call.
+This time the rushing beast paused, looked round, and then slackening
+his pace, continued to jog along on his way.
+
+Helplessly the boy saw him go farther and farther out of reach.
+
+He must compel obedience somehow.
+
+"Achilles!" shouted he sternly. "Achilles! Back, sir!"
+
+Although he uttered the words he had not the slightest faith they
+would have any effect and was amazed to see the dog waver in his
+tracks.
+
+"Achilles, come here!" repeated he sharply.
+
+With reluctance the dog turned and looked at him.
+
+"Here, sir!" called Walter, with coaxing cadence.
+
+The dog continued to regard him intently but he did not move. Then
+suddenly there was a rush and with panting jaws widespread the Belgian
+came bounding toward him. It was not until he was close at hand that
+he abated his speed. Then he came to the side of his new master and
+gently laid his cold nose on his sleeve.
+
+Walter patted the great head affectionately.
+
+The battle was won. He had conquered Achilles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE
+
+
+Before a week had passed the strangeness of living at Surfside had to
+a certain extent abated and Walter found himself not only content in
+his new position but enjoying it. He rose early, feeding the dogs,
+exercising them, and making fresh their quarters before he breakfasted
+himself. Afterward, despite the score of odd duties with which the
+morning was filled, he contrived to do many little kindnesses for
+Jerry, Tim, Wheeler, and the other men. He was always willing to do a
+favor and amid an atmosphere where generosity was rare the virtue of
+aiding others rendered him immensely popular.
+
+In the meantime he had made such headway in the affections of Achilles
+that the big Belgian not only tagged at his heels everywhere he went,
+but at night insisted upon extending his giant frame before the boy's
+doorsill from which vantage ground neither threats nor persuasions
+could stir him. In consequence the lonely hours the lad might have
+experienced were put to rout by the companionship of this silent
+comrade.
+
+The Airedales, on the other hand, were less successfully won over to a
+new allegiance. Although Richard, who owned them, took not the
+smallest care of them and serenely passed them over to some one else
+to be ministered unto, nevertheless they apparently sensed the
+arrangement was one of convenience and returned scant gratitude for
+what was done for them. They were polite, tolerant, but never
+whole-heartedly cordial. Dick was their master and they would have no
+other.
+
+Fortunately Miss Nancy's Sealyham, Rags, was more responsive;
+nevertheless, although she frolicked about Walter's feet and accepted
+food from his hand it was more because she loved to play and was
+hungry than because her affection for the boy went very deep.
+
+As for the troupe of Pekingese, with aristocratic noses tilted high in
+air, they submitted to being washed, brushed, and fed by Walter much
+as they would have accepted the services of any other maid or valet.
+They seemed to be conscious of their pedigree and claim attention as
+their right. An occasional wag of the tail or the rare passage of a
+rough little tongue across one's hand was all the gratitude His
+Highness ever received from them.
+
+With the Crowninshield family, however, the boy made better progress
+and as he and Dick became acquainted many a pleasant hour did they
+spend together. Not infrequently, when the eager yelps of the dogs
+heralded the fact that they were off for their afternoon run, the New
+York lad would join the party and while the animals raced this way and
+that the two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and kindred
+interests.
+
+[Illustration: The two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and kindred
+interests. _Page_ 76.]
+
+"Do you happen to know anything about wireless?" inquired Richard one
+day when, with Achilles prancing far ahead and Boy Blue, Jack Horner,
+and Rags dashing to keep up with him, the group strode along the
+beach.
+
+"I ought to," was Walter's smiling response. "I've a brother who is an
+operator at the Seaver Bay station."
+
+"No! Really?" The exclamations voiced both surprise and admiration.
+"How old is he?"
+
+"Twenty-two or three."
+
+"Gee! And he can really send and receive messages?"
+
+"He sure can."
+
+"How did he learn?"
+
+"Oh, he first got interested in wireless through the papers and picked
+up quite a lot of information that way. Later he and his chum Billy
+Hicks bought a manual and with the help of the physics teacher at the
+High School they rigged up a homemade receiving apparatus on Billy's
+grandfather's barn. For a while it wouldn't work for a cent, although
+they tinkered with it night and day. Then one evening they did
+something to it and caught their first message. You should have seen
+Bob! He was crazy and came rushing straight home to make Ma drop
+everything she was doing and go down to Hicks's. Now Mother was
+elbow-deep in bread and declared she couldn't spoil her biscuit for
+any wireless on earth. Besides, she had never had any faith in the
+thing. You see, Bob had teased her for wireless money and she had told
+him time and time again it was dollars thrown into a hole. My father
+used to joke her about not having a scientific mind and I guess she
+hasn't one. At any rate, whenever Bob would read her the wonderful
+things being done with wireless, all she would say was that it wasn't
+likely folks could send speeches and music loose through the air.
+Those who pretended to hear them were either fibbing or were genuinely
+mistaken. So when Bob did get a broadcast you can imagine how wild he
+was to convince her it wasn't all bluff."
+
+"And did he?" asked Dick with interest.
+
+"Well, after a fashion," replied Walter, smiling at some amusing
+memory.
+
+"Like enough I shouldn't have known much about it, either, if Bob had
+not told me," continued Walter. "Bob, however, talked nothing else
+morning, noon, and night. Often I would drop asleep while he was
+chattering of induction coils, wave lengths, and antenna. It makes me
+yawn now to think of it. My goodness, weren't Ma and I sick to death
+of hearing nothing but radio! Bob would rush into the house at
+mealtime, swallow his food whole, and tear off to Hicks's with a piece
+of pie in his hand, leaving all the chores to me. I got pretty sore, I
+can tell you." He gave a short laugh.
+
+"Between Mother begrudging the poor chap every cent he spent for
+batteries and wire, and me pitching into him for forgetting to chop
+the kindlings, I'm afraid his early wireless career wasn't a very
+pleasant one."
+
+Once more the lad laughed, this time with comic ruefulness.
+
+"Even when the apparatus actually did begin to work and Bob and Billy
+were able to get a concert or lecture now and then, Ma insisted they
+were bluffing her. She listened in but wasn't convinced, declaring
+they had fastened a victrola to the receivers and that such sounds
+never could come through the air. Finally they did succeed in getting
+her to half believe they were telling her the truth and were not just
+working her for money. But when they tried to explain the outfit to
+her in detail, she put her hands over her ears, protesting that they
+were wasting their breath to tell her of damped and undamped waves,
+detectors, and generators. With that they gave up further attempts to
+educate her."
+
+Both boys chuckled.
+
+"But she must be proud of your brother now," asserted Dick.
+
+"Oh, she is--tremendously, although what she chiefly thinks about is
+the danger Bob is in of getting struck by lightning or electrocuted."
+
+Achilles, who had been pursuing some sandpipers along the rim of the
+surf and sent them circling into the air, now raced back to his
+friends with a sharp bark of salutation and Dick bent to pat the
+shaggy head.
+
+"So really," reflected he, "your brother taught himself wireless."
+
+"Not wholly. He simply laid a foundation," the other boy explained.
+"He could never have taken a job on what he had picked up because,
+you see, he knew nothing of sending messages, was ignorant of all the
+rules an operator has to have at his tongue's end, and had no very
+thorough knowledge of electricity. It was not like a complete
+training, by any means. The war gave him that. When it broke out he
+enlisted in the navy, and because he was partially equipped in radio
+they sent him off posthaste to a wireless school. At the time he was
+crazy because his dream was to get across and be in the fighting. To
+sit at home studying was the last thing he wanted to do. Later,
+though, when he began to see what a big part wireless was playing in
+the scrimmage, he commenced to be more resigned to his lot. Besides he
+got his chance before long, for he worked into being a crackerjack at
+speed and passed his exams so well that he had no trouble in winning
+his first-class operator's certificate.
+
+"There are grades of radio men, you know, just as there are grades of
+everything else. There are the sharks, or first-class chaps, who are
+able to pass every sort of test on the adjustment of apparatus and how
+to use it; who can both send and receive messages at the rate of at
+least twenty words a minute, and who can often go much faster; and who
+have all the rules governing the exchange of radio messages stowed
+away in their heads. They are the A1 men and every first-class ship is
+obliged by law to have aboard it two of them. Then there are the
+second-class certificate fellows who practically have as much radio
+but cannot hit such a gait, and can only manage to send between
+twelve and nineteen words a minute. They can go on first-class ships
+provided more skilled operators are aboard. Sometimes, even, they
+substitute for them under supervision. Their chief jobs, however, are
+on ships that use wireless only for their personal benefit; that is,
+to talk with their own crews. Often a fishing fleet, for instance,
+will carry a man of this class to communicate with its other vessels.
+They can talk, too, with shore stations when it is necessary. But the
+law does not allow them to take positions where there is a great rush
+of business and general responsibility. They must have the topnotchers
+for such work."
+
+"I had no idea there were so many rules about radio," mused Dick.
+
+"There are--strict ones, too," replied his companion. "Moreover, the
+government keeps tabs on all radio people to see they obey the rules.
+Every wireless man is examined, classified, and given a license just
+as an automobile driver is. He has to keep it handy, too, and be ready
+to trot it out on request. You can't get by with bluffing. If an
+operator is found to be unfamiliar with the rules, or is discovered
+breaking any of them, his certificate can be withdrawn. No chap wants
+to risk that, especially if he is trying to earn his living by
+wireless. And if a ship, and not its radio operator, is found to be
+breaking the rules, the coastal stations may be notified not to have
+anything to do with her. In other words she is boycotted and the land
+operators told neither to receive her messages nor answer them."
+
+"That would be some boycott!"
+
+"The shipboard radio stations, you see, come under the authority of
+the commanding officer of the ship. It has to be so, because in case
+of accident he would be the person responsible for sending out
+distress calls and answering them. The radio man couldn't just grab
+the power. There has to be one boss of every job."
+
+"I can see that," nodded Dick. "But why such a network of other
+rules?"
+
+"There have to be. It all has to be charted in black and white or
+there would be terrible mix-ups."
+
+"And do foreign ships have to fall into line and do as our ships do
+when they come here?"
+
+"They are expected to, Bob said," answered Walter. "In case they do
+not, however, they cannot be meddled with by underlings. Instead they
+are immediately reported to the government and the two countries
+involved settle their dispute by arbitration. It is too delicate a
+matter for others to butt in on, for some blunderer might offend
+another country and get us into war just through being stupid.
+Conversely, when our ships are in foreign waters they must keep the
+naval rules of the nation they are visiting."
+
+"That's fair."
+
+"It sure is," agreed Walter. "Besides that, all the shipboard radio
+stations have to carry with them their license to prove that they are
+authorized by their countries to operate a wireless outfit, and that
+they fulfil the requirements of the government whose flag they fly.
+Should any trouble arise when they are in a foreign port they can be
+asked to produce this license; and if the foreign authorities whom
+they are visiting have reason to suspect they are not meeting the
+standards the license demands they can complain to the government that
+is responsible for the ship."
+
+"But suppose the government didn't know anything about such a ship?"
+
+"Great Scott! But it does, man," ejaculated Walter. "There are lists
+that contain not only the name and nationality of all ships but even
+the names and addresses of its radio operators. There is no getting by
+that."
+
+"So the ships themselves are not allowed to take up their own quarrel
+if they are challenged?" commented Dick.
+
+"No. They simply have to stay perfectly polite and keep their mouths
+shut, no matter how mad they are," grinned His Highness. "Otherwise
+there would be squabbles all the time, for there are always
+misunderstandings and grudges, and people who enjoy picking on one
+another. All the ships would be fighting and the countries that owned
+them, too, if everybody rolled up his sleeves and pitched into the
+other fellow when things went wrong. Governments are supposed to be
+more slow-moving, fair, and impartial. And anyhow, it is their job to
+look out for their own citizens and see they are squarely treated. Bob
+says it is a more dignified way than for individuals to fight out
+their own quarrels. It certainly carries more weight. Nobody is going
+to bully a ship and make trouble for its crew if a big nation stands
+behind it. It serves as a check on the men, too, Bob told me, for when
+they are in other countries and have shore leave they have to remember
+that they must behave themselves and not disgrace their governments."
+
+"You can't sail out of reach of Uncle Sam, eh? Apparently he knows in
+a general way just how you are conducting yourself all the time,"
+smiled Dick.
+
+"That's about it," acquiesced Walter.
+
+Whistling to the dogs, they turned about.
+
+"What a pile you know about all this," Dick presently observed.
+
+"Shucks! No, I don't," blushed His Highness. "I am only repeating what
+Bob spieled off to me. He likes to talk when he's home and I like to
+listen. It's interesting--at least I think so. Besides, I'm proud of
+Bob knowing such a lot. I wish I did."
+
+The lad dug his heel into the moist sand and watched the hole fill
+with water.
+
+"Somehow I'm an awful boob at books," he suddenly confessed. "I hate
+so to study that Ma fairly has to haul me along by the hair or I'd
+never go to school. I barely skinned through this year. Up to the very
+last minute we all had cold chills for fear I wouldn't."
+
+Dick shot the offender a sympathetic glance.
+
+"I don't like reading about things myself so well as doing them," he
+confided. "I'm crazy about machinery. It's fun to tinker with
+it--take it to pieces and put it together again. I like nothing better
+than to overhaul an engine."
+
+He held up two grease-stained hands.
+
+"It horrifies my mother," he continued, "but my father doesn't seem to
+mind if I am all black with oil from my car or the motor boats. What I
+want now is a wireless outfit. I'm going to strike Dad for one my
+birthday. It comes the last of this month and he might as well give me
+that as anything else. Do you suppose if he got it we could rig it up
+together?"
+
+Walter's eyes opened at the casualness of the observation.
+
+In his family a birthday was an occasion for a chocolate cake, some
+neckties, and perhaps a pair of rubber boots or a similar useful gift.
+Or it sometimes brought with it a book and a box of candy. Never by
+any chance did its felicitations expand into a gift so colossal as a
+wireless apparatus. The breach between the two lads, which during the
+exchange of confidences had narrowed into nothingness, widened
+abruptly.
+
+"A good set would be some present," he commented, thinking, perhaps,
+the other boy might be ignorant of its value.
+
+"Oh, I guess it would not break Dad," smiled Dick serenely. "He gave
+me my car last year, and the year before--let me think--oh, the pups!"
+He pointed to the Airedales, a streak of buff against the green of the
+distant marsh. "Wireless couldn't cost much more."
+
+"N--o, I don't believe it would," His Highness admitted slowly, the
+contrast in their financial standards seeping in on him.
+
+"Oh, I imagine I could have a set all right if I said the word,"
+continued Dick, with the indifference of one to whom such presents
+brought no agitation. "The question is, could we set it up if we had
+it?"
+
+"I couldn't," came promptly from Walter. "I think, though, that if Bob
+was home on leave he might help us."
+
+"Your brother? I had forgotten him. So he is at home sometimes?"
+
+"Oh, yes. He gets off for a day now and then."
+
+"It must be a whole lot of a bore to be tied down in a wireless
+station listening for messages all the time," observed Dick
+carelessly.
+
+"Operators do not have to sit with their ears glued to the receivers
+every second, man," declared the village lad. "The men are relieved at
+regular hours. Besides, all stations both on shore and on shipboard
+are divided into classes and have their hours carefully mapped out for
+them. There are three different varieties of shipboard stations, for
+example. Some have constant service; that is, operators are always
+listening while the ship is underway. Then there is a second sort
+where the operator listens in only during specified hours when the
+office is open for business. A third class has no fixed hours at all,
+the radio man just listening the first ten minutes of each hour."
+
+"So the men just suit themselves, eh?"
+
+"Suit themselves! You bet they don't," laughed Walter. "The government
+defines their hours when their license is issued. The class they are
+put in decides it."
+
+"That's news to me," said Dick. "And the shore stations?"
+
+"The shore stations are a chapter in themselves," Walter replied.
+"There are several different kinds and each kind has its own rules."
+
+"You don't propose to tell me about them, then," retorted the New
+Yorker mischievously.
+
+"It's too long a yarn," answered the other. "Besides, I might not get
+it straight. Sometime, though, if you want me to, I'll pass on what I
+know. But to-day I guess we ought to be hiking back. It is close onto
+the time the pack is fed and I may have them yelping at my throat if I
+don't hurry."
+
+Quickening their pace the boys whistled to the dogs who came dashing
+through the clumps of bayberry that dotted the field. They were
+panting with thirst and only too ready to turn homeward. Across the
+sandy hillocks, through pine-shaded stretches of woods, along the road
+walled in with June roses they raced and chased, stopping now and
+again to look back and make certain that their masters were following.
+When the spit of sand narrowed to a ribbon and the entrance to
+Surfside was reached they halted, lying down to cool off in the fresh
+sea breeze until they should be overtaken. At the gate Dick and Walter
+parted.
+
+It was amusing to see the Airedales waver, then lured by hunger,
+desert their owner and pursue Walter and Achilles.
+
+They came up with lolling tongues at the kennels just as His Highness
+was unlocking the door.
+
+While he fumbled with the latch he noticed they sniffed excitedly
+about and that Achilles barked.
+
+"You're starved, poor old chaps!" remarked he aloud. "Well, no matter.
+You shall have your dinner right off now."
+
+Coaxing them in he banged the wicket behind him and passed through
+into the pen where the Pekingese, clamoring for their food, came
+yelping to meet him.
+
+Instinctively he scanned the fluffy-coated group. Lola was not there.
+
+The discovery, however, caused him no concern for often Mrs.
+Crowninshield carried the prize-winner up to the big house or took her
+for a ride in the car. Therefore, although her bright eyes were
+missing he did not worry, but fed the other dogs and gave them fresh
+water.
+
+The task completed, he sauntered toward the garage.
+
+How still it was everywhere. With the exception of Dick's racer every
+car was gone and all the chauffeurs with them. Even Jerry was nowhere
+about; and the gardeners were far down on the south slope where he
+could just detect the clip of their shears as they trimmed the privet
+hedge.
+
+The grounds were as deserted as if the earth had swallowed up every
+inhabitant. Surfside, deprived of its accustomed hum and bustle, was
+actually lonely. With uncertain step the boy loitered in the sun,
+glancing at the expanse of sea and at a knockabout that heeled
+dangerously in the rising wind. Thinking he might find Jerry and thus
+banish solitude he meandered up the avenue toward the house.
+
+Jerry, however, was nowhere to be seen but the silence was broken by
+the siren horns of approaching motors and the Crowninshield cars came
+rolling in through the broad entrance.
+
+Since he chanced to be on the spot he may as well go up to the
+veranda, meet the family, and bring Lola back with him to be fed and
+tucked up for the night.
+
+Accordingly he hurried along and was at the steps almost as soon as
+the automobiles came to a stop.
+
+Together with a company of laughing guests, Nancy and Mr. and Mrs.
+Crowninshield alighted.
+
+"Such a beautiful ride as we've had, Dick!" called Mrs. Crowninshield
+to her son. "We've been over to Harwich and picked up the Davenports,
+you see, and brought them home for the evening. I think, Mrs.
+Davenport, you remember my son, Richard. Nancy, take Janet and Marie
+in with you so they can leave their wraps. You young people will have
+just about time for a set of tennis before dinner."
+
+The cars had shot away and she was about to go indoors when the
+mistress of the house espied Walter.
+
+"Did you wish to see me?" she called.
+
+"I thought I'd take Lola down to the kennels."
+
+"Lola! Is she here?"
+
+"I thought you had her."
+
+"No, indeed."
+
+"But she must be here at the house."
+
+"No, she isn't. I never leave her with the maids. She is at the
+kennels."
+
+"I've just come from there."
+
+"And she wasn't there?"
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Positive!"
+
+"But my dear boy, didn't you leave her there?"
+
+"Yes. But I thought you took her when you went to drive. You have a
+key."
+
+"I didn't."
+
+"And you did not give the key to any of the maids?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"Well, she isn't there," announced Walter, a tremor of trepidation
+passing over him.
+
+"Nonsense! She must be. Where else could she be?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Oh, you haven't half looked," smiled Mrs. Crowninshield reassuringly.
+"Lola is such a tiny dog she often gets hidden away out of sight. I'll
+come and find her for you."
+
+Excusing herself to her guests she followed Walter across the grass
+and in silence they unfastened the wire gate that led into the
+enclosure where the Pekingese were kept. But search as they would they
+failed to discover the missing dog. Lola was gone! _Gone!_
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE PURSUIT OF LOLA
+
+
+Yes, Lola was gone; there could be no question about that.
+
+Had not Walter scented trouble he would soon have been made aware of
+it by the excitement that prevailed in the Peeks' kennels. Every dog
+of the lot was barking furiously and with gleaming eyes and tail erect
+striving to communicate tidings of importance. Yet bark as they might,
+the message they sought to voice remained, alas, untold.
+
+"If they could only speak we should soon know what has happened,"
+bewailed the lad to Mrs. Crowninshield, as for the hundredth time they
+searched every nook and corner for a clue to the mystery.
+
+"Yes, they know--poor little things," their mistress agreed. "They are
+trying their best to tell the story, too. I'd give worlds to know what
+it is."
+
+"And I."
+
+"You are certain you locked everything up when you took the other dogs
+out."
+
+"Positive. Dick was with me and we both tried the gate before we
+started."
+
+"Nothing seems to be disturbed."
+
+"No. That is the strange part of it."
+
+Mrs. Crowninshield stopped, hot and breathless from her search.
+
+"I cannot believe but that the mite will turn up. Have you asked Jerry
+or Tim?"
+
+"They were nowhere about when I got back," Walter replied. "The whole
+place was still as the grave. I was just going to hunt up Jerry when I
+saw the cars coming up the avenue."
+
+"Well, I must not delay any longer now," announced Mrs. Crowninshield.
+"The Davenports will be wondering what has become of me and so will
+everybody else. Just find Jerry and Tim and quietly make sure they
+have not taken the dog. In the meantime I will inquire of the maids at
+the house. We will not, however, make too much talk about it, and send
+out an alarm until we are certain there is a real tragedy. If I can
+keep Mr. Crowninshield in ignorance of the matter until our guests
+have gone I shall be glad. He will be dreadfully upset for he took
+great pride in his possession of Lola and has declined numberless
+offers to sell her."
+
+"I know it," groaned Walter. "If it were only one of the other dogs
+that was missing!"
+
+"The fact that it isn't is what alarms me," returned the woman. "Lola
+is a quiet little thing and has been petted so much that it would not
+be like her to run away. Some of the other dogs might but she
+wouldn't. She is far too timid."
+
+"How could she run away, even if she had a mind to, with the gate
+locked?"
+
+"I know. That is another ominous fact." Mrs. Crowninshield shook her
+head. "I'm afraid----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"That she has been stolen."
+
+"Stolen!" gasped Walter. "But how could she with--with everybody
+around?"
+
+"But you yourself just said that nobody was around."
+
+"Jove! That's true. Still somebody must have been here some time
+during the afternoon. It is not likely Jerry, Tim, and all the rest
+were out of hearing all the time I was gone."
+
+"That is what we must find out."
+
+"I'll go and hunt up Jerry now."
+
+"Do. But work quietly; do not make a fuss. It will be time enough to
+get everybody up in arms when we have to. I dread to think what Mr.
+Crowninshield will say. He will be furious, simply furious."
+
+With this dubious prediction his wife walked away.
+
+She herself was upset. It was easy enough to see that. She strove,
+however, to be calm, clinging desperately to the hope that the dog
+might be discovered in the care of some of the men or maids. She
+idolized Lola and although she did not admit it, His Highness knew
+only too well that if it really proved that her pet was gone she, too,
+would be furious.
+
+"A nice mess!" commented the lad to himself as he hurried across the
+lawn in search of Jerry. "A nice hole I am in the very first thing!
+Between them they will tear me to pieces. And Ma--Ma will say, '_I
+told you so!_' That's all the sympathy I'll get from her. She'll have
+to know, of course, for Mr. Crowninshield will fire me bag and
+baggage. I must expect that. Jerry as good as told me so when I came.
+I sha'n't have a chance to defend myself. They will just believe I
+left the gate of the kennels unlocked when I went out and that Lola
+made off as fast as her four small feet could carry her. They will
+either think that, or they will think--" he stopped aghast at the
+possibility that had taken possession of his mind. "They couldn't
+think I left it open on purpose for some one to get in and _take_
+Lola! They couldn't think that! But suppose Mr. Crowninshield did
+decide I was an accomplice what proof have I but my word that I
+wasn't. It does look bad--my being gone and taking Achilles and the
+other dogs with me. Still, I've done it every day since I've been
+here. And anyway, they would know I could not entice Jerry and Tim
+away even if I had wanted to."
+
+The boy took courage.
+
+"No, of course they couldn't think _I_ had anything to do with Lola
+being gone," he murmured.
+
+By this time he had overtaken Tim and his fellow workers who were
+still busy clipping the hedge.
+
+"Tim!" he called.
+
+There was no answer but the crisp snip, snip of the shears.
+
+"Tim!"
+
+"Did you call?"
+
+"Yes. You haven't seen Lola, have you?"
+
+"Lola? Indeed I haven't. What would she be doing round here, I'd like
+to know?"
+
+His Highness struggled to smile.
+
+"Oh, I just thought you might have seen her."
+
+"She's not at the kennels?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Oh, then the mistress took her up to the house. She often does. She
+is clean daffy over that dog. Give yourself no concern, sonny; the pup
+is with the master and missis, being shown off to company, most
+likely."
+
+"Probably she is. So you and the men have been here all the
+afternoon?"
+
+"That we have. A hot job, the cutting of this hedge."
+
+"It looks fine," declared Walter, turning away.
+
+"It ought to," Tim growled. "Goodness knows it's trouble enough! A
+privet hedge is the devil to keep even."
+
+Walter, however, did not wait to hear the virtues and vices of privet
+hedges discussed. He was in too much of a hurry. Furthermore, he had
+secured the information which he had come to seek. Tim and his host
+knew nothing of the whereabouts of Lola. Nothing else mattered. In
+fact, bewildered, anxious, and excited, it seemed at the moment as if
+nothing else would ever matter again. He must find that dog--he
+_must_!
+
+Nevertheless he remembered he must not appear agitated and therefore,
+instead of racing across the lawn and shouting for Jerry as would have
+been his inclination, he walked decorously along the path until he
+came to the boathouse from which door Jerry was at that instant
+issuing.
+
+"You haven't seen Lola, have you, Jerry?" he asked as indifferently as
+he could.
+
+"Lola? No. Why?"
+
+"It--it is just her dinner time," stammered the lad, "and I wanted to
+find her."
+
+"She'll be up at the house, most likely, if she isn't at the kennels,"
+announced Jerry. "There's visitors and Lola will be on deck to see
+'em. She's a vain little lady and likes to be shown off."
+
+Walter greeted the remark with a sickly grin.
+
+"What have you been doing?" inquired he idly.
+
+"Me? Why, I was just starting to fix that hasp on the gate to the
+chicken coop when Minnie came running down from the house to say
+somebody wanted to speak to me on the telephone. It was a
+long-distance call and kept me there most half an hour; and what it
+was all about I don't know now. Some feller I never heard of kept
+talking and talking, and I couldn't make head nor tail out of anything
+he said. Finally I told him so and hung up the receiver. I can't
+imagine who he was. Nobody ever telephones me."
+
+"So you didn't get the hasp fixed on the hen yard."
+
+"I would have hadn't the cook held me up just as I was leaving and
+wanted I should put a new washer on the kitchen faucet. I saw it
+needed it the worst way. In fact, I had planned to do it before the
+folks came and it had slipped my mind. So I tinkered with that and
+got nothing else done. I'm just after mending a hinge on the boathouse
+door. A profitless afternoon, I call it."
+
+"So you haven't been back to your diggings since noon."
+
+"Not a once. Why? Did you want me?"
+
+"N--o. Oh, no."
+
+"That's lucky. Apparently everybody else did," concluded Jerry grimly.
+
+So went Walter's quest! Nobody had seen Lola. Nobody knew anything
+about her. Question as he would, not the faintest trace of the missing
+dog could be obtained; and when the Davenports rolled down the drive
+the lad faced the awful moment when his secret must be divulged and
+the alarm sounded that Lola, the Crowninshields' most valued
+possession, was missing. Rapidly he turned the prospect of the coming
+storm over in his mind.
+
+Since the dog had been left in his charge the only manly thing to do,
+he argued, was to go directly to Mr. Crowninshield and himself
+acquaint him with the direful tidings. It would be cowardly to shunt
+this wretched task off on somebody else. It was his duty and his
+alone. Nevertheless, as he stood for a moment summoning his courage,
+he would have given all he possessed to escape the interview that
+awaited him.
+
+He would be scolded, blamed, discharged--that he knew--and he must
+bear bravely censure for something which he could not feel was his
+fault. Yet notwithstanding the fact that his conscience exonerated
+him it made the coming scene no less dreadful to anticipate.
+
+If Bob were only at hand to offer him his advice and sympathy. Bob was
+such a bully comforter. He never jumped on a man when he was down.
+Besides, he had a level head and always knew exactly what to do in an
+emergency. The instant this awful talk with Mr. Crowninshield was over
+and he was actually "fired" he should call Bob on the telephone and
+tell him the whole story. He must tell somebody, and Bob would
+understand better than anyone else just how everything had happened.
+
+In the meantime there was nothing to be gained by further delay.
+
+Pulling himself together, His Highness (a very meek bit of royalty
+now) dragged himself up the flower-bordered path toward Surfside. As
+he went it seemed as if every pansy flanking the walk stared out at
+him and whispered, "Aha, young man! You're in for it now!"
+
+Alas, he did not need to be told that! He knew it only too well. He
+cleared his throat, wondering how he should begin his confession.
+
+"Mr. Crowninshield, I have some very sad news to impart to you--etc.";
+or "Mr. Crowninshield, I regret to say a very terrible thing has
+happened." Such an introduction was easily delivered. It was the next
+sentence that appalled him. He could not get it off his tongue. "_Lola
+has disappeared!_" He could see now the great man's face as it
+flushed with anger and surprise. What would _he_ say--that was the
+question?
+
+Probably his reply would be something like this.
+
+"Young fellow, when I hired you, you undertook to look out for my dogs
+and see that nothing happened to them. I agreed to pay you good wages
+to perform that service and you, on your part, promised to do it
+satisfactorily. How have you kept that promise? You knew Lola's value
+and you should have looked out for her. It's up to you. You must
+either produce that dog or you must pay for her."
+
+He had by this time reached the house and like a criminal who faces
+execution and mounts the scaffold steps he climbed the broad flight
+leading to the front door. Mr. Crowninshield was on the veranda,
+sitting quietly in a big wicker chair, looking out toward the sea. He
+was thinking so intently on some imagining of his own that he did not
+hear the lad's footfall and Walter was obliged to address him twice
+before he answered. Then he started suddenly, as if annoyed at being
+disturbed.
+
+"Well?" interrogated he.
+
+The fine introduction that His Highness had planned to utter, together
+with everything else he had arranged to say, fled from his memory and
+he stood speechless before his employer.
+
+"You wish to see me?" Mr. Crowninshield repeated in a less sharp tone.
+
+"I--yes, sir."
+
+Nevertheless, despite the heavy pause the words the boy sought would
+not come. Instead a plaintive jumble of phrases tumbled incoherently
+forth, astounding the lad himself almost as much as they did the
+person to whom they were addressed:
+
+"Oh, sir, I've lost your dog, Lola! I didn't mean to and I didn't
+really lose her. She was gone when I got back from my walk with
+Achilles and the others. I left her locked in all right--I know I did.
+Where she is or how she got out I've no idea. I'm terribly sorry. I
+can't possibly pay for her, and you'll just have to put me in prison.
+It's the only way, I guess. Don't blame my mother or Bob, please, or
+Jerry either, because I've turned out to be such a duffer. It isn't
+their fault. And perhaps I better go straight home. I suppose you
+won't want me round here any more."
+
+A great gasp strangled any further utterance and only the lad's
+sobbing breath broke the stillness.
+
+Nerved to receive a scourge of maledictions or a blow the culprit
+waited. But nothing came--neither vindictives nor chastisement. He
+ventured to raise his head and confront his judge.
+
+Mr. Crowninshield was sitting looking far out to sea exactly as before
+and Walter actually began to wonder whether he had been turned to
+stone or had been stricken with deafness.
+
+"Mr. Crowninshield!" he at last ejaculated when the silence had become
+intolerable.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you hear what I said?"
+
+"Yes, sonny."
+
+"Well--well--what are you going to do with me?"
+
+"Nothing, my boy."
+
+"_What?_"
+
+"This job about Lola is nothing to do with you, my son. It has
+evidently been planned for a long time and carefully executed by
+professionals. Had you been on the spot they would have contrived to
+circumvent you just as they did Jerry. A gang have beaten us, that's
+all. But I will show them I am not to be beaten so easily. I'll have
+that dog back if it takes every dollar I have in the world. And I'll
+land those chaps behind the bars, every one of them, or my name isn't
+Crowninshield."
+
+A tide of angry color surged over the face of the speaker and he rose
+abruptly, as if forgetting the lad's presence.
+
+"Yes, sir!" he continued. "I'll round up those thieves. They needn't
+put me down for such an ass. Of course it's Daly and that New York
+bunch that set them on. They have always wanted Lola and been mad as
+hatters that I refused to sell her. Only the last time I saw Jake Daly
+he said, 'What I can't get by fair means I sometimes get by foul,
+Crowninshield, so you'd better look out for your precious dog.' I did
+not heed the threat at the time, attributing it to temper. But
+evidently he meant just what he said. He intended to have the dog,
+whether or no. But by thunder," Mr. Crowninshield brought down his
+fist on the piazza rail, "he won't win out in the deal! I'll jail him
+and all his tribe--see if I don't!"
+
+Walter, watching, hardly knew whether to go or stay. The man's rage
+was terrible and he thanked his lucky stars that it was not directed
+toward himself.
+
+"Is--is--there anything I can do, Mr. Crowninshield?" he at last
+managed to stammer after the master had ceased his pacing of the
+veranda and at length became conscious of his presence.
+
+"Not a thing, little chap," returned his employer, flashing him one of
+his rare smiles. "You have been mighty white about this, though. I
+guess it took some nerve to come up here and tell me this, didn't it?"
+
+"Yes, sir, it did."
+
+"I wondered what you'd do."
+
+"Wondered?"
+
+"Yes. Mrs. Crowninshield told me about Lola the minute the Davenports
+went. I saw the affair had nothing to do with you. Nevertheless, I
+wasn't sorry to try you out and see how much of the man was in you.
+You're all right, boy. Cheer up! Nobody is going to pack you home to
+your mother, so don't worry. And far from blaming you, if I want help
+about finding Lola, I'll add you to my detective force. You may be
+useful, who knows?"
+
+The words, designed merely to be comforting, were idly, kindly spoken,
+and carried little real weight. Had the master of the house really
+suspected how true they were to prove he would have been astonished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT
+
+
+As if a weight had been removed from his soul Walter moved away. The
+whole world had suddenly become a different place. Although the
+calamity of Lola's disappearance was none the less distressing at
+least on his own particular horizon there no longer loomed the spectre
+of discharge and all the disgrace that accompanied it. He could have
+tossed his cap into the air for very joy and gratitude. In his relief
+he was bursting to talk to somebody, and as he had permission to use
+the telephone in order to keep in touch with his family it occurred to
+him that now was the moment to call up Bob and impart the exciting
+tidings of the afternoon. Bob was always off duty at this hour and if
+he had the good luck to find him at the station just the sound of his
+voice would be infinitely comforting.
+
+Hastening in the side door he glanced into the wee telephone closet.
+
+No one was there, and he took down the receiver and called the Seaver
+Bay station. In another instant Bob's _Hello_ came cheerily over the
+wire.
+
+"It's Walter, Bob."
+
+"Anything the matter, kid?"
+
+"N--o. Yes. That is, something _was_ the matter but it is all over
+now. I just wanted to talk to you."
+
+"Well, fire ahead. What do you want to say?"
+
+"Oh, a lot. I hardly know how to start." The boy laughed nervously.
+
+"You're not sick?"
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+"Well, we can't hold this line forever, son, so break away and tell
+your tale as fast as you can."
+
+"I'll try to, Bob."
+
+Incoherently the lad poured out his story. Once launched it came
+readily from his tongue and he continued to the end of it without
+interruption from his distant listener. When, however, he had
+finished, Bob's crisp tones came singing over the wire:
+
+"You went out to walk about three, you say?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And returned?"
+
+"It must have been half-past four or five, I guess."
+
+"And there was nobody about the place all that time?"
+
+"The men were all busy somewhere else. Strangely enough even Jerry,
+who usually is on deck, had a telephone call and had to go up to the
+big house."
+
+"Oh, he did!"
+
+"Yes. It was funny, too, because it was somebody he didn't know at all
+and he couldn't find out what the fellow wanted."
+
+"What's that?" The interrogation was sharp and tense.
+
+"Jerry just said it was some man up in Brockton whom he didn't know
+and as he couldn't make head nor tail out of the message he hung up
+the receiver. Nobody ever telephones to Jerry. It was queer they
+should do it to-day, wasn't it?"
+
+"Very. Did you tell Mr. Crowninshield about it?"
+
+"Oh, no, indeed. He was too busy about Lola to think of anything
+else."
+
+"Nevertheless, I would tell him."
+
+"What for? It wouldn't interest him."
+
+"I think it might--a good deal. You tell him. Do you know whether he
+has done anything yet or not?"
+
+"No, I don't. I didn't dare ask him what he was going to do."
+
+"I suppose not. Well, I'm glad you got out of this snarl so well, kid.
+It's a pity they've lost the dog. You take mighty good care of the
+rest of the pups and don't let any more of them disappear."
+
+"I'll try. And Bob----"
+
+"I can't stop to talk any longer now, old chap. So long! If they get a
+line on the thief you might ring me up again. I shall be interested.
+Good-by."
+
+"Good-by, Bob."
+
+How fair Bob always was, reflected the boy, as he emerged into the
+open and made his way back to the kennels. Some brothers would
+probably have blurted out, "That's you all over!" or "Trust you to get
+into a mess!" But Bob never enjoyed seeing somebody else miserable.
+Instead he always tried to make everybody's troubles smaller than they
+really were. One could confess one's sins to Bob, knowing that he
+would be merciful.
+
+So thought Walter as he sped down the gravel path to greet the
+clamoring pack of animals that hungrily awaited his coming.
+
+"Well, old sports!" called he as he turned the key in the lock, "I
+guess you are ready for your supper. Wondering where your boss was,
+eh? I'm not very late. Only a quarter of an hour. It isn't late enough
+to warrant your making such a fuss. Down, Achilles! What's the matter
+with you? Anybody'd think you were crazy to see you jumping up and
+whining this way. What's got you, old man? Down, I say!"
+
+He pushed the dog from him and started to enter the room where the
+food was kept; but again Achilles was in his path.
+
+"Get out of my way, you beggar!" smiled Walter, playfully attempting
+to shake the creature off. "What is it? Are you clean starved? If you
+are you must stand out of the way so I can get you something to eat."
+
+But the dog refused to move.
+
+Planting himself squarely in the lad's pathway he began to bark
+furiously.
+
+Then he raced to the gate, sniffed, and struggled to get out.
+
+"What on earth has struck you, you giant?" inquired Walter, regarding
+the great creature in bewilderment. "Don't you want your dinner?"
+
+It was plain in an instant that no matter what the lure of a bone
+might ordinarily be to-day, it held no charms for the big police dog.
+He had one wish and only one, and that was to be released from the
+wire enclosure in which he was penned and left free to follow some
+plan of his own which evidently absorbed him. So insistent was his
+demand that it was not to be denied and Walter slipped the bolt and
+allowed him to race away. Then the boy turned his attention to feeding
+the other dogs.
+
+"Achilles probably has a bone buried somewhere," he muttered to
+himself, "and is going to dig it up. Just why he prefers stale food to
+fresh I can't see; but apparently he does."
+
+Nevertheless His Highness had scarcely finished giving the dogs their
+dinner before Achilles was back again, and with no bone, either. On
+the contrary he was hot, breathless, and panting from what had
+obviously been a long run through the woods. Pine needles clinging to
+his furry coat attested that he had been over in the grove that
+flanked the estate on the west.
+
+"Couldn't find your hidden treasure, eh, old boy?" commented Walter.
+"Gone, was it? Some other dog taken it?"
+
+But Achilles failed to accept the jest with the cordiality such jokes
+commonly evoked. He neither wagged his tail nor stretched his jaws
+into a grin. Instead he began to yelp and bound back and forth upon
+the lawn.
+
+"You act possessed. What on earth is the matter?" asked the boy,
+coming toward the gate and starting to open it.
+
+No sooner was his hand on the latch, however, than the Belgian raced
+up with sharp barks of delight.
+
+"Want me to come out, do you? Got something to show me?"
+
+Again Achilles barked joyfully.
+
+"Aren't you the tyrant, though?" remarked Walter. "I've just been to
+walk and am tired as the deuce. What do I wish to go tramping over the
+country again for?"
+
+Nevertheless, despite his grudging protest, nothing else would satisfy
+the dog and at length, curious to see what caused the creature's
+excitement, he slipped the lock and stepped outside on to the turf.
+Instantly an exultant bark came from Achilles and he dashed away, only
+to return and take the lead through the woods, his nose to the ground
+and his ears erect. The boy followed. It was a race to keep up with
+the rapidly running vanguard. Now the chase skirted the lawn, now
+dipped into the pine woods. On and on went the dog, and in pursuit of
+him on and on went Walter.
+
+They floundered along the slippery matting of copper, stumbling this
+way and that, and presently emerged where the land dropped down to the
+shore. The lad paused. He had no mind to scramble through the tall
+salt grass or sink ankle deep in the stretch of sand that adjoined it.
+But Achilles compelled. It was now no longer a matter of choice. The
+beast approached and catching the corner of the lad's sweater in his
+mouth tugged at it resolutely, even angrily.
+
+Walter dared not resist. He let himself down over the edge of the bank
+into the sharp-edged grass, and wading through it reached the sand.
+Here Achilles halted. The end of their pilgrimage had, then, been
+reached. What was it all about? For a moment dog and man faced one
+another. Then, glancing about, His Highness gave a little cry. There
+were footprints in the sand,--deep footprints that the moisture had
+kept indelible. A train of them came and went toward a ribbon of
+automobile tracks that narrowed away up the beach and were finally
+lost in the confusion of a much traveled wood road.
+
+Walter's heart leaped within him as the significance of the discovery
+rose before his imagination. This was the way Lola had gone.
+
+A thief, familiar with the country and knowing the isolation of this
+sequestered cove, had driven through the wood road, left the car
+behind the dunes, and skulking through the woods, had successfully
+carried out a daring robbery. Perhaps he had been lingering concealed
+about the gardens all day or even many days. Who could tell? At any
+rate, he had chosen a propitious moment, provided himself with a
+skeleton key, and carried Lola away in the waiting motor car. Where
+they were now, who could tell? A car travels fast and a long distance
+could be covered in the two hours that had elapsed. Certainly no more
+time must be wasted.
+
+With Achilles leaping before him Walter raced back to Surfside. Mr.
+Crowninshield, irritable and excited, was just coming out of the
+house.
+
+"May I speak to you a moment, sir?" panted the boy.
+
+"Yes, if it is important. I'm in a rush so do not delay me."
+
+"But it's about Lola."
+
+"Lola! Go ahead, then, if you have anything to say."
+
+The lad told his story.
+
+"Ha! Well done, Achilles!" exclaimed the financier when the tale was
+told. "Well done, old fellow! And well done you too, little shaver!
+Between you you have given us a big boost toward catching the thief.
+Now just one thing, sonny. I meant to caution you before you left but
+forgot it. You are not to speak of this affair to any one--not to any
+one at all. Do you understand? A false move on our part might undo
+everything and ruin our cause. Nobody is going to be caught red-handed
+with that dog in his possession. Rather than be trapped he would kill
+her. We mustn't let that happen. We shall follow up our man quietly
+without letting him suspect that he is being watched. That is the only
+way we can hope to get the pup back again. So mind you hold your
+tongue. Not a word to anybody on your life. Not a syllable. Be dumb as
+the grave and let me see how capable you are of keeping your own
+counsel. The trouble with most people is they blab everything. They
+can't wait to tell it. Let anything happen and they are off to confide
+it to some one before you can say Jack Robinson. Now don't you do
+that--at least not this time. Hold your tongue. This isn't your
+secret; it's mine."
+
+In terror Walter hung his head. Should he confess that he had already
+telephoned Bob or should he keep silent.
+
+Of course Bob wouldn't tell. There wouldn't be anybody to tell way off
+there at Seaver Bay. Besides, he himself could ring him up and caution
+him not to. Why need Mr. Crowninshield know anything about it?
+
+But suppose Bob had told already and harm was done? Certainly it would
+be more honest to speak.
+
+The boy took a big swallow.
+
+"I'm afraid, sir, that I have already told some one," he blurted out
+miserably. "I didn't know it would do any harm and so I called up my
+brother and----"
+
+"You young idiot!" burst out Mr. Crowninshield indignantly. "Why in
+thunder couldn't you keep still? We're in a nice mess now! If the
+story gets about and the police start to track down the thief it is
+good-by to Lola. Why did you have to run hot-footed to the telephone
+the first thing? Jove!"
+
+"I'm very sorry, sir. I had no idea it would do any harm."
+
+"But you have an idea of it now, haven't you?" inquired the master
+grimly.
+
+"Yes. I see what you mean."
+
+Mr. Crowninshield heaved an exasperated sigh.
+
+"The game's up now, I guess," he muttered.
+
+"But my brother lives off by himself in a very lonely place," the lad
+explained desperately. "Just he and another fellow have a house out on
+a point of land a long way off from everywhere. They couldn't tell
+anybody about Lola if they wanted to, especially if I call them right
+up and ask them not to."
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+"Seaver Bay."
+
+"Never heard of it--or, stop a minute, isn't there a wireless station
+there or something?"
+
+"Yes, sir. My brother----"
+
+"Well, no matter about your brother now. You go into the house and
+call him up. When you get the line let me know and I will speak with
+him."
+
+"Yes, sir." Nevertheless the lad lingered. "I'm--I'm awfully sorry,"
+repeated he.
+
+"There, there, go along. You meant no harm. You just blundered. But
+blunders are expensive things sometimes and this one may prove so
+unless we can prevent it."
+
+Still His Highness did not go.
+
+"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked his employer impatiently.
+
+"My brother told me to tell you that Jerry had a telephone message
+this afternoon."
+
+"A telephone message? What has that got to do with it?" burst out Mr.
+Crowninshield at the end of his patience.
+
+"I don't know. Bob just said to tell you."
+
+"Go ahead then."
+
+Hurriedly the boy related the facts of the mysterious communication.
+
+"So! Your brother has some brains if you haven't," said Mr.
+Crowninshield on hearing the story, and Walter saw him smile. "That
+was neat of them, very! They took the precaution to get Jerry, who is
+unfailingly about, out of the way."
+
+"They?"
+
+"The thieves, youngster. It was a Brockton call, you say."
+
+"That was what Jerry told me."
+
+"Good! That gives us another clue."
+
+It was evident the information had put the master in rare good humor.
+
+"Trot along, now, and call up this brother of yours. I shall be glad
+to talk with him, for he sounds as if he might be worth talking to. As
+for you, son, cheer up! No milk is spilled yet and perhaps it won't be
+if you have as wise a big brother as it appears. I might never have
+known of Jerry's message but for him. Jerry himself would not have
+placed enough importance on it to tell me, I am sure--or you, either,
+for that matter. So perhaps, after all, you did a good thing to enlist
+your brother in our behalf."
+
+"I hope so, sir. I meant no harm; really I didn't."
+
+"There, there, don't think of it again," said Mr. Crowninshield
+kindly. "I should have remembered you are not a man's age and cannot
+be expected to have the judgment that goes with fifty or sixty years
+of living. Even old codgers like myself blunder sometimes."
+
+His eyes twinkled and in the radiance of his smile Walter saw the last
+cloud of wrath roll from his brow. Truly, as Jerry had affirmed, Mr.
+Crowninshield's rages were like thunderstorms--awesome while they
+lasted but unfailingly followed by sunshine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+MORE CLUES
+
+
+Notwithstanding Mr. Crowninshield's comforting words, however, Walter
+could not shake off the consciousness that take it all in all he had
+blundered desperately throughout the entire train of events connected
+with Lola and his vanity was sadly hurt. If any good had come out of
+what he had done it was more by chance than as a result of wise
+calculation. He had meant well, that was all that could be said, and
+the patronage these words implied was by no means flattering to one
+anxious to make himself valuable to his employer.
+
+What a boob he was; what a blunderer! The name Mr. Crowninshield had
+so wrathfully bestowed on him was unquestionably deserved. It fitted
+him like a glove. The fact that the great man had afterward sought to
+palliate the sting of the term did not actually help matters any. What
+he had thought in the beginning and so spontaneously declared was what
+he really believed, and as his dispirited retainer observed to
+himself, who could blame him?
+
+He couldn't have made a worse start at a job had he tried. In his
+depression he almost wished he had never seen Surfside, the
+Crowninshields, or anything belonging to them.
+
+Nor was his melancholy lightened when he found on entering the house
+that the telephone line was busy and that some one was calling Mr.
+Crowninshield. Goodness only knew how long it might be now before the
+wire would be free for the master to reach and warn Bob to keep secret
+the tidings his brother had tattled to him. Wasn't it infernal luck to
+encounter this delay? If he had only held his tongue in the first
+place! Well, it had taught him a lesson. The next time he got mixed up
+in somebody else's affairs he would keep them to himself.
+
+Meandering aimlessly outdoors he sat down on the steps to wait until
+the owner of the house should finish his conversation.
+
+For a time he remained quite quiet; but when the minutes lengthened
+into a quarter of an hour he began to fidget. Would the talkers never
+stop? Why, their chattering seemed to be endless? Even through the
+door he could hear Mr. Crowninshield's curt tones and the eager rise
+and fall of his voice. Once he laughed as if pleased, and twice Walter
+heard a cry of "_Good!_" When he did appear on the piazza his face was
+wreathed in smiles.
+
+"That brother of yours is a Jim Dandy!" he exclaimed, rubbing his
+hands. "You did a mighty clever thing, young one, to get him on the
+job. We never can thank you enough."
+
+"Me?"
+
+"Certainly you! Why didn't you tell me more about this family paragon
+of yours? I didn't take in he was a radio operator."
+
+"I--I--I don't know," replied Walter, bewildered.
+
+"Well, his quick action has helped us no end--that is all I can say,"
+announced the owner of Surfside triumphantly. "The instant he got your
+message he went to work with his wireless outfit. He flashed messages
+to all the stations in the outlying cities or else telephoned, and
+inside of half an hour every road to Boston and to New York was
+watched. You see a man with a little dog had stopped at his station
+for water. The wood road skirting our shore goes right by Seaver Bay
+and probably the thief reasoned that no one would be on the lookout
+for him on such an out-of-the-way thoroughfare. At any rate he had to
+have water for his engine and he took a chance. He told your brother
+he was touring the Cape, and had you not called Bob up he would have
+thought no more of the happening. But when you told him about Lola
+immediately he pricked up his ears. The dog tallied perfectly with
+what you had previously told him and the fact that it was a Pekingese
+made him suspicious. Leaping at the possibility that his visitor was
+in reality the man wanted, he sent out a broadcast describing the
+culprit.
+
+"With an accurate description of the man, car, and dog we cannot fail
+to get tidings soon. And at any rate we have something definite to
+work on. We know what the thief looks like, what he had on, the make
+of his car and all about him. Unquestionably he will be stopped either
+between here and Boston or between here and New York,--for he is
+probably aiming for one of those cities. I myself rather think he will
+go straight through to Boston. He would not venture to try New York
+until later because he would be well aware that the authorities there
+would be waiting for him. He isn't going to be trapped. So he will try
+to do the thing he figures I will not calculate upon." Mr.
+Crowninshield rubbed his hands and laughed. "Little does he know we
+have him down cold already! And it has all been so quietly and
+promptly done. That is the beauty of it. You must have got home from
+your walk very soon after the wretch had left. Therefore the loss was
+discovered sooner than he had planned. Doubtless he was delayed by
+Jerry's being about and had to wait until his accomplice up in
+Brockton called him off. I presume they had agreed upon some hour when
+they would summon the unsuspecting caretaker to the telephone." As the
+scheme of the robbery began to unfold, Walter mirrored his employer's
+smile.
+
+"And if the other chap is in Brockton doesn't that indicate that this
+fellow who was here will most likely expect to pass through there and
+pick him up?" he ventured, feeling very much of a personage to be thus
+taken into Mr. Crowninshield's confidence.
+
+"Exactly!"
+
+His Highness glowed with satisfaction. Some of his self-esteem was
+returning.
+
+"Fortunately your brother had the good sense to warn his allies to act
+carefully and not alarm the thief, so that the life of the dog might
+not be jeopardized. He seems to have thought of everything, this
+brother Bob of yours. If we get Lola back it will be largely his
+doing--and yours. I sha'n't forget the fact, either."
+
+Walter flushed under the great man's praise.
+
+"It was just a happen," murmured he. "I thought I had blundered."
+
+He saw Mr. Crowninshield color at having his own word hurled back at
+him.
+
+"Some of the most fortunate strokes in our lives are achieved by
+chance," replied he, laughing. "See how capable I am of shifting my
+philosophy," he added with good humor. "Nevertheless, although this
+indiscretion of yours has turned out well I still maintain that,
+generally speaking, a silent tongue is a great asset. In nine cases
+out of ten keeping still does far less harm than talking. Jerry is a
+shining example of my creed. In all the years he has been here he has
+never let his tongue outrun his solid judgment. And yet," concluded he
+with a twinkle, "had we trusted to Jerry, we should never have heard
+of his Brockton telephone communication. So there you are! Which is
+the better way? It seems to be a toss up in this case."
+
+"I guess the better way is never to make a mistake," smiled Walter.
+
+"Do you know the infallible person who can boast such a record?" came
+whimsically from Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"N--o, sir."
+
+"Nor I."
+
+A pause fell between them and Walter rose to go.
+
+"Do you suppose you will hear anything more to-night?" questioned he
+shyly.
+
+"There is no telling. We may have news at any moment; or again we may
+hear nothing until into the night or till morning."
+
+"I'm crazy to get tidings, aren't you?" In his earnestness the lad had
+forgotten that they were not of an age or quite of the same station.
+
+The master smiled indulgently.
+
+"I'm every bit as crazy to hear as you are," said he, quite as if Lola
+were their joint possession.
+
+"Do you think you'll get any message before I go to bed?"
+
+Once more Mr. Crowninshield regarded him with friendly comradeship.
+
+"That depends on what time you turn in."
+
+"At home Ma makes me go at nine o'clock. I've done it pretty much,
+too, since I've been here. She wanted I should."
+
+"You are a sensible fellow. Nine o'clock is late enough for anybody to
+sit up, although I will admit," the man chuckled mischievously, "that
+in New York we occasionally sit up later than that."
+
+But Walter ignored the jest.
+
+"Do you think you will hear by nine?" persisted he.
+
+"There is no way of knowing, sonny," was the kind answer. "The best
+thing for you to do, however, is to go to bed as you usually do. You
+are tired out with excitement. I can see that."
+
+"No I'm not," contradicted the boy, his eyes very wide open.
+
+"But you are--a deal more fagged than you realize. I am myself. Now
+I'll tell you what we'll do. I'll go to bed and you go to bed; and if
+any message comes I'll tell them to waken me and then I'll waken you.
+I can call you on the wire that goes from the house down to your
+quarters. How will that do?"
+
+"But suppose I shouldn't hear it?" objected the lad.
+
+"Somebody will. The chauffeurs do not go to sleep as early as you do,
+I rather fancy. I will give orders for one of them to tell you if a
+call comes."
+
+"I'd much prefer to sit up, sir. Why couldn't I just sit here on the
+piazza? It wouldn't disturb anybody and I should be on the spot."
+
+"You might sit here all night and catch your death of cold, and no
+tidings come until morning, sonny. No, my plan is much the better one.
+You trot along to bed. I'll fulfill my part of the contract and go
+also. And if there is anything to tell before morning you shall hear
+it."
+
+Reluctantly the lad moved away.
+
+He was not in the least sleepy. Nevertheless because he had given his
+word he dragged himself across the lawn, mounted the stairs to his
+room, and began to undress. His spirits were very high. Within an hour
+or two--three hours at the very most--the telephone would ring and
+Mr. Crowninshield would announce to him the glad tidings that the
+thief had been caught. Then some one would motor to Barnstable,
+Brockton, or wherever it was, recapture Lola, and bring her back, and
+the events of the past few hours would be only a nightmare. And it
+would be Bob--he and Bob--who brought about this glorious climax to a
+day of catastrophes. And if such a result was accomplished had not the
+owner of Surfside promised that he would never forget the service?
+
+For his own part Walter wanted nothing. If Lola could only be found
+his happiness would be complete. But if only Mr. Crowninshield would
+do something wonderful for Bob! Perhaps he might give him a big sum of
+money; he could well afford to. Or maybe he would put him in the way
+of earning it. There was no telling what Aladdin-like feats he might
+perform. Such a man was all powerful. Why, he could send Bob to Europe
+if he chose! Or pay the mortgage on the house. He could make Bob's
+fortune.
+
+The younger boy thrilled at the thought.
+
+With these optimistic and intriguing fancies in mind he slipped into
+bed and soon dozed off into dreams wilder and even more extravagant.
+He slept soundly and awoke with a bewildered cry when a knock came at
+the door.
+
+"It's I--Wheeler, shaver! The boss wants you on the telephone."
+
+Up scrambled Walter, his stupor banished by the agitation of the
+moment.
+
+He did not wait to don his clothes but in his pajamas took the stairs
+two at a time and soon had his ear to the receiver.
+
+"Walter?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, we have some news, such as it is." Mr. Crowninshield's voice
+sounded dubious and discouraged. "They tracked the car we were after
+to Buzzard's Bay and found it there empty; its occupants had
+disappeared."
+
+"Disappeared!" repeated the astounded boy.
+
+"Yes, they're gone! Vanished in thin air! Not a trace of them is to be
+found. The abandoned automobile with its number removed, was
+discovered on a side road."
+
+"The man must be hiding somewhere in the vicinity then."
+
+"That does not follow, son; I wish it did."
+
+"What else could he do?"
+
+"His accomplice from Brockton could meet him with another car, for one
+thing."
+
+"A different car, and throw us off the scent!"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+For a second neither of them spoke. Walter was too nonplussed and his
+employer too disheartened.
+
+"Isn't that the limit!" the lad presently gathered indignation enough
+to ejaculate.
+
+"I expected something of the sort," was the reply. "We are up against
+professionals, you see, and not amateurs. This gang is being paid big
+money and does not intend either to fail in what it has undertaken or
+be trapped. We had it too easy at the beginning and were too much
+elated by our initial success."
+
+"What are you going to do now?"
+
+"I've wired New York for detectives. I ought to have followed my first
+impulse and done it immediately, and I should have had we not seemed
+on the high road to success without help. The plain-clothes men will
+probably be miffed at being called in now that we have meddled with
+the case and messed it all up."
+
+"But I don't see how we have done any harm," retorted His Highness,
+feeling it a little ungrateful of Mr. Crowninshield to veer so quickly
+from commendation to censure.
+
+"Oh, untrained people never can compete with skilled ones in any
+line," was the sharp answer. "I ought to have remembered it. Doubtless
+in our zeal we betrayed ourselves somehow and our man became
+suspicious and adopted other tactics in consequence."
+
+"I don't believe so," Walter maintained stoutly. "I'll bet this is
+just what he had arranged to do anyway."
+
+"Well, perhaps it was. We cannot tell about that," yawned the man at
+the other end of the wire. "The result, however, is the same. Instead
+of netting our catch we have allowed it to slip through our fingers."
+
+There was an edge of exasperation in the tone.
+
+"Maybe we'll have better luck than you think," ventured the lad, not
+knowing what else to say, and unwilling to betray his chagrin.
+
+"We'll have neither good luck nor bad in future," responded the master
+curtly. "After this we keep our hands off and the detectives manage
+the affair. There have been blunders enough."
+
+With this ungracious comment the great man hung up the receiver and
+stumbling through the darkness His Highness felt his way upstairs and
+dropped into bed.
+
+Like a house of cards his roseate dreams for the future had suddenly
+collapsed. There would be now no wonderful career for Bob, no bag of
+gold, no fairy fortune! Instead of being a hero he had again become a
+mere duffer, a blunderer, had played the fool.
+
+Since failure had come in place of the coveted success Mr.
+Crowninshield would most likely blame it all to him.
+
+Fleeting, indeed, was the favor and gratitude of princes!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BOB
+
+
+By late afternoon of the following day the New York detectives arrived
+and Wheeler drove their dusty and travel-stained car around to the
+garage.
+
+"Must have speeded up some!" commented he, on viewing the throbbing
+machine. "Left New York at midnight," they said. "Some friends of the
+master's likely, come to play golf."
+
+Ever given to frankness it was on the tip of Walter's tongue to
+declare the real identity of the strangers, but fortunately he
+bethought him in time to halt the words.
+
+"What did they look like?" inquired he, eager to know and yet anxious
+not to appear inquisitive.
+
+"Look like? Like any other dusty, muddy guys," grumbled Wheeler,
+eyeing with disdain the grimy automobile which he knew he would be
+expected to clean.
+
+"Old or young?" persisted His Highness.
+
+"Old enough to know better than to heat up an engine this way, but
+young enough to do it," snapped Wheeler. "Shouldn't think their car
+had seen water in years, it's that filthy. A rum job for me!"
+
+Walter, however, did not reply. He was not in the least interested in
+the mud-caked car. It was its occupants that aroused his curiosity. In
+all his life he had never seen a genuine detective and he was all
+impatience for a peep at persons allied with such an intriguing
+profession. While his reason told him they must, of course, look
+precisely like other men, nevertheless the hope would persist that
+perhaps, after all, they didn't. And even if they did appear like
+ordinary mortals were there not their myriad disguises? He hoped with
+all his heart they would wear some of these, that the exigencies of
+the case would compel it.
+
+Very great, then, was his surprise and disappointment when on being
+summoned to the big house soon after the arrival of these interesting
+creatures he was presented to two commonplace beings who, although
+charming gentlemen, were not in the least different from anybody else.
+Mr. Dacie, the younger of the men, was a pleasant, blond-haired fellow
+who instantly ingratiated himself in the boy's affections by asking
+him if he collected stamps and bestowing on him two rare ones from
+China. In fact he seemed to like everything a boy liked and appeared
+to be almost a boy himself.
+
+Mr. Lyman was older but he, too, when he was not being stern and
+business-like, was very jolly. No one could possibly be afraid of
+either one of them and then and there His Highness's faith in the
+ultimate success of Mr. Crowninshield's cause dwindled and died. They
+weren't disguised at all; and if they had pistols they must have had
+them well concealed for the only suspicious articles produced from
+their pockets were notebooks and pencils. He had expected to be quite
+awed by their presence but on the contrary he found, when he started
+out to show them the kennels and the place where he had seen the
+automobile tracks, that he was chattering away to both of them quite
+as if he had known them all his life.
+
+Mr. Dacie was particularly friendly, and as they walked along he
+talked much of sports, dogs, and fishing. Furthermore he was intensely
+interested in Bob and listened attentively to all that was told him
+about this remarkable big brother. He had a bully brother himself, he
+said. In short, before a half hour had passed His Highness had not
+only decided to become a detective but to become one exactly like Mr.
+Dacie.
+
+And yet as he thought it over afterward the hero of his sudden
+adoration had not uttered one syllable about jails, criminals,
+robberies, or crimes of any sort. In fact he had talked really very
+little. What he had done had been to smile, nod, and let the other
+fellow babble. It had, to be sure, been a delightful experience to
+find yourself a lion, and everything you did of interest to your
+listener; but you did not learn much about the business of being a
+detective, reflected Walter, a bit mortified by his discovery. Well,
+the next time he was with Mr. Dacie he would ask him some questions
+and let him relate everything about his mysterious calling.
+
+Strange to say, however, the moment for such disclosures never
+appeared to come right. There was always so much else to talk of. Mr.
+Dacie wanted most terribly to catch some flounders and wondered if
+there were any to be found; and of course as Walter knew of three
+secret places where flounders were sure to lurk he eagerly told his
+new friend about them. And then he had to talk swimming and
+school--and how he hated it! Why, there were endless things to tell
+Mr. Dacie. The visit of the two men was, moreover, surprisingly short.
+They remained at Surfside only one night and the next morning,
+together with Mr. Crowninshield, who led the way in his car, they
+disappeared leaving His Highness none the wiser and regretfully
+mourning his lost opportunity to be initiated into the gruesome
+mysteries of a detective's career.
+
+The realization that in exchange for telling everything he knew or
+ever had thought Mr. Dacie had told him nothing suddenly caused the
+lad to speculate as to whether after all both Mr. Dacie and his
+associate, Mr. Lyman, were not cleverer than they looked to be.
+
+It seemed incredible to recall, now that they were gone, that he had
+not once asked them what they thought about Lola and whether they had
+any idea where the man who had taken her had gone. How much better it
+would have been had he made that inquiry instead of chattering about
+his own affairs. But somehow when there had been a lull in the
+conversation they had always been busy measuring footprints or
+automobile ruts, and writing down these unending dimensions.
+Moreover, something which he was unable to explain always halted the
+questions.
+
+Well, it was useless to regret his vanished opportunities. The
+detectives were now far beyond his reach and probably he would never
+see them again. He might as well go about his work and put them,
+together with Lola and her baffling disappearance, out of his mind.
+This he tried valiantly to do, but in spite of his utmost endeavor his
+thought constantly reverted to the missing dog, and when toward dusk
+Mr. Crowninshield's car came whirling up the avenue His Highness had
+all he could do not to rush out and demand of the master whether he
+had secured any further information.
+
+To remember that he must keep constantly in the background was, in
+fact, one of the most difficult aspects of Walter's job. As a
+democratic young American who had always mingled in the best society
+Lovell's Harbor had to offer he had been free to give a hail to
+anybody he desired to greet. But at Surfside everything was different.
+He must stifle his natural impulses and curb his tongue, a role very
+hard for one who had had no previous experience with class
+distinctions. Difficult as it had been he had made up his mind to
+being excluded from the gayety that went on about him. It was, to be
+sure, no fun to view automobile loads of young people roll out of the
+drive bent on a day of pleasure; to look on while motor boats pulled
+up anchor and puffed across the blue of the bay. And how he would have
+adored to try his hand at a set of tennis on that fine dirt court!
+Ah, there were moments when to a normal, healthy boy the world
+appeared a very unfair place; and the lot of one who worked for a
+living a wretched one.
+
+And then, when his spirits had reached their lowest ebb, he would
+resolutely take himself to task. Was there not his pay envelope to
+compensate him? He was not at Surfside to have a good time; he was
+there to earn his daily bread and very fortunate was he to have so
+good a place. Having read himself this lecture he was wont to turn to
+his duties with lighter heart, closing his ears to the laughter and
+his eyes to the merriment that made up the days of the idle. But what
+he never could get used to was the fact that he must not ask questions
+or voice his opinions. In a free country where one man was as good as
+another the mandate seemed absurd. But it wasn't done. That was all
+there was about it. Jerry said so and so did Tim.
+
+Instead of piping, "Hi, Mr. Crowninshield, did you find out anything?"
+one awaited the information until it was voluntarily imparted.
+
+In this particular case, as good fortune would have it, His Highness's
+impatience had seethed and bubbled only a half hour before who should
+come strolling down to the kennels but the very gentleman the lad was
+feverish to interrogate.
+
+Arrayed in a cool Palm Beach suit and a soft hat of white felt he
+sauntered up as indifferently as if the boy's curiosity were not at
+the boiling point and said, "Good evening," in a perfectly calm,
+self-possessed tone.
+
+"Good evening, sir," Walter replied.
+
+"Dogs all right?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"No more of them missing?"
+
+"Not on your--no, sir."
+
+The great man turned away to conceal a smile.
+
+"I've been seeing your brother to-day," remarked he.
+
+"_Bob?_"
+
+Mr. Crowninshield nodded.
+
+"Yes. We went over to the Seaver Bay wireless station."
+
+The lad waited.
+
+"You have a very fine brother, youngster, and one whom you may well be
+proud of."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+(What was the use of telling him that? His Highness knew what a corker
+Bob was without being told. Much better tell him what had happened at
+Seaver Bay, what the detectives said, and whether Lola had been
+found!)
+
+"We had, in fact, quite a talk with your brother."
+
+"Yes, sir." The reply came automatically.
+
+"He was able to furnish us with much information regarding the man we
+are chasing up."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Yes," ruminated Mr. Crowninshield with evident satisfaction, "we have
+the thief sketched in quite clearly."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"With the details your brother gave us Dacie and Lyman have a most
+encouraging foundation on which to work."
+
+"Have they found out anything yet, sir?"
+
+The question would out despite all Walter could do to stop it. He knew
+the instant it had left his tongue that he shouldn't have asked it and
+he stood there hot and embarrassed at his own audacity.
+
+Much to his surprise, however, Mr. Crowninshield did not appear to be
+in the least offended. On the contrary he seemed pleased by the lad's
+eager interest and smiled at him kindly.
+
+"Yes, we've found out something," said he, "but it is not very good
+news, I am sorry to say. Dacie and Lyman traced the car that carried
+Lola as far as Buzzard's Bay and discovered that there----"
+
+"Yes?" interrupted Walter, so intent on the story that he was
+unconscious of interrupting.
+
+"There," repeated Mr. Crowninshield, "the thieves embarked on a
+private yacht that awaited their coming; steamed through the Canal,
+and----"
+
+"Don't say they are gone, sir!" cried the boy.
+
+"I'm afraid so, sonny."
+
+"Well, if that isn't the limit!"
+
+"It is, indeed," rejoined the elder man heartily.
+
+His Highness had staggered back against the door in consternation. If
+Mr. Crowninshield had affirmed that the thieves had taken flight in an
+aeroplane he could not have been more astonished than by the turn
+affairs had taken.
+
+"What do you suppose they'll do now?" demanded he.
+
+"We've no idea. They may make for New York, Boston, or some other port
+where they think they will be safe. There is no way of knowing. Or it
+may be that the person who hired them to get Lola is on the yacht and
+having now secured what he has been in search of he may simply cruise
+about and not land at all for months. Anything is possible."
+
+"Could they get the name of the boat?"
+
+"Yes, she's called the _Siren_."
+
+"Then I should think it would be easy enough to track her down, board
+her, and bring Lola away," said Walter.
+
+"It sounds simple, doesn't it?" Mr. Crowninshield returned. "But I am
+afraid it is not going to be as easy as that. We have no way of
+proving that Lola is aboard the yacht, in the first place. Moreover,
+even did we know that she was there, there are a thousand and one
+places where she could be hidden and defy discovery. And were the
+villains actually cornered nothing would be less difficult than to
+wring the puppie's neck and throw her overboard so that nothing would
+remain to identify the wretches with their crime."
+
+"Scott!"
+
+"You see now that to recover Lola is not such an easy matter."
+
+"I'm afraid not, sir," was the dispirited response.
+
+Mr. Crowninshield glanced at the dejected figure before him.
+
+"We mustn't give up beaten yet, however," affirmed he, struggling to
+be cheerful. "The game isn't up, you know. Dacie and Lyman are clever
+men and I have given them a free rein as to money. If there is
+anything to be done they ought to be able to accomplish it."
+
+Nevertheless optimistic as the words were it was plain to see that Mr.
+Crowninshield was not really as sanguine as he would have Walter
+think. There was a pucker of annoyance about the corners of his mouth,
+and his eyes looked dull and discouraged. Say what he might His
+Highness knew without being told that deep down in his heart of hearts
+Lola's master had resigned himself to never seeing her again.
+
+For a few seconds the capitalist lingered, musing. Then he broke the
+stillness, hurling a bomb into the air with the words:
+
+"By the by, I have made your brother an offer. I've suggested that he
+leave Seaver Bay and come here. I am going to give Dick a radio set
+for his birthday and I should like the aid of an expert in rigging it
+up. Besides, last season I installed a wireless on my yacht and shall
+need some one to operate it. This Bob of yours is precisely the sort
+of chap I want."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Crowninshield!" was all Walter could stammer.
+
+"You'd like having him here then?"
+
+"You bet your--yes, sir, I would," gasped His Highness, making a dash
+after his manners.
+
+"That's good," remarked the financier, much amused. "I hope he'll
+decide to come. You must use your influence to persuade him."
+
+This time Walter did not forget his etiquette.
+
+"I will, sir," replied he meekly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE DECISION
+
+
+That night when his day's duties had been discharged and he was free,
+the first thing His Highness did was to pen a much blotted and
+somewhat incoherent note to Seaver Bay. Almost every sentence of it
+was underlined and some of the persuasive adjectives and verbs were
+even emphasized in red pencil. Certainly what the epistle lacked in
+neatness and beauty of appearance was compensated for in sincerity and
+earnestness. This document mailed and reinforced by an ardent appeal
+over the telephone, there was nothing to do but possess one's soul of
+patience until Bob decided what it was best for him to do.
+
+To throw up a government job with practically assured employment for a
+private venture which might be of short duration seemed madness and
+the young radio man with his level head and sober judgment was not one
+to leap at a decision. Carefully he weighed the pros and cons and
+while he did so Walter, and even Mr. Crowninshield himself, fidgeted.
+His Highness would not have hesitated a moment; and that any one
+should do so appeared to him incomprehensible. As for the master of
+Surfside who was accustomed to having his business offers snapped up
+the instant they were made, the younger man's deliberation piqued his
+interest and respect as almost nothing else could have done. He had
+thought the terms suggested very generous and had expected them to be
+seized with avidity. It was something new to have a penniless youth
+waver as to whether to accept or reject them.
+
+In the meantime while the days passed no tidings came from the New
+York detectives and the dwellers at Surfside were compelled to settle
+down to their customary routine and put Lola's disappearance out of
+their minds. Gardeners toiled, flowers blossomed, Jerry mugged about
+with his misty blue eyes following every seed that was planted, every
+turn the lawn mower made; they followed, too, what Walter was doing
+and saw to it that the dogs were well cared for and that his young
+protege neglected nothing.
+
+Walter saw little of Dick now, for the house was filled with guests
+and the place humming with laughter and the rush of unending sports
+and picnics. There were tennis tournaments, golf matches, swimming
+races, regattas when small fleets of knockabouts maneuvered in the
+bay. In the midst of such a whirl of merriment it taxed all one's
+forbearance to be nothing more than the boy who cared for the dogs.
+
+On one particularly fine, bracing June morning after the lad had
+returned from a solitary cross-country tramp with Achilles and the
+rest of the pack, his lot seemed to him especially unenviable. There
+was evidently to be a ball game. College boys with crimson H's on
+their shirts; men with a blue Y; together with a group of
+short-sleeved players not yet honored with insignia from their
+universities were hurrying out to the lawn with bats, balls, and
+catcher's mitts.
+
+"You must pitch for the Blues, Dabney," called one fellow to another.
+
+"Who's going to catch for the Crimson team?" piped another.
+
+"I choose to play for Yale," came shrilly from another man who was
+lounging across the grass in immaculate white flannels.
+
+"Come on and help Harvard along, Cheever," put in a strident voice.
+
+"Not on your sweet life!" bawled Cheever, with a vehemence that made
+everybody laugh. "Goodness knows she needs help; but I'm not going to
+be the one to offer it."
+
+Again there was a good-humored shout from the bustling throng.
+
+"I'll line up with Yale to beat you though," Cheever added with a
+chuckle.
+
+"You can line up, you shrimp, but we're going to do the beating,"
+retorted an ardent Harvard supporter.
+
+So the banter went on while the nines were being organized.
+
+At length, however, there was a shout of dismay.
+
+"We're lacking one man," announced the captain of the Crimsons, with
+sudden consternation. "Haven't you another chap who can play, Dick?"
+
+"Nobody, I'm afraid, unless you want to haul in some of the
+chauffeurs," Dick answered idly.
+
+"Jove! That's hard luck. We've got to have a shortstop. What are we
+going to do?"
+
+"Wasn't there a boy around here somewhere this morning with the dogs?
+It seems to me I saw somebody--a stocky little chap with a snub nose."
+
+The description was not flattering and Walter winced.
+
+"Oh, that was King, who has charge of the kennels," replied Dick
+quickly. "I'm afraid he hasn't come back with the bunch of poodles
+yet."
+
+"Yes, he has. I saw him skulking round the garage just now. Can't we
+drum him up?"
+
+"Sure, if you can find him."
+
+"There he is!" cried Cheever. "I say, you master of the hounds, come
+on over here. We want you."
+
+Blushing red His Highness approached the noisy group.
+
+"Did you ever play baseball, kid?" inquired the captain of the Harvard
+team.
+
+"I believe so--once or twice," answered Walter soberly.
+
+"Want to come in with us as shortstop?"
+
+"Sure!"
+
+"I've a glove that will fit him," put in a man called Richardson.
+
+With scant ceremony His Highness was hustled into it and before he
+sensed what he was doing he was yelling with the rest, and head over
+ears in as exciting a game of ball as he had ever participated in.
+
+There were excellent players on both teams and the scoring ran so even
+that it was a toss-up who would win. From jest the game dropped into
+deadly earnestness.
+
+"It's your turn at the bat, Stubby," asserted Richardson to Walter
+unceremoniously. "Now remember who you're playing for. Don't hand Yale
+the game if you can help it."
+
+"I'll do my best," was the modest reply as the lad gripped the bat,
+then rubbed his hands in the dirt to make his hold more certain.
+
+The pitcher twirled a ball.
+
+"One strike!" droned the umpire.
+
+Again the leather disc spun through the air.
+
+"Two strikes," called the warning voice.
+
+"Great Scott, Stubbie, look out. Don't waste strokes like that, you
+boob. Let the things go by if they don't suit you. You don't _have_ to
+hit them."
+
+Once more the ball spun through the air. A smart crack followed and up
+into the blue leaped the ball, defying the pursuit of catcher or
+baseman.
+
+"Beat it into home plate, George!" coached the captain excitedly.
+"Move along, you fellows! It's a run for Stubbie! Slide in, Stubbie!
+Pick up your heels and sprint! Go it! Go it! Keep out of the way, you
+chaps. Hurray! Bully for you, kid! A beauty! _Harvard! Harvard!
+Harvard!_ Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah, _Harvard_!" The
+familiar cheer echoed loud above the shouting.
+
+"That lays them out! They're dead men!" cried Richardson
+triumphantly. "Where did you learn to play ball, young one?"
+
+"It's no fair borrowing a professional," the Yale leader objected,
+trying to make a joke of his defeat.
+
+"Jove, but that was a pretty hit!" Dick said quietly to Walter. "A
+peach!"
+
+"You're all right son!" affirmed the Harvard catcher. "Any time you
+are out of a job I'll recommend you to the Braves."
+
+A general laugh went up.
+
+Altogether the morning was a glorious day of comradeship, nor did it
+lessen His Highness's happiness when he returned to his quarters to
+see disembarking from Mr. Crowninshield's motor car the familiar form
+of Bob.
+
+"I brought your brother back from Seaver Bay with me," explained the
+financier. "It took him so long to make up his mind whether he'd come
+here or not that I went over there to-day to find out whether he was
+dead or alive."
+
+Mr. Crowninshield was plainly enjoying Walter's amazement.
+
+"And you've come to stay?" His Highness, all delight and confusion,
+contrived to stammer.
+
+"So they tell me," Bob laughed.
+
+He was a tall, handsome fellow with a grave mouth and thoughtful brown
+eyes; and when he spoke it was in a voice low and pleasing to the ear.
+
+"Oh, Bob and I have lots of secrets we haven't let you into, little
+chap," affirmed the master of Surfside gaily.
+
+"I never was so surprised!" gasped Walter.
+
+"We meant you should be. Your brother settled everything up over the
+telephone a day or two ago."
+
+"But, Bob, I don't see how you managed to get away from Seaver Bay so
+soon. You said it would probably be weeks before they could act on
+your resignation, even should you send it in, and afterward they would
+have to find some one to take your place."
+
+"Luck came my way," Bob replied. "The government was closing the Bell
+Reef station and they simply shifted the two men who were there over
+to our place."
+
+"Did you and O'Connel both decide to leave?"
+
+Bob's eyes twinkled.
+
+"O'Connel has just answered an advertisement as operator aboard a
+private yacht," said he, exchanging a glance with Mr. Crowninshield.
+Evidently there was some jest between them that amused them vastly.
+
+Curiously Walter looked from one to the other.
+
+"Better tell him, Bob," murmured the New Yorker in a low tone.
+
+"Why you see, kid, O'Connel had a chance to go as wireless man aboard
+the _Siren_."
+
+"Not--not the yacht that has Lola on it!"
+
+"The very same--at least we hope it has Lola."
+
+"But--but--I don't understand," muttered His Highness as if dazed.
+
+"Evidently, so far as we can make it out, the _Siren_ passed through
+the Canal and not daring to land, cruised along the coast where she
+must have met with rough weather. Of course that is purely surmise on
+the detective's part. Anyhow, her radio operator broke his arm and had
+to be replaced by another man so they advertised for some one. Luckily
+Dacie saw the item in the want column of the New York paper and set
+O'Connel on the job. The arrangements have all been by letter through
+the general mail delivery of New York so we still have no notion as to
+where the _Siren_ is. On Tuesday, however, O'Connel is to go over to
+New York, an agent is to meet him, and he is to be told where to go."
+
+"And I suppose Mr. Dacie or Mr. Lyman will be on hand and go along too
+to nail their man!" cried the delighted Walter.
+
+"Not so fast, son," returned Mr. Crowninshield. "We are not going to
+track them down so close and scare them off at the outset. No, we
+sha'n't send any one with O'Connel. He'll go and meet the agent and
+follow up directions precisely as if he knew nothing about Lola. With
+Bob here operating a wireless and O'Connel in constant communication
+with him, we will have all the inside information we're after.
+O'Connel can soon let us know where the yacht is; whether Lola is
+aboard of her; and exactly when and where the owners of the _Siren_
+are proposing to land. They can't make a move which we shall not know
+about in a flash. A pretty neat arrangement, I call it!" The New York
+magnate rubbed his hands together softly.
+
+"Gee! Well, Mr. Lyman and Mr. Dacie have sure been busy!" was Walter's
+comment.
+
+"You do not mention that I, too, have been busy," chuckled Mr.
+Crowninshield. "While you have been chasing the dogs over the fields
+and playing baseball," he winked at Bob, "I have been telephoning to
+the city for a radio set--a corking fine one--for Dick's birthday.
+Bob, here, is going to install it with the aid of some New York
+electricians. It should be all in place inside a few days. Then if
+O'Connel has any messages for us we shall be ready for him. In the
+meantime Bob is going to break in you youngsters so that you or Dick
+can listen in and get any news that may come when he is off duty or
+aboard the yacht. If those fellows who bagged Lola think themselves so
+all-fired clever they will find they are mistaken. I did not go into
+this game to be beaten." Mr. Crowninshield squared his jaw with
+bulldog resolution.
+
+"Now you and Bob trot off and have a visit together. Show him where
+his quarters will be. There is a room beside you where Jerry says he
+can bunk," continued the master of the estate. "Until the apparatus
+arrives from New York there won't be much he can do, so you better
+take the chance to go home and see your mother to-night--both of you.
+By to-morrow or the next day at the latest the electricians should be
+here with their stuff. Then things will hum!"
+
+With a jaunty wave of his hand Mr. Crowninshield wheeled about and Bob
+and Walter were left alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+LESSONS
+
+
+The joy of Mrs. King when she was informed that both her sons were to
+be all summer at Surfside cannot be pictured.
+
+"Why, it is like a dream or an answer to prayer!" ejaculated she.
+"Think of having you so near! Now were Bob to be electrocuted, I could
+get to him within half an hour."
+
+The fact evidently caused her profound satisfaction and each of her
+sons laughed.
+
+"I'm not planning to end my days by electrocution," smiled Bob.
+
+"Few do plan to," was the grim retort. "But anyway, whether or no, it
+is wonderful to have you so close at hand. I shall feel as if I had a
+great prop behind me."
+
+"I hope so, Mater," Bob said affectionately.
+
+"I suppose you'll not have much time to be spending at home, though,"
+mused the mother presently. "Your work, likely, will keep you busy."
+
+"I expect it will, especially during the next fortnight," Bob
+answered. "There will be all the apparatus to set up and get into
+working order; and in addition the equipment aboard the yacht must be
+overhauled. I want both wireless outfits in perfect condition for
+much depends on their being trim and tight."
+
+"It isn't probable you'll have much to handle that is important,"
+declared Mrs. King. "It won't be like dealing with government messages
+or wrecks." The two boys exchanged a glance. Much as they wished to
+they dared not initiate their mother into the secrets of Surfside.
+
+"You never can tell what messages you'll catch by wireless," Bob
+returned ambiguously. "Besides, Mr. Crowninshield intends to have some
+of his business relayed to him from New York."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"I guess I shall find plenty to do," the elder boy remarked.
+
+"Well, I reckon you will at that rate. But do be careful, won't you?
+And don't let Walter go dabbling with those evil wires."
+
+"I'll look out for him."
+
+The evasive answer did not, however, satisfy the woman.
+
+"Surely you don't mean to start Walter in learning about wireless, do
+you?"
+
+"I may give him a few lessons, yes."
+
+"Now don't you do it," retorted Mrs. King in spirited protest. "He was
+always a blunderer and were he to go messing about with electrical
+currents I should not have a happy moment. It is bad enough to have
+one of you in constant danger without two."
+
+"But it isn't dangerous," Walter interrupted.
+
+"Much you know about it," declared his mother, wheeling on him with
+scorn. "What experience have you had with radio, pray?"
+
+Meekly the lad closed his lips.
+
+"I am going to give some lessons to Mr. Crowninshield's son, Mater,
+and it seemed to me it was a good chance for Walter to learn
+something, too," Bob responded gently. "Sometime the kid might find it
+useful to have such knowledge. You never can tell. Nothing we learn is
+ever wasted."
+
+"No, I suppose not," was the grudging reply. "Well, just stand over
+him and see that he doesn't kill himself."
+
+"I've no desire to have him killed."
+
+"No more you have. Of course not," Mrs. King smiled. "But you know if
+there is any way of crossing the wires he'll do it. He's made that
+way. Still, unlucky as he is, I'd not care to lose him."
+
+Fondly she beamed on the ill-starred Walter.
+
+"I'll keep at his elbow, Mother," said Bob soothingly.
+
+"I know you will. You were ever good to your brother." She patted the
+big fellow's hand. "And mind the pair of you come to see me when you
+can. You'll be busy, I know; but you mustn't forget your mother."
+
+"We'll not do that," cried the boys in chorus.
+
+Nevertheless in spite of the promise there were few opportunities
+during the next few days for either of them to go a-visiting. The New
+York electricians arrived and with them came aerials, generators,
+detectors, tuners, insulators, amplifiers, and all the hundred and one
+parts necessary for a perfectly equipped radio station. Mr.
+Crowninshield had indulged in no cheap outfit. On the contrary he had
+purchased the best there was to be had and as the coils of copper
+wire, glistening wire rope, and spotless porcelain insulators were
+unpacked Bob's eyes sparkled with anticipation. With the touch of a
+connoisseur he handled the materials, examining the quality of each.
+What was Greek to the others was familiar ground to him.
+
+A low building adjoining the boathouse had been hurriedly constructed
+and it was here, where the new station was to be situated, that an
+interested audience congregated daily. Perched on an overturned
+packing case Mr. Crowninshield surveyed the installment of the novel
+toy which was not only to gratify Dick's birthday longings but also,
+he hoped, bring to him the information he coveted concerning Lola.
+
+Much as he knew about stocks and bonds he was as much of a novice in
+the presence of things electrical as were either his son or Walter
+King, and therefore to their avalanche of questions he added still
+others, gratefully accepting the information Bob offered with the
+eagerness of one who is not too superior to learn.
+
+"What is that thing they are putting in place now?" inquired he. "And
+what is it for?"
+
+"Oh, even I can answer that, Dad!" cried the delighted Dick. "That is
+the aerial or antenna and it catches the wireless waves as they travel
+through the air. The higher and longer it is the better, so far as
+messages are concerned--that is, within certain limits."
+
+His father's eyes twinkled.
+
+"Where did you pick up so much knowledge?" chuckled he.
+
+"Bob told me."
+
+"I'll be bound he did," sniffed the man. "I wasn't asking about the
+antenna, though. Green as I am I recognized that. It was that other
+wire that interested me."
+
+"The lead in?" asked Bob quickly.
+
+"I guess so, although I never was introduced to it by name before."
+
+Everybody laughed at the naive reply.
+
+"The lead in, sir, is the conductor that carries the wireless waves
+from the aerial into the house. The idea is not to have it too long.
+It must run as directly as possible and be very carefully insulated
+from any buildings, trees, or masts because of the current."
+
+"I see. And that other thing?"
+
+"That is the lightning arrester. It can be fastened inside or outside
+the station, as is most convenient; but it is compulsory to have it to
+satisfy the insurance companies. The antenna is secured to it and by
+means of a ground wire any electrical discharges will in a great
+measure pass off through the earth."
+
+"Mater should see that," murmured Walter mischievously to Bob.
+
+The elder brother nodded humorously.
+
+"The ground helps a lot in radio work," continued he. "In fact were
+it not for good old Mother Earth furnishing her aid, we should have no
+wireless at all. One side of our circuit passes through the ground and
+the other half, which completes it, goes through the air between the
+aerials of the different stations. Therefore you can readily see that
+it is most important to make sure of a good earth connection. Often
+city water pipes are resorted to, the contact being made by soldering
+a wire to the water faucet. Down here on the Cape, however, where
+there are only wells and windmills we shall have to sink some metal
+plates in the ground and connect the wires with these."
+
+"And that is all that goes outside the building?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The lead in brings the wires into the station and they are
+then connected up with the receiver. Sometimes there are separate
+antennae for sending and receiving messages. Of course the big stations
+always have two. But for a place this size and doing such a small
+amount of business we can send and receive from the same wire. With a
+tuner, which can be tuned to bring you into the same key with the
+station you are listening to; a detector to catch the signal after the
+persons talking have been brought into tune; and an amplifier that
+intensifies or increases the sound you have your receiving outfit.
+Batteries you know about without my telling you; and the head 'phones
+too, which you have of course seen telephone operators wear hundreds
+of times."
+
+"Yes, I believe I should recognize one of those," laughed Mr.
+Crowninshield. "So that is all there is to it, eh?"
+
+"That is about all there is to receiving, yes."
+
+"The sending part of the machine is more complicated, is it?"
+
+"Yes, sir. And so is the job," smiled Bob.
+
+"I mean to learn to transmit as well as receive," put in Dick.
+
+His Highness grinned derisively.
+
+"Do you indeed!" said he. "Well, there is nothing like aiming high.
+But I guess for the present you'll be pretty well content if you get
+so you can take down the Morse code as it comes in."
+
+"Is it so hard?"
+
+"That depends on how good you are at memorizing dots and dashes.
+French verbs are nothing compared to it."
+
+"I hadn't thought of learning to read code."
+
+"You have to, son, if you are going into wireless. With a tutor here
+on the spot, it should not be difficult. Besides, that is half the
+fun. I want you to learn this thing intelligently and not just make a
+plaything of it. I've done my part by buying you the best outfit there
+was to be had. The rest is up to you."
+
+"That's square, Dick," chimed in Walter.
+
+"Sure it is. I'll go to it and do my darndest, too, Dad," returned the
+boy.
+
+"That's the proper spirit!" exclaimed his father.
+
+His Highness smiled with ironic satisfaction.
+
+"If Bob is to tutor you you will study harder than you ever did in
+your precious life," whispered he. "I know Bob. He can be stiff as any
+college professor. He tutored me in Latin once to pull me through my
+exams and I barely lived. I don't envy you, old man."
+
+"Gee! Will it be that bad?"
+
+"You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's all. Take it from
+me," was the teasing rejoinder.
+
+"Oh, I hope he won't bone down as hard as that," wailed Dick
+dolefully. "I want to get some sport out of this thing. I wasn't
+planning to be turned into a galley slave during hot weather."
+
+Seeing that he had his victim thoroughly terrified Walter thought it
+time to shift the jest.
+
+"Don't fret. I was only jollying, old chap," declared he. "Bob won't
+really stand over you with a whip. He is the best fellow alive. Still,
+he will expect you to work if you set out to do so. He is always
+terribly in earnest about whatever he undertakes. I suppose that is
+why he has got on so well and never failed to make a success of what
+he has tried to do. You can count on him to duff into this job with
+the same spirit. You'll get your money's worth of instruction, you may
+be sure, if he has been hired to give it."
+
+Dick shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Well, I guess I can stand it if he is not too rough on me," responded
+he. "I do not mind studying so much if it is about a subject I like;
+and I am crazy about wireless."
+
+[Illustration: "You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's
+all. Take it from me." _Page_ 154.]
+
+"Oh, it isn't the wireless part I object to," drawled His Highness.
+"It is that dot and dash code that gets me. I never could learn it if
+I tried ten years; and as for taking twenty words a minute in any
+language--well, they could have the whole outfit before I'd do it."
+
+"I shall be interested to see what speed I can make," mused Dick.
+
+"Speed! You won't make any speed at all--at least not at first, so do
+not hope or expect to. If you even get the words correctly you will be
+going some," sniffed Walter. "Still, I guess you need not worry for
+the present about receiving or sending messages for Bob will give you
+a lot to think about before that. As for the Morse code, you may not
+meet it for weeks."
+
+"What do you mean?" Dick inquired.
+
+"Oh, Bob will get right down to brass tacks at the start and find out
+what you know about electricity and wireless anyway. That is the way
+he did to me when he tutored me in Latin. He wasn't content with just
+translating Caesar but must needs splash right into Roman history and
+make me hunt up everything I could find about the Goths and the rest
+of those heathen tribes. Gee, but he made me sweat! He will do that
+with you and your wireless. If you think you are going to begin taking
+messages in code you don't know Bob."
+
+Having delivered himself of these brotherly appreciations His Highness
+walked away, leaving Dick to ponder on the joyous prospects they
+contained. His sinister prediction Richard Crowninshield soon found to
+be true. Thorough was no name for Bob King. Before a week had passed
+Dick whimsically remarked to his father that it must be a task to Bob
+to swim on the top of the sea without diving down with a spy glass and
+examining every particle that was on the ocean's bottom. The fact that
+the new tutor never dipped into any subject but instead explored it
+greatly delighted Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"I shouldn't mind letting that young chap tutor me a little," observed
+he half jestingly to his wife. "I am as vague as a fog when it comes
+to this wireless business. I should get a lot of information if I
+listened in on Dick's lessons."
+
+The words, idly spoken, much to the amusement of all became a reality.
+After drifting in to the first talk Mr. Crowninshield came to the
+second lesson and from then on he became a regular pupil.
+
+"You needn't be afraid I have come here to criticize," explained he
+with appealing simplicity. "I'm green as grass and have come to
+learn."
+
+"It is just that you have not had the time to take up radio, sir," was
+Bob's modest answer. "We all have our specialties."
+
+"That's right," agreed the capitalist. "Sometimes I fall to wondering
+whether it is better to know something about everything or everything
+about something."
+
+"To know something about everything would be spreading it pretty thin,
+I am afraid," was Bob's characteristic reply.
+
+"That wouldn't do for you, eh?" remarked Mr. Crowninshield with a
+chuckle.
+
+"It would not satisfy me; no, sir. As it is I cannot begin to master
+what there is to be known concerning this one branch of science. Were
+my head to be filled with a little of everything I should feel as if
+it were a grab bag."
+
+"Many heads are," was the laughing retort. "Still, with each
+successive generation rolling up its accumulation of knowledge the
+intellectual snowball is getting to be of ponderous size. History's
+remedy for this malady has always been to knock the whole structure to
+pieces every now and then and begin again. Perhaps we shall have to
+have another period of the Dark Ages and another Renaissance to set us
+right."
+
+Thoughtfully he puffed his cigar.
+
+"This wireless now--think of the new fields it has opened up. Not only
+are our ships equipped so that they can send and receive all sorts of
+messages, get their location, be informed concerning harbor entrances
+and coast lines; set their compasses and clocks but soon wireless
+telephones will be installed in the staterooms of all passenger
+steamers so that those crossing the ocean can talk with their friends
+ashore any time they may elect to do so. Of course there are times
+when such a thing might have its advantages; but for tired
+people--doctors and the like--who are trying to get to a spot where
+they cannot be reached by business cares it will be a negative sort of
+blessing. I, myself, for example, always count on my stay on shipboard
+as a sort of vacation, an interval when nobody can bother me with
+office matters. But if in future I must have a wireless telephone at
+my bedside I shall be no more isolated than I should have been had I
+remained at home. Pretty soon there will be no place under the sun
+where a man can go and get peace and quiet. The Maine woods will be
+full of radio outfits and the tops of distant mountains in touch with
+the stock market. Even an aeroplane carries its wireless. It is
+hideous to contemplate!" he sighed. "As for city life, we shall be
+beset wherever we go. And if the fashion set by some of our city
+police of having wires tucked away in uniforms and a wireless receiver
+carried in the pocket prevails in due time even when we walk the
+streets we shall all be in constant touch with our particular
+headquarters."
+
+At his rueful expression Bob could not but laugh.
+
+"There certainly is no question that a great day for wireless is
+coming," replied he. "Whether we like it or not the thing has come to
+stay and as yet we have only half discovered what can be done with it.
+It is undoubtedly rough on those who want isolation. But most people
+don't. They are glad to feel, for instance, that the ocean is so small
+they can talk with their friends while they are crossing it. Besides,
+you must not forget how much good ship surgeons and doctors can now do
+for those who otherwise would have no aid at hand. Remote lighthouses
+and small ships that need medical service often signal the big liners
+now and ask advice of the ship's doctor. I heard a little while ago of
+a lighthouse keeper whose leg was amputated under the wireless
+direction of one of our great surgeons. Had instructions not been
+available the man would probably have died of blood poison. And many
+times there is sickness aboard small vessels that are out to sea. They
+signal the symptoms of their patients and the doctor hundreds of miles
+away replies with a remedy. As all boats carry medicine chests the
+distant physician can easily designate what dose to give."
+
+"That is a fine idea!" nodded Mr. Crowninshield. "I hadn't thought of
+treating illness by radio. A bit tough on the doctor, though. It must
+keep him busy."
+
+"I am afraid it does. In fact some of the ship's surgeons are
+demanding higher pay because of the rush of work put on them. To have
+the health of a large ship under one's supervision is task enough
+without treating all the people sailing the ocean. They say some
+doctors are all in after a trip simply because of the extra calls that
+pour in from outside ships and stations. It keeps them hopping day and
+night, for of course no decent doctor will ever refuse aid to those
+who are suffering."
+
+"Humph! That is quite a new phase of wireless."
+
+"It proves it can save life not only at a time of shipwreck but in
+other crises as well," Bob responded with enthusiasm. "Now all that
+remains is for some clever fellow to come along who shall find a
+remedy for the difficulties that baffle the radio man. Then the
+science will come into its own. We must get rid of static
+interference--our greatest bugbear."
+
+"Come, come, son! You must not spring any of your technical terms on
+me. Remember that while I am old in years I am still young in radio
+knowledge. Before you go slipping those phrases jauntily off your
+tongue you have got to begin at the very beginning and tell us the
+laws on which the radio telephone is based."
+
+"That is a rather big order, sir," Bob replied modestly. "However, I
+am willing to try to fill it. I can at least pass on to you all that I
+know myself."
+
+"That will satisfy me," affirmed the capitalist. "I see no reason,
+either, why your young brother cannot arrange his work so that he can
+join our class. The more the merrier. I even propose to drag in my
+wife and daughter. If in future we are to have wireless apparatus
+wherever we go it will be unintelligent not to know something about
+it."
+
+"I am afraid it is going to pursue us pretty much to every corner of
+the earth," smiled Bob gravely. "You see, one of its great advantages
+is that it can go where the telephone with its myriad wires and poles
+cannot. It would be out of the question, for example, to string
+telephone wires through densely wooded sections and to the tops of
+high mountains, and even if the impossible could be accomplished the
+expense of keeping such lines in proper repair would be so great that
+no one could afford to shoulder it. Poles rot and wires rust out with
+wear and exposure to weather. Then there is the damage from gales,
+ice-storms, and falling timber. Even under the best of conditions
+linemen would be kept busy all the time repairing the equipment. And
+as if these difficulties were not great enough in times of peace think
+of the added burden of protecting miles and miles of telephone wires
+in time of war. Contrast with this the small district to be protected
+when it comes to a wireless station. Instead of having soldiers
+scattered through miles of territory the few needed can be
+concentrated within easy reach of provisions and reinforcements. And
+the same advantages that the radio telephone has on land prevail as
+well at sea for transmission of messages by cable is a frightfully
+expensive thing. Not only is the laying of such a line difficult,
+dangerous, and costly, but to maintain it is expensive and hard as
+well. In time of war it is particularly at a disadvantage since the
+cable can be cut and all communication with the outside world easily
+severed. Wireless, on the other hand, is not dependent on any such
+extravagant equipment. It finds its own way through air, water, and
+earth with very little help from us; and if it has its defects we must
+not forget that the first telephones were far from perfect, and that
+both telephone and cable have also their disadvantages."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+INFORMATION FROM A NEW SOURCE
+
+
+During the interval when the new radio station was being put in order
+and the parts of the outfit assembled Bob King and the two city
+electricians toiled early and late. They scarcely stopped to eat, so
+feverish was their haste. Mr. Crowninshield had let it be known that
+if the wireless apparatus was in condition to send and receive
+messages within a week he would add to the regular wages of the
+mechanics a generous bonus and this incentive was sufficient to cause
+the avaricious workmen to transgress the laws of the labor unions and
+forget any fatigue they may have experienced.
+
+As for Bob he was far too eager to get into touch with O'Connel and
+the _Siren_ to covet extra pay for rushing through the installment of
+the new service. A private signal had been agreed upon between him and
+his former associate and also an hour set when each day the operator
+aboard the yacht was to call him. O'Connel was to allow seven days for
+the work at Surfside to be finished and then his messages were to
+begin and both Mr. Crowninshield and his alert employee meant to be
+ready for him.
+
+Hence Bob whipped on his helpers, using every ray of daylight that
+could be turned to the purpose and much of the night. Even after
+everything was placed and connected up there would yet remain a great
+deal of testing out and tinkering before the set would be in perfect
+working condition and it was for this delay he was preparing.
+
+Much to his surprise, however, the parts went together with
+astonishingly little trouble. They had been well made and fitted
+perfectly. Everything needed was at hand and in consequence there was
+no sending to the city for materials and waiting until they could be
+shipped. Therefore as the allotted time sped by the job that
+accompanied it moved rapidly to its end.
+
+"We are going to make it, sir," ejaculated Bob with shining eyes,
+beaming enthusiastically on the master of the estate. "She will be all
+set up and working by Saturday. That is the day O'Connel was to make
+his first try to get into communication with us. I can hardly wait to
+hear what he has to say."
+
+"I am pretty anxious to know myself," returned the elder man. "If he
+can get a message through we should then find out where the yacht is
+and whether Lola is aboard her."
+
+"I'm crazy to learn what has become of the villains who pinched the
+dog," added Bob. "Do you take it they are still cruising with the
+boat?"
+
+"Oh, they must have been paid off and landed somewhere," was the
+answer. "There would be no sense in detaining the thieves on the ship
+until now. It would only mean paying them and having them to feed;
+besides one does not care to make two rascals members of a house
+party."
+
+"You think they have escaped us then."
+
+"If by escaping you mean getting to the city yes," nodded Mr.
+Crowninshield. "But I do not feel at all sure with Dacie and Lyman on
+their track that they will be entirely safe and unmolested in town.
+Those detectives are like bloodhounds and will run them down no matter
+where they may be hiding. The mere fact that they have got to New York
+or Boston will not be much protection."
+
+"You intend to get them then as well as to recover Lola."
+
+"I certainly do," retorted Mr. Crowninshield with emphasis. "I am
+going to recover my property, jail the thieves, and bring the people
+who received the stolen goods to justice."
+
+"They have a week's start of us," Bob observed doubtfully.
+
+"But we have not been idle all that time, man, Dacie and Lyman have
+been working; O'Connel has been using his eyes and ears--I hope; and
+we have this wireless set up."
+
+"Yes, we have certainly accomplished something," admitted Bob.
+
+"Accomplished something! I should say we had! Besides, this is not the
+sort of case one need hurry on. Nothing is going to be done suddenly,"
+explained the financier. "Having got the dog the people on the yacht
+will move at their leisure. They do not fear that any one is at their
+heels chasing them up. Furthermore the sea offers unending
+concealment for their crime should they be pursued and trapped. It is
+the thieves themselves who are the scapegoats and the ones in danger,
+according to their reckoning."
+
+"I suppose so," agreed Bob. "Still, I cannot help wishing we might
+have got after them without even these few days intervening."
+
+"You forget, my son, that our wireless is going to cover space so
+quickly that hereafter we shall have our information very quickly and
+shall be exactly as well off as most detectives used to be in double
+the time."
+
+"Yes, that is so."
+
+"Once we are in touch with O'Connel we can know every thought they
+think aboard the _Siren_ as soon as they have thought it."
+
+The uncertainties that clouded the younger man's face vanished.
+
+"That's right," smiled he. "From now on we should be able to checkmate
+them pretty neatly."
+
+Mr. Crowninshield put his finger to his lips significantly. The two
+city electricians were approaching.
+
+"Well, sir," began the foreman, "I guess your wireless tests out
+pretty near right; we've signalled our home company and got a reply
+from New York clear as a bell. With this chap at hand," he motioned to
+Bob, "you won't be needing us much longer, I reckon."
+
+"Have you got to rush back to another job?" questioned the financier.
+
+"Well, there is always plenty to do," grinned the man good-humoredly.
+
+"You couldn't remain over a few days and overhaul my yacht, could you?
+She is anchored out in the bay close at hand. If you could be
+tightening things aboard her and seeing everything is right I would
+keep this young man at this shore station."
+
+"Why--" the mechanic hesitated, fingering the roll of bills that
+stuffed his pocket. "Why," repeated he, "I imagine we could fix things
+up with the boss and stick round until whatever you wanted done was
+completed, sir."
+
+"Arrange it then. Get the yacht into condition quickly so we can put
+to sea any day now that we choose."
+
+"We'll do that, Mr. Crowninshield," responded the men in chorus.
+"Unless there is a lot to do to the outfit--"
+
+"There isn't. It was all new in the fall; and we have been in Florida
+this winter too, so the ship has been in commission and constantly
+taken care of."
+
+"In that case there will probably be little repairing," nodded the
+spokesman. "Maybe tightening and oiling, and a few small parts to be
+replaced."
+
+"That is about it."
+
+"Couldn't I--" Bob began but Mr. Crowninshield held up a cautioning
+finger.
+
+"I'd rather have you on shore," announced he quietly. Then turning to
+the electricians he added, "I suppose the radio aboard the yacht does
+not differ much from this set. There will be nothing but what you can
+handle."
+
+"Nothing, sir; nothing at all," was the answer. "Besides, we are quite
+familiar with shipboard equipment. We do a lot of such work. Just
+before we came down here we went down to Long Island and put the
+_Siren_, a very fine steam yacht, into shape."
+
+"The _Siren_, eh?" repeated Mr. Crowninshield as indifferently as he
+could.
+
+"Yes, sir. Perhaps you know the boat, sir."
+
+"I've never been aboard her," replied the capitalist slowly. "She
+belongs to----"
+
+"To Mr. Daly, sir. As fine a yacht as was ever in the water."
+
+Daly! At the name both Bob and his employer started. It was the very
+man Mr. Crowninshield had suspected.
+
+"So Daly has a place down on Long Island, has he?" drawled he.
+
+"Oh, no, sir. Mr. Daly's place is on an island off the Maine coast. He
+had just put in at the Long Island port for some minor repairs. He
+said he was going to cruise a while this summer and wanted to be sure
+everything was shipshape before going to Maine. The mate told me they
+were waiting to pick up some people at Buzzard's Bay."
+
+"Going to take the yacht through the Canal?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"An interesting trip," observed Mr. Crowninshield slowly. "That Canal
+is quite a time saver for New Yorkers." He yawned and started to move
+away. Bob held his breath, waiting.
+
+"I suppose you don't know where Daly was going for his cruise,"
+inquired he over his shoulder.
+
+"No, sir, I don't," was the response of the workman who seemed
+flattered at having aroused this degree of interest in his story. "I
+believe, though, that before they started they were to put into
+Newport for provisions."
+
+Newport! Then it was doubtless Newport where O'Connel was to be taken
+aboard! Bob dared not raise his eyes lest the excitement that danced
+in them be detected.
+
+"And after provisioning up there Daly was to cruise, eh?" called Mr.
+Crowninshield. "Well, the Atlantic is wide and he will have plenty of
+room."
+
+"That's right, sir," chuckled the mechanic, delighted by the
+condescension of the great man whom all New Yorkers knew by
+reputation. Think of hobnobbing in this pleasant fashion with one of
+the big financiers of Wall Street!
+
+"How simple and kind a gentleman Mr. Crowninshield is!" commented he
+patronizingly after the capitalist was out of hearing. "And so
+artless!"
+
+Bob struggled not to smile.
+
+Kind Mr. Crowninshield might be but hardly simple. Certainly not
+artless. What a rare lot of amusing incidents the world contained!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+BOB AS PEDAGOGUE
+
+
+The wireless was now in commission and the next morning, after having
+waited until the hour designated for O'Connel's signal and received no
+message, Bob and his pupils assembled for their first lesson, not in a
+stuffy room but on the broad, well-shaded veranda of Surfside. A cool
+breeze rippled the water, stirring it into tiny waves and as Dick
+dropped into one of the big wicker chairs he fidgeted to be out in the
+freshly-painted knockabout that bobbed invitingly at the float.
+
+His father intercepted his yearning glance and instantly interpreted
+it.
+
+"Come, now!" said he half playfully. "Quit making sheep's eyes at that
+boat, son. An hour's wireless lesson isn't going to cut your morning
+very short or prevent you from having plenty of time to sail, swim, or
+motor. Whether it does or not you've got to endure it. Your summer
+holiday is long enough in all conscience. If I had until October with
+nothing more arduous to do than put up with an hour's instruction
+early each day I should think myself almighty lucky."
+
+"I am lucky, Dad," conceded Dick quickly, "only----"
+
+"Lucky! I should say you were! You don't know what work means. Well,
+it was you who wanted this radio outfit. You were all for it and----"
+
+"I am for it still, Dad," interrupted Dick eagerly.
+
+"Then go to it and master it," retorted his father. "If you do not
+relish the lessons swallow them down for the sake of the fun you are
+going to have later; for if you are intelligent enough to handle your
+wireless with some brain and understanding you are going to enjoy it a
+hundred per cent. more in the end."
+
+"I know I shall," Dick agreed. "It is only that I am crazy to get at
+the thing itself."
+
+The boy's father shook his head.
+
+"You are like all your generation," said he severely. "Eager to leap
+the preliminaries and land at the top of the ladder with the first
+bound. It is an impatient age and the vice extends to the old as well
+as the young. Nobody wants to fit himself for anything nowadays. In my
+youth men expected to serve apprenticeships and did not hope to
+achieve a position until they had learned how to fill it. But now
+everybody leaps at the big job and the big salary that goes with it
+and blunders along, taking out his ignorance and lack of experience on
+the general public. As for you youngsters, you covet at fifteen
+everything that those who are fifty have. You want automobiles, boats,
+victrolas and radio telephones before you know how to run them, much
+less pay for them. Look at Bob, here. He is worth two of you for he
+can earn what he has. Often I tell myself I am a fool to indulge you
+and Nancy as I do. I ought by rights to make you do without what you
+want until you can foot the bill for it." Mr. Crowninshield took a few
+hasty paces across the piazza. "Still," added he, his voice softening,
+"I fancy that scheme would be a sight harder on me than on you, for I
+like nothing better than to get you what you want."
+
+For a moment he paused, looking fondly at his son. Then as if afraid
+of himself he bristled and continued: "But to return to this
+wireless--remember that if you do not learn something about it and how
+to use it I shall take it away. I mean it, mind!"
+
+"Yes, Dad," was the timid answer.
+
+With this awful alternative looming like a specter in his path was it
+to be wondered at that Dick resolutely turned his gaze from the
+allurements of the harbor and settled himself in the big chair with
+all his attention focussed on Bob King's radio lesson. Moreover, human
+nature is selfish enough to like company in its misery and were not
+his mother, Nancy and Walter consigned to the same fate as himself?
+
+Therefore the initial lesson began gayly.
+
+At first Bob, seated in the chair of state facing his class, was shy
+and embarrassed; but soon he forgot himself in his subject and losing
+his hesitancy he spoke with the authority of one who has mastered his
+art.
+
+"I am going to begin," said he, "just as they began with me at the
+radio station for I think if you get the principles of wireless at the
+outset you will find it much easier to understand it. And to do this
+we shall not start with wires, generators, detectors, or anything of
+that sort; instead we must go back of them all to the earth and the
+air, and learn how it is possible for sound to travel without the aid
+of human devices. For in reality there is something that takes the
+place of man-made wires. This is the ether. Surrounding the earth
+moves the air we breathe; and as we go higher this air becomes thinner
+and thinner until, by and by, a height is reached where the air gives
+place to ether, a sort of radiant energy that bridges the zone between
+the air space that encircles the earth and the sun, and brings to us
+its heat. This great sea of ether is made up of particles that are
+never still and which are so small that they get between every
+substance they encounter, thereby becoming a universal medium for
+transmitting light, heat, color and many other things to our earth.
+Without this body of ether, there would be no agency to pass on to us
+(as well as to the many other planets of our solar system and those
+outside it) the energy the sun generates, which is the thing that
+keeps us alive."
+
+Bob waited a moment to make sure that his point was clear and then
+proceeded:
+
+"Now this energy as it moves through the ether takes the form of
+waves; and these waves go out not in a single train but since the
+ether is continually disturbed by the sun, in series of wave trains
+that vary in frequency. Such waves are electromagnetic in character,
+and light, heat, sound, and the waves carrying wireless messages are
+all of a similar type, differing only in their relative rates of
+vibration. If unobstructed, and moving through free ether, all of them
+travel at practically the same velocity, that is about one hundred
+eighty-six thousand miles a second. When, however, they encounter
+other substances, as they are continually bound to do, this rate of
+velocity changes. The waves of sound, for example, sent out by the
+wireless telephone are very slow compared with the high-rate
+vibrations that produce waves resulting in light."
+
+Again the youthful teacher paused.
+
+"Now this constant turmoil in the ether which creates the magnetic
+area explains why the magnetized needle of a compass unfailingly
+points north and south. This one simple fact is a certain proof of its
+existence. And once granting a magnetic field to be there it is less
+difficult to understand how wireless waves are produced in this
+congenial medium and find their way through it, following in their
+journey the curve of the earth's surface."
+
+Bob smiled at his audience encouragingly.
+
+"If you can once get this wave law through your heads the rest is not
+hard," asserted he, "for the whole wireless system is based on wave
+motion."
+
+"With an ocean spread out before us we ought to be able to understand
+waves," interpolated Nancy.
+
+"We ought," nodded Bob. "And yet better than using the ocean as an
+illustration imagine a small pond. Think, instead, of a nice quiet
+little round pond if you can. Now when you chuck a stick or a pebble
+into that still water you know how the ripples will at once go out.
+There will be rings of them, and the bigger they get the fainter they
+will be. In other words, as the area widens the strength of the waves
+decreases; and as this same principle applies to radio you can see
+that it takes a lot of energy from a wireless station to reach a
+receiver a great distance away."
+
+"I've got that!" cried Dick with such spontaneity that every one
+laughed.
+
+"Wave lengths, however, have nothing to do with actual distance," went
+on Bob quickly. "Of course we think of the wave length as the distance
+between one ridge of water and another. There is, though, no law that
+would make it possible to translate these spaces into our scale of
+miles, for sometimes they are near together, sometimes far apart.
+Distance, therefore, depends on the speed with which the wave travels
+and the frequency with which the water is disturbed. If you keep
+tossing things in quick succession into the water you will get a
+correspondingly quick succession of waves. The law governing wireless
+waves is exactly the same. Their length depends on the velocity of the
+wave and the frequency of the oscillations that cause it. Or to put it
+another way, in order to reckon a wave length you must determine its
+velocity (which is not impossible when you remember that sound travels
+about one thousand one hundred and twenty feet every second) and the
+number of vibrations the particular note causing the wave is making
+per second. Now science has been able to compute just how many
+complete vibrations a certain note, key, or pitch as you may please to
+call it, makes each second, or how many times the particles of air
+vibrate back and forth when that especial note is sent out.
+
+"Suppose, for example, a note makes 240 complete vibrations a second
+while traveling 1,120 feet; if we divide 1,120 by 240 we shall get
+4.66 as the wave length of this note. So it is the pitch to which a
+note is keyed that helps determine its distance; and the force
+employed to start the note sent out through the magnetic field. That
+is why a message projected into the ether from a high-power station
+carries a greater distance than one sent from a station where the
+power is weaker. It is by power and pitch, then, not by length that we
+gauge wireless waves. Do you see that?"
+
+A chorus of assent greeted the question.
+
+"That's bully!" Bob announced boyishly; then blushed at the
+undignified ejaculation.
+
+"Don't you be fussed, young man," smiled Mr. Crowninshield. "We're all
+of an age here."
+
+"I quite forgot," apologized the tutor.
+
+"That is exactly what I want you to do," returned the master of
+Surfside. "Ignore us old people. We are only listening in, anyway, and
+have no earthly right to be here."
+
+"Still, I wish to treat you with----"
+
+"It's all right, Bob. We understand," put in Mrs. Crowninshield
+reassuringly.
+
+"Well, then, if you will excuse me I'm off again," replied the boy.
+"And now that we've got wave lengths settled to our satisfaction we
+must remember some other things. One is that sound travels not only
+through the air but through the water. In fact, sounds are louder
+under water than they are above it. Water is not only a better medium
+for carrying sound but also, since it contains fewer obstructions,
+sound waves travel farther through it. Another thing which we must not
+forget is that our ears do not hear all the sounds that go on about
+us. The merciful Lord has arranged that when there are less than
+twenty-four vibrations a second, or more than forty thousand they
+escape us. But a wireless instrument, on the contrary is spared
+nothing, having attached to it a detector that catches every sound and
+an amplifier that magnifies it and makes it discernible to our ears.
+When you listen in on a wireless telephone you will be uncontestably
+conscious of this. Also you must take into consideration that the
+waves sent out by a radio transmitter are not choppy, irregular ones
+such as you get when a stone is tossed into the water; wireless waves
+go out in regular, well-formed relays that neither overlap nor obscure
+one another. Were this not so the signals made would be jumbled
+together and utterly unintelligible."
+
+"Sure they would!" Bob's young brother nodded.
+
+"Now to insure these several results we are compelled to resort to the
+help of scientific apparatus. Therefore at every receiving station we
+have devices that will intercept the waves as they come in;
+retransform them into electrical oscillations; and catching the weak
+oscillations make them strong enough to be read. Hence we use some
+type of induction coil by means of which a battery current of such low
+pressure and diffused flow as scarcely to be felt will be transformed
+or concentrated into a pressure that is very powerful. In order to
+form wireless waves we must have a frequency of at least one hundred
+thousand vibrations a second; and as it is out of the question to
+produce these by mechanical means we employ a group of Leyden jars.
+Such jars you have of course seen. They have in them two pieces of
+tinfoil separated by glass, which is a nonconductor of electric
+currents, and various other acids and minerals. When you connect a
+number of these small jars together you have a battery as powerful as
+that of a large single jar."
+
+"I never saw jars like those," objected Dick.
+
+Bob beamed at the intelligence of the demurrer.
+
+"When I say jar," explained he, "it does not necessarily mean that
+these jars are of the round, cylindrical shape that comes to mind when
+you mention the word; on the contrary Leyden jars are often flat
+because such a form makes them more compact. That is also why we use
+several little ones instead of one big one. But whatever their shape
+the principle involved is always the same. When the terminals are
+connected with a current the jar will not only receive but will retain
+a charge equal in pressure to that of the device sending the current.
+And when you go even farther and bring the terminals near together,
+the quick discharge that takes place creates an electric spark which
+is in reality a series of alternating flashes that come so fast as to
+be blurred into what appears to be one. Could we separate these
+flashes we should find that each of them lasts less than a thousandth
+part of a second. The frequency of such oscillations is regulated by
+what is technically termed capacity, that is the size of the Leyden
+jar. The smaller the capacity the greater the frequency of the
+flashes.
+
+"Now this spark, or oscillatory discharge emitted from the Leyden jar,
+does not result from a single traveling of the current all in one
+direction; instead the electricity moves back and forth, or
+alternates, and the space where the discharge takes place (and which,
+by the way, can be lengthened or decreased as pleases the operator) is
+known as the spark gap."
+
+"But I should think this explosion of the spark would make a noise,"
+commented Walter.
+
+"Bully for you, little brother!" returned Bob, smiling at His
+Highness. "You are quite an electrician. If the current is strong, or,
+in other words, if the discharge is a high frequency one, it does.
+Hence something has to be used to deaden the sound just as a muffler
+is used on a motor boat. It is important, however, that this muffler
+should not prevent the operator from watching the condition of his
+spark for otherwise he could not keep track of his battery or know
+whether it was on the job or not. So you will find little peepholes
+of mica or glass in the sides of the muffler."
+
+"Windows," murmured Nancy grasping the idea and translating it into
+the vernacular.
+
+"Exactly," Bob agreed. Evidently his audience were understanding what
+he was trying to make clear to them.
+
+"Now we have our high frequency oscillations occurring in the spark
+discharged from the Leyden jar and jumping the spark gap; nevertheless
+they would not do us any good were there not some way to use and
+regulate them. This brings us to the induction coil of which I spoke a
+second ago."
+
+"It sounds very terrible," smiled Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"It isn't, though," answered Bob, returning the smile. "In fact it is
+a very simple device--nothing more than a dozen or so twists of copper
+wire reeled about a wooden frame exactly as strands of thread might be
+wound round a spool. One end of the inductance is connected
+permanently with the ground and from the other end two movable wires
+go out, one of which can be connected with the spark gap and the other
+with the antenna that goes into the air and catches the sound waves.
+There isn't anything very terrible about that, you see."
+
+"Antenna is what butterflies have," suggested Nancy vaguely.
+
+"Quite right!" assented the wireless man. "Only radio antennae are not
+to feel with--at least not in the same way. Nevertheless they do reach
+out and capture the sound. On all wireless stations you will notice
+the masts that support them. Sometimes there is one wire, sometimes a
+group. It is the wires themselves, remember, not the masts, which are
+the antennae. Nowadays, however, you will occasionally see an indoor
+aerial used in connection with small, low-power outfits. It does away
+with the masts and outside equipment and frequently serves the same
+purpose quite satisfactorily. But most persons prefer the older method
+and for long-distance work it has, up to date proved to be
+indispensable. Now the antenna has both electrical capacity and
+inductance, and when connected up with the apparatus a wireless
+operator can at will cause it to disturb the magnetic fields
+surrounding the earth."
+
+"You didn't say how high these masts had to be, Bob," put in Mr.
+Crowninshield. "Are they always the same length?"
+
+"Oh, no, indeed, sir," was the prompt response. "Their length varies
+according to the type of service required of them. I'm glad you asked
+the question. Sometimes the masts are about two hundred feet high;
+again they may approximate four hundred and eighteen feet. And
+sometimes in emergencies you will discover no masts at all, the wires
+being fastened instead to captive balloons or kites which hold them in
+place long enough to send or receive hasty messages. This latter
+method is usually resorted to in wartime or during army or navy
+maneuvers. There are also compact radio sets to be had that can be
+carried on mule-back and set up and taken down on a hurried army
+march. On shipboard the ordinary masts of the vessel serve, of
+course, to support the antenna."
+
+"Thank you, Bob. That is exactly what I wanted to know," said Mr.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"I'm glad, sir. Now you'd think by this time we had everything
+necessary to produce our wireless waves and yet we haven't. There is
+still one thing almost more important than all the rest that we have
+not yet spoken of."
+
+"What's that, Bob?" piped Walter.
+
+"The tuner. You recall that at the beginning I mentioned the pitch,
+note, or key of the sound produced or received?"
+
+"Yes," returned the class in chorus.
+
+"Well, it is in that tune or pitch, or whatever you prefer to call it,
+that a large measure of the secret of wireless lies. To be successful
+in getting and sending messages we must tune the oscillations, or key
+the signals caused by the discharge of the battery in our Leyden jar,
+so that they will be in harmony (or at precisely the same pitch) with
+the antenna circuit. That is, the parts of the instrument must
+synchronize, just as two persons who would talk together must speak in
+the same language. This adjustment is made in the inductance coil
+because although both the Leyden jar where the spark is generated that
+causes the oscillations and the antenna can be regulated independently
+of each other a few turns of the inductance coil affects each circuit.
+After the two circuits have been adjusted to the same frequency they
+are said to synchronize. Often to reach this result a device is used
+that states precisely the wave length, and after the frequency of one
+circuit has been ascertained the other can easily be adjusted to
+correspond with it. The length of the wave is, you see, dependent on
+the largeness of the antenna and the capacity, or strength of current,
+of the Leyden jar. Just as a child uses a big stone to produce the
+largest splash and greatest waves so we must have a powerful force
+behind our wave lengths to make them carry most successfully. In
+accordance with this law, generally speaking, we find short wave
+lengths used for low power, short-distance outfits; and long wave
+lengths for high-power circuits whose aim is to traverse continents
+and oceans."
+
+Bob pushed back his chair.
+
+"I think," said he, "we have now come to a good stopping place and we
+will call the lesson off for to-day. If you digest all I have told
+you, you will have had an ample radio starter."
+
+"You haven't said much about sending messages," complained Dick.
+
+"That is quite another story," smiled the boy's tutor, "and such a
+long one that were I to tell it to you now it would mean you would get
+no sailing or swimming to-day."
+
+Instantly Dick was on his feet, Leyden jars and inductance coils
+forgotten.
+
+"We'll cut it out then," he laughed. "Who is for a swim? I'll race any
+man to the bath-house!" And off he went at top speed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+TIDINGS
+
+
+Two days later O'Connel's first signal came.
+
+Bob was at his early morning task of oiling and tightening up his
+apparatus and cleaning it, and both Dick and Walter were hovering
+near, watching him and learning all they could concerning the proper
+care of the equipment. Having made everything shipshape the young
+radio operator slipped the double head receiver over his forehead and
+prepared to listen in for his customary interval. Suddenly the boys
+saw him start excitedly and motion them to stop talking. With face
+alight he was leaning forward eagerly. Then came the sharp click of
+the Morse code and after an interval with radiant face the elder lad
+wriggled out of his trappings.
+
+"What is it? What is it?" cried his two companions, hardly able to
+contain their curiosity.
+
+"It was O'Connel."
+
+"What did he say? Is the dog there? Where was the yacht?"
+
+Breathlessly the questions tumbled one over the other.
+
+"The _Siren_ is anchored off Gloucester and bound north, probably to
+Bar Harbor. A dog they call Trixie, but which O'Connel thinks is
+Lola, is aboard the boat. The description we gave him seems to fit
+her. He says she isn't very well--won't eat and seems either homesick
+or seasick. Mr. Daly is quite worried about her."
+
+"For goodness' sake don't tell Dad or Mother that. They'll have a
+fit," Dick cried. "Should Lola die I believe my father would shoot
+Daly down."
+
+"But I've got to give him the message."
+
+"You needn't repeat all of it, need you?"
+
+"Oh, I think you ought to tell them," Walter put in. "They would
+rather know, I'm sure."
+
+"Dad will storm fit to raise the dead."
+
+"We can't help it," answered His Highness.
+
+"I am of the kid's opinion," Bob replied slowly. "I think we should
+tell your father and mother the whole truth just as O'Connel has sent
+it."
+
+"Prepare for a nice, pleasant tornado, then," said Dick, "for you will
+get it all right."
+
+"I wish I could have talked with O'Connel," declared Bob thoughtfully.
+"I did all I dared. You see, until our license comes I am not expected
+to transmit messages from this station. We have to get from the
+government both an operator's license and a permit for the station;
+and although I put in the application promptly there is so much red
+tape about it that it seems as if the inspector would never show up.
+If I had been caught sending a message this morning without these
+blooming papers there would have been the deuce of a row. However, I
+took a chance because I felt the emergency demanded it, and because
+being one of Uncle Sam's own men he couldn't very well put up the kick
+that I was not competent to handle a wireless outfit. Still, I shan't
+dare do it again."
+
+"Isn't there anything we can do to hustle up the inspector?" inquired
+Dick.
+
+"I'm afraid not, son. Government inspectors are not a hurrying race,"
+was Bob's whimsical reply. "However, I telephoned our local man
+yesterday and something may happen to-day. He and I used to be on
+quite good terms when he occasionally dropped in at Seaver Bay. I told
+him that if I could not get a station license pretty soon our whole
+outfit would be no good to us this season. He promised he would take
+up the matter at once. With that I had to be satisfied. Whether he
+does anything or not remains to be seen."
+
+"I suppose O'Connel understands this difficulty, doesn't he?" mused
+Dick.
+
+"Oh, he knows, all right, why I can't answer him. I've assured him
+that his tidings have come through and that is all he wants to know,"
+Bob answered. "He has dealt with the government himself and is
+familiar with its deliberate habits. Besides, there really isn't much
+we can say."
+
+"Maybe you think that," grinned Dick, "but wait until you tell Dad
+that Lola is sick and hear him sputter. You will believe then that
+there is quite a bit that can be said. And if you get my mother to add
+her comments you will have plenty to relay over the wire."
+
+The prophecy was indeed true, as Bob King proved after he had raced
+across the grass and overtaken Mr. and Mrs. Crowninshield on a tour of
+inspection to the rose gardens.
+
+"News, Bob?" questioned the capitalist, wheeling about to meet the
+flying figure. "What is it? Let us have it quickly."
+
+Carefully the message was repeated.
+
+"Off Gloucester, eh, and bound north? Humph! And they've re-christened
+the poor little pupsie Trixie! Hang them! O'Connel thinks she isn't
+well? Of course she isn't seasick. Lola has been out on our yacht a
+hundred times. The reason she won't eat is because she is
+lonesome--misses her home and family. The wretches! I wish I had Daly
+here! I'd wring his neck," blustered Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Isn't there anything we can do, Archibald? We simply must get that
+dog back before she dies. Poor little Lola! She was such a dependent
+little creature. It is terrible, terrible!"
+
+"There, there, my dear! Don't go all to pieces over it. Aren't we
+doing all we can? Do you want Daly to smell a rat and toss his stolen
+property into the sea? Dacie says to give him rope enough and in time
+he will hang himself, and I am inclined to think the advice wise.
+Still, that does not prevent me from wishing I could lay hands on
+Daly. I'd like nothing better than to thrash the life out of him."
+
+"I suppose you will telephone the detective the news we've received,"
+suggested Bob, in order to quell the rising storm and divert Mr.
+Crowninshield's attention.
+
+"Yes, I'll get New York on the wire right away. It is as well Lyman
+and his pal should know Lola is sick and that they can't dally round
+forever."
+
+"Shall you be back for the wireless lesson?" called Bob, uncertain
+whether to ask the question or not.
+
+"Oh, sure! It won't help matters for us to sit around and wail the
+whole morning. We'll be on deck for your radio talk at the usual
+time."
+
+"All right, sir."
+
+True to their agreement, at the appointed hour both Mr. and Mrs.
+Crowninshield made their appearance on the piazza and joined the group
+of young people who awaited their coming. They had, as Bob expressed
+it, cooled off a bit and were no longer in such an agitated frame of
+mind; nevertheless anxiety had left its mark by keying the master's
+voice to a sharper note, and shadowing the lady's brow with a frown of
+annoyance.
+
+"I suppose you let out on O'Connel, didn't you, after he got through
+talking this morning?" was the first remark of the owner of Surfside.
+
+"I couldn't say more than a word. Our license hasn't come yet, you
+know."
+
+"That's so, darn it! I never saw anything in all my born life with so
+many rules attached to it as this wireless business. It is one tangle
+of rules, rules, rules! You might as well be tied up in a net,"
+fretted the man.
+
+"There do seem to be a good many rules at first glance," returned Bob
+pleasantly. "However, when you examine them most of them are both
+necessary and wise. And after all when each radio operator knows in
+black and white what he can do and what he can't it is far simpler."
+
+"I suppose so," grumbled Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Besides, there are always slackers at every job," continued Bob.
+"Rules help to keep such persons up to the mark and prevent
+carelessness and accidents."
+
+"Yes, I fancy that is so," came more graciously from the still irate
+gentleman.
+
+"Then all stations are not alike. That compass station at Bell Reef,
+for example, that you were asking me about yesterday; the government
+lays out specific duties and makes special rules for such a station,
+as in fact it does for all radio stations. Some of these rules relate
+to the care of the place and the cleaning and general overhauling of
+apparatus at stated intervals. There are, you see, certain instruments
+which must be cleaned and readjusted every day; certain others every
+week, others every month, and some every six months. It simply means
+making sure that your outfit is in the pink of condition with every
+part functioning as it should. There are, of course, operators who
+would see that this was done anyway, rules or no rules; but like every
+other profession there might be men who, off on an isolated spot with
+no one to keep them up to the mark, would grow careless and slovenly.
+Too much depends on wireless stations to run the risk of errors
+through imperfections in the equipment."
+
+"I can understand all that; but aren't there a score of other
+regulations?"
+
+"You mean about what they shall and shall not do?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"There certainly are. There have to be because we have several
+different types of land stations. Just as the shipboard stations have
+their special kinds of work so do those on shore. For example, there
+are two different classes of radio compass stations,--those that
+operate independently and are located with a view to giving good
+cross-bearings to vessels that are from fifty to a hundred miles out
+to sea; and those known as harbor stations which are governed by a
+central control station and designed to inform ships within thirty
+miles of the entrance to outer channels of their position. The
+function of each of these stations is, as you can see, quite different
+and therefore each of them is obliged to have its own set of rules."
+
+"I never knew anything about radio compass stations before," announced
+Dick.
+
+"That is because you never sailed the seas and had to call on one for
+aid," smiled Bob. "If you did you would be very thankful, I guess,
+that the government has so carefully provided some one to answer just
+the sort of question you wished answered. I try to remember this when
+I get hot under the collar because the license for our station does
+not arrive. Uncle Sam can't help it if his men are slow. The plan at
+the top is all right. There must be rules to govern wireless stations,
+be they governmental, commercial, or private; rules to regulate the
+wave lengths each may use; rules to make sure the operators who have
+charge of them know their job; and inspectors to make sure that every
+such rule is obeyed."
+
+"Who has the big chore of following up all these people and making
+certain that they are conforming to the law?" questioned Mr.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"The Department of Commerce issues the licenses for all private and
+commercial stations and sends its inspectors to keep an eye on
+whatever comes under their control. It is this department that will
+have jurisdiction over Surfside if the license is granted. Government
+radio stations on the other hand, not only the high-power class but
+the coastal stations and everything that pertains to their relations
+with commercial stations afloat or ashore, whether in the United
+States or in foreign lands are entirely under the control of the
+Director of Naval Communications of the Navy Department."
+
+"I wish you'd tell us something more about compass stations," Dick
+said. "Were you ever stationed at one?"
+
+"Yes, for a little while I was on an island off the coast," replied
+Bob. "But I did not like it very well and applied for a transfer."
+
+"It must have been lonely as the dickens on an island; worse, even,
+than being at Seaver Bay. Why in goodness did they build the station
+there?"
+
+"Why, you see, a compass station that operates independently as that
+one did is usually situated on a lightship or an island because that
+location is best suited to the sort of work it has to do."
+
+"And that is?"
+
+"To give ships their positions when they sing out to ask exactly where
+they are," replied Bob. "Since the station is fairly well out to sea
+itself, it is able to furnish excellent cross-bearings and set the
+vessel on her course in case she is off it. Ships have been known to
+miss their way, you know, especially in a fog; and if they have not
+missed it they are often very grateful to be assured they have not and
+that their own calculations were correct. So the rule is that an
+operator must always be listening in for at least three minutes at
+ten, twenty-five, forty, and fifty-five minutes past the hour and be
+ready to answer a Q T E when he hears it."
+
+"What's a Q T E?" inquired both Dick and Walter simultaneously.
+
+"Those particular letters mean: _What is my true bearing?_ It takes
+less time to send the letters than to spell out the entire sentence
+and therefore a simple code which means the same in all languages is
+used. When such a call is received the operator replies: Q T S
+(meaning: Your true bearing is) and then follows it with the number of
+degrees from his radio post stated in words, and also the name of the
+station responding to the message. It is a general rule, by-the-by,
+that all numerals used in any wireless communication must be spelled
+out to make sure of their being perfectly understood."
+
+"What a bother!" ejaculated Walter.
+
+"It prevents mistakes, brother; and if it does that it is certainly
+worth the trouble."
+
+"I suppose so," answered His Highness a trifle crestfallen.
+
+"Then what do you say next?" interrupted Dick, who was much interested
+in the subject in hand.
+
+"Well, after you have given the true bearing the ship wires: Q T F."
+
+"And that means?"
+
+"_What is my position?_"
+
+"And you have to repeat those words before giving it just as you did
+before?" asked Dick.
+
+"Always," nodded Bob. "Every question asked is always repeated by the
+operator answering it to make sure that each party fully understands
+what is being talked about. You can't risk having a ship complain:
+'Oh, I thought those figures you sent me were so-and-so.' No, indeed.
+Everything must be so explicit that there will be no room for
+blunders. So after you have repeated the question you send the
+latitude and longitude _in words_."
+
+"I guess there is sense in the rules after all," smiled Mrs.
+Crowninshield. "Thus far we have not discovered any which, on being
+examined, were not both reasonable and wise."
+
+"That's the way I feel," Bob rejoined. "After being in radio work and
+seeing the opportunities there are for mistakes I have decided
+operators cannot be too careful. You see it is not like talking with
+a person face to face. Those you are communicating with are usually
+miles and miles away. Such stations as I have been telling you about
+are on the lookout for any six-hundred-meter calls and they answer in
+this tune. After communication with a ship is established, however,
+the tune shifts to seven hundred and fifty-six meters if a Navy vessel
+should be talking; if not, the six-hundred-meter wave length assigned
+is used. This leaves the shorter range waves to commercial vessels and
+greatly simplifies matters."
+
+"That is a good rule, too," chimed in Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"And now about the harbor stations," suggested Dick.
+
+The young tutor smiled.
+
+"I had not intended to give you all this stuff this morning,"
+protested he, "but since you are interested in it we may as well go on
+with the subject. The task of the harbor stations, then, is to listen
+both on a six-hundred-meter range, and one of nine hundred and
+fifty-two--the first wave length for commercial and the latter for
+Navy ship's calls. Then in response to inquiry the operator directs
+the vessel how to enter that particular harbor, stating just where the
+entrance buoys are and where the channel lies. If the man at the wheel
+is new to the port this aid is invaluable."
+
+"Not much like the navigation of the old days, is it?" mused Mr.
+Crowninshield. "I should think such stations would put pilots out of
+business."
+
+"They do to some extent," was the reply. "There are, however, always
+ships that cannot make a landing under their own steam, ships that
+have to be towed. So the pilots still find something to do."
+
+"And are these harbor stations on islands too?" questioned Nancy.
+
+"Many of them are. A small proportion of them, though, are in
+lighthouses. It all depends on which place has the more favorable
+location."
+
+"But do not the land stations that send messages sometimes interfere
+with these stations?" queried Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"There are rules to prevent _that_," laughed Bob. "Of course the
+difference in wave length to which the various types of stations are
+limited solves a part of this difficulty. As I told you commercial
+stations have their own particular wave length and must stick to it;
+and private stations such as this one here have their range of two
+hundred meters in which to operate and are confined to not more than
+one kilowatt for sending messages. You cannot use more than this
+without special permission from the Secretary of Labor. Should you do
+so you are liable to a fine of one hundred dollars if your offense is
+deliberate; if, however, it is proved that your apparatus was out of
+adjustment and overreached itself you may get off with a
+twenty-five-dollar fine. In that case you must see at once that your
+radio error is corrected and your outfit set right."
+
+"But sometimes along the coast aren't there big government stations
+belonging to the army or navy? I should think these, with their press
+of business, would butt in on the smaller ones and raise havoc with
+them," ventured Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Where there are such mix-ups and private or commercial stations
+interfere with important government outfits the smaller ones are not
+allowed to send messages during the first fifteen minutes of each
+hour, such time being reserved for government business. The
+government, on the other hand, must respect the rights of the littler
+chap and use this particular interval for transmitting. In fact, when
+licenses are issued this condition is made with private owners and the
+station is so listed. Of course, however, should an S O S call come,
+all rules go by the boards and the distress call has the right of way
+in every case."
+
+Mrs. Crowninshield, smiling mischievously, rose from her chair.
+
+"There is an S O S coming in right now for a lemonade," said she,
+fanning herself with her filmy handkerchief. "Who will join me?"
+
+A chorus of "I!" "I!" greeted the question.
+
+She touched a bell.
+
+"Bring lemonade for six, Emelie," said she. "Put in some slices of
+orange, some strawberries, and plenty of cracked ice. What a warm day
+it is! I am glad I am not out on some hot, sun-baked island answering
+radio calls."
+
+"You probably would not be hot if you were on an island out to sea, my
+dear," her husband returned playfully. "However, I'll agree that this
+veranda is good enough for me on a July day."
+
+The tinkling of ice cut short the conversation. Far away through the
+house its distant cadence sounded.
+
+"The first and tallest lemonade must be for Bob," Nancy announced. "He
+has certainly earned it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MIRACLES
+
+
+Although throughout the day Mr. Crowninshield did not wander far from
+the telephone no word came from the New York detectives and evening
+saw him quite discouraged.
+
+"I cannot imagine what those fellows are up to," fretted he. "Now that
+they know where the yacht is and have had all day to do something
+about it, it is beyond my comprehension why they haven't. Lola will be
+dead before they get round to moving on Daly."
+
+"I don't believe they are sitting idle," Bob declared in an effort to
+cheer his patron. "Probably there will be news to-morrow."
+
+"Maybe," sighed the financier. "But if something does not happen by
+to-morrow, I shall start myself in my own yacht to chase up Daly."
+
+"I doubt if that would do any good, sir," protested Bob. "It might
+simply, as you said yourself, precipitate a crisis."
+
+"Well, a crisis is better than having nothing done," fumed the man
+irritably.
+
+"You must not forget there is O'Connel."
+
+"Much good he is doing. We have only heard from him once and as we
+have no license you can't talk to him."
+
+"Nevertheless, he is on the job at his end of the line," Bob answered.
+"He has a lot of common sense, too. You can trust him to keep tabs on
+how things are moving."
+
+"Maybe I can. I hope so," was the dismal retort.
+
+Evening, however, saw no improvement in Mr. Crowninshield's mood. "Not
+a yip of any sort from those chaps in New York. One would think they
+were dead," he growled. "Well, I'll give them one more day and then if
+they haven't something to show I will send them to blazes and take up
+the case myself. I almost wish I had done it in the first place. Here
+I am paying a small fortune and getting no results."
+
+Again Bob struggled to soothe the perturbed mind and raise the
+capitalist's spirits.
+
+"Oh, we'll hear something to-morrow, I guess," said he with an
+optimism he did not altogether feel. "Maybe my license will come; or
+the inspector may appear; or O'Connel may send tidings; or news may
+come from New York. Something is sure to happen. Why don't we all go
+over to the station and listen in on the broadcasting to-night. We are
+sure to get something that will be interesting and now that the 'loud
+speaker' is in position we shall be able to hear without using
+individual receivers. You haven't any of you really heard what our
+wireless can do."
+
+"I know it," acknowledged the gentleman. "You see, just about every
+night during broadcasting hours we have either had company or I have
+been busy."
+
+"But are you to be busy to-night?" inquired Bob.
+
+"No, I fancy we're not. Mrs. Crowninshield said there was nothing on."
+
+"Then why don't we light up the boathouse, and all of us listen to
+what is going on in the world," Bob suggested. "I wish, too, Jerry
+might come. He has not had a chance to see the outfit at all, much
+less hear it. If it would not annoy you and the ladies just to let him
+sit at the back of the room he could hear everything now that the horn
+is on." Bob hesitated. "He has been so kind about helping us----"
+
+"Sure! Ask him by all means," Mr. Crowninshield assented heartily. "Or
+better yet, I will ask him myself. I am glad you reminded me of it.
+Jerry is my right-hand man and I like to give him pleasure when I can.
+What time will your show begin?"
+
+"Oh, from seven o'clock on there is usually something doing, sir. But
+the most interesting part of the program begins at eight."
+
+"We'll be on hand, then."
+
+This promise won Bob imparted the tidings to Dick and Walter and the
+two assistants, as they dubbed themselves, hastened to prepare the new
+radio building for the reception of guests. Comfortable chairs and gay
+cushions were brought from the house and in his enthusiasm Dick even
+went so far as to drape a flag over the entrance of the low room.
+
+"We might have hung out bunting if we'd known sooner they were
+coming," said he.
+
+"I guess they won't care about the bunting once they are inside the
+place," Walter asserted in a comforting tone.
+
+"Don't you hope the outfit will show up well? I do," declared Dick.
+"It would be just our luck to have something act up so we couldn't
+hear anything. Then Dad, who is feeling pretty much on edge anyway,
+would announce that a wireless was simply money thrown in a hole."
+
+"We're not responsible for the conditions," laughed Bob. "If static is
+bothersome it is not our fault."
+
+"Nevertheless, Dad wouldn't understand that. He would just think we
+did not know how to operate the thing."
+
+"Well, we'll pray for moderate quiet," smiled Bob. "Of course I'd like
+the apparatus to show off at its best. But like a child, it probably
+won't. We shall have to take our luck; and if we do not get
+satisfactory results to-night why the audience will have to come again
+to-morrow or some other time."
+
+"Maybe it won't--at least maybe Dad won't," Dick answered
+incoherently. "If he starts off in the yacht to-morrow----"
+
+"Oh, he won't set off to chase Daly to-morrow, don't you fret," put in
+His Highness. "He was only sputtering. What good could he do? He
+wouldn't have any right to search the _Siren_ even if he overtook her;
+nor could he arrest the criminals aboard her. Daly would pitch Lola
+over the side of the boat before he would stand by and let your father
+board his yacht and he knows it."
+
+"Maybe he does," admitted Dick. "Still, he was tremendously in earnest
+this afternoon."
+
+"He has calmed down some now," His Highness replied.
+
+"I hope he'll stay calmed," Dick smiled. "Perhaps, unless our show
+goes wrong and he gets irate at the radio company, he will."
+
+In fact had the three young wireless operators been willing to admit
+it they were far more perturbed when they heard the invited company
+approaching than they would have been willing to confess. In the heart
+of each of them was the same thought: the new radiophone must justify
+itself and prove that it was worth all the money that had been
+expended upon it.
+
+"Well, here we are! And here's Jerry, too. He said he couldn't
+possibly come--tried to make me believe he was too busy, the rascal.
+But I labored with him and finally got him here," announced the master
+triumphantly.
+
+Very hot and very uncomfortable under the general banter Jerry
+blushed.
+
+"Now where do you wish to put us, Dick?" inquired the boy's mother.
+"We are under your orders to-night--yours and Bob's."
+
+"I think you will be able to hear in any of these chairs--that is, if
+we hear at all," Dick responded nervously.
+
+"What do you mean by _able to hear at all_?" put in his father
+sharply.
+
+"Why--eh--sometimes conditions vary," was the ambiguous answer. "One
+does not always hear equally well." It seemed wiser to prepare his
+father's mind for possible disappointment.
+
+In the meantime Bob was tinkering with the plugs.
+
+"Everybody ready?" he asked.
+
+"All on deck!" came from Mr. Crowninshield whose depression, it was
+plain to be seen, had momentarily vanished.
+
+"Then here goes!" cried Bob.
+
+Instantly the quiet of the room was transformed into a chaos of sound.
+There was a shrill piping as of a singing wind, and a wail that echoed
+hauntingly through the air as the tuner revolved.
+
+"What in the name of goodness----?" began Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Hush, Dad! It is always like that," explained Dick hastily.
+
+"But it's horrible."
+
+"Yes, I know. But wait."
+
+"Isn't something out of order?"
+
+"No." Dick smiled patronizingly.
+
+"My soul and body," whispered Jerry from his corner, "did anybody ever
+hear such a sound? Ain't it the wind outside. Seems as if a gale must
+have come up--a hurricane, tornado, or something. If a storm's coming
+I can't sit round here. I'll have to be seeing to the awnings or
+they'll be ripped to pieces." He half rose from his chair.
+
+"Don't worry, Jerry; everything's all right outside," interrupted
+Walter reassuringly.
+
+"You mean to say it's just in here?" murmured the bewildered Jerry.
+Enjoying the old man's confusion, Walter nodded.
+
+"What you hear is the rise of our pitch," explained Dick.
+
+"I should think it was the rise of something," grumbled Mr.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"We are running up our meters in order to catch the higher tuned
+waves," Bob added. "That is part of the bedlam."
+
+"And the rest?"
+
+"It is static interference."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Well, static is the big bugbear of radio," answered Bob, pausing a
+moment in regulating his tuner and detector. "It is caused by stray
+waves moving in various directions through the atmosphere, and by
+electrical conditions. It is the defect all wireless people have to
+fight. Sometimes it is worse than others and unfortunately to-night it
+promises to be pretty bad. You see it has been a close, heavy day and
+no doubt thunderstorms are in the air. A thunderstorm will kick up no
+end of a rumpus with wireless."
+
+"But we haven't had any thunderstorm," Nancy called above the hubbub.
+
+"No, but somebody else's thunderstorm would bother us almost as
+much," Bob explained good-humoredly.
+
+"Never mind the thunderstorms now," put in Mr. Crowninshield. "Aren't
+we going to hear anything but this whistling and groaning? Whee! There
+it goes again. It is for all the world like a chorus of cats."
+
+"It is more like a siren horn tooting up and down," laughed Nancy.
+
+A spluttering crackle blotted out the wail.
+
+"You would think they were frying doughnuts," grinned Dick, "wouldn't
+you?"
+
+"And you really believe a thunderstorm would cause a noise like this?"
+queried Mrs. Crowninshield incredulously.
+
+"It might. We have no way of knowing exactly what is raising the
+trouble."
+
+"Do you mean to say that a storm that wasn't round here at all
+could----" burst out Jerry, then stopped embarrassed.
+
+"Indeed it could," replied Bob, answering the unfinished question.
+"You see thunderstorms cause powerful electrical waves that affect
+apparatus miles and miles distant. Of course such waves vary in length
+but nevertheless they act on all aerials to a greater or less degree.
+Then, too, the atmospheric conditions are never quite identical,
+changing with the hour of the day, the season of the year, and local
+weather disturbances. Fortunately, since the air is positively
+electrified and the earth negatively, certain of these differences are
+remedied by the aerial that connects the two, the current discharges
+partially seeping off through the ground. Sometimes, however, in spite
+of every device used, such currents are strong enough to cause a roar
+in the receiver. In addition there is the interference from other
+radio stations which are busy transmitting messages, and although
+there are rules that aim to reduce this annoyance, it is, to a certain
+extent, always to be reckoned with."
+
+"I should think somebody ought to invent something to prevent such
+troubles," declared Nancy.
+
+"Why don't you, Sis?" asked Dick wickedly.
+
+"But it is terrible to have the air so full of noise," continued the
+girl, as she made a little face at her brother. "I've always thought
+of the air as being still."
+
+"It is still in a general sense," smiled Bob. "It is only when the
+amplifier of the wireless magnifies the sounds that we realize how
+many of them our ears fail to hear."
+
+"It's a downright mercy they do!" exclaimed Jerry.
+
+"You're right there, Jerry!" agreed Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"But how do messages come through such a chaos?" Dick inquired.
+
+"Sometimes they don't," laughed Bob. "But nine cases out of ten they
+do because there are ways of combating static interference. You can,
+for instance, tune your apparatus to a higher or lower pitch and
+thereby escape from the zone where the noise is. That whine you hear
+is produced by my turning the tuning knob and increasing our range of
+meters. Already with the higher vibration you will notice the hubbub
+has lessened."
+
+"Yes, things are ever so much clearer," agreed a chorus of voices.
+
+"That is one way, then, out of the difficulty. There are, in addition,
+other mechanical means that can be resorted to when you learn more
+about handling the outfit. Suffice it to say that in a general way
+whatever tends toward inertia, or a lack of electrical activity,
+decreases static interference."
+
+There was a pause in which above the crackling and the wailing of the
+instrument a faint sound became audible.
+
+"Gee! Did you hear that?" cried Walter.
+
+"Hush!"
+
+"But I heard a voice quite distinctly."
+
+"Keep still, can't you?" Dick remarked unceremoniously.
+
+Then plainly into the room came the words:
+
+"Station (WGI) Amrad Medford Hillside, Mass. 360 meters. Stand by for
+Boston Police reports."
+
+"That is the police news," whispered Dick to Nancy. "Among other
+things it gives the automobiles that are lost, their numbers, and a
+description of each."
+
+"Want to hear it?" asked Bob of his audience.
+
+"Not unless they can tell us they have found Lola," responded Mr.
+Crowninshield promptly.
+
+"Oh, no," his wife hastened to add, "let's not listen to a long
+string of crimes. Goodness knows there are enough of them to read in
+the papers."
+
+She shook her head warningly at Bob and motioned toward her husband.
+
+"I'd rather hear some music," put in Nancy. "Can't we?"
+
+There was an ascending wail from the tuner.
+
+"Ain't that a band?" cried Jerry excitedly.
+
+"It's an orchestra!" Nancy ejaculated in the same breath.
+
+"It's gone!"
+
+"We'll get it again," was Bob's confident answer as he twirled the
+knobs of both tuner and detector.
+
+"There it is!" burst out Jerry. "It's a brass band, as I live!"
+
+"Where do you suppose it is?" speculated Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"Pittsburgh or Chicago; or perhaps Newark."
+
+"Not Chicago--out West! You're fooling," observed Jerry with scorn.
+
+"Indeed I'm not. Wait and you'll hear in a few moments exactly who it
+was."
+
+"I'll not believe it unless I do," the old man announced, with a zest
+that provoked a general laugh.
+
+"What time is it? Can any one tell?" asked Bob.
+
+"What difference does that make," Walter inquired.
+
+"It will give us a cue as to who it is," was the explanation. "All
+these broadcasting stations have certain hours for their programs."
+
+"I've seen those lists published in the papers, but I never took any
+stock in them," growled Jerry.
+
+"You'll have to now, Jerry," said Nancy mischievously.
+
+She saw him scratch his head.
+
+"Well, I dunno," was his laconic reply. "The whole thing beats me. If
+that band was in Chicago----"
+
+"Hush!"
+
+The crash of instruments had come to an end and over the wire in
+accents unmistakably distinct came the words:
+
+"Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company KYW Chicago,
+Illinois. Stand by fifteen minutes for----" but the rest of the
+sentence was lost, for with a mighty slap of his knees Jerry roared:
+
+"It was in Chicago--that band! Well, I'll be buttered!"
+
+Overwhelmed the Cape Codder had risen to his feet.
+
+"Chicago! Pittsburgh! Medford! My eye, but this will do me to talk
+about until the day of my death. It don't seem possible; I'm beat if
+it does."
+
+Helplessly he dropped back into his chair again, silenced by very
+wonder.
+
+In the meantime out of the wailing and whining and piping the sharp,
+clear-cut click of a telegraph instrument could be discerned.
+
+"That's the Morse code," explained Bob. "Some commercial station is
+sending a message. It seems to be about a shipment of lumber and
+isn't particularly interesting."
+
+"I suppose you can read it," said Dick enviously.
+
+"Naturally. That is part of my job, you know."
+
+"What is a commercial station?" inquired the still bewildered Jerry.
+
+"A station that sends only messages for the general public. Probably
+this load of lumber started out of port without the captain of the
+ship having the least idea in the world where he was to market it. In
+the interval since it left, however, the company's shore agents have
+secured a customer for it, perhaps in New Bedford, Boston, Providence,
+or some other coast city and they are now notifying the ship where to
+deliver it. Such an arrangement is quite common nowadays. Were the
+captain obliged to hold his cargo in port until he had a purchaser, as
+was the usual rule in the past, he would be wasting much precious
+time. By this method he can set forth the moment the vessel is loaded
+and during his voyage let his managers search for buyers. In all
+probability by the time he nears New England harbors his wares will be
+sold and orders sent him where to deposit them."
+
+"That's a neat little scheme!" observed Walter.
+
+But poor Jerry was too much overcome by the marvels he had witnessed
+to comment on this added miracle. All he could do was to reiterate
+feebly: "It beats me--hanged if it don't!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE LAWS OF THE AIR
+
+
+Morning found Mr. Crowninshield in no more tractable a mood. Even
+before Bob could reach his post at the wireless station and adjust his
+double head receiver to his ears his employer came briskly across the
+grass with his after-breakfast cigar between his lips.
+
+"Well," began he, when he was within calling distance, "any news yet?"
+
+"I'm afraid not yet, sir. It is still early."
+
+The great man took out his watch.
+
+"Isn't it almost time for O'Connel to signal?"
+
+"It is nearing the time."
+
+"I wonder if he will have any tidings for us?"
+
+"I certainly hope so." The wish was uttered with deep sincerity. A
+speculation was forming in the young operator's mind as to how he was
+going to pacify the irascible gentleman before him should no tidings
+come.
+
+"Since I'm here I believe I'll drop down and wait until you get into
+touch with the _Siren_."
+
+"It is liable to be quite a little while. Sometimes there is delay."
+
+"No matter. I've nothing especial to do to-day."
+
+With sinking heart Bob turned away and began to fuss with his oil can
+and a bit of cotton waste.
+
+"As you will, sir," was all he said.
+
+"You think, don't you, that we will hear something definite this
+morning?"
+
+"There is no telling."
+
+"No, of course not. Nevertheless O'Connel can at least let us know
+whether Lola is worse or better."
+
+"Yes, we ought to ascertain that."
+
+"He wouldn't be such an idiot as to stand by and see the dog die,
+would he?"
+
+"One never can predict just what another person will do. However, I
+feel sure you can trust O'Connel. I never knew him to bungle anything
+yet."
+
+With that comfort Mr. Crowninshield was obliged to content himself.
+
+Notwithstanding it, however, he began to pace nervously back and
+forth, and every time there was a sound in the room he would whisk
+about with the quick remark:
+
+"Didn't you hear something?"
+
+But although he fretted and fumed, strolled out the door and in again,
+no amount of impatience appeared to hurry matters.
+
+Even Bob began to lose his poise and fear no message was coming when
+suddenly the well-known signal came and the familiar clockwork began
+to be clicked off.
+
+"Is it he?" demanded Mr. Crowninshield in a tense whisper.
+
+Bob nodded.
+
+On clicked the code. Then suddenly it stopped and the man who was
+watching saw the operator raise the discs of rubber from his ears and
+shake himself free of his metal trappings.
+
+"Well?" inquired Mr. Crowninshield in quick staccato.
+
+"It was O'Connel. All he said was: _Wait developments._"
+
+"Not a word about Lola?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Not a reference of any sort?"
+
+"That was all."
+
+"But that is no kind of a message," announced the exasperated owner of
+Surfside. "Why, it might mean almost anything."
+
+"It sounds hopeful to me."
+
+"I don't see any hope in it," was the despondent answer.
+
+"It least it gives us to understand that something is brewing."
+
+"But why couldn't he have told us more?"
+
+"Perhaps he did not dare to. They may have begun to suspect he was
+sending private messages."
+
+"Humph! I had not thought of that."
+
+"Or possibly he may have been in a rush. He sent the letters at a
+tremendous pace--so fast that I had to race him. It seemed as if he
+was afraid he might not be able to get the message through."
+
+"You didn't answer anything, I suppose."
+
+"Only my signal to let him know I was listening."
+
+"Then you think there is nothing more to be done at present but sit
+right here and see what happens?"
+
+"I do not see how we can do anything else."
+
+"It's frightfully annoying."
+
+"Yes. Nevertheless it is our only course."
+
+"You've no inkling whether the developments he mentioned are to be
+soon or not?"
+
+"Not the ghost of an idea."
+
+"Then there is nothing for it but to hold on right here a while
+longer, I'm afraid. And since we are all to be tied to the spot you
+may as well come up to the house later and give Dick his usual radio
+lesson."
+
+"Very well, sir."
+
+With a curt nod the financier went out the door and after seeing that
+everything was right Bob locked up the building and followed him.
+
+He found the little group assembled in the lee of the awnings waiting
+for him. Mr. Crowninshield was there, too, gnawing fiercely at a fresh
+cigar.
+
+"I hear you have had a message, Bob," Mrs. Crowninshield said as he
+approached.
+
+"Yes; a rather hopeful one, I think."
+
+"I'm so excited! We all are. What do you suppose is in the wind?"
+
+"I've no idea. Something good, I hope."
+
+"Is that Morse code hard to learn?" inquired Nancy.
+
+"The Morse Continental? That depends on what you consider hard,"
+smiled Bob. "If your memory is good and you are quick at catching
+sounds it ought not to be very awful. Numberless persons do learn it."
+
+"Of course sending messages after you have the code learned cannot be
+so bad, for you can take your own time," Dick put in. "It is receiving
+them that would fuss me."
+
+"We'll fix you up with a buzzer and let you and Walter practice later
+if you want a try."
+
+"Could you?" asked Dick eagerly.
+
+"Sure! Moreover, there are phonograph records made on purpose to be
+used by beginners. Perhaps your father will get you some of those. It
+is a fine way to learn, training your ear to the sounds and giving you
+lots of practice."
+
+"What a bully scheme!"
+
+"It is a good proof of how one science can help another, isn't it?"
+observed Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"I suppose transmitting is a great deal harder than receiving anyhow,
+isn't it?" pursued Dick.
+
+"Well, of course there is more to it. In the rough it is merely the
+reverse of receiving; but in reality to project a message through the
+air requires a more elaborate outfit."
+
+"But you said our wireless would send as well as receive."
+
+"Oh, it will. It was made with both ends of the service in view. Your
+apparatus would first have to be adjusted and tuned until it was at
+the same frequency as the station with which you were talking. That
+you have to do anyhow, whether you are sending or receiving. And I
+told you, you remember, how to regulate that. Your antenna is
+connected through an adjustable induction coil, and moreover you have
+a small condenser which together with it forms a closed circuit. It is
+simple enough when you understand the principle to adjust the
+vibratory motion in the antenna by moving the connection. The
+frequency of the closed circuit can be adjusted, too. Tuning is
+nothing more than putting these two circuits into accord with the
+waves you receive. Your detector does a good part of the work for you,
+for it responds to every oscillation set up in the receiver. When,
+however, you are transmitting a message, you must take care to cut out
+your receiver by turning on the switch. Never forget that. You won't
+be likely to, either, when you are told why. You see it requires power
+to send out transmission waves and therefore to do it you have to
+employ a high-pressure current. Receiving, on the other hand, demands
+delicately adjusted instruments which are equipped to catch every
+faint, incoming wave. Should you let the strong charge of electricity
+used for transmission pass through your fragile receiving apparatus
+you would ruin it in no time."
+
+"I can see that," replied Dick.
+
+"Grasp that notion and you have one big principle of the difference
+between sending messages and receiving them," said Bob. "Skill in
+learning to take messages either in code or cipher comes with
+practice. The more you work at it the faster you can go. You have a
+keyboard all installed and the only thing standing between you and an
+expert operator is patience. Speed comes sooner than you think, too,
+if you practice persistently every day. As for the Morse code you
+press the key lever down quickly and instantly release it to make a
+dot. A dash is equal to three dots; the space between the parts of the
+same letters is equal to a dot; that between two letters to three
+dots; and between two words to five dots. You must train your ear
+until the span of these intervals becomes unmistakable. When you get
+some skill and are ready to try out what you can do, you will find
+that there are several ways of getting wider practice. There are, for
+example, local clubs that broadcast in code and send messages limited
+in speed to an amateur's capacity. Such centers are considerate enough
+to transmit at the rate of not more than five or ten words to the
+minute. It is persistence and a willingness to go slowly and carefully
+that win out in the end. A moderately delivered message that is
+without errors is worth a dozen fast, inaccurate ones; for when you
+blunder and have to go back and repeat, you not only waste your time
+and that of the man at the other end of the line but you annoy and
+usually confuse him. You will never gain anything if you are content
+with being a sloppy operator since above everything else radio
+messages must be correct. That is their chief value. Therefore, if
+after trying with all your might you find you cannot qualify as a
+topnotch, high-speed man be content to drop into the class below and
+be an accurate, slower operator. There are always certain things we
+do better than others. Speed may not be one of your gifts. That is no
+sign you have not other talents, however. Face the fact and go into
+the class where you belong. You won't get so nervous and fussed up,
+and by and by you may surprise yourself by finding that with time and
+experience the desired speed will come."
+
+"I am not aiming to be a crackerjack like you," grinned Dick. "If I
+can take down and send any messages at all I shall feel pretty cocky."
+
+"You think that now," returned Bob, ignoring the flattery contained in
+the observation. "But by and by you will find yourself discontented
+and as crazy to make time as you are in an automobile. There is a
+fascination about it."
+
+"Doesn't the Morse Continental bother you a bit?" inquired Mr.
+Crowninshield.
+
+"Not a particle. In fact, it has come to be almost as easy reading as
+straight English," answered Bob. "The thing that does fuss me
+sometimes though is to send and receive in cipher."
+
+"Mercy! Do they do that too?" gasped Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"Certainly. Often both in time of war and times of peace confidential
+messages which it is not desirable all the world should know have to
+be transmitted. Sometimes these are government communications;
+sometimes business or personal ones. At any rate, their senders wish
+them kept private and hence they are sent in cipher. Many of them are
+queer enough, too, when they come in."
+
+"Can you understand them yourself?" asked Nancy.
+
+"Certainly not. It is not intended that any one except the person for
+whom they are intended shall know what they mean."
+
+"But I should think since they make no sense you would wonder whether
+you had them right," commented Dick.
+
+"I do wonder sometimes," admitted Bob honestly. "When you get a
+sequence of queer words or combinations of letters you cannot help
+wondering. However, there is not much chance for a mistake, either in
+the transmission or in the delivery of such messages, for the operator
+is always obliged to send them slower than he does ordinary stuff,
+spacing the letters or groups of letters with unusual care.
+Furthermore, code words are always repeated once. This gives the man
+receiving them a chance to print the letters by hand rather than write
+them, a precaution that does much to prevent mistakes. The address and
+signature must also be very carefully transmitted. With such
+watchfulness at each end of the line it would be only a colossally
+stupid person who would blunder."
+
+"But suppose the operator who is transmitting went faster than you
+could?" murmured Walter.
+
+"He doesn't as a general rule. It isn't wireless ethics. And even
+should he be a more skillful radio man he knows he would gain nothing
+by hustling the chap at the other end for he would only lose time by
+having to go back and repeat."
+
+"Is all the general transmission of messages given such care?"
+inquired Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"Of course cipher communications are fussier," Bob said. "Nevertheless
+the rules are pretty strict for all messages. And since accuracy is
+the keynote of radio and to get it your outfit must be in A1
+condition, every care must be taken to have strong, clear, and
+effective sending and receiving power. That means you must constantly
+clean your apparatus and tighten it up; test out your detector by the
+buzzer intended for the purpose and make sure that it is in sensitive
+condition; and assure yourself that every part of your set is OK.
+Moreover, an operator who is on duty listening in is expected to wear
+the double head receiver all the time, so no sound, however faint, may
+get by him. He must also see that his detector is adjusted to its
+greatest degree of sensibility and his tuner to the proper wave
+length. If your station happens to be near another, or if you are one
+of a group of ships and other vessels near yours are sending, you must
+watch out and either weaken the coupling of your detector or open your
+switch and cut it out altogether when those around you are using
+powerful currents for transmission; else you will wreck this delicate
+part of your instrument."
+
+"Gee, but there are things to remember!" ejaculated Dick.
+
+"Not so many, really, if you use ordinary brains," Bob returned. "You
+just have to think, that is all. A few big principles hold throughout.
+The other _don'ts_ are simply to make your own work and the other
+fellow's smoother; prevent mistakes; do away with as much interference
+as possible; and protect your outfit. For example, I found I could
+often lessen the interference by loosening the coupling of my
+receiving set after I had heard a call and reduce the sound to a point
+where it was just readable. You get your message all right but you do
+not get so much else with it. Then you can save wear and tear if you
+only run your generator while you are sending messages. That you
+cannot transmit at the hours reserved for naval radio stations to send
+out the time signals by which navigators set their chronometers, or
+when operators are broadcasting, goes without saying. Any dunce would
+know that."
+
+"I had no idea there were hours for sending out the time," confessed
+Dick.
+
+"Indeed there are. It is very important, too, that ships know the
+correct time to prevent disasters. There are shore stations whose sole
+duty it is to supply to ships the time and their location. Don't you
+recall my mentioning such coastal stations?"
+
+"Oh, yes; I guess I do remember now," returned Dick, a trifle
+confused.
+
+"What happens if you call a station and nobody answers?" interrogated
+Nancy. "I have been meaning to ask. Do you just keep on calling as you
+do at the telephone?"
+
+"No, indeed," was the instant reply. "Should you do that you would
+cause no end of interference and make yourself a nuisance to
+everybody. The rule is that after you have called a station three
+times at two-minute intervals you must stop for a quarter of an hour
+before you call again. If you happened to be calling a fleet of ships
+it is desirable to alter your tune rather than keep repeating the
+summons in the same key. It saves time. Merchant ships and coast
+stations must, however, be called in the wave length definitely
+specified for their use."
+
+"Shipboard stations seem to have more rules than the others,"
+commented Dick.
+
+"Not more rules but different ones," Bob said. "You see their nearness
+to other ships makes this imperative. Each ship has to take care not
+to knock out the apparatus of its neighbor by inconsiderate use of a
+high-power current; also it must not cause undue interference. In
+other words, a bevy of ships, like a group of persons, must be
+courteous to one another. If a ship within a ten-mile radius of
+another is receiving signals that are so faint that they are difficult
+to distinguish, a neighboring vessel should not complicate matters by
+trying to transmit a message until the other ship has received what
+was coming in. This rule makes for ordinary politeness, that is all."
+
+"Couldn't the ship waiting to talk send a message in a different wave
+length?" inquired Dick.
+
+"Oh, yes; that would be quite possible, if the tune varied enough to
+make it perfectly distinct."
+
+"But what about high-power stations?" demanded Walter. "They handle
+important stuff and of course cannot keep stopping for other people
+to talk. Don't their powerful currents damage the receiving sets in
+stations near them? I should think they might even injure their own."
+
+"High-power, or long-distance stations have still another problem to
+meet and they meet it in a different way," responded Bob. "In order
+that the currents they are obliged to use shall not destroy detectors
+and other delicate receiving apparatus they carry on what are known as
+duplex operations. That is, the receiving station is constructed at
+some distance from the sending station--often several miles away--and
+the two parts of the service are performed independently by different
+antennae. In this way sending and receiving can be carried on at the
+same time in slightly varying wave lengths."
+
+"But how can they talk and act as one station if they are so far
+apart?" questioned His Highness much puzzled.
+
+"It is not as impossible as it seems. The operator at the sending
+station has a small sending key connected by electricity with a relay
+at the receiving station. By means of a lever and certain complex
+paraphernalia this key can be used as the sending key for the main
+apparatus. Thus the station operated by distant control carries on a
+duplex system of transmission so that both sending and receiving
+stations are kept in touch with one another."
+
+"That is clever!" interrupted Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"A high-power station has to be ingeniously equipped," responded Bob,
+"for it does a great deal of business, rapid business and business
+that is important. In some stations so fast do the messages come in
+and so long are they that an automatic tape not unlike that seen at
+the stock exchange is used to make perforated records of the dots and
+dashes. Later this punctured slip can be run through a Morse writer
+and the message taken down at leisure by the operator. Or sometimes
+photographic or phonographic records are resorted to and these like
+the others can be reproduced at a slower rate of speed and interpreted
+by the operator."
+
+"I should like that and then I wouldn't have to hurry," murmured
+Nancy.
+
+"It must be jolly to be an operator in a long-distance station," mused
+Dick, "where real things are going on."
+
+"Perhaps it is," was Bob's nonchalant answer. "I fancy, though, that
+very vital government messages go in cipher. Uncle Sam isn't risking
+having his secrets published far and wide over the face of the whole
+earth. Although for that matter all radio messages are secret."
+
+"But how can they be if any and everybody can listen in?"
+
+"Well, on a high-power wave length probably ordinary persons would not
+be able to listen in. Their apparatus would not be equipped for it.
+Should a station be able to, however, during critical periods, such as
+times of war, the government takes no chances and orders all but
+certain specified stations dismantled. That puts an end to intruders
+unless a spy has a hidden wireless somewhere; and if he has he takes
+an almighty risk with his neck, that is all I can say," concluded Bob
+with a grin.
+
+"But operators have tongues and can talk," Mrs. Crowninshield
+suggested. "Don't they sometimes?"
+
+"Usually they do not know what the message passing through their hands
+means," Bob answered. "But even should they contrive to study it out
+they would not dare repeat it because of the penalty entailed."
+
+"Penalty?"
+
+The young operator nodded.
+
+"You would not have to concern yourself much about blabbers if you
+heard what happens to them," piped Walter, who suddenly found himself
+on ground which previous instruction had rendered familiar. "It's off
+with their heads!"
+
+"Not really!" gasped the horrified Nancy.
+
+"Oh, he does not mean literally," the elder brother explained. "But it
+is away with their license which is almost as disastrous a fate to a
+man who has planned to make his living by wireless. Nor is the loss of
+the license all that happens. In addition one is liable to a
+two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar fine or three years' imprisonment."
+
+"Jove! They do come down on you!" Dick averred.
+
+"Ra-_ther_! You know, of course, that if you violate any clause of
+your radio agreement you may be fined one hundred dollars; and should
+an operator fake a distress call the fine is twenty-five hundred
+dollars, or five years in prison and perhaps both. Even the smallest
+fine one can get off with for such an offense is two years behind the
+bars. It makes you think twice before playing that little joke. The
+government is wise, too, to spread it on thick, for to fake an S O S
+which is given the right of way over every other signal would be a
+contemptible trick. Mild punishments like fines and imprisonments
+would be too good for the wretch who would so deliberately mislead
+people. Moreover a few such offenses would cause the importance of the
+call to be discredited so that in time nobody would be in a rush to
+pay attention to it."
+
+"I didn't realize an S O S so invariably had the right of way,"
+meditated Dick. "Of course I knew it was the distress signal at sea."
+
+"S O S in the International Morse Code is the universal distress call
+adopted by the common consent of our civilized nations at the wireless
+convention held at Berlin in 1906. Every radio station ashore or
+afloat is obliged to give it first place and do everything possible to
+further its demands. When a distress call is heard all ships and
+stations everywhere that hear it are in honor bound to stop whatever
+they may be doing and listen; nor must they try to talk with the ship
+herself unless she asks them to. Instead, after she has sent out her
+call for attention, which is equivalent to our _Hello_ of the
+telephone, she gives her name; the name of the station or ship she
+wishes to talk with; states what the matter is; and defines as nearly
+as she is able her position. This done she sends out a general call
+and if the station or ship she has asked aid from has not caught the
+signal and fails to answer her, any operator within hearing may do so.
+The instant he begins to talk with her, however, all the others
+listening in must remain silent. At last, when the message is
+delivered or the necessary conversation at an end, then the ship's
+radio man sends out a broadcast to let everybody know that he has
+finished so that all stations may resume their regular routine."
+
+"Some system!" breathed Dick.
+
+"I guess you would think there was some system if you were to see a
+book of radio rules," returned Bob. "I'll show you mine some day. All
+the various shore stations have their many regulations, as I have told
+you before; shipboard stations have theirs; and even the amateurs are
+protected so that every class may get fair play and not bother his
+neighbor. Wireless stations, you see, are not mere toys. They have
+work to do and must be able to do it unhampered."
+
+"I'd like a glimpse of that manual," suggested Dick.
+
+"I'll bring it round to-morrow," Bob answered, glancing at his watch
+and rising.
+
+The others rose too.
+
+"I suppose it would be no use to listen in for O'Connel again,"
+remarked Mr. Crowninshield.
+
+"I will if you like," Bob responded. "I doubt, though, if it would do
+any good."
+
+"No, I guess it wouldn't. We shall just have to wait," sighed the
+man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE NET TIGHTENS
+
+
+When on the morrow no call of any kind came from O'Connel Mr.
+Crowninshield was, as his son expressed it, "fit to be tied."
+
+"I can't see why we do not hear something to-day," fumed he. "He can't
+expect us to _wait developments_ forever. Are you sure you did not
+miss the signal, Bob."
+
+"I don't see how I could have missed it," replied the operator
+patiently.
+
+"But he always does call, doesn't he?"
+
+"He has for the last few days."
+
+"Then why not to-day?"
+
+"I cannot imagine. Perhaps he couldn't."
+
+"You don't suppose anything has happened to Lola, do you?"
+
+"Who can tell?"
+
+"You are right; it was a foolish question," admitted the financier,
+accepting the rebuke gracefully. "Still, I cannot help being anxious
+and wondering."
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"If only that miserable inspector would turn up and you could get your
+license! It is absurd that you cannot send a message, a man of your
+experience!"
+
+"I am as sorry about the delay as you are," Bob answered. "Perhaps I
+am more so. Nevertheless I am not going to break the rules. Besides,
+were we to call O'Connel, it might arouse suspicion and get him into
+trouble. It is far better to leave the calling to him."
+
+"But he hasn't called."
+
+"Then there is some good reason, I'll be bound. He knows what he is
+about when he says to await developments."
+
+"Maybe he does," sighed the elder man. "However, I am not much used to
+waiting. When I want a thing done, I want it done."
+
+Bob smiled at the characteristic remark.
+
+"You cannot whisk everything off like that," observed he. "Sometimes
+it is necessary----"
+
+"To wait? Yes, I suppose so," put in Mr. Crowninshield. "Well, I will
+hold my horses for one more day. But I warn you to-morrow I shall do
+something. I can't be hanging around like this--not knowing anything
+or hearing anything."
+
+"It is hard," Bob returned sympathetically.
+
+"It is hard for one born in New York and accustomed to seeing things
+hum," asserted the owner of Surfside with a wry smile. "Well, we must
+try to forget it, that's all. Come, get your books and let us go on
+with our radio lesson from the point where we left it yesterday. The
+rest of them are waiting and there seems to be nothing better that we
+can do."
+
+Fortunately Bob was not sensitive enough to be hurt by the thrust.
+
+"I'll be right along," agreed he, "as soon as I have locked up here."
+
+On reaching the veranda he found his class assembled and the first
+comment to reach his ears was:
+
+"No news from O'Connel, eh?"
+
+"No, Dick."
+
+"What in thunder do you suppose has become of him?"
+
+Bob put his finger to his lips and taking the hint the boy abandoned
+the subject, inquiring instead:
+
+"Isn't it a bore to have to listen in at just such a time every day
+whether it is convenient or not--I mean when you are in charge of a
+station."
+
+"Sometimes it is," Bob responded. "Still, it is your job and you
+expect to put it first and fit your own affairs in around it. Besides,
+you get used to the regularity of the hours and soon do not notice the
+monotony of the rules. You can readily understand why, at all official
+radio stations, somebody must always be on the watch for S O S calls.
+On shipboard there are three classes of wireless stations: those
+having continual service with an operator who always has his ear to
+the receiver while the ship is in motion; those where the office is
+open only at stated hours and an operator listening merely for a
+limited time; and those whose operators have no fixed time beyond
+listening in the first ten minutes of each hour."
+
+"The ship decides which kind of station it will have, I suppose,"
+Nancy remarked.
+
+"Indeed it doesn't," Bob contradicted, with a shake of his head. "The
+government saves the vessel that trouble. It defines exactly the sort
+of station when it issues the license. Uncle Sam also bestows on each
+of these stations a name or combination of letters by which it shall
+be known and under which it is officially listed. Each country has a
+prescribed number of such letters allotted for its use at the
+International Convention at Berne, and our nation is authorized to use
+groups beginning with N and W; also triple groups of KIA to KZZ. You
+will find all these call letters in a book that contains the wireless
+telegraph stations of the world, a volume issued by the international
+publication office at Berne."
+
+"Can any one get one?" inquired Walter.
+
+"Certainly, if he has the price," smiled the older brother. "I guess
+you do not need one, though. A local call book would answer most
+purposes. It would hardly be necessary for you to call any foreign
+offices, and I even doubt if you would need to summon Sayville,
+Tuckerton, New Brunswick, Marion, or Annapolis."
+
+"Those are our trans-Atlantic stations, aren't they?" asked Dick.
+
+"Some of them," Bob said. "We have others, though, that can talk with
+Europe. There is one at San Diego; Pearl Harbor in Hawaii; and Cavite
+in the Philippines. There are also Marconi stations at Kahuka and
+Bolinas. In addition to these, the government has a number of
+high-power stations scattered throughout the country. Arlington,
+Virginia----"
+
+"Sends out the time," put in Walter with disconcerting promptness.
+
+"It sure does, sonny."
+
+"How many foreign countries can talk with us?" inquired Nancy.
+
+"A short time ago there were eight that could talk direct. One is at
+Funabashi, Japan; one at Carnarvon, Wales; two in France, one at
+Nantes and one at Lyons; Rome, Italy, has one; Germany has one at
+Nauen and one at Eilvese, Hanover; and Norway has one at Stavanger.
+Then in Canada there are two transatlantic stations."
+
+"Glace Bay!" piped the incorrigible Walter.
+
+Bob patted his head with a mock fatherly gesture.
+
+"Very good, son," said he, at which everybody laughed.
+
+"These stations," he went on, "are all equipped with very high power,
+varying in wave length anywhere from 17,600 to 6,000 meters. Most of
+our stations are pretty powerful, anyway. Pearl Harbor, for instance,
+has a 13,000 wave length; Cavite 12,000; Sayville, 11,600; Tuckerton,
+owned by a French company, about 8,700; New Brunswick, New Jersey,
+13,600; Marion, Massachusetts, 14,400; and Annapolis, 17,600. Only a
+few foreign stations can match these in range. Carnarvon has two wave
+lengths: 14,000 and 11,500; Lyons, 15,500; Nantes, 10,000; Rome,
+11,500; Nauen, 12,550; Eilvese (Hanover), 15,000 and 9,600; and
+Stavanger, Norway, 9,600. There are many, however, that vary from
+7,000 to 4,000 and can transmit messages by relaying them."
+
+"I wish my set could send farther," Dick murmured regretfully.
+
+"It sends as far as the law allows. We must therefore abide by Uncle
+Sam's judgment and be content. The scale is very carefully planned and
+the classifications made most intelligently, I think. Amateurs are
+limited to about a 200-meter wave length; low-power stations come next
+and are grouped under 1,600 meters. Of these the 750 wave is reserved
+for government stations such as radio compass stations, etc.; 600
+meters is the commercial tune for large merchant ships; 476 that of
+submarines, aircraft, and small war vessels; and 300 meters is the
+commercial tune for small vessels. After that we pass into the higher
+group, all of which come under the head of medium-power stations.
+These range from 4,000 to 1,800 meters and first on the list are the
+government ships which have continuous waves and a length of from
+3,000 to 4,000 meters. Following them come the experimental and
+miscellaneous stations with a 3,000 to 2,000-meter range; and after
+them the 1,800-meter class which is the commercial tune for continuous
+waves."
+
+"And the high-power stations are the last, I suppose," put in Dick.
+
+"Yes, those designed for trans-oceanic service. These range from
+20,000 to 6,000 meters. The distinctions are, you see, quite
+positively made and everybody must keep within his assigned
+pigeon-hole."
+
+"I reckon I'll keep in mine," announced Dick.
+
+"I should advise it if you want smooth sailing," retorted Bob. "You
+will hardly----" but the sentence was never finished for a maid
+approached Mr. Crowninshield at the moment and whispered:
+
+"The telephone, sir; New York is speaking."
+
+"New York, Dad!" exclaimed Dick excitedly. "It may be Lyman or Dacie."
+
+"More likely it is the office," replied his mother.
+
+"Some business matter, I fancy," said Mr. Crowninshield as he rose.
+"I'm sorry to interrupt the lesson."
+
+"I was just about through, sir."
+
+"I'll be back in a moment probably."
+
+"Poor father always has telephone calls," lamented Nancy
+sympathetically. "If he ever starts out to play golf somebody is sure
+to want him. Sometimes I wish that New York office was in the bottom
+of the sea."
+
+"I guess you'd have precious little bread and butter if it was,"
+announced Dick with brotherly sarcasm.
+
+"Certainly you wouldn't be able to provide me with any," Nancy flashed
+back with a teasing laugh.
+
+"Children!" interposed Mrs. Crowninshield.
+
+"Here's Dad! Well, Pater, what was it?" asked Dick. Then on observing
+his father was unwontedly excited he repeated, "What's up, Dad?"
+
+"It was Lyman," Mr. Crowninshield answered. "The New York police have
+run down two men and Mr. Lyman wants Bob to come over and see if he
+can identify either of them as the one who kidnapped Lola."
+
+"You could identify him, couldn't you, Bob?" Walter put in.
+
+"Of course I could. Didn't the chap come into the station to get water
+for his machine?" was the instant reply. "I talked with him quite a
+bit while he was fixing up his engine. He seemed in a powerful rush to
+be off and wasn't overgracious."
+
+"But could Bob leave now, Archibald?" questioned his wife. "Isn't
+there the possibility of news from Mr. O'Connel?"
+
+"Jove! I had forgotten that."
+
+"Maybe O'Connel won't call; he didn't to-day, you know," Nancy said.
+
+"It seems to me Bob ought to go and land those chaps if there is a
+chance of doing it," Dick declared. "He would not need to be gone more
+than one night, would he?"
+
+"No. Nevertheless, he would miss the morning wireless," returned Mr.
+Crowninshield. "Should there be important news we should not get it."
+
+"It is a pity you boys can't take a message," Nancy remarked, turning
+toward her brother and Walter. "If you only had your Morse code
+learned you might be quite some good to us now."
+
+"I wish I had whooped up on it faster," bewailed Dick, with engaging
+candor. "I'm an awful rotter--plain lazy, I guess."
+
+"Well, I don't know but we'd better let Bob go, all things
+considered," observed Mr. Crowninshield, who had been quietly thinking
+the matter over.
+
+"I say Bob goes, too," reiterated Dick. "It is worth something to put
+such fellows as those dog thieves behind the bars."
+
+"You can connect with the Fall River boat or one passing through the
+Canal and be in New York in the morning, Bob," the elder man asserted.
+"Lyman will meet you, hustle things along, and send you home on the
+noon train. With Dick's racing car to pick you up somewhere along the
+line there is no reason why we should not have you back here before
+another morning. You've no time to spare, though, for lingering and
+discussing wireless and its wonders. Trot along and pack up your duds
+and get some luncheon. I'll call up Wheeler and have him ready to
+carry you to the train. Do not bother your head about connections; I
+will look up everything and tell you exactly what to do."
+
+In a flurry of anticipation off hastened Bob.
+
+"Gee! Isn't it the limit that we haven't brains enough to get
+O'Connel?" murmured Dick to Walter in a disgusted whisper. "I ought to
+have duffed in harder on the blamed code. But I thought there was no
+hurry. We seemed to have all summer to learn it."
+
+"Maybe he won't call," His Highness suggested hopefully.
+
+"I hope to blazes he doesn't," was the retort. "I'd feel cheap as dirt
+to have that ticker go clicking out a message and I not be able to get
+a word of it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH
+
+
+With Bob gone and radio lessons suspended the following morning seemed
+to both Dick and Walter an unwontedly quiet one. Moreover with a
+scorching sun high in the heaven, no breeze, and a dead low tide most
+of the activities to which the boys might have resorted were out of
+the question.
+
+"Think of the sailing breeze we've seen blowing lots of mornings when
+we couldn't go out," grumbled Dick. "Isn't it infernal luck?"
+
+"Why don't you take your car and go for a spin," Nancy suggested.
+
+"Wheeler has it, silly. He's meeting Bob."
+
+"I couldn't go motoring anyway," put in Walter. "I've got the dogs to
+chase round."
+
+"You're not going out with them now," objected Dick.
+
+"Not quite yet. I had them out before breakfast."
+
+"What do you say we go over and fool round with the radio a while?"
+Dick yawned. "We've nothing better to do."
+
+"All right. We can at least listen in for a spell. We've got that
+far."
+
+"You boys better not go getting that wireless all out of order while
+Bob is away," cautioned Nancy. "He'd be ripping mad to get home and
+find it out of commission. Father wouldn't like it, either."
+
+"Oh, we're not going to hurt the precious radio," sniffed Dick. "Don't
+you think we know anything?"
+
+"Not much," fluted Nancy as she flounced away.
+
+"At least she does not flatter us," grinned His Highness, quite
+unruffled by the girl's frankness.
+
+"Oh, sisters never think a fellow knows anything, especially when
+they're older," Dick grumbled, as he unlocked the door of the low
+building and met the blast of close, stifling air that came out.
+"Scott! The place is like an oven, isn't it? Open a window, can't
+you?" he continued.
+
+"Sure! There is some heat, I'll say. Just as well we dropped round if
+only to air the place out," Walter replied.
+
+Together they switched on the current, regulated amplifier, detector,
+and tuner, and each with a head receiver tight to his ears sat down.
+
+"Whee, but it is thick, to-day!" shouted Dick. "Run the tune up, kid,
+and see if we get anything."
+
+"It is always bad a day like this," called Walter. "Besides, everybody
+seems to be butting in in the morning. Infernal, isn't it?"
+
+"Let her go up to O'Connel's pitch. It can't do any harm."
+
+"It isn't time for him to call, is it?"
+
+"Pretty near."
+
+"But what good would it do even if we did get his signal?"
+
+"We should at least know he had something to say to us."
+
+"I should consider that a negative satisfaction," Walter replied. "It
+would just be an aggravation. However, here she goes! As you say, it
+can harm nobody to get the right meter."
+
+"There's that old commercial station up the Cape," announced Dick,
+presently. "That fellow is always on the job at this hour."
+
+"Probably he has to be, poor soul," Walter returned. "We'll get rid of
+him in a minute. _What was that?_"
+
+"It is some one on our line. That's the _Siren's_ call. It's O'Connel!
+Jove! What are you doing, man? What are you going to do?" asked Dick
+excitedly as he saw Walter's hand go out.
+
+"Paper! Pencil! Hurry, can't you?" gasped Walter.
+
+"Do you mean----"
+
+"Let's both take it down in dots and dashes. Between us we may be able
+to make some sense out of it afterward. Quick!"
+
+Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off. Then there was
+silence.
+
+"Get any of it?" Walter demanded, breathlessly tossing the receiver
+aside and shutting off the current.
+
+"About two words. He went so fast----Did you get anything?"
+
+"Oh, I've got something; but whether it will make any sense remains to
+be seen," said His Highness eagerly. "Where is the key! Toss it
+over."
+
+[Illustration: Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off. Then
+there was silence. _Page_ 240.]
+
+"Here we go. Dot, dash,----"
+
+"That's the letter A, you squarehead! I know what that first part is;
+it is always the same and we needn't fuss to translate it. _Aboard
+yacht Siren._ I don't care, either, where she is. What we want to get
+at is what she wants to say."
+
+"But how can we tell where all that stuff leaves off?"
+
+"I mean to tell," declared Walter with determination.
+
+"But there is punctuation and other rubbish mixed in with the
+letters."
+
+"No matter. Have a little patience, man!"
+
+Nevertheless, in spite of all the patience and perseverance the boys
+could muster the magic message remained an enigma and at the end of an
+hour both were obliged to admit themselves beaten.
+
+"It is worse than getting no message at all," lamented Walter.
+
+"It certainly does not do us much good," assented Dick.
+
+"Do you suppose your father knows anything about the Morse code?"
+
+"Dad? Good heavens, no! Still we might take the thing up to the house
+and show it to him."
+
+"I don't imagine it is right, do you?" speculated Walter. "No doubt we
+missed some of it or made mistakes. Still, what we contrived to write
+agrees fairly well, so some of it must be correct. Let's take it to
+your father. What do you say?"
+
+"I feel like such a boob not to be able to make it out," Dick
+answered with evident reluctance at confessing himself floored.
+
+"But we'll have to tell him O'Connel called. We've got to do that
+anyhow; so he may as well know the rest of it," Walter persisted.
+
+"All right. We'll hunt him up. I warn you, though, that he will josh
+us most unmercifully. He'll pitch into me, too, and ask me why I
+haven't learned my Morse International before this. See if he
+doesn't."
+
+"It is one thing to learn the code out of a book and quite another to
+be smart enough to read it or take it down," Walter maintained
+stoutly. "Nobody ought to expect you to be able to get a message the
+way Bob does. Why, he has been at the job years!"
+
+"I know he has," Dick responded, slightly comforted. "Still, Dad will
+rag me, just the same. See if he doesn't!"
+
+Locking the door and pausing to gain courage they set out over the
+lawn. Then suddenly, midway across the grass, His Highness came to a
+stop.
+
+"Mr. Burns!" he cried, wheeling round. "Why didn't I think of him
+before?"
+
+"What on earth are you talking about?" asked Dick, astounded by his
+companion's strange conduct.
+
+"Mr. Burns!" repeated Walter. "Come along. Can't one of the chauffeurs
+take us down there?"
+
+"For mercy's sake who is Mr. Burns, and why do you want to go and see
+him hot off the bat?"
+
+"Mr. Burns, the telegraph operator," Walter contrived to stammer. "He
+must know Morse International. He has to know both the Morse American
+which telegraph operators use on land, and the other code, I'm pretty
+sure."
+
+"But maybe what we've got down doesn't make sense," objected Dick.
+"You've a husky nerve to go toting that scrawl of ours to a
+professional."
+
+"I don't care," grinned Walter. "I'm not afraid of Mr. Burns. He's
+driven me out of the station too many times when I was a kid. I will
+own, however, that I have more respect for him since I've learned what
+it means to run a telegraph."
+
+"He may drive you out of the station this time," Dick ventured with a
+grimace.
+
+"I'll bet he won't," was the sanguine response. "We've made it up
+since then. I've even helped old Burnsie shovel his snow now and then.
+He'll do a good turn for me, I'll bet."
+
+"Come on then, if you are so sure of it," Dick answered, striding
+toward the garage.
+
+"You're sure your father won't mind our taking the car?"
+
+"He doesn't want it this morning. He is going to hang round and see if
+Bob calls him from New York. Besides, he said it was too hot to motor.
+Will Burns be at the station now?"
+
+"He will if a train is due," announced Walter. "If the office is
+locked we can chase him to his house."
+
+"All right! This is your party, remember," Dick said a trifle
+wickedly. It was evident he had no faith in the expedition.
+Notwithstanding his skepticisms, however, he ordered out the car and
+he and Walter sped away on their errand.
+
+"It is time for a train," announced Walter in an undertone, as they
+neared the station. "See, there are people waiting. It is the noon
+train from Boston."
+
+"Burns will be too busy then to bother his head over fake messages, I
+guess," sniffed Dick.
+
+"Maybe not. At least we can try him," was His Highness's optimistic
+assertion. "Hi, Mr. Burns!" The lad was out of the car and hastening
+along in the wake of a much sunburned station agent in blue denim
+overalls.
+
+"Wal, if it ain't Walter King! What you after, young one? I hear
+you've become the proprietor of Surfside--bought out the whole darn
+place for yourself."
+
+"I did buy it but I'm going to sell it again. It's too small. I can't
+get room enough to stretch up there," came impishly from the lad on
+the platform.
+
+"Show! You don't say!" drawled Mr. Burns with obvious relish of the
+joke. "Well, it ain't wise to be cramped. Maybe you wouldn't get your
+growth if you were."
+
+He cast a glance toward the short, thick-set figure behind him.
+
+"I say, Mr. Burns," burst out Walter, "are you terribly busy? I've got
+something I want to show you."
+
+"What is it?" demanded the man, halting and holding suspended in his
+hand a cerulean blue egg case.
+
+"I don't know what it is--that's just the trouble," answered Walter
+mysteriously.
+
+"What you up to anyhow?" demanded Mr. Burns suspiciously.
+
+Walter thrust forth the sheet of paper he had drawn from his pocket.
+
+In his rough, grimy hand the telegraph operator took it.
+
+"Where did you get this?" demanded he, glancing sharply over the top
+of his spectacles.
+
+"Why, we have a wireless up at Surfside and this thing--or something
+like it that we didn't know enough to write down, came this morning."
+
+"But I heard your brother Bob was up there."
+
+"He had to go to New York yesterday."
+
+"And left you to tend the tape, did he?" grinned the old man.
+
+"Not much. He knows I'd be a duffer at the job," affirmed Walter.
+
+"Mebbe you ain't as much of a duffer as you think. You managed to get
+this down on paper."
+
+"We managed to together--Dick and I," explained Walter. "I don't
+suppose, though, we got it anywhere near straight. Does it make any
+sense at all?"
+
+"Sure it makes sense!" announced Mr. Burns with a vim that quite took
+Walter's breath away. "There's queer spots in it here and there--a few
+letters that ain't needed, perhaps. Still, you can omit 'em since they
+serve no particular purpose."
+
+"But what is the message? What does it say?" clamored Walter all
+impatience.
+
+"Well, it ain't so thrillin' you need to go into a thousand pieces
+over it," commented the Cape Codder dryly. "Some friend of Mr.
+Crowninshield's 'pears to be comin' down here on the afternoon train
+bringin' with him his wife--either his wife or daughter."
+
+"What!" Walter ejaculated weakly.
+
+"That's what he says," continued Mr. Burns, calmly rereading the
+document he held. "Evidently some relation--or at least a person who
+feels he has the right to boss, for he says he wants to be met at the
+train."
+
+"Did I get the name?"
+
+"Yes, that's here. I may's well read you the whole thing with the
+exception of the extra touches you've added."
+
+"I wish to goodness you would."
+
+"'Tain't nothin' interestin', as I said before," insisted Mr. Burns,
+readjusting his spectacles. "'_Coming on afternoon train and bringing
+Lola. Meet me, O'Con_----' Where in thunder you goin?" The operator
+gazed in amazement as a pair of chubby legs vanished up the platform.
+
+"That's all right, Mr. Burns! I don't want the paper back. You can
+keep it to remember me by. Thanks!" Then to Dick he shouted as he
+sprang into the car:
+
+"We're off for home fast as we can make it, old man! Such news! Your
+father will be crazy! Whee! Hurrah!"
+
+"If it is all the same to you," observed Dick with scorching sarcasm,
+"it would be pleasant to know the import of the message I took down."
+
+"_You_ took down--well I like that! _You_ took down! Why, man, you
+could not even read it yourself! It is the message _I_ took down, my
+son."
+
+"_We_ took down," corrected Dick.
+
+They both laughed.
+
+"O'Connel's coming this afternoon! What do you say to that?"
+
+"Great Scott! But what----"
+
+"He's bringing his wife or daughter," continued Walter with a wicked
+twinkle in his eye.
+
+"What?" exclaimed his bewildered listener.
+
+"Oh, this is rich! Rich!" continued His Highness with a paroxysm of
+laughter. "Wait until we tell your father! My soul and body! I'm sick
+laughing!"
+
+"You might tell me the joke."
+
+"I can't--I can't!" roared the boy. "It is too good!"
+
+"And--and what about Lola?" stammered Dick.
+
+"Why, you see Burns thought--my, but it's rich! Ha, ha! Burns
+understood that--oh, it's a scream!" and with that Dick was forced to
+be content.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS
+
+
+When Walter and Dick returned to Surfside with their tidings Mr.
+Crowninshield's satisfaction and delight could hardly be expressed.
+How he laughed at Burns's interpretation of O'Connel's message! And
+how Dick laughed when at last the joke was imparted to him!
+
+"Well, you two boys have been almighty clever between you," commented
+the elder man. "I would not have credited either of you with so many
+brains. To think of your getting that radio call! It is marvelous. And
+then to take it to Burns! That was a master stroke. The idea would
+never have entered my head. But what puzzles me is the message itself.
+Do you suppose O'Connel has kidnapped Lola; or how has he got
+possession of her? And how has he contrived to escape from the yacht
+without being held up? I don't understand it at all. It isn't likely
+Daly has let him walk off unmolested with the dog. The thing is more
+than I can fathom."
+
+"Perhaps Mr. Daly has relented and is sending Lola back," suggested
+Walter.
+
+"Not on your life, youngster! You don't know Daly," was the instant
+reply. "He would never admit himself beaten and give up that pup.
+Moreover the affair has cost him too much money, risk and trouble for
+him to abandon his scheme. If he wanted Lola bad enough to hire
+somebody to steal her he still wants her, mark my word! No, there is
+something behind all this that we haven't reached. O'Connel has made
+off with the dog somehow. Just how I am at a loss to tell. We shall
+have to wait until he himself comes and enlightens us."
+
+"Anything heard from Bob?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Yes, I've had a wire. They've got the men they were after all right
+and he will be back to-night."
+
+"What did he say about it?" asked Dick eagerly.
+
+"Nothing. You cannot tell an entire story in a telegram, you know. But
+he has accomplished what he went for. I fancy he always does," added
+the master of the estate with a smile.
+
+"Generally, sir," nodded Walter proudly.
+
+Mr. Crowninshield took a turn or two across the room.
+
+"I mean to keep Bob with us this winter if I can prevail upon him to
+stay," remarked the financier presently. "He is too able a chap to
+lose sight of. I can find a big paying berth for him in New York and
+if he will take it, your mother won't have to worry any further about
+money affairs. And if you, sonny, make good and do as well as your
+brother"--he patted Walter's shoulder, "I'll do the same for you some
+day. You have done well this summer. Finish up your school work and
+then we'll see."
+
+"You are very kind, Mr. Crowninshield," the boy stammered.
+
+"Not a bit. We all ought to give the chap who is willing to climb a
+hand up the ladder. What are we in the world for?"
+
+"I know my mother will be----"
+
+"There, there!" interrupted the great man. "Your mother has two fine
+sons that she may well be proud of. She has had a little hard sledding
+to get them on their feet, that's all. Now it is their turn to lift
+the burden and repay her. I am simply going to see that they get the
+chance to do it. The rest I feel certain I can leave to them."
+
+"We do want to help mother," Walter replied with sincerity.
+
+"I know you do; both of you have proved it this summer. From now on I
+intend your mother shall have no anxiety about her finances. We'll put
+her where she will be perfectly independent of those uncles of yours,
+and of summer boarders as well."
+
+The lip of His Highness trembled and he could not speak.
+
+"Some day I expect Dick and Nancy will be looking out for their mother
+and me just this way," continued Mr. Crowninshield half humorously.
+"There will be Lola to support, too."
+
+Dick burst into a peal of laughter.
+
+"You will have to cut out indulging in so many detectives if I'm to
+pay the bills, Dad," answered he.
+
+"Oh, you must not deprive me of my little luxuries," returned his
+father. "One must have some amusement, remember."
+
+"I'm afraid you will have to choose a cheaper one then."
+
+"I'll think it over. If, however, I discover you cannot maintain me
+and my trifling pleasures I may abandon you and turn to Walter to
+support me in my old age."
+
+Lighting a cigar he strolled away.
+
+The boys ambled toward the boathouse. There was still three hours
+before the Boston train, bringing O'Connel, would arrive. In the
+meantime they indulged in a swim; took the dogs for a run; had
+luncheon; paddled round the bay in Dick's canoe; and did everything
+they could think of to hurry the moments along.
+
+And when the car bearing Mr. Crowninshield and O'Connel did actually
+roll into the drive what a state of excitement they were in!
+
+Yes, there was Lola--there was no contesting that! She was a weak,
+wretched little dog but it was she.
+
+"However did you manage it, Mr. O'Connel?" cried Mrs. Crowninshield
+who had come racing down the steps and gathered her favorite into her
+arms.
+
+Breathlessly the group clustered about the wee puppy.
+
+"Well, the first thing I did was to convince myself the dog aboard
+the yacht was really the one we were after. One day when the party
+went ashore I hunted up the supposed Trixie and called her by her real
+name. You should have seen her prick up her ears, poor little mite! I
+had her licking my hand inside a minute. From that instant I began to
+scheme. I found I couldn't send you many radio calls because they
+watched me too closely. I think the mate suspected something--just
+what, I could not make out, for I don't think he was in the secret of
+the dog's capture. Anyway, I decided to steer clear of the wireless
+and trust to luck. At last my chance came. Some equipment was needed
+and it was decided I was to be put ashore and get it. By this time
+Lola, who for the last few days had refused to eat, had begun to show
+decidedly alarming symptoms. I diagnosed the case as plain
+homesickness and privately resolved to get her off the yacht if it was
+a possible thing; but Mr. Daly thought she had distemper or something
+and was mightily cut up. He didn't want the animal to die on his hands
+after all he had gone through to get her. Altogether he began to be
+pretty uneasy and you may be sure I did my part to make him so. Every
+chance I got I would remark how sick his dog seemed. Of course I
+wasn't supposed to know it wasn't one he had had for years. I kept
+harping on the puppie's health until I had him fussed to death. At
+last he said: 'I don't know but what you are right about Trixie,
+O'Connel. If they are going to put you ashore at Boston to buy
+supplies, why wouldn't it be a good plan for you to take the dog to
+the animal hospital there? You could leave her and later we could go
+back and get her. She does seem ailing, and I haven't the ghost of an
+idea what to do with a sick dog. Besides, she is a nuisance on the
+yacht if she must be catered to all the time.' Well, as you can
+imagine, I jumped at the chance although I took every pains not to let
+him suspect I did. I told him that of course if he wanted me to take
+the dog I should be glad to do it. I liked animals and also I wished
+to accommodate him. There was no denying, however, that to carry Lola
+with me would delay me in town. Still, if he desired it I would do my
+best to see that she was taken _where she would get well_."
+
+The big fellow paused and laughed heartily.
+
+"I've kept that promise, too," grinned he. "I have sent a note back to
+the _Siren_ recalling the phrase to Mr. Daly, and telling him that
+having decided Lola would recover more completely if placed under the
+protection of her rightful owners I was taking her back there."
+
+"I'd like to see his face when he gets that letter!" said Mr.
+Crowninshield, rubbing his hands.
+
+"So should I," roared O'Connel, his broad shoulders shaking.
+
+"But won't he----" Mrs. Crowninshield looked anxious.
+
+"Won't he what, my dear?" inquired her husband.
+
+"Aren't you afraid he will be angry and----" she held the wee dog
+closer in her arms.
+
+"He will be angry all right," agreed O'Connel. "But you need have no
+fears that he will do anything more, ma'am. He is on too dangerous
+ground. In the first place he cannot accuse me of appropriating his
+dog for I can answer him that it was stolen in the first place. And he
+cannot say I deserted his ship for all is fair in love and war, you
+know. No, Daly is a good sport and he will instantly understand that
+he has been beaten. We have been one too many for him, that is all.
+Moreover, he won't be feeling any too comfortable for he is still
+uncertain as to what Mr. Crowninshield may be planning to do with him.
+Oh, Daly won't stir up trouble. You can trust him for that. On the
+contrary he probably will clear out of reach of any possible storm. It
+is his only course and he will be canny enough to take it."
+
+"But you are not going to let him go scott free, are you Dad?"
+demanded Dick.
+
+"Oh, I don't know. What's the use of fighting a skunk like that? We
+have our dog back and Daly must acknowledge that he has been beaten.
+That is about all I want. He won't try anything more for I have a
+whiplash over him as he is well aware. Any time I can prosecute him
+for receiving stolen goods and being an accomplice in a robbery. With
+the evidence I have such a case would go overwhelmingly against him
+should it reach the courts. He is not for bringing that issue to a
+head, you may rest assured of that."
+
+"But you do mean to jail the men who actually took Lola, Father," put
+in Nancy. "If you do that, won't the whole affair have to be aired and
+Mr. Daly dragged into the trial?"
+
+Her father did not answer immediately and before he had framed his
+reply wheels were heard and Wheeler, driving Dick's racing car, drew
+up at the steps.
+
+"It's Bob, as I live!" shouted Walter. "Hello, Bobbie! Hello, old
+chap!"
+
+"Welcome home, Bob!" called Mr. Crowninshield going forward to meet
+the lad.
+
+"We have a surprise for you, Bob!" called Nancy. "Guess who's here?"
+
+"I can't," smiled the wireless man coming up to the piazza and shaking
+hands all round. Then his eye lighted on O'Connel.
+
+"My word! How did you get here, old top? Fired from your job?"
+
+For answer Mrs. Crowninshield held up Lola.
+
+"The pup herself! Well, well! What's been happening in my absence,
+anyhow?"
+
+"I don't wonder you want to know," cried Nancy above the general
+clamor.
+
+"Hush! Do stop everybody. You are making a far worse noise than ever
+came through that radiophone."
+
+"First let's have Bob's story. We haven't heard that yet," Mr.
+Crowninshield said. "Tell us what happened to you in New York, my
+boy."
+
+Bob dropped into a chair.
+
+"Well, as I wired you, Dacie and Lyman have landed your men. I
+recognized the fellow who came to Seaver Bay for water the instant I
+set eyes on him. He recognized me, too, and knew the game was up. It
+seems, though, that he and his pal are wanted in California on a prior
+charge. A big burglary, I think it is. Anyway, they have got to be
+taken out there and tried first. In the meantime our complaint can be
+lodged against them and----"
+
+"Aren't we to have the fun of jailing them after all?" asked Dick in
+dismay.
+
+"They will be jailed, never fear," returned Bob. "They will get a
+stiff sentence, too, I imagine."
+
+Mr. Crowninshield was silent and his wife now glanced toward him.
+
+"Are you disappointed, Archibald?" inquired she.
+
+"I guess," responded he slowly, "that is a good way out of our
+dilemma. The villains will be carried far away from this vicinity and
+will without doubt get all that's coming to them. What more can we
+ask? We've won the game--taken every trick and made a clean sweep of
+the whole business. Now that I've got Lola home I don't much care
+about the rest of it. What do you say we let well enough alone and
+drop it?"
+
+"I should say that with every day of your life you were growing wiser,
+my dear," answered his wife softly.
+
+
+FINIS.
+
+[Illustration: Publisher's logo]
+
+
+
+
+_The first volume in "The Invention Series"_
+
+PAUL AND THE PRINTING PRESS
+
+_By_ SARA WARE BASSETT
+
+With illustrations by A. O. Scott
+
+_12mo. Cloth. 218 pages._
+
+Paul Cameron, president of the class of 1920 in the Burmingham High
+School, conceives the idea of establishing a school paper, to the
+honor and glory of his class. So _The March Hare_ comes into
+existence, and Paul and his schoolfellows bend all their energies to
+making it a success. They have their difficulties and Paul in
+particular bears the brunt of their troubles, but _The March Hare_
+lives up to its reputation for life and liveliness and becomes not
+only a class success, but a town institution. This is the first volume
+in "The Invention Series."
+
+"It is the sort of story that boys of fourteen years and upward
+will enjoy and ought to enjoy, a combination that is rarely
+achieved."--_Boston Post._
+
+"A welcome volume which will appeal to boys who want a good story that
+will give some information as well."--_New York Evening Post._
+
+"'Paul and the Printing Press' not only has a keen story interest, but
+has the advantage of carrying much valuable information for all young
+folks for whom the mysterious and all-powerful printing press has an
+attraction."--_Boston Herald._
+
+
+LITTLE, BROWN & CO., PUBLISHERS
+
+34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Walter and the Wireless, by Sara Ware Bassett
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