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diff --git a/25858.txt b/25858.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..105a64a --- /dev/null +++ b/25858.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6126 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Radio Boys Trailing a Voice, by Allen +Chapman + + +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: The Radio Boys Trailing a Voice + or, Solving a Wireless Mystery + + +Author: Allen Chapman + + + +Release Date: June 20, 2008 [eBook #25858] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 25858-h.htm or 25858-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/5/25858/25858-h/25858-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/5/25858/25858-h.zip) + + + + + +The Radio Boys Series +(Trademark Registered) + +THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE + +Or + +Solving a Wireless Mystery + +by + +ALLEN CHAPMAN + +Author of +The Radio Boys' First Wireless +The Radio Boys at Mountain Pass +Ralph of The Roundhouse +Ralph on the Army Train, Etc. + +With Foreword by Jack Binns + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE MAN WAS EVIDENTLY RECEIVING A MESSAGE. +The Radio Boys Trailing a Voice. Page 153] + + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers + +Made in the United States of America + + * * * * * * + +BOOKS FOR BOYS +BY ALLEN CHAPMAN + +12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. + +THE RADIO BOYS SERIES +(Trademark Registered) + +THE RADIO BOYS' FIRST WIRELESS +Or Winning the Ferberton Prize + +THE RADIO BOYS AT OCEAN POINT +Or The Message that Saved the Ship + +THE RADIO BOYS AT THE SENDING STATION +Or Making Good in the Wireless Room + +THE RADIO BOYS AT MOUNTAIN PASS +Or The Midnight Call for Assistance + +THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE +Or Solving a Wireless Mystery + +THE RAILROAD SERIES + +RALPH OF THE ROUNDHOUSE +Or Bound to Become a Railroad Man + +RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER +Or Clearing the Track + +RALPH ON THE ENGINE +Or The Young Fireman of the Limited Mail + +RALPH ON THE OVERLAND EXPRESS +Or The Trials and Triumphs of a Young Engineer + +RALPH THE TRAIN DESPATCHER +Or The Mystery of the Pay Car + +RALPH ON THE ARMY TRAIN +Or The Young Railroader's Most Daring Exploit + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, New York + +Copyright, 1922, By +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +The Radio Boys Trailing a Voice + + * * * * * * + + + +FOREWORD + +BY JACK BINNS + +Within a comparatively short time after this volume is published the +human voice will be thrown across the Atlantic Ocean under conditions +that will lead immediately to the establishment of permanent telephone +communication with Europe by means of radio. + +Under the circumstances therefore the various uses of radio which are so +aptly outlined in it will give the reader an idea of the tremendous +strides that have been made in the art of communicating without wires +during the past few months. + +Of these one of the most important, which by the way is dealt with to a +large extent in the present volume, is that of running down crooks. It +must not be forgotten that criminals, and those criminally intent are +not slow to utilize the latest developments of the genius of man, and +radio is useful to them also. However, the forces of law and order +inevitably prevail, and radio therefore is going to be increasingly +useful in our general police work. + +Another important use, as outlined in this volume, is in the detection +of forest fires, and in fact generally protecting forest areas in +conjunction with aircraft. With these two means hundreds of thousands of +acres can now be patrolled in a single day more efficiently than a few +acres were previously covered. + +Radio is an ideal boy's hobby, but it is not limited to youth. +Nevertheless it offers a wonderful scope for the unquenchable enthusiasm +that always accompanies the application of youthful endeavor, and it is +a fact that the majority of the wonderful inventions and improvements +that have been made in radio have been produced by young men. + +Since this book was written there has been produced in this country the +most powerful vacuum tube in the world. In size it is small, but in +output it is capable of producing 100 kilowatts of electrical power. +Three such tubes will cast the human voice across the Atlantic Ocean +under any conditions, and transmit across the same vast space the +world's grandest music. Ten of these tubes joined in parallel at any of +the giant transmitting wireless telegraph stations would send telegraph +code messages practically around the world. + +[Illustration: author's signature "Jack Binns"] + + + +CONTENTS + + I. Splintering Glass 9 + II. In a Dilemma 20 + III. The Stuttering Voice 31 + IV. A Puzzling Mystery 43 + V. Marvels of Wireless 51 + VI. The Forest Ranger 61 + VII. Radio and the Fire Fiend 70 + VIII. Near Disaster 77 + IX. A Happy Inspiration 83 + X. The Escaped Convict 91 + XI. Down the Trap Door 99 + XII. Groping in Darkness 106 + XIII. Cunning Scoundrels 112 + XIV. A Daring Holdup 119 + XV. Off to the Woods 127 + XVI. Put to the Test 136 + XVII. The Bully Gets a Ducking 143 +XVIII. A Startling Discovery 151 + XIX. The Robbers' Code 160 + XX. On the Trail 168 + XXI. The Glimpse Through the Window 177 + XXII. A Nefarious Plot 185 +XXIII. Preparing an Ambush 193 + XXIV. Lying in Wait 202 + XXV. An Exciting Struggle 208 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +SPLINTERING GLASS + + +"You fellows want to be sure to come round to my house to-night and +listen in on the radio concert," said Bob Layton to a group of his +chums, as they were walking along the main street of Clintonia one day +in the early spring. + +"I'll be there with bells on," replied Joe Atwood, as he kicked a piece +of ice from his path. "Trust me not to overlook anything when it comes +to radio. I'm getting to be more and more of a fan with every day that +passes. Mother insists that I talk of it in my sleep, but I guess she's +only fooling." + +"Count on yours truly too," chimed in Herb Fennington. "I got stirred up +about radio a little later than the rest of you fellows, but now I'm +making up for lost time. Slow but sure is my motto." + +"Slow is right," chaffed Jimmy Plummer. "But what on earth are you sure +of?" + +"I'm sure," replied Herb, as he deftly slipped a bit of ice down Jimmy's +back, "that in a minute you'll be dancing about like a howling dervish." + +His prophecy was correct, for Jimmy both howled and danced as he tried +vainly to extricate the icy fragment that was sliding down his spine. +His contortions were so ludicrous that the boys broke into roars of +laughter. + +"Great joke, isn't it?" snorted Jimmy, as he bent nearly double. "If you +had a heart you'd lend a hand and get this out." + +"Let's stand him on his head," suggested Joe. "That's the only thing I +can think of. Then it'll slide out." + +Hands were outstretched in ready compliance, but Jimmy concluded that +the remedy was worse than the presence of the ice and managed to keep +out of reach. + +"Never mind, Jimmy," said Bob consolingly. "It'll melt pretty soon, +anyhow." + +"Yes, and it'll be a good thing for Jimmy to grin and bear it," added +Herb brightly. "It's things like that that develop one's character." + +"'It's easy enough to be pleasant, when life moves along like a song, +but the man that's worth while, is the man who can smile when +everything's going dead wrong,'" quoted Joe. + +Jimmy, not at all comforted by these noble maxims, glared at his +tormentors, and at last Bob came to his relief, and, putting his hand +inside his collar, reached down his back and brought up the piece of +ice, now greatly reduced in size. + +"Let's have it," demanded Jimmy, as Bob was about to throw it away. + +"What do you want it for?" asked Bob. "I should think you'd seen enough +of it." + +"On the same principle that a man likes to look at his aching tooth +after the dentist has pulled it out," grinned Joe. + +"Don't give it to him!" exclaimed Herb, edging away out of reach, justly +fearing that he might feel the vengeance of the outraged Jimmy. + +"You gave it to him first, so it's his," decided Bob, with the wisdom of +a Solomon, as he handed it over to the victim. + +Jimmy took it and started for Herb, but just then Mr. Preston, the +principal of the high school, came along and Jimmy felt compelled to +defer his revenge. + +"How are you, boys?" said Mr. Preston, with a smile. "You seem to be +having a good time." + +"Jimmy is," returned Herb, and Jimmy covertly shook his fist at him. +"We're making the most of the snow and ice while it lasts." + +"Well, I don't think it will last much longer," surmised Mr. Preston, as +he walked along with them. "As a matter of fact, winter is 'lingering in +the lap of spring' a good deal longer than usual this year." + +"I suppose you had a pleasant time in Washington?" remarked Joe +inquiringly, referring to a trip from which the principal had returned +only a few days before. + +"I did, indeed," was the reply. "To my mind it's the most interesting +city in the country. I've been there a number of times, and yet I always +leave there with regret. There's the Capitol, the noblest building on +this continent and to my mind the finest in the world. Then there's the +Congressional Library, only second to it in beauty, and the Washington +Monument soaring into the air to a height of five hundred and fifty-five +feet, and the superb Lincoln Memorial, and a host of other things +scarcely less wonderful. + +"But the pleasantest recollection I have of the trip," he went on, "was +the speech I heard the President make just before I came away. It was +simply magnificent." + +"It sure was," replied Bob enthusiastically. "Every word of it was worth +remembering. He certainly knows how to put things." + +"I suppose you read it in the newspaper the next day," said Mr. Preston, +glancing at him. + +"Better than that," responded Bob, with a smile. "We all heard it over +the radio while he was making it." + +"Indeed!" replied the principal. "Then you boys heard it even before I +did." + +"What do you mean?" asked Joe, in some bewilderment. "I understood that +you were in the crowd that listened to him." + +"So I was," Mr. Preston answered, in evident enjoyment of their +mystification. "I sat right before him while he was speaking, not more +than a hundred feet away, saw the motion of his lips as the words fell +from them and noted the changing expression of his features. And yet I +say again that you boys heard him before I did." + +"I don't quite see," said Herb, in great perplexity. "You were only a +hundred feet away and we were hundreds of miles away." + +"And if you had been thousands of miles away, what I said would still be +true," affirmed Mr. Preston. "No doubt there were farmers out on the +Western plains who heard him before I did. + +"You see it's like this," the schoolmaster went on to explain. "Sound +travels through the air to a distance of a little over a hundred feet in +the tenth part of a second. But in that same tenth of a second that it +took the President's voice to reach me in the open air radio could have +carried it eighteen thousand six hundred miles." + +"Whew!" exclaimed Jimmy. "Eighteen thousand six hundred miles! Not feet, +fellows, but miles!" + +"That's right," said Bob thoughtfully. "Though I never thought of it in +just that way before. But it's a fact that radio travels at the rate of +one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles a second." + +"Equal to about seven and a half times around the earth," observed the +principal, smiling. "In other words, the people who were actually +sitting in the presence of the President were the very last to hear what +he said. + +"Put it in still another way. Suppose the President were speaking +through a megaphone in addition to the radio and by the use of the +megaphone the voice was carried to people in the audience a third of a +mile away. By the time those persons heard it, the man in the moon could +have heard it too--that is," he added, with a laugh, "supposing there +really were a man in the moon and that he had a radio receiving set." + +"It surely sounds like fairyland," murmured Joe. + +"Radio is the fairyland of science," replied Mr. Preston, with +enthusiasm, "in the sense that it is full of wonder and romance. But +there the similarity ceases. Fairyland is a creation of the fancy or the +imagination. Radio is based upon the solid rock of scientific truth. Its +principles are as certain as those of mathematics. Its problems can be +demonstrated as exactly as that two and two make four. But it's full of +what seem to be miracles until they are shown to be facts. And there's +scarcely a day that passes without a new one of these 'miracles' coming +to light." + +He had reached his corner by this time, and with a pleasant wave of his +hand he left them. + +"He sure is a thirty-third degree radio fan," mused Joe, as they watched +his retreating figure. + +"Just as most all bright men are becoming," declared Bob. "The time is +coming when a man who doesn't know about radio or isn't interested in it +will be looked on as a man without intelligence." + +"Look here!" exclaimed Jimmy suddenly. "What's become of my piece of +ice?" + +He opened his hand, which was red and wet and dripping. + +"That's one on you, Jimmy, old boy," chuckled Joe. "It melted away while +you were listening to the prof." + +"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," said Herb complacently. +"Jimmy meant to put that down my back." + +"Oh, there are plenty of other pieces," said Jimmy, as he picked one up +and started for Herb. + +Herb started to run, but slipped and fell on the icy sidewalk. + +"You know what the Good Book says," chaffed Joe. "The wicked stand on +slippery places." + +"Yes, I see they do," replied Herb, as quick as a flash, looking up at +him. "But I can't." + +The laugh was on Joe, and Herb felt so good over the retort that he did +not mind the fall, though it had jarred him considerably. He scrambled +to his feet and brushed off his clothes, while Jimmy, feeling that his +comrade had been punished enough, magnanimously threw away the piece of +ice that was to have been the instrument of his vengeance. + +"The reason why I wanted you fellows to be sure to be on hand to-night," +resumed Bob, as they walked along, "was that I saw in the program of the +Newark station in the newspaper this morning that Larry Bartlett was +down for an entirely new stunt. You know what a hit he made with his +imitations of birds." + +"He sure did," agreed Joe. "To my mind he had it all over the birds +themselves. I never got tired listening to him." + +"He certainly was a dabster at it," chimed in Jimmy. + +"Now he's going in to imitate animals," explained Bob. "I understand +that he's been haunting the Zoo for weeks in every minute of his spare +time studying the bears and lions and tigers and elephants and snakes, +and getting their roars and growls and trumpeting and hisses down to a +fine point. I bet he'll be a riot when he gives them to us over the +radio." + +"He sure will," assented Herb. "He's got the natural gift in the first +place, and then he practices and practices until he's got everything +down to perfection." + +"He's a natural entertainer," affirmed Bob. "I tell you, fellows, we +never did a better day's work than when we got Larry that job at the +sending station. Not only was it a good thing for Larry himself when he +was down and out, but think of the pleasure he's been able to give to +hundreds of thousands of people. I'll bet there's no feature on the +program that is waited for more eagerly than his." + +By this time the boys had reached the business portion of the town and +the short spring day was drawing to a close. Already lights were +beginning to twinkle in the stores that lined both sides of the street. + +"Getting near supper time," remarked Bob. "Guess we'd better be getting +along home. Don't forget to come--Gee whiz!" + +The ejaculation was wrung from him by a snowball that hit him squarely +in the breast, staggering him for a moment. + +Bang! and another snowball found a target in Joe. It struck his shoulder +and spattered all over his face and neck. + +"That felt as though it came from a gun!" he exclaimed. "It's the +hardest slam I ever got." + +"Who did it?" demanded Bob, peering about him in the gathering darkness. + +Halfway up the block they saw a group of dark figures darting into an +alleyway. + +"It's Buck Looker and his crowd!" cried Jimmy. "I saw them when they ran +under that arc light." + +"Just like that crowd to take us unawares," said Bob. "But if they're +looking for a tussle we can accommodate them. Get busy, fellows, and let +them have something in return for these two sockdolagers." + +They hastily gathered up several snowballs apiece, which were easily +made because the snow was soft and packed readily, and ran toward the +alleyway just in time to see Buck and his crowd emerging from their +hiding place. + +There was a spirited battle for a few minutes, each side making and +receiving some smashing hits. Buck's gang had the advantage in that they +had a large number of missiles already prepared, and even in the +excitement of the fight the radio boys noticed how unusually hard they +were. + +"Must have been soaking them in water until they froze," grunted Jimmy, +as one of them caught him close to the neck and made him wince. + +As soon as their extra ammunition was exhausted and the contending +forces in this respect were placed more on a footing of equality, Buck +and his cronies began to give ground before the better aim and greater +determination of Bob and his comrades. + +"Give it to them, fellows!" shouted Bob, as the retreat of their +opponents was rapidly becoming a rout. + +At the moment he called out, the progress of the fight had brought the +radio boys directly in front of the windows of one of the largest +drygoods stores in the town. + +In the light that came from the windows Bob saw a snowball coming +directly for his head. He dodged, and---- + +Crash! There was the sound of splintering glass, and the snowy missile +whizzed through the plate glass window! + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN A DILEMMA + + +There was a moment of stupor and paralysis as the meaning of the crash +dawned upon the radio boys. + +Buck and his crowd had vanished and were footing it up the fast-darkening +street at the top of their speed. + +The first impulse of the radio boys was to follow their example. They +knew that none of them was responsible for the disaster, and they were +of no mind to be sacrificed on behalf of the gang that had attacked +them. And they knew that in affairs of that kind the ones on the ground +were apt to suffer the more severely. + +They actually started to run away, but had got only a few feet from the +scene of the smash when Bob, who had been thinking quickly, called a +halt. + +"None of this stuff for us, fellows," he declared. "We've got to face +the music. I'm not going to have a hunted feeling, even if we succeeded +in getting away. We know we didn't do it and we'll tell the plain truth. +If that doesn't serve, why so much the worse for us. But at any rate we +won't be despising ourselves as cowards." + +As usual, his comrades accorded him the leadership and fell in with his +plan, although it was not without many misgivings that they awaited the +coming of the angry proprietor of the place, who had already started in +pursuit of them, accompanied by many others who had been attracted by +the crash and whose numbers were being rapidly augmented. + +"Here are the fellows that smashed my window!" cried Mr. Larsen, the +proprietor of the drygoods store, rushing up to them and shaking his +fist in their faces. "Where are the police?" he shouted, looking around +him. "I'll have them arrested for malicious damage." + +And while he faced them, gesticulating wildly, his face purple with +anger and excitement, it may be well for the benefit of those who have +not read the preceding volumes of this series to tell briefly who the +radio boys are and what had been their adventures before the time this +story opens. + +The acknowledged leader of the boys was Bob Layton, son of a prosperous +chemist of Clintonia, in which town Bob had been born and brought up. +Mr. Layton was a respected citizen of the town and foremost in its civic +activities. Clintonia was a thriving little city of about ten thousand +population, situated on the Shagary River, about seventy-five miles from +the city of New York. + +Bob at the beginning of this story was about sixteen years old, tall and +stalwart and a clean-cut specimen of upstanding American youth. He was +of rather dark complexion and had a pair of eyes that looked straight at +one. Those eyes were usually merry, but could flash with indignation +when circumstances required it. He was never on the lookout for trouble, +but was always ready to meet it half way, and his courageous character +together with his vigorous physique had made him prominent in the sports +of the boys of his own age. He was a crack baseball player and one of +the chief factors of the high school football eleven. No one in +Clintonia was held in better liking. + +Bob's special chum was Joe Atwood, son of the leading physician of the +town. Joe was fair in complexion and sturdy in makeup. He and Bob had +been for many years almost inseparable companions, Bob usually acting as +captain in anything in which they might be engaged, while Joe served as +first mate. The latter had a hot temper, and his impulsiveness sometimes +got him into trouble and would have involved him in scrapes oftener if +it had not been for the cooler head and steadying influence of Bob. + +Two other friends of the boys who were almost always in their company +were Herb Fennington, whose father kept a large general store in the +town, and Jimmy Plummer, son of a respected carpenter and contractor. +Herb was of a rather indolent disposition, but was jolly and +good-natured and always full of jokes, some of them good, others poor, +which he frequently sought to spring on his companions. + +Jimmy was a trifle younger than his mates, fat and round and excessively +fond of the good things of life. His liking for that special dainty had +gained him the nickname of "Doughnuts," and few of such nicknames were +ever more fittingly bestowed. + +Apart from the liking that drew them together, the boys had another link +in their common interest in radio. From the time that this wonderful new +science had begun to spread over the country with such amazing rapidity, +they had been among the most ardent "fans." Everything that they could +read or learn on the subject was devoured with avidity, and they were +almost constantly at the home of one or the other, listening in on their +radio sets and, lately, sending messages, in the latter of which they +had now attained an unusual degree of proficiency. + +In decided contrast to Bob and his friends was another group of +Clintonia youth, between whom and the radio boys there was a pronounced +antipathy. The leader of this group was Buck Looker, a big overgrown, +hulking boy, dull in his studies and a bully in character. His two +special cronies were Carl Lutz, a boy of about his own age, and Terry +Mooney, both of them noted for their mean and sneaking dispositions. +Buck lorded it over them, and as his father was one of the richest men +in the town they cringed before him and were always ready to back him up +in any piece of meanness and mischief. + +The enthusiasm of Bob and his friends for radio was fostered by the help +and advice of the Reverend Doctor Dale, the clergyman in charge of the +Old First Church of Clintonia, who, in addition to being an eloquent +preacher, was keenly interested in all latter-day developments of +science, especially radio. Whenever the boys got into trouble with their +sets they knew that all they had to do was to go to the genial doctor +and be helped out of their perplexities. + +An incident that gave a great impetus to their interest in the subject +was the offering of prizes by Mr. Ferberton, the member of Congress for +their district, for the best radio sets turned out by the boys of his +congressional district by their own endeavors. Bob, Joe, and Jimmy +entered into this competition with great zest. Herb with his habitual +indolence kept out of it. + +While the boys were engrossed with their radio experiments an incident +happened in town that led them into many unexpected adventures. An +automobile run by a visitor in town, a Miss Nellie Berwick, got out of +her control and dashed through the window of a store. Bob and Joe, who +happened to be at hand, rescued the girl from imminent peril, while Herb +and Jimmy did good work in curbing the fire that followed the accident. + +How the boys learned of the orphan girl's story, got on the track of the +rascal who had tried to swindle her and forced him to make restitution; +what part the radio played in bringing the fellow to terms; how they +detected and thwarted the plans of Buck Looker and his cronies to wreck +their sets; are told in the first volume of this series entitled: "The +Radio Boys' First Wireless; Or, Winning the Ferberton Prize." + +That summer the chums went to Ocean Point on the seashore, where many of +the Clintonia folks had established a little bungalow colony of their +own. What adventures they met with there; what strides they made in the +practical work of radio; how they were enabled by their knowledge and +quick application of it to save a storm-tossed ship on which members of +their own families were voyaging; how they ran down and captured the +scoundrel Cassey who had knocked out with a blackjack the operator at +the sending station and looted his safe--these and many more incidents +are narrated in the second volume of this series entitled: "The Radio +Boys at Ocean Point; Or, The Message That Saved the Ship." + +While the summer season was yet at its height, the boys had occasion to +rescue the occupants of a rowboat that had been run down by men in a +stolen motor boat. The two rescued youths proved to be vaudeville +actors, and the boys grew very friendly with them. The injury that +crippled one of them, Larry Bartlett; the false accusation brought +against him by Buck Looker; the way in which the boys succeeded in +getting work for Larry at the sending station, where his remarkable gift +of mimicry received recognition; how they themselves were placed on the +broadcasting program, and the clever way in which they trapped the +motor-boat thieves; are told in the third volume of the series, +entitled: "The Radio Boys at the Sending Station; Or, Making Good in the +Wireless Room." + +The coming of fall brought the boys back to Clintonia, where, however, +the usual course of their studies was interrupted by an epidemic that +made necessary for a time the closing of the schools. This gave the +radio boys an opportunity to make a trip to Mountain Pass, a popular +resort in the hills. Here they came in contact with a group of plotters +who were trying to put through a nefarious deal and were able to thwart +the rascals through the use of radio. By that same beneficent science +too they were able to save a life when other means of communication were +blocked. And not the least satisfactory feature was the utter +discomfiture they were able to visit upon Buck Looker and his gang. +These and many other adventures are told in the fourth volume of the +series, entitled: "The Radio Boys at Mountain Pass; Or, The Midnight +Call for Assistance." + +And now to return to the radio boys as they stood facing the angry +storekeeper amid a constantly growing throng of curious onlookers. They +had been in many tighter fixes in their life but none that was more +embarrassing. + +"I'll have them arrested!" the storekeeper repeated, his voice rising to +a shrill treble. + +"Now look here," replied Bob. "Suppose you cut out this talk of having +us arrested. In the first place, we didn't break your window. In the +second place, if we had it wouldn't be a matter of arrest but of making +good the damage." + +"All right then," said Mr. Larsen eagerly, catching at the last word. +"Make good the damage. It will cost at least two hundred dollars to +replace that window." + +"I think you're a little high," returned Bob. "But that doesn't matter. +I didn't say that we'd make the damage good. I said that if we'd broken +it, it would be a matter of making good. But we didn't break it, and +that lets us out I'll say." + +"It's easy to say that," sneered the merchant. "How do I know that you +didn't break it? It would of course be natural for you to try to lie out +of it." + +"It wouldn't be natural for us to lie out of it," replied Bob, +controlling his temper with difficulty. "That isn't our way of doing +things. Why do you suppose we stayed here when it would have been +perfectly easy for us to get away? It wasn't a snowball we threw that +broke your window. It was one thrown by the fellows we were fighting +with." + +"Always the other fellow that does it!" replied the storekeeper angrily. +"Who was that other fellow or fellows then? Tell me that. Come on now, +tell me that." + +Bob kept silent. He had no love for Buck Looker and his gang, who had +always tried to injure him, but he was not going to inform. + +"See," said Mr. Larsen, misunderstanding his silence. "When I ask you, +you can't tell me. You're the fellows that did it, all right, and you'll +pay me for it or I'll have you put in jail, that's what I'll do." + +"I saw the fellows who were firing snowballs in this direction," spoke +up Mr. Talley, a caterer, pushing his way through the throng. "I nearly +bumped into them as they were running away. Buck Looker was one of them. +I saw his face plainly and can't be mistaken. The others I'm not so sure +of, but I think they were Carl Lutz and Terry Mooney. + +"For my part, Mr. Larsen," he continued, "I don't see how a snowball +could break that heavy plate-glass window, anyway. My windows are no +heavier, and they've often had snowballs come against them without doing +any harm. Are you sure it wasn't something else that smashed the glass?" + +"Dead sure," replied Larsen. "Come inside and see for yourself." + +He led the way into his store, and Mr. Talley, the boys, and a number of +others crowded in after him. + +"Look," said Larsen, pointing to a piece of dress goods that had been +hanging in the window. "See where the snow has splashed against it? +There's no question that a snowball did it. You can see the bits of snow +around here yet if you'll only look." + +This was true and the evidence seemed conclusive. But just then Bob's +keen eyes detected something else. He stooped down and brought up quite +a large sharp-edged stone which still had some fragments of snow +adhering to it and held it up for all to see. + +"Here's the answer," he said. "This stone was packed in the snowball, +and that is why it smashed the window!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE STUTTERING VOICE + + +There was a stir of interest and exclamations of surprise as those in +the store crowded closer to get a better view. + +"That explains it," said Mr. Talley, as he examined the missile. "I was +sure that no mere ball of snow could break that heavy window. To put +such a stone in a snowball was little less than criminal," he went on +gravely. "If that had hit any one on the temple it would almost +certainly have killed him." + +"It was coming straight for my head when I dodged," said Bob. + +"That's another proof that it wasn't any ball we threw that broke the +window," put in Joe. "Each one of us is willing to swear that there was +no stone in any ball that we threw." + +"Not only then but at any time," put in Herb. "Only a mean coward would +do a thing like that. None of us has done it any time in his life." + +"I believe that," replied Mr. Talley. "I've known all you boys ever +since you were little kids and I know you wouldn't be capable of it." + +"That's all very well," said Mr. Larsen. "But that doesn't pay for my +window. Whether any of you boys threw the ball or not you can't deny +that you were engaged in a snowball fight right in front of my windows. +If the fight hadn't been going on the window wouldn't have been +smashed." + +There was a certain amount of justice in this, and the boys were fair +enough to acknowledge it. + +"I suppose you are right there, Mr. Larsen," said Bob regretfully. "We +ought to have kept out of range of the windows, but in the excitement we +forgot all about that. Then, too, we never would have supposed that any +ordinary snowball would have broken the window. Perhaps that was in the +back of our minds, if we thought of it at all." + +"Is the window insured?" queried Mr. Talley. + +"Yes, it is," answered the storekeeper. + +"Well, then, that lets you out," remarked Mr. Talley, with a note of +relief in his voice. "That puts the matter up to the insurance company. +If they want to take any legal steps they can; and of course they ought +to be compensated by the parents of the boy who may be found guilty of +having thrown the ball with a stone in it. For my part, I doubt very +much that it can ever be proved, unless the boy himself owns up to it." + +"Think of Buck Looker ever owning up to anything!" muttered Jimmy. + +"As for these boys," continued Mr. Talley, "I am perfectly sure in my +own mind that they are telling the truth. You'll have to look for the +culprit in the other crowd, and I've already told you who they are, or +who one of them is, at least." + +"Well," said the storekeeper, who by this time had cooled down +considerably, "that, I suppose, will be something for the insurance +company to settle. But by the terms of my contract with them I'll have +to help them all I can to find out the responsible party, and I'll have +to give them the names of all the boys concerned in the fight." + +"That's all right," responded Bob. "You know our folks and you know that +they're good for any judgment that may be found against them. But I'm +sure it will be somebody else that will have to pay the bill." + +There was nothing more to be done for the present, and the boys filed +out of the store, after having expressed their thanks to Mr. Talley for +the way he had championed their cause. + +"Gee!" murmured Joe, as they went up the street toward their homes, "I +know how a fellow feels now after he's been put through the third +degree." + +"It was rather a hot session," agreed Bob. "But I'm glad we had it out +with him instead of running away. It's always best to take the bull by +the horns. And you can't blame Mr. Larsen for feeling sore about it. Any +one of us would probably have felt the same way." + +"Sure thing," admitted Herb. "But think of that dirty trick of Buck +Looker in putting stones in snowballs! It wasn't only that one that went +through the window. Every time I got hit it made me jump." + +"Same here," said Jimmy. "I was thinking all the time that they were the +hardest snowballs I ever felt, but it never came into my mind that there +were stones in them." + +"Trust Buck to be up to every mean trick that any one ever thought of," +returned Bob. "He hasn't got over the way we showed him up at Mountain +Pass. He thought he had us dead to rights in the matter of that burned +cottage, and it made him wild to see the way we came out on top. He and +his gang would do anything to get even." + +"It will be interesting to see what he'll say when this matter of the +window is put up to him and his pals," remarked Herb. + +"Not a doubt in the world what he'll say," replied Joe. "He'll swear +till he's blue in the face that he never dreamed of using a stone in the +snowballs. Do you remember how he told us that he'd lie in court to keep +us from putting anything over on him? Any one that expects to get the +truth out of Buck is barking up the wrong tree. I guess the insurance +company would better kiss their money good-by." + +"I'm afraid so," returned Bob. "It was dark and there probably weren't +any witnesses who saw them put the stones in, and it is likely that the +company will have to let the matter drop." + +The lads had reached Bob's gate by this time, and they separated with a +promise to come over and listen in on the radio later on. + +Bob told the whole story to his parents at the supper table that night, +and his father and mother listened with great interest and some concern. + +"I'm sorry you were mixed up in the thing at all, Bob," his father +remarked thoughtfully. "Being in it, however, you acted just as you +should have done. Just how far you and your friends may be held +responsible, in case they can't find the one who actually threw the ball +that broke the window, I'm not lawyer enough to say. It's barely +possible that there may be some ground for action on the score of +culpable carelessness in taking part in a snowball fight in front of +store windows, and of course you were wrong in doing that. But the total +amount involved is not very great after all, and it would be divided up +among the parents of the four of you, so there's nothing much to worry +about. It would gall me though to have to pay for damages that were +really caused by that cub of Looker's." + +"I'm sorry, Dad," said Bob. "I'm hoping yet that something may develop +that will put the thing up to Buck, or whoever it was of his gang that +actually threw the ball." + +"Let's hope so," returned Mr. Layton, though without much conviction in +his voice, and dismissed the subject. + +A little while afterward the other three boys came over to Bob's house +to listen in on the radio concert. So much time, however, had been taken +up in discussing the afternoon's adventure that they missed Larry's +offering, which was among the first on the program. This was a keen +disappointment, which was tempered, however, by the probability that +they could hear him some evening later in the week. + +"Sorry," remarked Joe. "But it only means that we still have a treat in +store when the old boy begins to roar and growl and hiss so as to make +us think that a whole menagerie has broken loose and is chasing us. In +the meantime we can fix up that aerial so as to get a little better +results." + +"Funny thing I noticed the other day," remarked Bob, as they embarked +upon some experiments. + +"All sorts of funny things in the radio game," observed Joe. "Something +new turns up every day. Things in your set that you think you can't do +without you find you can do without and get results just about as +usual." + +"Just what I was going to tell you," returned Bob. "You must be +something of a prophet." + +"Oh, I wouldn't go quite so far as to say that," replied Joe, with mock +modesty. + +"Isn't he the shrinking violet?" chaffed Jimmy. + +"Stop your kidding, you boobs, and let a regular fellow talk," chided +Bob. "What I was going to say was that while I was tinkering with the +set I disconnected the ground wire. Of course I thought that would put +the receiver out of business for the time, and I was almost knocked +silly when I found that I could hear the concert that was going on just +about as well as though the wire had been connected. How do you account +for that?" + +"Don't account for it at all," replied Herb. "Probably just a freak, and +might not happen again in a thousand times. Likely it was one of the +unexplainable things that happen once in a while. Maybe there was a +ground connection of some kind, if not by the wire. I wouldn't bank on +it." + +"It's queer, too, how many kinds of things can be used as aerials," put +in Joe. "I heard the other day of a man in an apartment house where the +owner objected to aerials, who used the clothesline for that purpose. +The wire ran through the rope, which covered it so that it couldn't be +seen. It didn't prevent its use as a clothesline either, for he could +hear perfectly when the wash was hanging on it." + +"Oh, almost anything will do as an aerial," chimed in Jimmy. "The rib of +an umbrella, the rainspout at the side of the house, the springs of a +bed give good results. And that's one of the mighty good things about +radio. People that have to count the pennies don't have to buy a lot of +expensive materials. They can put a set together with almost any old +thing that happens to be knocking around the house." + +Bob had been working steadily, and, as the room was warm, his hands were +moist with perspiration. He had unhooked an insulated copper wire that +led to his outside aerial. His head phones were on, as he had been +listening to the radio concert while he worked. + +"I'll have to miss the rest of that selection, I guess," he remarked +regretfully, as he unhooked the wire. "It's a pity, too, for that's one +of the finest violin solos I ever heard. Great Scott! What does that +mean?" + +The ejaculation was wrenched from him by the fact that although he had +disconnected the wire he still heard the music--a little fainter than +before but still with every note distinct. + +He could scarcely believe his ears and looked at his friends in great +bewilderment. + +"What's the matter?" asked Joe, jumping to his feet. "Get a shock?" + +"Not in the sense you mean, but in another way, yes," replied Bob, still +holding the exposed end of the copper wire in his fingers. "What do you +think of that, fellows? I'm an aerial!" + +"Come out of your trance," adjured Herb unbelievingly. "They talk that +way in the insane asylums." + +"Clap on your headphones," cried Bob, too intent on his discovery to pay +any attention to the gibe. + +They did so, and were amazed at hearing the selection as plainly as did +Bob himself. + +The latter had been holding the disconnected wire so that his fingers +just touched the uncovered copper portion at the end. Now he hastily +scraped off several inches of the insulation and grasped the copper wire +with his hand. Instantly the volume of sound grew perceptibly greater. + +Hardly knowing what to make of it, he scraped off still more of the +insulation. + +"Here, you fellows," he shouted. "Each of you take hold of this." + +Joe was the first to respond, and the sound became louder. Then Herb and +Jimmy followed suit, and it was evident that they served as amplifiers, +for with each additional hand the music swelled to greater volume. + +The boys looked at each other as if asking whether this was all real or +if they had suddenly been transferred to some realm of fancy. They would +not have been greatly surprised to wake up suddenly and find that they +had been dreaming. + +But there was no delusion about it and they listened without saying +another word until, in a glorious strain of melody, the selection came +to an end. Nor did they break the silence until a band orchestra was +announced and crashed into a brilliant overture. + +While it was still in full swing, Bob had an inspiration. He took off +his headphones and clamped them on to the phonograph that stood on a +table near by. Instantly the music became intensified and filled the +room. When all their hands were on the wire, it became so loud that they +had to close the doors of the phonograph. + +"Well," gasped Bob, when the last strain had died away and the +demonstration was complete, "that's something new on me." + +"Never dreamed of anything like it," said Joe, sinking back in his +chair. "Of course we know that the human body has electrical capacity +and that operators sometimes have to use metal shields to protect the +tube from the influence of the hand. And in our loop aerial at Ocean +Point you noticed that the receptivity of the tube was modified when we +touched it with our fingers." + +"Of course, in theory," observed Bob thoughtfully, "the human body +possesses inductance as well as capacity, and so might serve as an +antenna. But I never thought of demonstrating it in practice." + +"So Bob is an aerial," grinned Herb. "I always knew he was a 'live +wire,' but I never figured him out as an antenna." + +"And don't forget that if Bob is an aerial we're amplifiers," put in +Jimmy. + +"There's glory enough for all," laughed Joe. "We'll have to tell Doctor +Dale and Frank Brandon about this. We've got so many tips from them that +it's about time we made it the other way around." + +They were so excited about this new development which they had stumbled +upon purely through accident that they sat talking about it for a long +time until Bob chanced to look at his watch. + +"Just have time for the last selection," he remarked, as he reconnected +the aerial. "We'll wind up in the regular way this time. It's an aria +from Lucia and I don't want to miss it." + +He had some difficulty in making his adjustment, as there was a lot of +interference at the moment. + +"Raft of amateurs horning in," he muttered. "All of them seem to have +chosen just this time to do it. I wonder----" + +He stopped as though he had been shot, and listened intently. Then he +beckoned to the others to adjust their headphones. + +Into the receiver was coming a succession of stuttering sounds that +eventually succeeded in framing intelligible words. Ordinarily this +might have provoked laughter, but not now. They had heard that voice +before. + +It was the voice of Dan Cassey! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A PUZZLING MYSTERY + + +For the second time that evening the radio boys thought they must be +dreaming. + +Cassey! Cassey the swindler, whom they had compelled to make restitution +to the victim he had wronged. Cassey the thug, whom they had captured in +that wild chase after he had looted the safe and nearly killed the +operator in the sending station. Cassey the convict, who, to their +certain knowledge, had been sentenced to a long term in prison. + +What was Cassey doing over the radio? That it was that scoundrel they +had no doubt. The stuttering, the tones of the voice, the occasional +whistle which he indulged in in order to go on--all these things they +recognized perfectly. It was the wildest kind of improbability that he +had a double anywhere who could reproduce him so perfectly. + +Gone now was any thought of the aria from Lucia. Bob motioned +frantically to Jimmy to hand him a pencil and a sheet of paper. Then he +jotted down the words, as after great efforts they fell one by one from +the stutterer's lips. As Bob did this he bent over the paper in frowning +perplexity. The words themselves were intelligible, but they did not +seem to make sense, nor was there anywhere a connected sentence. + +Finally the stammering voice ceased, and after they had waited several +minutes longer to make sure that it would not resume, the boys took off +their headphones and gazed at each other in utter bewilderment. + +"Well, I'll be blessed!" exclaimed Joe. "That villain Cassey, of all men +on the face of the earth! What do you make of it, Bob?" + +"I don't know what to make of it," confessed Bob. "It has simply knocked +me endways. I never thought to hear of that rascal again for the rest of +my life. Yet here he is, less than a year after he's been sentenced, +talking over the radio." + +"Perhaps he's received a pardon," hazarded Jimmy. + +"Not at all likely," answered Bob. "It isn't as though he were a first +offender. He's old in crime. You remember the raking over the judge gave +him when he sentenced him. Told him if he had it in his power he'd give +him more than he actually did. No, I think we can dismiss that idea." + +"Isn't it possible," suggested Herb, "that he's employed as radio +operator in the prison? He understands sending and receiving all right." + +"That doesn't strike me hard either," Bob objected. "Likely enough the +prison is equipped with a wireless set, but it isn't probable that +they'd let a prisoner operate it. It would give him too good a chance to +get in touch with confederates outside the jail. Then, too, his +stuttering would make him a laughing stock. + +"The only explanation that I can see," he went on, "is that he's +escaped, and he's sending this message on his own hook. Though what the +message is about is beyond me." + +"Just what did you get down?" asked Jimmy curiously. "I caught a few +words, but I don't remember them all." + +"It's a regular hodgepodge," replied Bob, spreading out the sheet of +paper, while they all crowded around to read. + +"Corn--hay--six--paint--water--slow--sick--jelly," read Joe aloud. +"Sounds to me like the ravings of a delirium patient." + +"And yet I'm sure that I got all the words down right," said Bob +perplexedly. "It must be a code of some kind. We can't understand it, +and Cassey didn't mean that any one should except some one person whose +ear was glued to a radiophone. But you can bet that that person +understood it all right." + +"I wonder if we couldn't make it out," suggested Herb. + +"No harm in trying," said Joe, "though compared to this a Chinese puzzle +is as simple as A B C. Let's take a hack at it, anyhow. We'll each take +a separate sheet of paper and try to get something out of it that makes +sense." + +For nearly an hour the boys did their best. They put the words in +different orders, read them forward and backward. But the ideas conveyed +by the separate words were so utterly dissimilar that they could frame +nothing that had the slightest glimmering of sense and they were finally +compelled to give it up. + +"If time were money, we'd spend enough on this stuff to make us +bankrupt," Joe remarked, in vast disgust, as he rose to get his cap. +"Dan Cassey was foxy when he made this up. We'll have to give the rascal +credit for that." + +"Yes," admitted Herb, "it's the best kind of a code. Any one of those +words might mean any one of a hundred thousand things. A man might spend +a lifetime on it and be no nearer success at the end than he was when he +started. The only way it can be unraveled is by finding the key that +tells what the words stand for. And even that may not exist in written +form. The fellows may simply have committed them to memory. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do!" Bob exclaimed. "I'll get the prison +to-morrow on the long distance 'phone and ask them about Cassey. I'll +tell them all about this radio message, and it may be a valuable tip to +them. They may be able to locate the station from which the messages +come, if there are any more of them. You remember how Mr. Brandon +located Cassey's sending station the first time." + +Bob was as good as his word, and got in communication with the prison +just before school time. The warden was gruff and inclined to be +uncommunicative at first, but his manner changed remarkably after he +heard of the radio message and he inquired eagerly for the slightest +details. + +"Yes, Cassey has escaped," he told Bob. "He got away about two months +ago. He had behaved himself well for the first six months of his +imprisonment, and we made him a trusty. In that capacity he had access +to various parts of the prison and occasionally to my own quarters, +which are in a wing connected with the prison. In some way that hasn't +yet been discovered he got possession of clothes to cover his prison +uniform and got away one day from the yard in which he was working. +Probably with his help, two others got away at the same time. Their +names are Jake Raff and Toppy Gillen, both of them desperate criminals +and in for long terms. Likely enough the three of them are operating +together somewhere. We made a careful search for them and have sent out +descriptions of them to the police of all the important cities in the +United States. But this clue of yours is the only one we have, and it +may prove a most important one. I'll see that the Federal radio +authorities are notified at once. Keep in touch with me and let me know +if you come across anything else that seems to point to Cassey. His +escape is a sore point with me, and I'd be glad to have him once more +behind the bars. You can be sure he'll never get away again until he's +served out the last day of his sentence." + +With a warm expression of thanks the warden hung up his telephone +receiver, and Bob hurried off to school to tell his comrades of what he +had learned. + +There was no chance for this, however, before recess, as he had been +kept so long at the telephone that he was barely able to reach the +school before the bell rang. + +When at last he told them of his talk with the warden, they listened +with spellbound interest. + +"So the villain managed to escape, did he?" ruminated Joe. "That's a +black mark against the warden, and it's no wonder he's anxious to get +him back. I'd hate to be in Cassey's shoes if the prison gates ever +close on him again." + +"You'd think it would be a comparatively easy matter to capture him," +suggested Herb. "The fact that he stutters so badly makes him a marked +man." + +"You can bet that he doesn't do any more talking than he can help," +replied Joe. "And, for that matter, I suppose there are a good many +thousand stutterers in the United States. Almost every town has one or +more. Of course it's against him, but it doesn't by any means make it a +sure thing that he'll be nabbed." + +Buck Looker and his cronies happened to pass them in the yard just at +that moment and caught the last word. Buck whispered something to Carl +Lutz, and the latter broke out into uproarious laughter. + +It was so obviously directed against Joe that his impulsive temper took +fire at once. He stepped up to the trio, despite Bob's outstretched hand +that tried to restrain him. + +"Were you fellows laughing at me?" he asked of the three, though his +eyes were fastened directly on Buck's. + +"Not especially at you," returned Buck insolently. "But at something you +said." + +"And what was that?" asked Joe, coming a step nearer, at which Buck +stepped back a trifle. + +"About getting nabbed," he said. "It made me think of some fellows I +know that were nabbed last night for breaking windows." + +"Oh, that was it!" remarked Joe, with dangerous calmness while his fist +clenched. "Now let me tell you what it reminds me of. It makes me think +of three cowards who smashed a window last night with a stone packed in +a snowball and then ran away as fast as their legs could carry them. +Perhaps you'd like me to tell you their names?" + +"I don't know what you're talking about," retorted Buck, changing color. + +"Oh, yes, you do," replied Joe. "And while I'm about it, I'll add that +the fellows who smashed the window were not only cowards, but worse. And +their names are Buck Looker, Carl Lutz and Terry Mooney." + +"What's that?" cried Buck, bristling up, while an angry growl arose from +his cronies. + +"You heard me the first time," replied Joe; "but to get it into your +thick heads I'll say it again. The cowards, and worse, I referred to are +named Buck Looker, Carl Lutz and Terry Mooney." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MARVELS OF WIRELESS + + +"That's fighting talk," blustered Buck, as he made a pretense of getting +ready to throw off his coat. + +"That's precisely what I want it to be," declared Joe, as he tore off +his coat and threw it to the ground. + +By this time most of the boys in the school yard had sensed the +tenseness of the situation and had gathered around Joe and Buck, forming +a ring many lines deep. + +"A fight!" was the cry. + +"Go in, Joe!" + +"Soak him, Buck!" + +Before Joe's determined attitude and flashing eyes, Buck wavered. He +fingered his coat uncertainly and glanced toward the school windows. + +"There's one of the teachers looking out," he declared. "And it's +against the rules to fight on the school grounds. If it wasn't for that +I'd beat you up." + +There was a general snicker from the boys at Buck Looker's sudden regard +for the rules of the school. + +"Any other place you can think of where you'd like to beat me up?" said +Joe sarcastically. "How about this afternoon after school down by the +river?" + +"I----I've got to go out of town this afternoon," Buck stammered. "But +don't you worry. I'll give you all the fight you're looking for the +first chance I get." + +Murmurs of derision arose from the crowd, and the flush on the bully's +sour face grew much deeper. + +"You're just a yellow dog, Buck!" exclaimed Joe, in disgust. "Have I got +to pull your nose to make you stand up to me?" + +He advanced toward him, and Buck retreated. What would have happened +next will never be known, for just at that moment one of the teachers +emerged from the school and came toward the ring. Hostilities at the +moment were out of the question, and the boys began to scatter. Buck +heaved a sigh of evident relief, and now that he felt himself safe, all +his old bluster came back to him. + +"It's mighty lucky for you that Bixby came out just then," he declared. +"I was just getting ready to thrash you within an inch of your life." + +Joe laughed sarcastically. + +"The trouble with you, Buck, is that you spend so much time getting +ready that you never have any time for real fighting," he remarked. "It +took you an awfully long time to get your coat unbuttoned." + +"They laugh best who laugh last," growled Buck. "And don't forget that +you fellows have got to pay for that glass you broke." + +"You've got another guess coming," replied Joe. "You or one of your gang +broke that glass and we can prove it." + +"I wasn't downtown that night at all," said Buck glibly. + +"Don't add any more lies to your score," said Joe scornfully. "We've got +you! You and your gang are the only fellows in town who would put stones +in snowballs, anyway." + +"If that's all the evidence you've got, it wouldn't go far in a court of +law," sneered Buck. "Any judge would see that you were trying to back +out of it by putting it up to somebody else." + +"Perhaps you don't know that Mr. Talley bumped into you while you were +running away," remarked Joe. + +This shot told, for Buck had banked on the darkness and had forgotten +all about his encounter with Mr. Talley. He had been nursing the +comfortable assurance that all he had to do was to deny. Now his house +of cards had come tumbling about his ears. Mr. Talley was a respected +citizen, and his word would be accepted by everybody. + +Joe saw the effect of his remark and smiled drily. + +"Want to revise that statement of yours that you weren't downtown at all +last night?" he asked, with affected politeness. + +"He--he was mistaken," stammered Buck weakly, as he walked away, +followed by his discomfited cronies. + +"I guess that will hold him for a while," chuckled Jimmy, as the radio +boys watched his retreating figure. + +Two or three days passed without special developments. The broken pane +of glass had been restored and the parents of the boys had been formally +notified by the insurance company that they would be held responsible +jointly for the damages. A similar notice had been sent to the fathers +of Buck and his mates. + +Mr. Looker replied, denying that his son was at all implicated in the +matter and refusing to pay. Mr. Layton admitted that his son had been +throwing snowballs in front of the store on the night in question, but +he stated that he had not thrown the ball with a stone in it that broke +the window. He added that any further communication regarding the matter +could be sent to his lawyer. + +Of the others involved, some had taken similar positions and others had +ignored the matter altogether, leaving it to the insurance company to +make the next move. And there for the time the matter rested. + +The radio boys had missed Larry's performance on the night that he had +opened with his new repertoire, but they were bound not to be cheated of +the second, which took place only a few nights later. + +They crowded eagerly about the radio set when their friend's turn was +announced, and listened with a breathless interest, that was intensified +by their warm personal regard for the performer, to the rendition of the +cries of various animals with which Larry regaled them. + +The imitations were so lifelike that the boys might well have imagined +they were in a zoological garden. Lions, tigers, bears, elephants, +snakes, moose, and other specimens of the animal and the reptile tribes +were imitated with a fidelity that was amazing. In addition, the +renditions were interspersed with droll and lively comments by Larry +that added immensely to the humor of the performance. When at last it +was over, the boys broke out into enthusiastic hand-clapping that would +have warmed Larry's heart, had he been able to hear it. + +"The old boy is all there!" chortled Bob enthusiastically. + +"He's a wonder!" ejaculated Joe. "No question there of a square peg in a +round hole. He's found exactly the work in life he's specially fitted +for." + +"And think of the audience he has," put in Jimmy. "At this very minute +there are probably hundreds of thousands of people who have been tickled +to death at his performance. Just suppose those people all clapped their +hands at once just as we have done and we could hear it. Why, it would +be like a young earthquake." + +At this moment the doorbell rang, and Dr. Dale was announced. He spent a +few minutes with Mr. and Mrs. Layton, and then came up to have a little +chat with the boys. This was one thing he never overlooked. His interest +in and sympathy with the young were unbounded, and accounted largely for +the influence that he exerted in the community. + +The radio boys greeted the minister warmly and gladly made room for him +around the table. His coming was never felt by them to be an +interruption. They regarded him almost as one of themselves. Apart, too, +from the thorough liking they had for him as a man, they were +exceedingly grateful to him for the help he had been to them in radio +matters. He was their mentor, guide and friend. + +"I knew I'd find you busy with the radio," he said, with a genial smile. + +"We can't be torn away from it," replied Bob. "We think it's just the +greatest thing that ever happened. Just now we've been listening to +Larry Bartlett give his imitations of animals. You remember Larry?" + +"I certainly do," replied Dr. Dale. "And I remember how you boys helped +him get his present position. It was one of the best things you ever +did. He's certainly a finished artist. I heard him on his opening night, +and I've laughed thinking of it many times since. He's a most amusing +entertainer." + +It was the first opportunity the boys had had to tell the doctor of the +night when Bob found that he was a human aerial, and he listened to the +many details of the experiment with absorbed interest. + +"It's something new to me," he said. "You boys have reason to be +gratified at having had a novel experience. That's the beauty of radio. +Something new is always cropping up. Many of the other sciences have +been more or less fully explored, and while none of them will ever be +exhausted, their limits have been to some extent indicated. But in radio +we're standing just on the threshold of a science whose infinite +possibilities have not even been guessed. One discovery crowds so +closely on the heels of another that we have all we can do to keep track +of them. + +"I've just got back from a little trip up in New York State," he went +on, as he settled himself more comfortably in his chair, "and I stopped +off at Schenectady to look over the big radio station there. By great +good luck, Marconi happened to be there on the same day----" + +"Marconi!" breathed Bob. "The father of wireless!" + +"Yes," smiled Dr. Dale. "Or if you want to put it in another way, the +Christopher Columbus who discovered the New World of radio. I counted it +a special privilege to get a glimpse of him. But what attracted my +special attention in the little while I could spend there was a small +tube about eighteen inches long and two inches in diameter which many +radio experts think will completely revolutionize long distance radio +communication." + +"You mean the Langmuir tube," said Joe. "I was reading of it the other +day, and it seems to be a dandy." + +"It's a wonderful thing," replied the doctor. "Likely enough it will +take the place of the great transatlantic plants which require so much +room and such enormous machinery. It's practically noiseless. Direct +current is sent into the wire through a complicated wire system and +generates a high frequency current of tremendous power. I saw it working +when it was connected with an apparatus carrying about fifteen thousand +volts of electricity in a direct current. A small blue flame shot +through the tube with scarcely a particle of noise. The broken impulse +from the electrical generators behind the tube was sent through the tube +to be flung off from the antenna into space in the dots and dashes of +the international code. That little tube was not much bigger than a +stick of dynamite, but was infinitely more powerful. I was so fascinated +by it and all that it meant that it was hard work to tear myself away +from it. It marks a great step forward in the field of radio." + +"It must have been wonderfully interesting," remarked Bob. "And yet I +suppose that in a year or two something new will be invented that will +put even that out of date." + +"It's practically certain that there will be," assented the doctor. "The +miracles of to-day become the commonplaces of to-morrow. That +fifty-kilowatt tube that develops twelve horsepower within its narrow +walls of glass, wonderful as it is, is bound to be superseded by +something better, and the inventor himself would be the first one to +admit it. Some of the finest scientific brains in the country are +working on the problem, and he would be a bold prophet and probably a +false prophet that would set any bounds to its possibilities. + +"Radio is yet in its infancy," the doctor concluded, as he rose to go. +"But one thing is certain. In the lifetime of those who witnessed its +birth it will become a giant--but a benevolent giant who, instead of +destroying will re-create our civilization." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE FOREST RANGER + + +Some days later Bob and Herb and Joe were on their way to Bob's house to +do a little experimenting on the latter's set, when they were surprised +at the alacrity with which Jimmy turned a corner and came puffing up to +them. + +"Say, fellows!" he yelled, as he came within earshot, "I've got some +mighty interesting news for you." + +"Let's have it," said Bob. + +"It's about the snowball Buck fired through the window," panted Jimmy, +falling into step beside them. "I met a man who's staying up at the +Sterling House. He says Buck's the boy who did it, all right." + +"How does he know?" all of the others asked with interest. + +"Saw Buck pick up a stone and pack the snow hard around it," said Jimmy +importantly. "He saw it himself, so we've got one witness for our side, +all right." + +"That's good," said Bob, adding, with a glint in his eye: "Say, wouldn't +I like to get my hands on Buck, just for about five minutes!" + +"Well, you won't have a chance," said Jimmy, enjoying being the bearer +of so much news. "Buck's gone with his father to a lumber camp up in +Braxton woods." + +"How do you know all this?" inquired Herb curiously. "You seem to be +chock full of information to-day." + +"Oh, a little bird told me," said Jimmy, looking mysterious. However, as +Herb made a threatening motion toward him, he hurried to explain. "I met +Terry Mooney," he said. "I told him I knew all about who put the stone +in the snowball and I told him that our crowd was going to make his look +like two cents. He laughed and said swell chance we'd have. Said Buck +had gone to the lumber camp with his father and that he and Carl Lutz +were going to join him in a day or two. Just like Buck to run away when +he knows there's a good licking coming to him!" added Jimmy, with a +sneer. + +"Oh, well, what do we care?" said Joe. "At least we sha'n't have those +fellows around spoiling all the fun." + +"I'm glad you found out about the snowball just the same," said Bob +thoughtfully. "Every little bit helps when we have to fight against that +crooked gang of Buck's." + +"Here's hoping," said Herb fervently, "that they stay away all the rest +of the spring." + +By this time the lads had reached Bob's house. It was Saturday +afternoon, and as the boys crowded noisily into the hall Bob noticed +that his father was in the library and that he seemed to have company. + +He was starting upstairs with the other lads when his father came out of +the library and called to him. + +"Come on in for a few minutes, boys," he said. "I have a friend here who +is a man after your own hearts," and his eyes twinkled. "He's interested +in radio." + +The boys needed no second invitation, for they never missed an +opportunity of meeting any one who could tell them something about the +wonders of radio. + +Mr. Layton's guest was lounging in one of the great chairs in the +library, and from the moment the boys laid eyes on him they knew they +were going to hear something of more than usual interest. + +The stranger was big, over six feet, and his face and hands were like a +Cuban's, they were so dark. Even his fair hair seemed to have been burnt +a darker hue by the sun. There was a tang of the great out-of-doors +about him, a hint of open spaces and adventure that fascinated the radio +boys. + +"This is my son, Mr. Bentley," said Mr. Layton to the lounging stranger, +still with a twinkle in his eye. "And the other boys are his inseparable +companions. Also I think they are almost as crazy about radio as you +are." + +The stranger laughed and turned to Bob. + +"I've been upstairs to see your set," he said, adding heartily: "It's +fine. I've seldom seen better amateur equipment." + +If Bob had liked this stranger before, it was nothing to what he felt +for him now. To the radio boys, if any one praised their radio sets, +this person, no matter who it was, promptly became their friend for +life. + +"I'm glad you think it's pretty good," Bob said modestly. "We fellows +have surely worked hard enough over it." + +"This gentleman here," said Mr. Layton to the boys, "ought to know quite +a bit about radio. He operates an airplane in the service of our +Government Forestry." + +"In the United States Forest Service?" cried Bob, breathlessly, eyeing +the stranger with increasing interest. "And is your airplane equipped +with radio?" + +"Very much so," replied Mr. Bentley. "It seems almost a fairy tale--what +radio has done for the Forest Service." + +"I've read a lot about the fighting of forest fires," broke in Joe +eagerly. "But I didn't know radio had anything to do with it." + +"It hadn't until the last few years," the visitor answered, adding, with +a laugh: "But now it's pretty near the whole service!" + +"Won't you tell us something about what you do?" asked Bob. + +Mr. Bentley waved a deprecating hand while Mr. Layton leaned back in his +chair with the air of one who is enjoying himself. + +"It isn't so much what I do," protested this interesting newcomer, while +the boys hung upon his every word. "It is what radio has done in the +fighting of forest fires that is the marvelous, the almost unbelievable, +thing. The man who first conceived the idea of bringing radio into the +wilderness had to meet and overcome the same discouragements that fall +to the lot of every pioneer. + +"The government declared that the cost of carrying and setting up the +radio apparatus would be greater than the loss occasioned every season +by the terribly destructive forest fires. But there was a fellow named +Adams who thought he knew better." + +"Adams!" repeated Bob breathlessly. "Wasn't he the fellow who had charge +of the Mud Creek ranger station at Montana?" + +The visitor nodded and gazed at Bob with interest. "How did you know?" +he asked. + +"Oh, I read something about him a while ago," answered Bob vaguely. He +was chiefly interested in having Mr. Bentley go on. + +"I should think," said Herb, "that it would be pretty hard work carrying +delicate radio apparatus into the lumber country." + +"You bet your life it is," replied Mr. Bentley. "The only way the +apparatus can be carried is by means of pack horses, and as each horse +can't carry more than a hundred and fifty pounds you see it takes quite +a few of the animals to lug even an ordinary amount of apparatus. + +"The hardest part of the whole thing," he went on, warming to his +recital as the boys were so evidently interested, "was packing the +cumbersome storage batteries. These batteries were often lost in +transit, too. If a pack horse happened to slip from the trail, its pack +became loosened and went tumbling down the mountain side----" + +"That's the life!" interrupted Jimmy gleefully, and the visitor smiled +at him. + +"You might not think so if you happened to be the one detailed to travel +back over the almost impassable trails for the missing apparatus," +observed Mr. Bentley ruefully. "It wasn't all fun, that pioneer +installation of radio. Not by any means." + +"But radio turned the trick just the same," said Bob slangily. "I've +read that a message that used to take two days to pass between ranger +stations can be sent now in a few seconds." + +"Right!" exclaimed Mr. Bentley, his eyes glinting. "In a little while +the saving in the cost of forest fires will more than pay for the +installation of radio. We nose out a fire and send word by wireless to +the nearest station, before the fire fairly knows it's started." + +"But just what is it that you do?" asked Joe, with flattering eagerness. + +"I do scout work," was the reply. "I help patrol the fire line in cases +of bad fires. The men fighting the fire generally carry a portable +receiving apparatus along with them, and by that means, I, in my +airplane, can report the progress of a fire and direct the distribution +of the men." + +"It must be exciting work," said Herb enviously. "That's just the kind +of life I'd like--plenty of adventure, something doing every minute." + +"There's usually plenty doing," agreed Mr. Bentley, with a likable grin. +"We can't complain that our life is slow." + +"I should think," said Bob slowly, "that it might be dangerous, +installing sets right there in the heavy timber." + +"That's what lots of radio engineers thought also," agreed Mr. Bentley. +"But no such trouble has developed so far, and I guess it isn't likely +to now." + +"Didn't they have some trouble in getting power enough for their sets?" +asked Joe, with interest. + +"Yes, that was a serious drawback in the beginning," came the answer. +"They had to design a special equipment--a sort of gasoline charging +plant. In this way they were able to secure enough power for the +charging of the storage batteries." + +Bob drew a long breath. + +"Wouldn't I have liked to be the one to fit up that first wireless +station!" he cried enthusiastically. "Just think how that Mr. Adams must +have felt when he received his first message through the air." + +"It wasn't all fun," the interesting visitor reminded the boys. "The +station was of the crudest sort, you know. The first operator had a box +to sit on and another box served as the support for his apparatus." + +"So much the better," retorted Bob stoutly. "A radio fan doesn't know or +care, half the time, what he's sitting on." + +"Which proves," said Mr. Bentley, laughing, "that you are a real one!" +And at this all the lads grinned. + +"But say," interrupted Joe, going back to the problem of power, "weren't +the engineers able to think up something to take the place of the +gasoline charging stations?" + +"Oh, yes. But not without a good deal of experimenting. Now they are +using two hundred and seventy number two Burgess dry batteries. These, +connecting in series, secure the required three hundred and fifty-volt +plate current." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RADIO AND THE FIRE FIEND + + +"Well, I hope that the boys know what you're talking about," interrupted +Mr. Layton at this point, his eyes twinkling, "for I'm sure I don't." + +"They know what I'm talking about all right," returned his guest, +admiration in his laughing eyes as he looked at the boys. "Unless I miss +my guess, these fellows are the stuff of which radio experts are made. I +bet they'll do great things yet." + +"Won't you tell us more about your experiences?" begged Herb, while the +other boys tried not to look too pleased at the praise. "It isn't often +we have a chance to hear of adventures like yours first hand." + +"Well," said Mr. Bentley, modestly, "I don't know that there's much to +tell. All we scouts do is to patrol the country and watch for fires. Of +course, in case of a big fire, our duties are more exciting. I remember +one fire," he leaned back in his chair reminiscently and the boys +listened eagerly, hanging on every word. "It was a beauty of its kind, +covering pretty nearly fourteen miles. Thousands of dollars' worth of +valuable timber was menaced. It looked for a time as if it would get the +better of us, at that. + +"Men were scarce and there was a high wind to urge the fire on. A +receiving set was rushed to the fire line, some of the apparatus in a +truck and some carried by truck horses. My plane was detailed to patrol +the fire line and give directions to the men who were fighting the +fire." + +He paused, and the boys waited impatiently for him to go on. + +"The good old plane was equipped for both sending and receiving, and I +tell you we patrolled that fourteen miles of flaming forest, sometimes +coming so close to the tree tops that we almost seemed to brush them. + +"My duty, of course, was to report the progress of the fire. Controlled +at one point, it broke out at another, and it was through the messages +from my 'plane to the ground set stationed just behind the fire line +that the men were moved from one danger point to the next. + +"Finally, the fire seeming nearly out along one side of the ridge, I +sent the men to fighting it on the other side, where it had been left to +rage uncontrolled. No sooner had the men scattered for the danger point +than the brooding fire broke out again and it was necessary to recall +half the men. + +"It was a long fight and a hard one, but with the aid of the blessed old +wireless, we finally won out. As a matter of fact, the wireless-equipped +airplane has become as necessary to the Forest Service as ships are to +the navy. + +"In the old days," he went on, seeing that the boys were still deeply +interested, "when they depended upon the ordinary telephone to convey +warnings of fires they were surely leaning upon a broken reed. + +"Often, just when they needed the means of communication most, the fire +would sweep through the woods, destroying trees to which the telephone +wires were fastened, and melting the wires themselves. So the eyes of +the Forest Service were put out and they were forced to work in the +dark." + +"But I should think," protested Bob, "that there would be times when +even wireless would be put out of the job. Suppose the fire were to +reach one of the stations equipped with wireless. What then?" + +Mr. Bentley laughed as though amused at something. + +"I can tell you an interesting incident connected with that," he said. +"And one that shows the pluck and common sense of radio operators in +general--don't think that I'm throwing bouquets at myself, now, for +first and last, I am a pilot, even if sometimes I find it necessary to +employ radio. + +"Well, anyway, this operator that I am speaking of, found himself in a +perilous position. A fire had been raging for days, and now it was so +close to his station that the station itself was threatened. + +"One morning when he got up the smoke from the burning forest was +swirling about the open space in front of the station and he knew that +before long he would be seeing flame instead of smoke. The fire fighters +had been working ceaselessly, fighting gallantly, but the elements were +against them. The air was almost as dry and brittle as the wood which +the flames lapped up and there was a steady wind that drove the fire on +and on. + +"If only there might come a fog or the wind change its direction! But +the radio man had no intention of waiting on the elements. I don't +believe he gave more than a passing thought to his own safety--his chief +interest was for the safety of his beloved apparatus. + +"He decided to dismantle the set, build a raft and set himself and the +apparatus adrift upon the water in the attempt to save it. + +"And so he worked feverishly, while the fire came closer and he could +hear the men who were fighting the fire shouting to each other. Finally +he succeeded in dismantling the set and got it down to the water's edge. + +"Here he built a rough raft, piled the apparatus upon it, jumped after +it, and drifted out into the middle of the lake." + +"Did the station burn down?" asked Jimmy excitedly. + +"No, fortunately. The wind died down in the nick of time, giving the men +a chance to control the blaze. When it was evident the danger was past, +the operator set up his apparatus again and prepared to continue his +duties, as though nothing had happened. + +"There you have the tremendous advantage of radio. There were no wires +to be destroyed. Only a radio set which could be dismantled and taken to +safety while the fire raged." + +"That operator sure had his nerve with him, all right," said Bob +admiringly. + +"More nerve than common sense perhaps," chuckled Mr. Bentley. "But you +certainly can't help admiring him. He was right there when it came to +grit." + +After a while they began to discuss technicalities, and the boys learned +a great many things they had never known before. The pilot happening to +mention that there were sometimes a number of airplanes equipped with +radio operating within a restricted district, Joe wanted to know if they +did not have a good deal of trouble with interference. + +"No. There was at first some interference by amateurs, but these soon +learned to refrain from using their instruments during patrol periods. + +"You see," he explained, "we use a special type of transmitting outfit +aboard our fire-detection craft. It's called the SCR-Seventy-three. The +equipment obtains its power from a self-excited inductor type +alternator. This is propelled by a fixed wooden-blade air fan. In the +steam-line casing of the alternator the rotary spark gap, alternator, +potential transformer, condenser and oscillation transformer are +self-contained. Usually the alternator is mounted on the underside of +the fuselage where the propeller spends its force in the form of an air +stream. The telegraph sending keys, field and battery switch, dry +battery, variometer and antenna reel are the only units included inside +the fuselage. + +"The type of transmitter is a simple rotary gap, indirectly excited +spark and provided with nine taps on the inductance coil of the closed +oscillating circuit. Five varying toothed discs for the rotary spark gap +yield five different signal tones and nine different wave lengths are +possible. + +"So," he finished, looking around at their absorbed faces, "you see it +is quite possible to press into service a number of airplanes without +being bothered by interference." + +"It sounds complete," said Bob. "I'd like a chance to see one of those +sets at close range sometime." + +The time passed so quickly that finally the visitor rose with an apology +for staying so late. The radio boys were sorry to see him go. They could +have sat for hours more, listening to him. + +"That fellow sure has had some experiences!" said Joe, as, a little +later, the boys mounted the stairs to Bob's room. "It was mighty lucky +we happened along while he was here." + +"You bet your life," said Herb. "I wouldn't have missed meeting him for +a lot." + +"Say, fellows," Jimmy announced from the head of the stairs, "I know now +what I'm going to do when I'm through school. It's me for the tall +timber. I'm going to pilot an airplane in the service of my country." + +"Ain't he noble?" demanded Herb, grinning, as the boys crowded into +Bob's room. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +NEAR DISASTER + + +Several days later while the radio boys were experimenting with their +big set and talking over their interesting meeting with the Forest +Service ranger, Herb displayed an immense horseshoe magnet. + +"Look what he's got for luck," chortled Jimmy. "The superstitious nut!" + +"Superstitious nothing!" snorted Herb. "If I'd wanted it for luck I +wouldn't have got a magnet, would I? Any old common horseshoe would have +done for luck." + +"Well, what's the big idea?" asked Bob, looking up from the audion tube +he was experimenting with. "Or is there any?" he added, with a grin. + +"You bet your life there is!" returned Herb. "It's got to do with that +very audion tube you're fussing with." + +"Ah, go on," jeered Joe, good-naturedly. "What's a magnet got to do with +an audion tube, I'd like to know!" + +"Poor old Herb," added Jimmy, with a commiserating shake of the head. + +"Say, look here, all you fellows! Don't you go wasting any pity on me," +cried Herb hotly. "If you don't look out, I won't show you my experiment +at all." + +"Go on, Herb," said Bob consolingly. "I'm listening." + +"Well, I'm glad there's one sensible member of this bunch!" cried Herb, +and from then on addressed himself solely to Bob. "Look here," he said. +"You can make the audion tube ever so much more sensitive to vibration +if you put this magnet near it." + +"Who says so?" asked Bob, with interest. + +"I do. Here, put on the headphones and listen. I'll prove it to you." + +Bob obeyed and tuned in to the nearest broadcasting station where a +concert was scheduled. As soon as he signified by a nod of his head that +the connection was satisfactory Herb placed the big horseshoe magnet in +such a position that the poles of the magnet were on each side of the +tube. + +Sure enough, Bob was amazed at the almost magical improvement in the +sound. It was clearer, more distinct, altogether more satisfactory. He +listened in for another moment then wonderingly took off the headphones +while Herb grinned at him in triumph. + +"Well, what do you think?" asked the latter while Joe and Jimmy looked +at them curiously. + +"Think?" repeated Bob, still wonderingly. "Why, there's only one thing +to think, of course. That fool horseshoe of yours, Herb, is one +wonderful improvement. I don't know how it works, but it surely is a +marvel." + +Herb glanced at Jimmy and Joe in triumph. + +"What did I tell you?" he said. "Perhaps now you'll believe that my idea +wasn't such a fool one after all." + +"But what did it do, Bob?" asked Joe, mystified. + +"It increased the sensitivity of that old audion tube, that's what it +did," replied Bob, absently, his mind already busy with inventive +thoughts. "I can't see yet just how it accomplished it, but the +connection with the station was certainly clearer and more distinct than +usual." + +"But how can a magnet increase the sensitivity of a vacuum tube?" asked +Jimmy, not yet wholly convinced. "It doesn't make sense." + +"Well, I don't see why not," contradicted Joe slowly. "I suppose the +improvement is due to the magnetic effect of the magnet upon the +electrons flowing from the filament to the plate. I don't exactly see +why it should be an improvement, but if it is, then there must be some +reason for it." + +"I wish we could find the reason!" cried Bob excitedly. "If we could +make some improvement upon the vacuum tube----" + +"Don't wake him up, he is dreaming!" cried Herb. "If you don't look out, +old boy, you'll have us all millionaires." + +"Well, there are worse things," retorted Bob, taking the magnet from +Herb's hand and placing it near the tube. "This has given us something +to think about, anyway." + +For a while they puzzled over the mystery, trying to find some way in +which the discovery might be made to serve a practical purpose--all +except Herb, who retired to one corner of the "lab" to fuss with some +chemicals which he fondly hoped might be used in the construction of a +battery. + +So engrossed were the boys in the problem of the magnet and vacuum tube +that they forgot all about Herb and his experiments. So what happened +took them completely off their guard. + +There was a sudden cry from Herb, followed closely by an explosion that +knocked them off their feet. For a moment they lay there, a bit dazed by +the shock. Then they scrambled to their feet and looked about them. +Herb, being the nearest to the explosion, had got the worst of it. His +face and hands were black and he was shaking a little from the shock. He +gazed at the boys sheepishly. + +"Wh-what happened?" asked Jimmy dazedly. + +"An earthquake, I guess," replied Bob, as he looked about him to see +what damage had been done. + +Some doughnuts, which their namesake had recently fetched from the +store, lay scattered upon the floor, together with some rather +dilapidated-looking pieces of candy, but aside from this, nothing seemed +to have been damaged seriously. + +Jimmy's followed Bob's gaze, and, finding his precious sweets upon the +floor, began gathering them up hastily, stuffing a doughnut in his mouth +to help him hurry. What mattered it to Jimmy that the floor was none too +clean? + +"Say, what's the big idea, anyway," Joe demanded of the blackened Herb. +"Trying to start a Fourth of July celebration, or something?" + +"I was just mixing some chemicals, and the result was a flare-up," +explained Herb sulkily. "Now, stop rubbing it into a fellow, will you? +You might know I didn't do it on purpose." + +Bob began to laugh. + +"Better get in connection with some soap and water, Herb," he said. +"Just now you look like the lead for a minstrel show." + +"Never mind, Herb," Joe flung after the disconsolate scientist as he +made for the door. "As long as you don't hurt anything but Jimmy's +doughnuts, we don't care. You can have as many explosions as you like." + +"Humph, that's all right for you," retorted Jimmy. "But I'll have you +know I spent my last nickel for those doughnuts." + +"Just the same," said Bob soberly, as they returned to the problem of +the vacuum tube, "we're mighty lucky to have come off with so little +damage. Mixing chemicals is a pretty dangerous business unless you know +just what you're doing." + +"And even then it is," added Joe. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A HAPPY INSPIRATION + + +The days passed by, the boys becoming more and more engrossed in the +fascination of radio all the time. They continued to work on their sets, +sometimes with the most gratifying results, at others seeming to make +little headway. + +But in spite of occasional discouragements they worked on, cheered by +the knowledge that they were making steady, if sometimes slow, progress. + +There were so many really worth-while improvements being perfected each +day that they really found it difficult to keep up with them all. + +"Wish we could hear Cassey's voice again," said Herb, one day when they +had tuned in on several more or less interesting personal messages. + +"I don't know what good it would do us," grumbled Joe. "If he speaks +always in code he could keep us guessing till doomsday." + +"He's up to some sort of mischief, anyway," said Bob; "and I, for one, +would enjoy catching him at it again." + +"We would be more comfortable to have Dan Cassey in jail, where he +belongs," observed Jimmy. + +But just at present the trailing of that stuttering voice seemed an +impossible feat even for the radio boys. If they could only get some +tangible clue to work on! + +They saw nothing of Buck Looker or his cronies about town, and concluded +that they were still at the lumber camp. + +"Can't stay away too long to suit me," Bob said cheerfully. + +It was about that time that Bob found out about Adam McNulty. Adam +McNulty was the blind father of the washerwoman who served the four +families of the boys. + +Bob went to the McNulty cabin, buried in the most squalid district of +the town, bearing a message from his mother. When he got there he found +that Mr. McNulty was the only one at home. + +The old fellow, smoking a black pipe in the bare kitchen of the house, +seemed so pathetically glad to see some one--or, rather, to hear some +one--that Bob yielded to his invitation to sit down and talk to him. + +And, someway, even after Bob reached home, he could not shake off the +memory of the lonesome old blind man with nothing to do all day long but +sit in a chair smoking his pipe, waiting for some chance word from a +passer-by. + +It did not seem fair that he, Bob, should have all the good things of +life while that old man should have nothing--nothing, at all. + +He spoke to his chums about it, but, though they were sympathetic, they +did not see anything they could do. + +"We can't give him back his eyesight, you know," said Joe absently, +already deep in a new scheme of improvement for the set. + +"No," said Bob. "But we might give him something that would do nearly as +well." + +"What do you mean?" they asked, puzzled. + +"Radio," said Bob, and laid his hand lovingly on the apparatus. "If it +means a lot to us, just think how much more it would mean to some one +who hasn't a thing to do all day but sit and think. Why, I don't suppose +any of us who can see can begin to realize what it would mean not to be +able even to read the daily newspaper." + +The others stared at Bob, and slowly his meaning sank home. + +"I get you," said Joe slowly. "And say, let me tell you, it's a great +idea, Bob. It wouldn't be so bad to be blind if you could have the daily +news read to you every day----" + +"And listen to the latest on crops," added Jimmy. + +"To say nothing of the latest jazz," finished Herb, with a grin. + +"Well, why doesn't this blind man get himself a set?" asked Jimmy +practically. "I should think every blind person in the country would +want to own one." + +"I suppose every one of them does," said Bob. "And Doctor Dale said the +other day that he thought the time would come when charities for the +blind would install radio as a matter of humanity, and that prices of +individual sets would be so low that all the blind could afford them. +The blind are many of them old, you know, and pretty poor." + +"You mean," said Herb slowly, "that most of the blind folks who really +need radio more than anybody else can't afford it? Say, that doesn't +seem fair, does it?" + +"It isn't fair!" cried Bob, adding, eagerly: "I tell you what I thought +we could do. There's that old set of mine! It doesn't seem much to us +now, beside our big one, but I bet that McNulty would think it was a +gold mine." + +"Hooray for Bob!" cried Herb irrepressibly. "Once in a while he really +does get a good idea in his head. When do we start installing this set +in the McNulty mansion, boys?" + +"As soon as you like," answered Bob. "Tomorrow's Saturday, so we could +start early in the morning. It will probably take us some time to rig up +the antenna." + +The boys were enthusiastic about the idea, and they wasted no time +putting it into execution. That very night they looked up the old set, +examining it to make sure it was in working order. + +When they told their families what they proposed to do, their parents +were greatly pleased. + +"It does my heart good," said Mr. Layton to his wife, after Bob had gone +up to bed, "to see that those boys are interested in making some one +besides themselves happy." + +"They're going to make fine men, some day," answered Mrs. Layton softly. + +The boys arrived at the McNulty cottage so early the next morning that +they met Maggie McNulty on her way to collect the day's wash. + +When they told her what they were going to do she was at first too +astonished to speak and then threatened to fall upon their necks in her +gratitude. + +"Shure, if ye can bring some sunshine into my poor old father's dark +life," she told them in her rich brogue, tears in her eyes, "then ye'll +shure win the undyin' gratitude uv Maggie McNulty." + +It was a whole day's job, and the boys worked steadily, only stopping +long enough to rush home for a bit of lunch. + +They had tried to explain what they were doing to Adam McNulty, but the +old man seemed almost childishly mystified. It was with a feeling of +dismay that the boys realized that, in all probability, this was the +first time the blind man had ever heard the word radio. It seemed +incredible to them that there could be anybody in the world who did not +know about radio. + +However, if Adam McNulty was mystified, he was also delightedly, +pitifully excited. He followed the boys out to the cluttered back yard +where they were rigging up the aerial, listening eagerly to their +chatter and putting in a funny word now and then that made them roar +with laughter. + +Bob brought him an empty soap box for a seat and there the old man sat +hour after hour, despite the fact that there was a chill in the air, +blissfully happy in their companionship. He had been made to understand +that something pleasant was being done for him, but it is doubtful if he +could have asked for any greater happiness than just to sit there with +somebody to talk to and crack his jokes with. + +They were good jokes too, full of real Irish wit, and long before the +set was ready for action the boys had become fond of the old fellow. + +"He's a dead game sport," Joe said to Bob, in that brief interval when +they had raced home for lunch. "I bet I'd be a regular old crab, blind +like that." + +Mrs. Layton put up an appetizing lunch for the blind man, topping it off +with a delicious homemade lemon pie and a thermos bottle full of +steaming coffee. + +The way the old man ate that food was amazing even to Jimmy. Maggie was +too busy earning enough to keep them alive to bother much with dainties. +At any rate, Adam ate the entire lemon pie, not leaving so much as a +crumb. + +"I thought I was pretty good on feeding," whispered Joe, in a delighted +aside, "but I never could go that old bird. He's got me beat a mile." + +"Well," said Jimmy complacently, "I bet I'd tie with him." + +If the boys had wanted any reward for that day of strenuous work, they +would have had it when, placing the earphones upon his white head, they +watched the expression of McNulty's face change from mystification to +wonder, then to beatific enjoyment. + +He listened motionless while the exquisite music flooded his starved old +soul. Toward the end he closed his eyes and tears trickled from beneath +the lids down his wrinkled face. He brushed them off impatiently and the +boys noticed that his hand was trembling. + +It was a long, long time before he seemed to be aware that there was any +one in the room with him. He seemed to have completely forgotten the +boys who had bestowed this rare gift upon him. + +After a while, coming out of his dream, the old man began fumbling with +the headphones as if he wanted to take them off, and Bob helped him. The +man tried to speak, but made hard work of it. Emotion choked him. + +"Shure, an' I don't know what to make of it at all, at all," he said at +last, in a quivering voice. "Shure an' I thought the age of miracles was +passed. I'm only an ignorant old man, with no eyes at all; but you lads +have given me something that's near as good. Shure an' it's an old +sinner I am, for shure. Many's the day I've sat here, prayin' the Lord +would give me wan more minute o' sight before I died, an' it was +unanswered my prayers wuz, I thought. It's grateful I am to yez, lads. +It's old Adam McNulty's blessin' ye'll always have. An' now will yez put +them things in my ears? It's heaven's own angels I'd like to be hearin' +agin. That's the lad--ah!" + +And while the beatific expression stole once more over his blind old +face the boys stole silently out. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ESCAPED CONVICT + + +The boys saw a good deal of Adam McNulty in the days that followed, and +the change in the old man was nothing short of miraculous. + +He no longer sat in the bare kitchen rocking and smoking his pipe, +dependent upon some passer-by for his sole amusement. He had radio now, +and under the instruction of the boys he had become quite expert in +managing the apparatus. Although he had no eyes, his fingers were +extraordinarily sensitive and they soon learned to handle the set +intelligently. + +His daughter Maggie, whose gratitude to the boys knew no bounds, looked +up the radio program in the paper each day and carefully instructed her +father as to just when the news reports were given out, the story +reading, concerts, and so forth. + +And so the old blind man lived in a new world--or rather, the old world +which he had ceased to live in when he became blind--and he seemed +actually to grow younger day by day. For radio had become his eyes. + +Doctor Dale heard of this act of kindness on the part of the boys and he +was warm in his praise. + +"Radio," he told the boys one day when he met them on the street, "is a +wonderful thing for those of us that can see, but for the blind it is a +miracle. You boys have done an admirable thing in your kindness to Adam +McNulty, and I hope that, not only individuals, but the government +itself will see the possibilities of so great a charity and follow your +example." + +The boys glowed with pride at the doctor's praise, and then and there +made the resolve that whenever they came across a blind person that +person should immediately possess a radio set if it lay within their +power to give it to him. + +On this particular day when so many things happened the boys were +walking down Main Street, talking as usual of their sets and the +marvelous progress of radio. + +Although it was still early spring, the air was as warm almost as it +would be two months later. There was a smell of damp earth and pushing +grass in the air, and the boys, sniffing hungrily, longed suddenly for +the freedom of the open country. + +"Buck and his bunch have it all their own way," said Herb discontentedly. +"I wouldn't mind being up in a lumber camp myself just now." + +"Too early for the country yet," said Jimmy philosophically. "Probably +be below zero to-morrow." + +"What you thinking about, Bob?" asked Joe, noticing that his chum had +been quiet for some time. + +"I was thinking," said Bob, coming out of his reverie, "of the +difference there has been in generators since the early days of +Marconi's spark coil. First we had the spark transmitters and then we +graduated to transformers----" + +"And they still gave us the spark," added Joe, taking up the theme. +"Then came the rotary spark gap and later the Goldsmith generator----" + +"And then," Jimmy continued cheerfully, "the Goldsmith generator was +knocked into a cocked hat by the Alexanderson generator." + +"They'll have an improvement on that before long, too," prophesied Herb. + +"They have already," Bob took him up quickly. "Don't you remember what +Doctor Dale told us of the new power vacuum tube where one tube can take +care of fifty K. W.?" + +"Gee," breathed Herb admiringly, "I'll say that's some energy." + +"Those same vacuum tubes are being built right now," went on Bob +enthusiastically. "They are made of quartz and are much cheaper than the +alternators we're using now." + +"They are small too, compared to our present-day generators," added Joe. + +"You bet!" agreed Bob, adding, as his eyes narrowed dreamily: "All the +apparatus seems to be growing smaller these days, anyway. I bet before +we fellows are twenty years older, engineers will have done away +altogether with large power plants and cumbersome machinery." + +"I read the other day," said Joe, "that before long all the apparatus +needed, even for transatlantic stations, can be contained in a small +room about twenty-five feet by twenty-five." + +"But what shall we do for power?" protested Herb. "We'll always have to +have generators." + +"There isn't any such word as 'always' in radio," returned Bob. "I +shouldn't wonder if in the next twenty or thirty years we shall be able, +by means of appliances like this new power vacuum tube, to get our power +from the ordinary lighting circuit." + +"And that would do away entirely with generators," added Joe +triumphantly. + +"Well, I wouldn't say anything was impossible," said Herb doubtfully. +"But that seems to me like a pretty large order." + +"It is a large order," agreed Bob, adding with conviction: "But it isn't +too large for radio to fill." + +"Speaking of lodging all apparatus in one fair-sized room," Joe went on. +"I don't see why that can't really be done in a few years. Why, they say +that this new power vacuum tube which handles fifty K. W. is not any +larger than a desk drawer." + +"I see the day of the vest-pocket radio set coming nearer and nearer, +according to you fellows," announced Herb. "Pretty soon we'll be getting +our apparatus so small we'll need a microscope to see it." + +"Laugh if you want to," said Bob. "But I bet in the next few years we're +going to see greater things done in radio than have been accomplished +yet." + +"And that's saying something!" exclaimed Joe, with a laugh. + +"I guess," said Jimmy thoughtfully, "that there have been more changes +in a short time in radio than in any other science." + +"I should say so!" Herb took him up. "Look at telephone and telegraph +and electric lighting systems. There have been changes in them, of +course, but beside the rapid-fire changes of radio, they seem to have +been standing still." + +"There haven't been any changes to speak of in the electric lighting +systems for the last fifteen years or more," said Bob. "And the +telephone has stayed just about the same, too." + +"There's no doubt about it," said Joe. "Radio has got 'em all beat as +far as a field for experiment is concerned. Say," he added fervently, +"aren't you glad you weren't born a hundred years ago?" + +The boys stopped in at Adam McNulty's cabin to see how the old fellow +was getting along. They found him in the best of spirits and, after +"listening in" with him for a while and laughing at some of his Irish +jokes, they started toward home. + +"I wish," said Bob, "that we could have gotten a line on Dan Cassey. It +seems strange that we haven't been able to pick up some real clue in all +this time." + +For, although the boys had caught several other mysterious messages +uttered in the stuttering voice of Dan Cassey, they had not been able to +make head nor tail of them. The lads liked mysteries, but they liked +them chiefly for the fun of solving them. And they seemed no nearer to +solving this one than they had been in the beginning. + +"I know it's a fool idea," said Herb sheepishly. "But since we were the +ones that got Cassey his jail sentence before, I kind of feel as if we +were responsible for him." + +"It's pretty lucky for us we're not," remarked Joe. "We certainly would +be up against it." + +On and on the boys went. Presently Joe began to whistle and all joined +in until suddenly Jimmy uttered a cry and went down on his face. + +"Hello, what's wrong?" questioned Bob, leaping to his chum's side. + +"Tripped on a tree root," growled Doughnuts, rising slowly. "Gosh! what +a spill I had." + +"Better look where you are going," suggested Herb. + +"I don't see why they can't chop off some of these roots, so it's better +walking." + +"All right--you come down and do the chopping," returned Joe, lightly. + +"Not much! The folks that own the woods can do that." + +"Don't find fault, Jimmy. Remember, some of these very roots have +furnished us with shinny sticks." + +"Well, not the one I tripped over." + +It was some time later that the boys noticed that they had tramped +further than they had intended. They were on the very outskirts of the +town, and before them the heavily-wooded region stretched invitingly. + +Jimmy, who, on account of his plumpness, was not as good a hiker as the +other boys, was for turning back, but the other three wanted to go on. +And, being three against one, Jimmy had not the shadow of a chance of +getting his own way. + +It was cool in the shadows of the woods, and the boys were reminded that +it was still early in the season. It was good to be in the woods, just +the same, and they tramped on for a long way before they finally decided +it was time to turn back. + +They were just about to turn around when voices on the path ahead of +them made them hesitate. As they paused three men came into full view, +and the boys stood, staring. + +Two of the men they had never seen before, but the other they knew well. +It was the man whose voice they had been trailing all these weeks--Dan +Cassey, the stutterer! + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +DOWN THE TRAP DOOR + + +It seemed that in the semi-darkness of the woods Cassey did not at once +recognize the radio boys. He was talking excitedly to his companions in +his stuttering tongue and he was almost upon the boys before he realized +who they were. + +He stopped still, eyes and mouth wide open. Then, with a stuttered +imprecation, he turned and fled. The men with him stayed not to +question, but darted furtively into the woods. + +"Come on, fellows!" cried Bob, with a whoop of delight. "Here's where we +nail Dan Cassey, sure." + +The boys, except poor Jimmy, were unusually fleet, and they soon +overtook Cassey. Bob's hand was almost upon him when the man doubled +suddenly in his tracks and darted off into the thick underbrush. + +Bob, with Herb and Joe close at his heels, was after him in a minute. He +reached a clearing just in time to see Cassey dash into an old barn +which had been hidden by the trees. + +The boys plunged into the barn with Jimmy pantingly bringing up the +rear. In Bob's heart was a wild exultation. They had Cassey cornered. +Once more they would bring this criminal to justice. + +"You guard the door," he called in a low tone to Joe. "See that Cassey +doesn't get out that way, and Herb and I will get after him in here." + +The barn was so dark that they could hardly see to move around. There +was a window high up in the side wall, but this was so covered with dirt +and cobwebs that it was almost as though there was none. + +However, Cassey must be lurking in one of those dark corners, and if +they moved carefully they were sure to capture him! + +There was a loft to the barn, but if there had been a ladder leading up +to it it had long since rotted and dropped away, so that Bob was +reasonably sure the man could not be up there. + +It was eery business, groping about in the musty darkness of the old +barn for a man who would go to almost any lengths of villainy to keep +from being caught. + +Suddenly Bob saw something move, and, with an exultant yell, jumped +toward it. Once more he almost had his hand upon Cassey when--something +happened. + +The floor of the barn seemed to open and let him through, and his chums +with him. As he fell through the hole into blackness he had confused +thoughts of an earthquake. Then he struck bottom with a solid thump that +almost made him see stars. + +He heard similar thumps about him and realized that Herb and Jimmy had +followed him. Whatever it was they had shot through had evidently +magically closed up again, for they were in absolute darkness. + +"Well," came in a voice which Bob recognized as Jimmy's, "I must say, +this is a nice note!" + +"We've been pushed off the end of the world, I guess," said Herb, with a +sorry attempt at humor. "Who all's in this party anyway? Are we all +here?" + +"I guess so," said Joe, and at the sound of his voice Bob jumped. + +"What are you doing here?" he asked. "I thought you were going to guard +the door." + +"That's what I should have done, but I played the big idiot," retorted +Joe bitterly. "I couldn't resist coming after you fellows to be in on +the big fight. I suppose while I was trailing you boys somebody sneaked +in the door and signed our finish." + +"Looks like it," said Bob, feeling himself to make sure there were no +bones broken. "And now, instead of delivering Cassey to justice we're +prisoners ourselves. Say, I bet the old boy isn't laughing at us or +anything just now." + +"I'm awful sorry, Bob," said Joe penitently. "I thought if I kept my eye +on the door----" + +"Oh, it's all right," said Bob generously. "Accidents will happen and +there's no use crying over spilled milk. I suppose the most sensible +thing for us to do right now is to hustle around and find a way out of +this place." + +"Maybe there isn't any," said Jimmy dolefully. "Then what'll we do?" + +"Stay here and let the rats eat us, I guess," said Herb cheerfully, and +Jimmy groaned. + +"Gosh, don't talk about eating, old boy," he pleaded. "I'm just about +starved this minute." + +"You'll probably stay starved for some little time longer," said Bob +unfeelingly. He had risen cautiously to his feet, and finding that their +prison was at least high enough for them to stand up in, reached his +hands tentatively above his head. + +As, even by standing on tiptoe, his fingers encountered nothing but air, +he decided that they must have dropped further than he had thought at +the time. + +A hand reached out and took hold of him and he realized that Joe was +standing beside him. + +"Must have been some sort of trap door opening inward, I guess," said +the latter. "You didn't see anything, did you, Bob?" + +"No. It happened too suddenly. One minute I was reaching forward to grab +hold of Cassey and the next moment I found myself flying through space." + +"Humph," grunted Joe. "It was lucky for Cassey that we all happened to +be in a bunch," he said. "He couldn't have gotten rid of us so quickly +if we'd been scattered about----" + +"As we should have been," added Bob. "Just the same," he added, after a +minute, "I don't suppose it would have done any good if one of us had +been left up there. It must have been the men who were with Cassey who +sprang the trap on us; and if that's so, the fight would have been three +to one." + +"I'd like to have tried it just the same," said Joe belligerently. "I +bet Cassey would have got a black eye out of it, anyway." + +For some time they groped around the black hole of their prison, hoping +to find some way of escape, but without success. They were beginning to +get tired and discouraged, and they sat down on the floor to talk the +situation over. + +The queer thing about this hole in the ground was that it possessed a +flooring where one would have expected to find merely packed-down dirt. +The flooring consisted of rough boards laid side by side, and when the +boys moved upon it it sounded like the rattling of some rickety old +bridge. + +"There's some mystery about this place," said Bob. "I bet this is a +regular meeting place for Cassey and whoever his confederates may be. In +case of pursuit all they would have to do would be to hide in this hole +and they'd be practically safe from discovery." + +"I wonder," said Herb, "why Cassey didn't do that now." + +"Probably didn't have time," said Bob. "I was right on his heels, you +know, and probably he didn't dare stop for anything." + +"And so they turned the trick on us," said Joe. "And it sure was a neat +job." + +"Too neat, if we don't get out of here soon," groaned Jimmy. "I bet +they've just left us here to starve!" + +"I wouldn't put it beyond Cassey," said Herb gloomily. "It would be just +the kind of thing he'd love to do. He's got a grudge against us, anyway, +for doing him out of Miss Berwick's money and landing him in jail, and +this would be a fine way to get even." + +"Well, if that's his game, he's got another guess coming," said Bob, +adding excitedly: "Say, fellows, if that was a trap door that let us +down into this hole, and it must have been something of that sort, we'll +probably be able to get out the same way." + +"But it's above our heads," protested Herb. + +"What difference does that make?" returned Bob impatiently. "One of us +can stand on the other's back, and we can haul the last fellow out by +his hands." + +"Simple when you say it quick," said Joe gloomily. "But I bet that trap +door is bolted on the outside. You don't think Cassey's going to let us +off that easy, do you?" + +"Well, we could see anyway," returned Bob. "Anything's better than just +sitting here. Come on, let's find that trap door." + +This feat, in itself, was no easy one. They had wandered about in the +dark so much that they had become completely confused. + +Since Herb was the slightest, he was hoisted up on Bob's shoulders and +they began the stumbling tour of their prison. It seemed ages before +Herb's glad cry announced a discovery of some sort. + +"I've found a handle," he said. "Steady there, Bob, till I give it a +pull." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +GROPING IN DARKNESS + + +Herb tugged gently and gave another yell of delight when whatever was +attached to the handle yielded grudgingly to the pull. + +"It's the trap door, fellows!" he cried. "Move over a bit, Bob, till I +pull the thing down." + +Bob, who, about this time, was finding Herb's weight not any too +comfortable, moved over, and, in doing so, stumbled, nearly pitching +himself and Herb to the floor. + +As it was, Herb lost his balance and leaped wildly. He landed on his +feet and reached out a hand to find Bob. + +"Of all the tough luck," he groaned. "There I had the thing in my hand +and now we've gone and lost it again." + +"Sorry. But stop your groaning and get busy," Bob commanded him. "I +haven't moved from this spot, so if you get up on my shoulders again you +ought to be able to get hold of the handle easily enough." + +So, hoisted and pushed by Joe and Jimmy, Herb finally regained his perch +and felt for the handle. He found it, and this time pulled the door so +far open that the boys could see through the opening in the barn floor. + +"If somebody can hold that door," panted Herb, "I think I can get +through this hole. Grab hold, boy. It sure is heavy." + +So Joe caught the door as it swung downward and Herb scrambled through +the aperture. Bob gave a grunt of relief as the weight was taken from +his shoulders. + +"You're next, Joe," Bob was saying when Jimmy came stumbling up, +carrying something that banged against Bob's legs. + +"I've got it," he panted. "Had an idea I might find something like it. +Trust your Uncle Jimmy----" + +"For the love of butter, what are you raving about?" interrupted Joe, +and Jimmy proudly exhibited his prize. + +"A soap box," he said. "And a good big one, too. If we stand on that we +can reach the opening easily." + +"Good for you, Doughnuts," cried Bob, joyfully seizing upon the soap +box. "This beats playing the human footstool all hollow. Jump up on it, +Jimmy, and see how quick you can get out of here." + +Jimmy needed no second invitation. He scrambled up on the tall box, and +by stretching up on tip toe could just manage to get his fingers over +the edge of the flooring above. + +"Give me a boost, some one," he commanded, and Bob obligingly +administered the boost. + +Joe was next. Bob went last, holding the trap door with his foot to keep +it from closing too quickly. Once upon the floor of the barn he took his +foot away and the door banged to with a snap, being balanced by a rope +and weight above. + +"Well, there's that!" exclaimed Bob, eyeing the closed door with +satisfaction. "If Cassey thought he was going to fool us long, he sure +was mistaken." + +"Maybe he's hiding around here somewhere," suggested Herb, lowering his +voice to a whisper. + +"No such luck," replied Bob. "I'd be willing to wager that the moment we +struck bottom there, Cassey and his friends beat it away from here as +fast as their legs could take them." + +"Don't you think we'd better look around a little bit, anyway?" +suggested Joe. + +"It wouldn't do any harm," agreed Bob. "But first let's have a look +outside. We don't want to overlook any clues." + +The boys thrashed around the bushes about the barn until they were +satisfied no one was hiding there and then returned to the barn. They +were curious to find out just how they had been shot through that trap +door. + +They thought at first that it was perhaps worked by some sort of +apparatus, but they found that this was not the case. They found by +experimenting that the trap door yielded easily to their weight, and +decided that it had been their combined rush upon Cassey that had done +the trick. The weight of the four of them upon it had shot the door down +so rapidly that they had not had time even to know what was happening to +them, much less scramble to safety. Then it had shut on them. + +"It couldn't have worked better for them," said Herb, as they turned +toward the door of the barn. "I bet they're laughing yet at the way they +put things over." + +"Let 'em laugh," said Bob, adding fiercely: "But I bet you anything that +the last laugh will be ours!" + +"I wonder what Cassey was doing here, anyway," said Jimmy, as they +walked slowly homeward. "It was lucky, wasn't it, that we happened along +when we did?" + +"I don't see where it's so lucky," grumbled Joe. "We're no nearer +catching him now than we ever were." + +"Except that we know he's around this locality," put in Bob. "I guess +the police will be glad to know that." + +"Oh! are you going to tell the police?" asked Jimmy, whose thoughts had +been upon what he was going to get for dinner. + +"Of course," said Bob. "He's an escaped criminal, and it's up to us to +tell the police all we know about him." + +"I only wish we knew more to tell," said Joe disconsolately. + +Since they had been flung through the trap door, Joe had called himself +every unpleasant name he could think of for his carelessness. If he had +stayed at the door where he belonged, there would have been one of them +left to grapple with Dan Cassey. Probably the two men who had been with +Cassey when they had surprised him had not been anywhere around. They +belonged to the type of criminal that always thinks of its own safety +first. Probably they had not been anywhere near the barn. And if it had +been only Dan Cassey and himself, well, he, Joe, could at least have +given the scoundrel a black eye--maybe captured him. + +He said something of this to his chums, but they laughed at him. + +"Stop your grouching," said Bob. "Haven't we already agreed that there's +no use crying over spilled milk? And, anyway, you just watch out. We'll +get Cassey yet." + +As soon as the boys reached town they went straight to the police +station and told the story of their encounter with Cassey to the +grizzled old chief, who nodded his head grimly and thanked them for the +information. + +"I'll send some men out right away," he told them. "If there's a +criminal in those woods, they're sure to get him before dark. It's too +bad you lads couldn't have got him yourselves. It would sure have been a +feather in your caps!" + +"Why doesn't he rub it in?" grumbled Joe, as they turned at last toward +home and dinner. "He ought to know we feel mad enough about it." + +"Well," said Bob, "if the police round him up, because of our +information, it will be almost as good as though we'd caught him +ourselves. I wouldn't," he added, with a glint in his eye, "exactly like +to be in Cassey's shoes, now." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CUNNING SCOUNDRELS + + +But, contrary to the expectations of the radio boys, the police were not +able to locate Cassey nor any of the rest of the gang. They searched the +woods for miles around the old barn about which the boys had told them, +even carrying their search into the neighboring townships, but without +any result. It seemed as though the earth had opened and swallowed up +Cassey together with his rascally companions. If such a thing had +actually happened, their disappearance could not have been more +complete. + +"They must be experts in the art of hiding," grumbled Bob, upon +returning from a visit to the chief of police. "I was certain they would +be rounded up before this." + +"Guess they must have made a break for the tall timber," said Joe. + +"Decided, maybe, it isn't just healthy around here," added Herb, with a +grin. + +And then, just when they had decided that Cassey and his gang had made a +masterly getaway, the radio boys got on their trail once again. + +That very evening, when tuning in for the concert, they caught another +of those mysterious, stuttering messages in the unmistakable voice of +Dan Cassey! + +"Rice, rats, make hay," was the substance of this message, and the boys +would have laughed if they had not been so dumbfounded. + +"What do you know about that?" gasped Jimmy. "That old boy sure has his +nerve with him." + +"They're still hanging around here somewhere!" cried Bob excitedly. +"They've probably got a hiding place that even the police can't find." + +"Oh, if we could only make sense of this!" exclaimed Herb, staring at +the apparently senseless message which he had written down. "If we only +had their code the whole thing would be simple." + +"Oh, yes, if we only had a million dollars, we'd be millionaires!" +retorted Jimmy scornfully. "Where do you get that stuff, anyway?" + +"Well," said Bob, temporarily giving up the problem, "as far as I can +see, all there is for us to do is to keep our eyes and ears open and +trust to luck. Now what do you say we listen in on the concert for a +little while?" + +In the days that followed Cassey's voice came to them several times out +of the ether, and always in that same cryptic form that, try as they +would, they could not make out. + +It was exasperating, that familiar voice coming to them out of the air +day after day without giving them the slightest clue to the whereabouts +of the speaker. + +And then, while they were in town one day, they quite unexpectedly ran +into their old friend, Frank Brandon, the wireless inspector, whose work +for some time had taken him into another district. + +However, he was to stay in Clintonia for a few days on business now, and +since he had nothing particular to do that day, Bob enthusiastically +invited him up to his home for a visit. + +"Maybe you can give us some tips on our set," Bob added, as Mr. Brandon +readily accepted the invitation. "We're not altogether satisfied with +our batteries. For some reason or other they burn out too quickly." + +"Yes, I'll take a look at it," agreed Mr. Brandon good-naturedly. +"Although I imagine you boys are such experts by this time I can't tell +you very much. What have you been doing with yourselves since we last +met?" + +The boys told him something of their experiences, in which he showed +intense interest, and in return he told them some interesting things +that had happened to him. + +And when he spoke of catching mysterious messages in the stuttering +voice of Dan Cassey, Bob broke in upon him eagerly. + +"We've caught a good many such messages too," he said. "Have you managed +to make anything of them?" + +"Not a thing," said Mr. Brandon, shaking his head. "If it is a criminal +code, and I am about assured that it is, then it is a remarkably clever +one and one that it is almost impossible to decipher without a key. I've +just about given up trying." + +Then the boys told of their encounter with Cassey in the woods and their +adventure in the old barn, and Frank Brandon was immensely excited. + +"By Jove," he said, "the man is up to his old tricks again! I'd like to +get hold of him before he does any serious harm. That sort of criminal +is a menace to the community. + +"The funny part of it," he continued, as they turned the corner into +Bob's block, "is that these messages are not all in Cassey's voice. Have +you noticed that?" + +It was the boys' turn to be surprised. + +"That's a new one on us," Bob confessed. "The only messages we have +caught so far have been in Cassey's voice." + +Frank Brandon slowly shook his head. + +"No," he said, "I have caught a couple in a strange voice, a voice I +never heard before." + +"The same kind of message?" asked Herb eagerly. + +"The same kind of message," Brandon affirmed. "I have taken it for +granted that the owner of the strange voice is a confederate of +Cassey's." + +"Maybe one of the fellows who was with him in the woods," said Jimmy, +and Mr. Brandon nodded gravely. + +"It's possible," he said. "I don't know, of course, but I imagine that +there are several in Cassey's gang." + +By this time they had reached Bob's home, and as it was nearly lunch +time, Mrs. Layton insisted that they all stay to lunch. The boys, not +liking to make her trouble, said they would go home and come back later, +but the lady of the house would have none of it. + +"Sit down, all of you," she commanded, in her cheerful, hospitable way. +"I know you're starved--all but Jimmy--" this last with a smile, "and +there's plenty to eat." + +Frank Brandon was very entertaining all during the meal and kept them in +gales of laughter. Mrs. Layton found him as amusing as did the boys. + +At last the lunch came to an end and Mr. Brandon professed himself ready +to talk shop. + +He was enthusiastic over the radio set the boys showed him and declared +that he could see very little improvement to suggest. + +"You surely have kept up with the march," he said admiringly. "You have +pretty nearly all the latest appliances, haven't you? Good work, boys. +Keep it up and you'll be experts in earnest." + +"If we could only find some way to lengthen the life of our storage +batteries," said Bob, not without a pardonable touch of pride, "we +wouldn't have much to complain about. But that battery does puzzle us." + +"Keep your battery filled with water and see if it doesn't last you +about twice as long," suggested the radio expert. "Don't add any acid to +your battery, for it's only the water that evaporates." + +"Will that really do the trick?" asked Joe, wondering. "I don't just see +how----" + +"It does just the same," Brandon interrupted confidently. "All you have +to do is to try it to find out. Don't use ordinary water though. It +needs to be distilled." + +"That's a new one on me, all right," said Bob, adding gratefully: "But +we're obliged for the information. If distilled water will lengthen the +life of our battery, then distilled water it shall have." + +"It seems queer," said Mr. Brandon reflectively, "how apparently simple +things will work immense improvement. Marconi, for instance, by merely +shortening his wave length, is discovering wonderful things. We cannot +even begin to calculate what marvelous things are in store for us when +we begin to send out radio waves of a few centimeters, perhaps less. We +have not yet explored the low wave lengths, and when we do I believe we +are in for some great surprises." + +"Go on," said Joe, as he paused. "Tell us more about these low wave +lengths." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DARING HOLDUP + + +Frank Brandon shook his head and smiled. + +"I'm afraid I don't know much more to tell," he said. "As I have said, +what will happen when we materially decrease the wave length, is still +in the land of conjecture. But I tell you," he added, with sudden +enthusiasm, "I'm mighty glad to be living in this good old age. What we +have already seen accomplished is nothing to what we are going to see. +Why," he added, "some scientists, Steinmetz, for instance, are even +beginning to claim that ether isn't the real medium for the propagation +of radio waves." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Bob, with interest. "Is it some sort +of joke?" + +"Joke, nothing!" replied Frank Brandon. "As a matter of fact, I fully +believe that electro-magnetic waves can as easily be hurled through a +void as through ether." + +The boys were silent for a moment, thinking this over. It sounded +revolutionary, but they had great respect for Frank Brandon's judgment. + +"There's the Rogers underground aerial," Bob suggested tentatively, and +Brandon took him up quickly. + +"Exactly!" he said. "That leans in the direction of what I say. Why, I +believe the day is coming--and it isn't so very far in the future, +either--when no aerial will be used. + +"Why, I believe," he added, becoming more and more enthusiastic as he +continued, "that ten years from now we shall simply attach our receiving +outfits to the ground and shall be able to receive even more +satisfactorily than we do to-day." He laughed and added lightly: + +"But who am I to assume the role of prophet? Perhaps, like a good many +prophets, I see too much in the future that never will come true." + +"I don't believe it," said Bob. "I shouldn't wonder if all your prophesy +will come true in a few years." + +"Well," said Herb, with a grin, "it will be a relief not to get any more +broken shins putting up aerials." + +Mr. Brandon laughed. + +"I'm with you," he said. "I've been there myself." + +"Have you read about that radio-controlled tank?" Joe asked. "The one +that was exhibited in Dayton, I mean?" + +"I not only read about it, I saw it," Mr. Brandon answered, and the boys +stared at him in surprise. "I happened to be there on business," he +said; "and you can better believe I was on hand when they rolled that +tank through the traffic." + +"What did it look like?" asked Jimmy eagerly. + +"The car was about eight feet long and three feet high," responded +Brandon. "It was furnished with a motor and storage batteries, and I +guess its speed was about five or six miles an hour." + +"And was it really controlled by radio?" put in Herb, wishing that he +had been on the spot. + +"Absolutely," returned Brandon. "An automobile followed along behind it +and controlled it entirely by wireless signals. The apparatus that does +all the work is called the selector, and it's only about the size of a +saucer. It decodes the dots and dashes and obeys the command in an +inconceivably short time--about a quarter of a second." + +"It can be controlled by an airplane, too, can't it?" asked Bob, and the +radio inspector nodded. + +"In case of war," he said slowly, "I imagine these airplane-controlled +tanks could do considerable damage." + +Their guest left soon after that, and, of course, the boys were sorry to +have him go. His last words to them were about Cassey. + +"Keep your eyes open for that scoundrel," he said, "and we'll find out +what he's up to yet." + +But in the next few days so many alarming things happened that the boys +had little time to think about Dan Cassey. The alarming happenings +consisted of a series of automobile robberies in neighboring towns, +robberies committed so skillfully that no hint nor clue was given of the +identity of the robbers. + +And then the robberies came nearer home, even into Clintonia itself. The +president of one of the banks left his machine outside the bank for half +an hour, and when he came out again it was gone. No one could remember +seeing any suspicious characters around. + +Then Raymond Johnston, a prominent business man of the town, had his car +taken in the same mysterious manner from in front of his home. As +before, no one could give the slightest clue as to the identity of the +thieves. + +The entire community was aroused and the police were active, and yet the +mystery remained as dark as ever. + +Then, one day, Herb came dashing over to Bob's home in a state of wild +excitement. Joe and Jimmy were already there, and Herb stopped not even +for a greeting before he sprang his news. + +"Say, fellows!" he cried, sprawling in a chair and panting after his +run, "it's time somebody caught those auto thieves. They are getting a +little too personal." + +"What's up?" they demanded. + +"One of dad's trucks has been held up!" gasped Herb. "In broad daylight, +too!" + +"Was anything taken?" asked Joe. + +"Anything? Well, I should say! They looted the truck of everything. It's +a wonder they didn't steal the machinery." + +"That's a pretty big loss for your dad, isn't it?" said Bob gravely. + +"It is!" replied Herb, running his fingers through his hair. "He's all +cut up about it and vows he'll catch the ruffians. Though he'll have to +be a pretty clever man if he does, I'll say." + +"They do seem to be pretty slick," agreed Bob. + +"I wonder if the same gang is responsible for all the robberies," put in +Joe. + +"It looks that way," said Jimmy. "It looks as if there were a crook at +the head of the bunch who has pretty good brains." + +"A regular master criminal, Doughnuts?" gibed Herb, then sobered again +as he thought of his father's loss. + +"It's bad enough," he said gloomily, "to hear of other people's property +being stolen, but when it comes right down to your own family, it's +getting a little too close for comfort." + +"What is your dad going to do about it?" asked Bob. + +Herb shrugged his shoulders in a helpless gesture. + +"What can he do?" he asked. "Except what everybody else has done--inform +the police and hope the rascals will be caught. And even if they are +caught," he added, still more gloomily, "it won't do dad much good, +except that he'll get revenge. The crooks will probably have disposed of +all their stolen property before they're caught." + +"Well, I don't know," said Bob hopefully. "Those fellows are getting a +little bit too daring for their own good. Some day they'll go too far +and get caught." + +"I hope so. But crooks like that are pretty foxy," returned Herb, +refusing to be cheered. "They're apt to get away with murder before +they're caught." + +The lads were silent for a moment, trying to think things out, and when +Bob spoke he unconsciously put into words something of what his comrades +were thinking. + +"It seems as if radio ought to be able to help out in a case like this," +he said, with a puzzled frown. "But I must say I don't see how it can." + +"It can't," returned Herb. "If some one had been lucky enough to get a +glimpse of one of the thieves, then good old radio would have its +chance. We could wireless the description all over the country and +before long somebody would make a capture." + +Bob nodded. + +"That's where the cunning of these rascals comes in," he said. "Either +nobody sees them at all, or when they do the thieves are so well +disguised by masks that a useful description isn't possible." + +"Were the fellows who held up your father's truck masked?" asked Jimmy +with interest. + +Herb nodded. + +"From all I can hear," he said. "It was a regular highway robbery +affair--masks, guns, and all complete. The driver of the truck said +there were only two of them, but since they had guns and he was unarmed, +there wasn't anything he could do. + +"They made him get down off the truck, and then they bound his hands +behind him and hid him behind some bushes that bordered the road. He +would probably be there yet if he hadn't managed to get the gag out of +his mouth and hail some people passing in an automobile. Poor fellow!" +he added. "Any one might have thought he had robbed the truck from the +way he looked. He was afraid to face dad." + +"Well, it wasn't his fault," said Joe. "No man without a weapon is a +match for two armed rascals." + +"Didn't he say what the robbers looked like?" insisted Jimmy. "He must +have known whether they were short or tall or fat or skinny." + +"He said they were about medium height, both of them," returned Herb. +"He said they were both about the same build--rather thin, if anything. +But their faces were so well covered--the upper part by a mask and the +lower by bandana handkerchiefs--that he couldn't give any description of +them at all." + +"I bet," Bob spoke up suddenly, "that whoever is at the head of that +rascally gang knows the danger of radio to him and his plans. That's why +his men are so careful to escape recognition." + +The boys stared at him for a minute and then suddenly the full force of +what he intimated struck them. + +At the same instant the name of the same man came into their minds--the +name of a man who used radio for the exchange of criminal codes, a man +who stuttered painfully. + +"Cassey!" they said together, and Herb added, thoughtfully: + +"I wonder!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +OFF TO THE WOODS + + +For days the town hummed with the excitement that followed the daring +robbery of the truck belonging to Mr. Fennington, but as time passed and +there seemed little prospect of bringing the robbers to justice, +interest died down. But the radio boys never abated their resolve to do +all in their power to recover the stolen merchandise, although at that +time they were kept so busy in high school, preparing for a stiff +examination, that they had little time for anything else. + +"It's getting so bad lately that I don't even get time to enjoy my +meals," grumbled Jimmy, one sunny spring afternoon. "Swinging an oar a +la Ben Hur would be just a little restful exercise after the way we've +been drilling the last week." + +"Get out!" exclaimed Joe. "Why, you wouldn't last two hours in one of +those galleys, Doughnuts. They'd heave you over the side as excess +baggage once they got wise to you." + +"After two hours of rowing in one of those old galleys, he'd be glad to +get heaved overboard, I'll bet," put in Herb, grinning. "I think Jimmy +would rather drown any day than work that hard." + +"Huh! I don't see where you fellows get off to criticize," retorted the +harassed youth. "I never saw any of you win gold medals for hard and +earnest work." + +"Lots of people deserve medals who never get them," Bob pointed out. + +"Yes. But, likewise, lots of people don't deserve 'em who don't get +'em," retorted Jimmy, and for once appeared to have won an argument. + +"I guess you're right at that," conceded Bob. "But, anyway, I'm going to +pass those examinations no matter how hard I have to work. It will +pretty near break my heart, but it can't be helped." + +The others were equally determined, and they dug into the mysteries of +Horace and Euclid to such good effect that they all passed the +examinations with flying colors. After that came a breathing space, and +just at that time a golden opportunity presented itself. + +Mr. Fennington, Herbert's father, had become interested, together with +several other business men of Clintonia, in a timber deal comprising +many acres of almost virgin forest in the northern part of the state. He +was going to look over the ground personally, and when Herb learned of +this, he urged his father to take him and the other radio boys along for +a brief outing over the Easter holiday. When his father seemed extremely +dubious over this plan, Herb reminded him that Mr. Layton had taken them +all to Mountain Pass the previous autumn, and that it would be only fair +to reciprocate. + +"But the Lookers are up in that part of the country, too," said Mr. +Fennington. "Aren't you fellows scared to go where Buck Looker is?" he +added, with a smile lurking about his mouth. + +"Oh, yes, we're terribly afraid of that!" answered Herb sarcastically. +"We'll take our chances, though, if you'll only let us go with you." + +"Well, well, I'll see," said his father, and Herb knew that this was +practically equivalent to surrender. Accordingly he hunted up his chums +and broached the project to them. + +"Herb, your words are as welcome as the flowers in May," Bob told him, +with a hearty slap on the back. "If this trip actually works out, we'll +forgive you all last winter's jokes, won't we, fellows?" + +"It's an awful lot to ask of a fellow, but I suppose we can manage it," +said Joe, and Jimmy, after pretending to think the matter over very +seriously, finally said the same. + +They were all overjoyed at the prospect of such a trip, and had little +difficulty in getting the consent of their parents. Mr. Fennington +eventually consented to take the radio boys with him, and there ensued +several days of bustle and excited packing. At length all was ready, and +they found themselves, one bright spring morning, installed in a big +seven-passenger touring car _en route_ for Braxton Woods, as the strip +of timberland was called. + +"This is the life!" chortled Jimmy, as the miles rolled away behind. +"Fresh air, bright sun, the song of birds, and--doughnuts!" and he +produced a bulging paper bag full of his favorite dainty. + +"How do you get that way?" asked Joe severely, although he eyed the bag +hungrily. "The 'song of doughnuts!' You're the only Doughnut that I ever +heard of that could sing, and you're no great shakes at it." + +"Oh, you know what I meant!" exclaimed Jimmy. "At least, you're thicker +than usual if you don't." + +"Do you hear that, Joe?" laughed Bob. "The boy's telling you that you're +thick. Are you going to stand for that?" + +"He knows it's true. And, anyway, he doesn't dare talk back for fear I +won't give him one of these delicious little morsels," said Jimmy +placidly. "How about it, Joe?" + +"That's taking mean advantage of a poor fellow who's practically dying +of starvation," said Joe. "Give me a doughnut, and I won't talk +back--until after I've eaten it, anyway." + +"That's all right then," said his plump friend. "After you've eaten one, +you'll feel so grateful to me that you'll regret all the low-down things +you've ever said about me." + +"Oh, you're the finest pal any fellow ever had," declared Joe. "How many +doughnuts have you left, Jimmy?" + +"Something tells me that you don't mean all you say," said Jimmy +suspiciously. "Just the same, I'll take a chance and give you another +one. They won't last long at the rate they're going; I can tell that +without half trying." + +"Well, a short life but a merry one," said Bob. "Come across with +another, Jimmy, will you?" + +"You know I love you too much to refuse you anything, Bob," said Jimmy. +"Just the same, I'm going to hold out another for myself, and then you +big panhandlers can finish them up. I've just had four, but I suppose +those will have to last me for the present." + +"Say, that's tough--only four!" exclaimed Herb, in mock sympathy. "What +will you ever do until lunch time, I wonder?" + +"I'm wondering the same thing myself; but I'm used to suffering whenever +I'm with you fellows, so I suppose I'll have to grin and bear it +somehow." + +"I don't see why you didn't bring some more, while you were about it," +complained Bob. "You might have known that wouldn't be half enough." + +"It will be a long time before I buy any more for you Indians, you can +bet your last dollar on that," said Jimmy, in an aggrieved voice. +"You've been going to school a number of years, now, but you still don't +know what 'gratitude' means." + +"The only one that should be grateful is yourself, Doughnuts," Joe +assured him. "You know if you had eaten that whole bag full of doughnuts +that you'd have been heading a funeral to-morrow or next day. It's lucky +you have us around to save you from yourself." + +While Jimmy was still framing an indignant reply to this there was a +loud report, and the driver quickly brought the big car to a halt. + +"Blowout," he remarked laconically, walking around to view a shoe that +was flat beyond the possibility of doubt. It was not an unmixed evil to +the boys, however, for they welcomed the chance to get out and stretch +their cramped muscles. They helped the driver jack up the wheel and +change shoes, and in a short time they were ready to proceed. + +Back they climbed into their places, and with a rasp of changing gears +they were on their way once more. + +Braxton Woods lay something over a hundred miles from Clintonia, but the +roads were good most of the way, and they had planned to reach their +destination that evening. When they had covered sixty miles of the +distance, Mr. Fennington consented to stop for the lunch for which the +boys had been clamoring for some time. They took their time over the +meal, building a fire and cooking steak and frying potatoes. + +"Gee, this was a feast fit for a king!" exclaimed Jimmy, when it was +over. + +The boys lay down on the newly sprouted grass, but had hardly got +settled when the driver, who appeared restless, summoned them to +proceed. + +"We've got a long way to go yet," he said, "and the last fifteen miles +are worse than all the rest of the trip put together. The road is mostly +clay and rocks, and at this time of year it's apt to be pretty wet. I +don't want to have to drive it after dark." + +Mr. Fennington was also anxious to get on, so their rest was a brief +one, and they were soon on their way again. + +The radio boys laughed and sang, cracked jokes, and waved to passing +cars, while the mileage record on the speedometer mounted steadily up. +The sun was still quite a way above the western horizon when they +reached the place where the forest road branched off from the main +highway. The driver tackled this road cautiously, and they soon found +that his description of it had not been overdrawn. It was a narrow +trail, in most places not wide enough for two cars to pass, and they +wondered what would happen should they meet another car going in the +opposite direction. But in the whole fifteen miles they met only one +other motor, and fortunately that was at a wide place in the road. + +The scent of spring and growing things was strong in the air, and +compensated somewhat for the atrocious road. The boys were often tossed +high in the air as the car bumped over logs and stones, or came up with +a lurch out of some deep hole. But they hung on to each other, or +whatever else was most convenient, and little minded the rough going. + +After one particularly vicious lunge, however, the heavy car came down +with a slam, and there was a sharp noise of snapping steel. With a +muttered exclamation the driver brought his car to a halt and climbed +out. + +"Just as I thought!" he exclaimed. "A spring busted, and the nearest +garage twenty miles away. Now we're up against it for fair!" + +"Do you mean that we can't go on?" asked Mr. Fennington anxiously. "It +will be dark in another hour." + +"I know it will," replied the chauffeur. "But what can we do about it?" + +"Can't we make a temporary repair?" suggested Bob. "We can't have much +further to go now." + +"Well, I'm open to suggestions, young fellow," growled the driver. "If +you can tell me how to fix this boiler up, go to it. It's more than I +can do." + +Bob and the others made a thorough examination of the damage, and they +were not long in concocting a plan. Bob had brought with him a small but +very keen-edged ax, and it was the work of only a few minutes to cut a +stout limb about six inches in diameter from a tree. + +With this, and a coil of heavy rope that was carried in the car for +emergencies, they proceeded to make the temporary repair. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PUT TO THE TEST + + +First of all the boys trimmed the branch to a length slightly greater +than the distance between axle and axle of the car. Then, near each end, +they cut a notch about two inches deep, one to fit over the front and +one over the rear axle. Next they placed the branch in position, and +with the heavy rope lashed it securely into position. Thus the front and +rear axles were kept at the proper distance from each other, and, +moreover, the side of the car that was over the broken spring could rest +on the stout pole. + +The driver, who at first had watched their efforts with a derisive grin, +took their plan more seriously as he realized the scheme, and now he +examined the completed job with an air of surprised respect. + +"I've got to admit that that looks as though it might do the trick," he +admitted, at length. "I've seen a lot of roadside repairs in my time, +but blest if that hasn't got 'em all beat. I'll take it at slow speed +the rest of the way, and we'll see if it will stand up long enough to +get us in." + +And get them in it did, in spite of much creaking and groaning and +bumping. + +The automobile drew up before a long one-story building, constructed +roughly but substantially of unpainted boards. Supper was being served, +and they were just in time to partake of a typical lumber camp meal. The +big table was laden with huge joints of meat, platters of biscuits and +vegetables, while strong, black coffee was served in abundance. After +this plates of doughnuts were passed around, greatly to Jimmy's delight, +and for once he could eat all he wanted with nobody to criticize, for +the lumbermen were no tyros at this sort of thing, and packed away food +in quantities and at a speed that made the boys gape. + +"Gee!" exclaimed Bob, after they had emerged into the balmy spring air +outside, "I used to think that Jimmy could eat; but he can't even make +the qualifying heats with this crowd. You're outclassed, Doughnuts, +beyond the chance of argument." + +"I don't see but what I'll have to admit it," sighed his rotund friend. +"But I don't care. It seems like Heaven to be in a place where they +serve doughnuts like that. There's none of this 'do-have-a-doughnut' +business. Some big husky passes you a platter with about a hundred on it +and says, 'dig in, young feller.' Those are what I call sweet sounding +words." + +"And you dug, all right," remarked Joe, grinning. "I saw you clean one +platter off all by your lonesome--at least, you came pretty near it," he +qualified, with some last lingering regard for the truth. + +"I didn't anything of the kind! But I only wish I could," lamented +Jimmy. + +"Never mind, Doughnuts, nobody can deny that you did your best," laughed +Herb. "After you've had a little practice with this crowd, I'll back you +against their champion eater any day." + +"So would I," said Bob. "We've often talked about entering Jimmy in a +pie-eating contest, but I never before thought we could find anybody who +would even stand a chance with him. Up here, though, there's some +likely-looking material. Judging from some of those huskies we saw +to-night, they might crowd our champion pretty hard." + +"You can enter me any time you want to," said Jimmy. "Even if I didn't +win, I'd have a lot of fun trying. I never really got enough pie at one +time yet, and that would be the chance of a lifetime." + +At first the boys were more than half joking, but after they had been at +the camp a few days and had begun to get acquainted, they let drop hints +regarding Jimmy's prowess that aroused the interest of the lumbermen. He +was covertly watched at meal times, and as the bracing woodland air and +long hikes combined to give an added edge to his appetite, his ability +began to command attention. There were several among the woodsmen who +had a reputation for large capacity, but it was soon evident that Jimmy +was not to be easily outdistanced in his own particular department. + +At length interest became so keen that it was decided to stage a real +old-fashioned pie-eating contest, to determine whether the champions of +the camp were to be outdistanced by a visitor from the city. The cook +was approached, and agreed to make all the pies that, in all human +probability, would be needed. + +"Jimmy, you're in for it now!" exclaimed Herb, dancing ecstatically +about his plump friend. "Here's your chance to make good on all the +claims we've ever advanced for you. You're up against a strong field, +but my confidence in you is unshaken." + +"It simply isn't possible that our own Jimmy could lose," grinned Bob. +"I've seen him wade into pies before this, and I know what he can do." + +"I appreciate your confidence, believe me," said Jimmy. "But I don't +care much whether I win or not. I know I'll get enough pie for once in +my life, and that's the main thing." + +The time for the contest was set for the following evening, the third of +their stay. Five lumbermen had been put forward to uphold the reputation +of the camp, and they and Jimmy ate no supper that night, waiting until +the others had finished. Then the board was cleared, and the cook and +his helper entered, bringing in several dozen big pies of all varieties. +One of these was placed before each of the contestants, and they could +help themselves to as many more as their capacity would admit. + +The cook, as having the best knowledge of matters culinary, was +appointed judge, and was provided with a pad and pencil to check up each +contestant. A time limit of two hours was set, the one having consumed +the greatest amount of pie in that time to be declared the winner. + +The cook gave the signal to start, and the contest was on. + +The lumbermen started off at high speed, and at first wrought tremendous +havoc among the pies, while Jimmy ate in his usual calm and placid +manner, evidently enjoying himself immensely. Each of the lumbermen had +his following, who cheered him on and urged him to fresh endeavors. Bob +and Joe and Herb said little, for they had observed Jimmy's prowess over +a period of several years, and knew his staying qualities. + +At the end of the first half hour their friend was badly outdistanced, +but the other contestants had slowed up noticeably, while Jimmy still +ate calmly on, no faster and no slower than when he had started. He was +only starting on his second pie when all the others were finishing +theirs, but the confidence of his three comrades remained unshaken. They +observed that the lumbermen chose their third pies very carefully, and +started to eat them in a languid way. They were only about half through +when Jimmy disposed of his second one, and started on a third. + +"How do you feel, Jimmy?" asked Herb, with a grin. "Are you still +hungry?" + +"No, not exactly hungry, but it still tastes good," replied Jimmy +calmly. "You sure can make good pies, Cook." + +The other contestants essayed feeble grins, but it was easy to see that +their pies no longer tasted good to them. More and more slowly they ate, +while Jimmy kept placidly on, his original gait hardly slackened. He +finished the third pie and started nonchalantly on a fourth. At sight of +this, and his confident bearing, two of the other contestants threw up +their hands and admitted themselves beaten. + +"I used to like pie," groaned one, "but now I hope never to see one +again. That youngster must be made of rubber." + +"I've often said the same thing myself," chortled Bob. "Just look at +him! I believe he's good for a couple more yet." + +Excitement ran high when two of the remaining lumbermen were forced out +toward the middle of their fourth pie, leaving only Jimmy and a jolly +man of large girth, who before the start had been picked by his +companions as the undoubted winner. + +"Go to it, Jack!" the lumbermen shouted now. "Don't let the youngster +beat you out. He's pretty near his limit now." + +It was true that flaky pie crust and luscious filling had lost their +charm for Jimmy, but his opponent was in even worse plight. He managed +to finish his fourth pie, but when the cook handed him a fifth, the task +proved to be beyond him. + +"I've reached my limit, fellers," he declared. "If the youngster can go +pie number five, he'll be champion of the camp." + +Excitement ran high as Jimmy slowly finished the last crumbs of his +fourth pie, and the cook handed him a fifth. Would he take it, or would +the contest prove to be a draw? + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE BULLY GETS A DUCKING + + +"Our man doesn't have to eat another whole pie," protested Bob. "If he +just eats some of it he'll win, Mr. Judge." + +"That's right," nodded the cook. "How about you, young feller? Are you +able to tackle it?" + +"Sure thing," responded Jimmy. "Hand it over." + +He forced himself to cut and eat a small piece, and when he had +finished, pandemonium broke loose. The judge declared him undisputed +champion of the camp, and he was caught up and elevated to broad +shoulders while an impromptu triumphal procession was organized that +circled the camp with much laughter and many jokes at the expense of the +defeated aspirants for the title. + +After this was over, the boys held a little private jubilation of their +own in the little cabin where they were quartered with Mr. Fennington. +He had been away during the contest, but he returned shortly afterward, +and laughingly congratulated Jimmy on his newly won honors. + +"How do you feel?" he inquired. "Do you think you could manage another +piece of pie? I'll see that you have a large piece if you think you +can." + +"No, sir! I've had enough pie to last me for a good while to come," +declared Jimmy positively. "I'll be ashamed to look a pie in the face. +For the next week or so I'll have to stick to my favorite doughnuts for +dessert." + +"Well, you did nobly, Doughnuts, and I love you more than ever," +declared Bob. "You were up against a field that anybody might be proud +to beat." + +"And the best part of it, to me, is the feeling that our confidence in +Jimmy's eating powers was justified," declared Joe. "After all the +wonderful exhibitions he's given in the past, it would have been +terrible if he hadn't come up to scratch to-night." + +"The way that fellow they call Jack started off, I never thought you had +a chance, Jimmy," confessed Herb. + +"If he could have held that pace, I wouldn't have had a look-in," +admitted Jimmy. "I figured he'd have to slow down pretty soon, though. +'Slow but sure' is my motto." + +"How would you like to take a nice three-mile sprint now?" asked Herb +mischievously. + +"Three mile nothing!" exclaimed Jimmy scornfully. "I couldn't run three +yards right now. I think I'll lie down and give my digestion a chance," +and in a few minutes he was peacefully snoring. + +The next morning he showed no ill effects from the prodigious feast, but +ate his usual hearty breakfast. The others were forced to the conclusion +that his table ability was even greater than they had suspected, and +from that time on they firmly believed him to be invincible in his +particular department. + +By this time they were thoroughly familiar with the camp, and decided to +make an excursion into the woods the following day, taking lunch with +them and making it a day's outing. The cook so far departed from his +usual iron-clad rules as to make them up a fine lunch, making due +allowance for Jimmy's proven capacity. + +They started out immediately after breakfast. Not being particular as to +direction, they followed the first old logging road that they came to. +It led them deeper and deeper into the forest that was alive with the +sounds and scents of spring. Last year's fallen leaves made a springy +carpet underfoot, while robins sang their spring song in the budding +branches overhead. + +For some time the boys tramped in silence, breathing deeply of the +exhilarating pine and balsam atmosphere and at peace with all the world. +Soon there was a glint of water through the trees, and the boys, with +one accord, diverged from the faint trail that they had been following +and were a few minutes later standing at the water's edge. + +They found themselves on the shore of a large lake. It was ringed about +with big trees, many of which leaned far out over it as though to gaze +at their reflections in the water. The ripples lapped gently on a +sloping sandy beach, and the invitation to swim proved irresistible to +all but Jimmy. + +"I know what lake water is like at this time of year," he said. "You +fellows can go in and freeze yourselves all you like, but I'll stay +right here and look after the things. Just dive right in and enjoy +yourselves." + +"Well, we won't coax you," said Bob. "But that water looks too good to +miss. It is pretty cold, but I guess that won't kill us." + +Off came their clothes, and with shouts and laughter they splashed +through the shallow water and struck out manfully. The icy water made +them gasp at first, but soon the reaction came, and they thoroughly +enjoyed their swim. They tried to coax Jimmy in, but he lay flat on his +back under a tree and was adamant to all their pleadings. + +The others did not stay in very long, but emerged glowing from the +effects of exercise and the cold water. As they were getting into their +clothes they heard voices coming toward them, and they had hardly +finished dressing when the voices' owners came crashing through the +underbrush close to where the boys were standing. + +The two groups stared in astonishment for a few moments, for the +newcomers were none other than Carl Lutz, Buck Looker, Terry Mooney, and +another older fellow, who was a stranger to the radio boys. + +Buck's expression of surprise quickly gave place to an ugly sneer, and +he turned to his friends. + +"Look who's here!" he cried, in a nasty tone. "I wonder what they're up +to now, Carl?" + +"We're not hiding from the cops because we broke a plate glass window +and were afraid to own up to it," Bob told him. + +"Who broke a window?" demanded Buck. "You can't prove that it wasn't a +snowball that one of your own bunch threw that broke that window." + +"We don't throw that kind of snowballs," said Joe. + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Buck. + +"Are you trying to say that we put stones in our snowballs?" + +"I don't have to say it," retorted Joe. "You just said it yourself." + +Too late Buck realized his mistake, and his coarse red face grew purple +as Herb and Jimmy grinned at him in maddening fashion. + +"Don't you laugh at me, Jimmy Plummer!" he exclaimed, picking on Jimmy +as being the least warlike of the radio boys. "I'll make you laugh out +of the other side of your mouth in a minute," and he started to dash +past Bob to reach his victim. + +But to do so he had to pass between Bob and the bank of the lake, which +just at this point was a foot or so above the water. + +As he rushed past, Bob adroitly shot out a muscular arm and his elbow +caught the bully fair in the side. Buck staggered, made a wild effort to +regain his balance, and with a prodigious splash disappeared in the icy +waters of the lake. + +For a few seconds friend and enemy gazed anxiously at the spot where he +had gone under, but he soon came to the surface, and, sputtering and +fuming, struck out for the shore and dragged himself out on to dry land. + +He made such a ludicrous figure that even his cronies could not forbear +laughing, but he turned on them furiously and their laughter suddenly +ceased. Then he turned to Bob. + +"If I didn't have these wet clothes on, I'd make you pay for that right +now, Bob Layton," he sputtered. "I'll make you sorry for that before +you're much older." + +"Why not settle it right now?" offered Bob. "Your clothes will dry soon +enough, don't worry about that." + +"Yes, I know you'd like nothing better than to see me get pneumonia," +said Buck. "You wait here till I go home and get dry clothes on, and +I'll come and give you the licking that you deserve." + +"That's only a bluff, and you know it," said Bob contemptuously. "But if +any of your friends would like to take your place, why, here I am. How +about you, Lutz?" + +But Carl muttered something unintelligible, and backed away. The others +likewise seemed discouraged by the mischance to their leader, for they +turned and followed his retreating form without another word. + +"Some sports!" commented Joe. + +"Game as a mouse," supplemented Herb. + +"That was a swell ducking you gave Buck," chuckled Jimmy. "Just when he +was going to pick on me, too. I owe you something for that, Bob." + +"Pay me when you get rich and famous," laughed his friend. "You don't +owe me anything, anyway. It was a pleasure to shove Buck into the lake. +I'm perfectly willing to do it again any time I get the chance." + +"Oh, it's my turn next time," said Joe. "I can't let you hog all the +fun, Bob." + +"All right," replied his friend. "If we run into him again, I'll leave +him to your tender mercies. But I don't imagine he or his friends will +bother us any more to-day, so why not have lunch?" + +"I was thinking the same thing," remarked Jimmy, and they forthwith set +to work to prepare what Jimmy termed a "bang-up lunch." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A STARTLING DISCOVERY + + +The cook had supplied the radio boys with a lavish hand, but their long +walk and the swim had given them ravenous appetites, and by the time +they finished there was little left of the lunch. Even this little was +soon disposed of by the bright-eyed birds that ventured close in pursuit +of the tempting bits. By sitting as still as statues the boys succeeded +in enticing the little fellows almost within arm's length, and derived +no little amusement at the evident struggle between greed and caution. + +But soon the last crumb was gone, and after a short rest the lads began +to think of returning to camp. They did not want to go back by the same +road over which they had come, however, so decided to follow the shores +of the lake until they should find some other path. This was, of course, +a roundabout way of getting home, but they had the better part of the +afternoon before them, and were in no particular hurry. + +"Come on over to the north," suggested Joe. "I think there is another +trail in that direction." + +"Yes, and I imagine the walking is better," put in Herb. + +"Say, you don't want to go too far out of the way," came hastily from +Jimmy. "We've got to walk back remember." + +"Forward it is!" cried Bob. "Come on, Jimmy, you've got to walk off that +big lunch you stowed away." + +"Gee, if I walk too far I'll be hungry again before I get home," sighed +the stout youth. + +"Wow! hear Jimmy complain," burst out Joe. "He hardly has one meal down +than he's thinking of another." + +To find another trail was not as simple a matter as it had seemed, and +they must have traveled over two miles before Bob's keen eyes detected a +slight break in the dry underbrush that might denote a path such as they +sought. They found a dim trail leading in the general direction in which +they wished to go, and set out at a brisk pace, even Jimmy being willing +to hurry as visions of the loaded supper table floated before him. + +Gradually the path widened out, as others ran into it, until it became a +fairly well-defined woods road. It was thickly strewn with last year's +soft and rotting leaves, and the boys made little sound in spite of the +rapidity of their pace. Bob and Joe and Herb were striding along in a +group, Jimmy having dropped behind while he fixed a refractory shoe +lace, when suddenly Bob halted abruptly and held up a warning hand. The +others, scenting something amiss, stopped likewise, looking inquiringly +at Bob. + +Silently he pointed to a spot slightly ahead of them and several paces +off the road. Even as the others gazed wonderingly, Bob beckoned them to +follow and slipped silently into the brush that lined the road. + +On the other side stood a big tree, its trunk and branches sharply +outlined against the clear sky. At the base of this tree, with his back +toward them, stood a man. Now, the surprising part of it all, and that +which had caused the boys to proceed so cautiously, was the fact that +the man wore headphones and was evidently receiving a message of some +kind. Fastened to the tree was a box, which evidently contained +telephonic apparatus. At first the boys thought he must be listening at +an ordinary telephone, but the fact that he had no transmitter indicated +that he was listening in on a radio receiving set. + +The boys had hardly reached their place of concealment when the man +turned sharply about, darting furtive glances here and there, evidently +in search of possible intruders. The boys crouched lower behind the +bushes and prayed fervently that Jimmy would not arrive before the man +had gone. The fellow was of fair size, with a deeply tanned face, and +wore a moustache. Fortunately, after they had been watching him a few +minutes, he removed the earphones, placed them in the box, and, after +locking it, started into the woods, following a dimly marked footpath. + +It was well that he left when he did, for not two minutes later Jimmy +came puffing along, looking anxiously for the others. He stopped in +amazement when he saw his friends emerge from the bushes, and was about +to raise his voice in vehement questionings when Bob leaped at him and +clapped a hand over his mouth. + +"Be quiet!" he hissed into his ear. "There's some funny work going on +here, and we want to find out what it is." + +Thus admonished, Jimmy was released, and in low tones the others told +him of what they had seen and showed him the box fastened to the tree. +While they were about it, they made a hasty search for the antenna, and +found it strung close to the trunk of the tree, extending from the top +almost to the roots. After this discovery they hurried after the man +with the moustache, fearful lest they should lose his trail. + +It was no easy matter to follow the dimly marked path, for it passed at +times over stony ground and big boulders, where often it took much +searching here and there before they picked up its continuation. + +"We may be taking all this trouble for nothing," said Bob, after one of +these searches. "Maybe he's just a lumberman receiving instruction by +wireless from his employers. Big business firms are using radio more and +more for such purposes." + +"I didn't like the way he kept looking about him, as though he had +something to conceal," objected Joe. "It can't do any harm to see where +he goes, anyway. We may find out something important." + +"His hands weren't those of a lumberman," observed Herb. "Those hands +never saw rough work nor, judging from the man's face and manner, honest +work. Come on, fellows." + +Accordingly the boys followed the difficult trail with untiring +patience, and at last their perseverance was rewarded. The path widened +out into a little clearing, and at the further side of this was a rough +log cabin. The little shack had two small windows, and with infinite +caution the boys approached until they could see into the nearest one. + +The interior was rudely furnished with a heavy table and two crudely +fashioned chairs, while in the corner furthest from them two bunks had +been built, one above the other. In another corner was a compact radio +transmitting set. + +At the table was seated the man with the moustache, intently studying a +notebook propped up before him. From this he made notes on a sheet of +paper, scowling at times like one engaged in a difficult task. At length +he shoved back his chair, rose to his feet, and, striding across the +little shack, carefully placed the notebook under a board on a shelf. +Luckily he was so absorbed in what he was doing that he did not even +glance toward the window where the radio boys were observing his every +motion. + +But Bob now judged that they had seen enough, and he wished to run no +unnecessary risk of detection. At a signal from him they made for the +underbrush at the edge of the clearing, where they could command a view +of the door, and waited to see if the mysterious stranger would emerge. + +In a few minutes the door opened and the man stepped out, stopping to +fasten it securely behind him. Then, with a quick glance about the +little clearing, he made for the path leading to the main road and in a +short time the sound of his going died away. + +The boys waited a few minutes, thinking that possibly he might return +for something forgotten, but no further sound came from the path. At +length they ventured to approach the deserted cabin. + +The door had been fastened with a heavy padlock, but this was not +sufficient to deter the radio boys. Searching through their pockets for +some implement with which they could undo the lock, Jimmy discovered a +stout fish-hook, and after they had ground off the barbs against a flat +stone this made an ideal tool. With it Bob probed about in the interior +of the padlock, and at length, with a sharp click, it sprung open. +Ordinarily he would not have done this, but he had every reason to +believe that he was dealing with a criminal and that he was justified in +the interest of law and order in taking steps that would prevent any +further depredations against society. + +"More ways than one of killing a cat," remarked Bob, as he pushed open +the heavy door and entered the cabin. "We've got to know what's in that +notebook before we leave this place. Let's have a look." + +The boys quickly brought the book from its place of concealment and +carried it to the table, where they bent eagerly over it as Bob turned +the pages. + +"It doesn't look like sense to me," complained Jimmy. "I never saw such +a lot of fool words jumbled together." + +"Yes, but something tells me there's method in this madness," said Bob, +his brows knit as he concentrated on the problem before him. "Say, +fellows!" he exclaimed, as sudden excitement gripped him, "do you +remember those nights we were listening to our big set and we heard the +mysterious messages? They were just a lot of words, and we couldn't make +anything out of them at the time." + +"You bet I remember!" exclaimed Joe. "I think I could even tell you most +of the words. Why, there's some of them in that book, right now!" + +"Exactly," replied Bob, nodding. "I remember them, too, and this must be +the key to the code. My stars, what luck! Let's see how close we can +recall the words we caught, and then we'll see if we can make sense of +them with the help of this key." + +"I'll tell you the words as I remember them, and you check me up," +suggested Joe, and this they accordingly did. + +Between them they managed to get it straight, just as they had heard it, +"Corn-hay-six-paint-water-slow-sick-jelly." + +"I think that's right," said Bob. "Anyway, we'll see if it comes right +with the key. You read the words, Joe, and I'll find them in this +notebook and you can write them down. Shoot the first one." + +"Corn," said Joe. + +Bob hunted rapidly down the columns of code words and their equivalents, +and soon found the one he was after. + +"Motor truck," he read out. + +"That sounds promising!" exclaimed Joe. "The next word I've got is +'hay.' What's the answer to that?" + +"Silk," said Bob, after a shorter search this time. + +"Six," read Joe. + +"Castleton Road!" exclaimed Bob, his voice shaking with excitement as he +traced down the columns of words. Herb and Jimmy were also excited; +especially the former, as he realized better than the others how serious +a loss the theft of his father's truckload of silk had been and now +thought he saw some clue in this message that might throw light on the +whereabouts of the stolen goods. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE ROBBERS' CODE + + +"The next word is 'paint,'" said Joe. "What does that stand for, Bob?" + +"Just a minute, till I find it," replied his friend, and after turning +over several pages found the word he sought. + +"It means 'to-night,'" he said. "Read what we've got so far." + +"Motor truck--silk--Castleton Road--to-night," read Joe. "That's clear +enough so far. The next code word is water." + +"'No guards,'" said Bob. And so they went, until the completed message +read as follows: + +"Motor truck--silk--Castleton Road--to-night--no guards--hold up--take +everything to usual place--notify when job is done." + +"That's the message that caused the theft of my father's merchandise!" +exclaimed Herb, jumping to his feet. "If we had only had the key then, +when there was still time, we could have prevented the hold-up." + +"Very likely we could," agreed Bob soberly. "But we may be able to do +the next best thing, Herb--get the stuff back again. If we make a copy +of this key and then leave the book just where we found it, the thieves +will never dream that anybody knows their secret, and they'll keep right +on using the same code." + +"I see," said Herb slowly. "And then if we hear any more code messages +we can translate them with this key, and likely get on the trail of the +crooks." + +"Exactly!" replied Bob. "Now, I have a notebook here, and if one of you +fellows will dictate that code, I'll copy it down and we'll get out of +here while the getting's good. There's no telling what minute some of +the gang will show up." + +"I'll dictate," volunteered Joe. "But while you and I are doing that, +Bob, why can't Jimmy and Herb act as lookouts? Then if any of the gang +comes along they can give us warning and we'll clear out." + +"That's good advice," agreed Bob, and Herb and Jimmy went outside and up +the path a short distance, where they crouched, listening, with every +muscle tense to warn their comrades if danger threatened. + +Meanwhile, in the cabin, Bob's pencil flew at furious speed as Joe +dictated. The code was very complete, and consisted of over two hundred +words, each word, in some cases, standing for a whole phrase. Bob wrote +as he had never written before, but in spite of his utmost efforts it +took over an hour to copy the entire list. He and Joe expected every +minute to hear Herb or Jimmy give the alarm, but the woods remained calm +and peaceful, and they finished their task without interruption. + +"There's the last word, Bob!" exclaimed Joe, with a sigh of relief. +"Let's put that little book back on the shelf where we found it, and +make a quick getaway." + +"Yes, we've got to make tracks," agreed Bob. "It will be away after dark +now when we get back to the camp. If we don't hurry they will be +organizing searching parties for us." + +With great care he placed the notebook back on the shelf, under the +board, and then gazed searchingly around the cabin to make sure that no +signs of their visit were left behind to warn the thieves. After +assuring himself that everything was exactly as they had found it, he +and Joe left the rude habitation, snapping the big padlock through the +hasp. + +"That's a swell lock," observed Joe, grinning. "It looks strong enough +to discourage anybody, but Jimmy's fish-hook licked it to a frazzle in +no time." + +"That's the way with a lot of padlocks," said Bob, as the two started +off in search of the others. "It would take dynamite to break them open, +but they're easy enough to pick." + +"If you know how, that is," supplemented Joe, with a grin. + +"Oh, that's understood," replied Bob. "It's hard to do anything without +the know-how." + +They soon picked up the two sentinels, who were greatly relieved to see +them. + +"I thought you were going to spend the night there," grumbled Jimmy. +"What happened? Did you both fall asleep in the middle of it?" + +"You're an ungrateful rascal, Doughnuts," answered Joe. "Here Bob and I +have worked like slaves for the last hour, while all you had to do was +loaf around in the nice fresh air. Then instead of thanking us, you +growl because we took so long." + +"Well, don't get sore," protested Jimmy. "I suppose we should all be so +happy over this discovery that we shouldn't mind anything. I'll bet your +father will be tickled to death, Herb." + +"I guess he will," agreed Herb. "Although we're still a long way from +getting back the stolen silk. There's no doubt that we've struck a +mighty promising clue, that much is sure." + +Bob was about to make some remark when he checked himself and halted in +a listening attitude. + +"I think some one is coming!" he exclaimed, in a low tone. "I'm sure I +heard voices. Let's duck into the underbrush, quick!" + +They were not a moment too soon, for they had hardly reached a place of +concealment behind a great fallen tree when two men appeared around a +bend in the path. One was the same whom they had followed a few hours +before, while the other was a stranger to them. This man was of a +desperate and unprepossessing appearance, and a bulge under his coat +suggested the possible presence of a weapon. + +The boys congratulated themselves that this formidable looking personage +had not arrived half an hour sooner, for they were of course unarmed and +would have been hard put to it had they been caught in the cabin. + +They lay snugly hidden in their retreat behind the fallen tree until the +voices of the two men had died away in the direction of the lonely +cabin. Then they returned cautiously to the path and hastened toward the +main road. This they reached without meeting any one else, and set out +for camp at a pace that caused Jimmy to cry for mercy. But the shadows +lay long athwart the path, camp was still an indefinite distance away, +and they hurried the unfortunate youth along at a great rate in spite of +his piteous protests. + +"It will be the best thing in the world for you, Doughnuts," said Joe +unfeelingly. "What you need is plenty of exercise to take that fat off +you." + +"Besides, think of what a fine appetite you'll have when we reach camp," +laughed Bob. + +"I've got all the appetite now that I know how to have," groaned Jimmy. +"You fellows haven't a heart between you. Where other people keep their +hearts, you've all got chunks of Vermont granite." + +"Flash a little speed, and don't talk so much," advised Herb. "Be like +the tramp that the fellow met going down the street one day with an +expensive rug." + +"Who wants to be like a tramp?" objected Jimmy. + +"You do, when you want to loaf all the time," retorted Herb. "But now +I'll tell you a good joke to make the way seem shorter. Jimmy got me +started, and now I'll have to get it out of my system." + +"Is it about a tramp?" asked Jimmy suspiciously. + +"Yes. And it's a pippin," Herb assured him. "It seems this tramp was +running down the street with an expensive rug over his shoulder, and +somebody stopped him and began to ask questions. + +"'Where did you steal that rug from?' asked the suspicious citizen. + +"'I didn't steal it,' answered the tramp, trying to look insulted. 'A +lady in that big house down the street handed it to me and told me to +beat it, and I am.'" + +"Say, that's a pretty good joke, for you, Herb," said Bob, laughing with +the others. + +"Oh, that's nothing. I've got others just as good," said Herb eagerly. +"Now, here's one that I made up myself the other day, but I forgot to +tell it to you. Why----" + +"Suffering tomcats!" exclaimed Joe. "Don't tell us anything that you +made up yourself, Herb! Or, at least, wait until we get back and have +supper, so that we'll be strong enough to stand it." + +"That's what I say," agreed Jimmy. "I'm so hungry that I can't think of +anything but supper, anyway. I know your joke is as good as usual, Herb, +but I wouldn't be able to appreciate it just now." + +"It's discouraging to a high-class humorist to have to throw away his +choice offerings on a bunch like this," said Herb, in an injured voice. +"Some day, when I am far away, you'll wish you had listened to those +gems of humor." + +"I'd like to believe you, but that hardly seems possible," said Bob. +"Can you imagine the day ever coming when we'd actually want to sit down +and listen to Herb's line of humor?" + +"My imagination isn't up to anything like that," replied Joe. "But, of +course, you don't really ever have to ask Herb to spill some of those +jokes. The hard thing is to keep him from doing it." + +"Oh, all right," retorted Herb. "Only, remember that it is 'easier to +criticize than to create.'" + +For some time after this they plodded along hoping to reach camp before +it got entirely dark. Bob was the first to see a distant point of light +through the trees, and he emitted a whoop that startled the others. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ON THE TRAIL + + +"I can see the lights from the camp!" Bob exclaimed. "Use your eyes, +fellows. A little to the left of us, through the trees." + +"Well, it's about time," groaned Jimmy, as they all looked in the +direction indicated. "I was just getting ready to lie down and die +peacefully. I couldn't travel another mile if you paid me for it." + +"Oh, buck up, Doughnuts, and get a move on!" exclaimed Bob. "You never +know what you can do until you try. Come on, let's take it on the +double." + +He and Joe and Herbert broke into a lively trot, and rather than be left +behind Jimmy overcame his reluctance for further effort, and with much +puffing and blowing and fragmentary complaint managed to hold the pace +until they arrived at the mess house. + +Luckily for them, supper had been delayed owing to the failure of some +supplies to arrive on time, and the lumbermen had just started eating +when the radio boys burst in through the door. + +The lumbermen stopped eating long enough to welcome their arrival, and +they found their places set as usual. + +"Glory be!" exclaimed Jimmy, as he slid into his chair. "If there were a +pie-eating contest on to-night, I could show you fellows some real +class. I feel empty right down to my toes." + +"It's lucky we got a head start, Champ," remarked one of the men, with a +grin. "Pass everything down this way, you amateurs. There's a +professional here wants to show us some fancy eating." + +By this time Jimmy was too busily occupied to make any answer, and the +other radio boys were also showing good appetites. The long trip and the +excitement of their discovery of the secret code had sharpened their +naturally keen appetites until for once they all felt on equal terms +with the lumbermen. Jimmy surpassed himself, and great was the +admiration expressed for his ability as a trencherman. + +After supper the boys sought out Mr. Fennington and told him of their +discovery in the lonely cabin. Then Bob showed him the copy he had made +of the code, and Mr. Fennington studied this a long time with knit +brows. + +"There seems little doubt that you boys have unearthed an important +clue, and one that may easily lead to the discovery of the crooks who +stole my merchandise," he said, at length. "I suppose I should put this +information in the hands of the police. And yet perhaps we had better +say nothing until we learn something further. With your radio outfit you +may be able to catch another code message that would give us more +definite information, and then it would be time enough to call in the +police." + +"I think that would be the best thing to do, Dad," agreed Herb. "As soon +as we get back home we'll fix it so one of us will be at the set a good +part of every afternoon and evening, and we'll be almost certain to +catch some more messages like the last one." + +His father nodded, and was still considering the matter when there came +a knock at the door. Herb crossed over and opened it, and he and his +friends uttered exclamations of astonishment and delight as they +recognized the visitor. He was none other than Frank Brandon, the +government radio inspector. + +On his part, he was no less pleased to see them, and they all shook +hands heartily, with many questions and explanations, after which the +radio inspector was introduced to Mr. Fennington. + +"I suppose you're all wondering what I'm doing up here," he said, after +the greetings were over. + +"Yes, in a way," admitted Bob. "Although we know that your position +calls you all over, and we may expect to meet you almost any old place." + +"Yes, that's a fact," replied Brandon. "I'm up here on the same old +business, too. Somewhere in this neighborhood there's an unauthorized +sending station, but in these thick woods it may prove a rather +difficult place to locate exactly. However, it will only be a matter of +time when we nail it." + +The boys glanced at one another, and the same thought was in all their +minds. They remembered the radio apparatus they had seen in the lonely +cabin, and had little doubt that this would prove to be the unauthorized +station of which the radio man was in search. + +He must have read something of this in their expression, for he looked +searchingly from one to another. + +"Looks to me as though you fellows knew something," he remarked. "I +might have known if there was anything going on in the radio line within +fifty miles of where you are that you'd know something about it." + +"Well, I've got a hunch that we could lead you right to the place you're +looking for," said Bob quietly. + +"What?" shouted Brandon, leaping excitedly to his feet. "Do you really +mean that? Tell me all about it." + +For the second time that evening Bob recounted the happenings of their +eventful excursion, while the radio inspector listened intently, +throwing in a question here and there. When Bob had finished he made no +comment for a few minutes. + +Then he took the copy of the code and examined it intently, jotting down +phrases here and there in his own notebook. + +"Well," he said at length, "this looks to be a much bigger thing than I +had supposed. Of course I heard of the robbery of the motor-truck, but I +never for a moment connected that with this sending station we've been +looking for. It seems fairly evident, though, that if we can lay our +hands on the operators of the unauthorized sending outfit, we'll also +have the perpetrators of that hold-up. This is a case where we'll have +to think out every move before we act." + +"Just before you arrived I was considering the advisability of putting +the matter into the hands of the police," said Mr. Fennington. "What +would you do?" + +"Keep the whole thing to ourselves for the present," said Mr. Brandon +decisively. "I'll send for a couple of good men to come up here and help +me, and we'll keep a watch on that cabin for a few days. If this thing +got into the papers, it would put the crooks on their guard, and +probably spoil our chances of catching them and getting back the loot. +I've got a small but extremely efficient receiving and sending set in my +car, and if any more code messages are sent out we'll catch them." + +His confidence was contagious, and the boys felt almost as though the +capture of the criminals had already been accomplished. + +"What puzzles me, though," remarked Mr. Fennington, "is how you knew +that there was an unauthorized radio sending station in this +neighborhood, Mr. Brandon. I should think it would be almost impossible +to locate such a station, even approximately." + +"On the contrary," replied Frank Brandon, "it is little more than a +matter of routine. Probably any of these radio fiends here could explain +the method as well as I can, but I'll try to make it plain to you. + +"There is a certain type of aerial that has what we call 'directional' +properties, that is, when it is shifted around, the incoming signals +will be loudest when this loop aerial, as it is called, is directly in +line with the sending station. The receiving antenna is wound on a +square frame, and when the signals are received at their maximum +strength, we know that the frame is in a practically straight line with +the sending station we're after." + +"Yes, but that still leaves you in the dark as to whether the station is +one mile away or a hundred miles," observed Mr. Fennington, as Brandon +paused. + +"That's very true," answered the other. "And for that reason we can't +stop at using just one loop aerial. What we actually do is to have three +stations, each one equipped with a loop. These three stations are +located a good many miles apart. Now, with these three loops, we have +three lines of direction. We lay out these lines on a chart of the +territory, and where they intersect, is the place where the unlicensed +station is located. Is that clear?" + +"Perfectly," said Mr. Fennington. "But what looks like a point on the +map may be a large space on the actual territory." + +"Oh, yes, our work isn't done by any means after we have got our first +rough bearings," continued Brandon. "Having determined the approximate +position, we take the loops and receivers to what we know is a place +quite near the station we're after, and then we repeat the former +process. This time it is much more accurate. Gradually we draw the net +tighter until we find the antenna belonging to the offender, and +then--well, we make him wish he hadn't tried to fool the government." + +"You certainly have it reduced to an exact science," acknowledged Mr. +Fennington. "I don't wonder that everybody interested in radio gets to +be a fanatic." + +"We'll make a 'bug' out of you before we get through, Dad," declared +Herb, grinning. + +"If my load of silk is recovered through the agency of radio, I'll be +enthusiastic enough over it to suit even you fellows," said his father. +"It will mean the best set that money can buy for you if I get it back." + +"We'll hold you to that promise," threatened Herb. "Radio can do +anything," he added, with the conviction of a devotee. + +"Well, pretty nearly everything," qualified Mr. Brandon. "A little while +ago it was considered marvelous that we could transmit the voice by +radio, and now the transmission of photographs by radio has been +successfully accomplished." + +"What!" exclaimed Mr. Fennington incredulously. "Do you mean to say that +an actual recognizable photograph has been sent through the air by +radio? That seems almost too much to believe." + +"Nevertheless, it has been done," insisted Frank Brandon. "I saw the +actual reproduction of one that had been sent from Italy to New York by +the wireless route, and while I can't claim that it was perfect, still +it was as plain as the average newspaper picture. And don't forget that +this is a new phase of the game, and is not past the experimental stage +yet." + +"Well, after that, I am inclined to agree with Herbert that 'radio can +do anything,'" admitted Mr. Fennington. + +"I don't think we'll have much trouble making a convert of you," laughed +the radio inspector. "No doubt the quickest way, though, will be to +recover your stolen shipment, so we'll start working in that direction +the first thing in the morning." + +And in this he was as good as his word. He was up betimes, getting in +touch with headquarters by means of his compact portable outfit. He kept +at work until he had received the promise of two trustworthy men, who +were to report to him at the lumber camp as soon as they could get +there. Then he routed out the radio boys, and after a hasty breakfast +they all set out to locate the cabin where the boys had found the code +key. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE GLIMPSE THROUGH THE WINDOW + + +The sun was just climbing above the treetops when the radio boys and +Frank Brandon set out over the forest road, to the accompaniment of a +full chorus of lusty feathered singers. Robin and starling and thrush +combined to make the dewy morning gladsome, and the boys whistled back +at them and wished Larry Bartlett were there to learn some new notes. + +"This would be just his dish," commented Herb. "After he got warmed up, +you wouldn't be able to tell him from the birds." + +"The only difference is, that he's better," declared Joe. "If he were +here now, he'd be teaching the dicky birds a new song or two. That boy +is certainly a wonder." + +"He's very clever," acknowledged Brandon. "He's getting along +wonderfully well at the broadcasting station, and I understand he's had +several good offers from the big vaudeville circuits." + +"Why doesn't he accept one?" questioned Joe. + +"He hasn't fully recovered from the effects of the accident yet. And, +besides, he says he likes the radio work better. He can stay in one +place, and cut out all the traveling. That seems to be a strong +consideration with him." + +"I don't know that I can blame him," commented Bob. "I should think that +continual jumping around from place to place would get on anybody's +nerves." + +"Still, it gives one a fine chance to see the country," argued Frank +Brandon. "If any of you fellows ever get into radio work in a commercial +way, the chances are you won't be able to 'stay put' in one place very +long." + +"There's one great advantage about traveling, anyway," said Jimmy. + +"What's that, Doughnuts?" queried Joe. "I should think that with your +restful nature you'd rather stay in the same place and grow old and fat +in perfect comfort." + +"Oh, that part of it is all right," admitted Jimmy. "But don't forget +that different parts of the country have different kinds of cooking. In +New York the specialty is shore dinners; go a little South, and you get +fried chicken and corn pone cooked by guaranteed southern mammies; go up +North, and you get venison steaks; in the West they'll feed you mutton +chops as big as a plate. And so it goes." + +"You've even forgotten some places," laughed Bob. "How about a steaming +dish of beans in Boston?" + +"Yes, or frijoles and chile con carne in New Mexico," suggested Herb. + +"Cease, cease!" groaned Jimmy. "Why talk about such things when we're +such a long way from them? Every time you mention something new it makes +me feel hungrier." + +"Hungrier!" exclaimed Mr. Brandon. "Why, it's hardly half an hour since +we finished breakfast!" + +"What has breakfast got to do with it?" demanded the insatiable Jimmy. +"That's past and done with. It's time to think of lunch, now." + +"You win," laughed Brandon. "Your capacity will make you famous some +day." + +"It's made him famous already--at least, up here," Bob informed the +radio inspector. "Didn't you know that he is the undisputed champion pie +eater of the camp?" + +"No, I didn't know that, but it doesn't surprise me in the least to hear +it," said Brandon, with a smile. "How did he gain his laurels?" + +Then Bob told him about the contest, and when he had finished Mr. +Brandon laughingly congratulated Jimmy. + +"I always had a sneaking idea that you could do it," he admitted. "But +after my experience with lumbermen's appetites, I realize that you must +have been on your mettle all the way." + +"It was rather hard at the end," admitted Jimmy, "but take it all +together it was a real pleasure. That cook sure does know how to make +good pies," and an expression of blissful reminiscence spread over his +round countenance. + +"He made a regular pig of himself, but we knew he would, and that's why +we had such confidence in him," said Joe. + +"Nothing of the kind!" protested Jimmy. "You know you fellows got me +into it in the first place. You fixed it all up, and I only went in as a +favor to you. But I might know better than to expect gratitude from this +bunch." + +"You'll find it in the dictionary," Joe informed him. "You ought to be +grateful to us for providing you with a feed like that. It would have +cost you a lot of money to buy all those pies back home." + +"I think he came well out of it, at any rate," interposed the radio man. +"But we must now be getting somewhere near that cabin, and we'd better +go as quietly as we can. We know that there are two of the gang hanging +out in it, and there's no telling how many more there may be." + +"Not so very near the cabin yet," answered Bob. "Nearer that tree to +which they had the receiving set attached." + +Nevertheless, they advanced as silently as possible, keeping a sharp +lookout for any sign of the black-moustached stranger and his friend. +The woods seemed devoid of human presence other than their own, however, +and they saw nothing to arouse suspicion until at length they reached +the tree to which the receiving set was fastened. Frank Brandon examined +this with interest. The box was securely locked, but the radio man drew +a big bunch of various-sized keys from his pocket. + +"I want to see what's in this box, but first I think we'd better post +sentries," he said, in a low voice. "Suppose you go back a few hundred +feet the way we came, Jimmy. You go the same distance in the other +direction, Herb. And Joe can go a little way up the path that leads +toward the cabin. You can stay here and help me get this box open, Bob. +If any of you hear some one coming, imitate a robin's note three times, +and then keep out of sight. We don't want the crooks to suspect yet that +anybody is on their trail." + +The three radio boys scattered to their appointed posts, and Frank +Brandon proceeded to try key after key in the lock. He had to try fully +a dozen before at last the lock clicked and the door of the box swung +open. + +Inside was a complete radio receiving set, with vacuum tube detector and +batteries in perfect working order. Between the roots of the tree an +iron pipe had been driven into the earth to act as a ground. The antenna +was strung from top to bottom of the tree on the side away from the +path, and there was nothing to differentiate the box from an ordinary +wire telephone set, except that it was slightly larger. There were a +number of regular wire telephones scattered throughout the woods, to aid +in fighting forest fires, so that anybody traveling along the path would +have been unlikely to give this outfit more than a passing glance, if +they noticed it at all. Had the radio boys not chanced to see the +black-moustached man listening, with wireless headphones over his ears, +the fact that the box contained a wireless receiving outfit might never +have been discovered. + +Brandon and Bob went carefully over every article of the equipment. They +were on the lookout for another notebook such as the boys had found in +the cabin, but there was nothing of the kind in the box. When they were +satisfied of this, Mr. Brandon carefully replaced everything as he had +found it, and snapped the lock shut. + +"So much for that!" he exclaimed. "Now, let's get hold of the others and +we'll see what that mysterious cabin looks like." + +Joe and Herb and Jimmy were soon recalled from their sentry duty, and +all set out along the path to the cabin. When they got close to the +clearing the three sentries were again posted, while Bob and the +inspector made a detour through the woods so as to approach the cabin on +the side away from the path, where there was little likelihood of those +inside keeping a lookout. Very cautiously they advanced from the +concealment of the woods, Frank Brandon with his right hand on the butt +of a deadly looking automatic pistol. They crept close to the wall of +the cabin, and listened intently for some sign of life within. + +That there was at least one man in the cabin, and that he was still +sleeping, soon became evident, for they heard the heavy breathing of one +sound asleep. Mr. Brandon cautiously raised himself as high as the +window, and peered within. From this position he could not see the +sleeper, however, and he and Bob moved silently to the other side of the +shack. From there they commanded a good view of the interior, and could +plainly see the sleeping man, who was the same whom the boys had first +encountered the day before. + +His black-moustached face was toward them, and Brandon gave a start of +recognition, while his fingers tightened on his pistol. For a few +moments he stood tense, evidently deciding what to do. Then he beckoned +to Bob to follow, and made for the path where the others anxiously +awaited them. + +"I know that man in there!" exclaimed Brandon excitedly. "He is known as +'Black' Donegan, on account of his black hair and moustache. He's wanted +by the police of New York and Chicago, and I guess other cities, too. We +could easily get him now, but if we did, the chances are the rest of the +gang would take alarm, and we'd miss the chance of bagging them and +getting back Mr. Fennington's stolen property. It's hard to say what is +the best thing to do." + +But on the instant a plan occurred to Bob, and he lost no time in +communicating it to the others. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A NEFARIOUS PLOT + + +"If this fellow in the cabin is such a bad man, we can't afford to risk +losing sight of him," said Bob. "Suppose Joe and Jimmy and I stay here, +while Herb goes back with you, Mr. Brandon. We can stay here until your +two regulars show up, and Herb can then bring them here to relieve us. +How does that strike you?" + +"It's a way out of the predicament," answered Frank Brandon, his frown +vanishing. "You fellows are apt to have a long vigil, though. My men +won't get to the camp until this afternoon, and after that it takes +quite a while to reach this place." + +"I guess we can stand it," said Bob. "Can't we, fellows?" he asked, +glancing at the others. + +Both Joe and Jimmy agreed, although the latter had secret misgivings as +he thought regretfully of the dinner he would miss. However, such +considerations were of little weight just then, and it was finally +decided to adopt Bob's plan. + +"I'll leave my pistol with you," said Brandon, as he and Herb prepared +to leave. "But whatever else you do, steer clear of this gang and don't +use firearms unless as a last resort. Remember, that if they once find +out their hiding place is discovered, our whole scheme will be ruined." + +The boys promised to exercise the greatest caution, and then Mr. Brandon +and Herb started back toward camp. + +Bob, after a brief inspection, dropped the deadly automatic pistol into +his pocket, and then the three friends considered how they might best +keep watch on the cabin without being discovered. First of all, at Joe's +suggestion, they armed themselves with serviceable clubs, that might +come in handy in time of necessity. Then they slipped silently into the +underbrush, and worked their way along until they had attained a +position where they commanded a view of the cabin's only door. + +The spot they had chosen was surrounded by dense thickets, and one might +have passed within ten feet without spying them. Bob carefully parted +the bushes and broke off twigs here and there until they could see +plainly enough, and yet were securely hidden from the cabin. This done, +the boys made themselves as comfortable as possible under the +circumstances, and prepared for a long vigil. + +They had been in their retreat less than half an hour when the door of +the shack was flung open, and the black-moustached man appeared on the +threshold. He gazed searchingly about the little clearing, then glanced +up at the mounting sun and stretched prodigiously. At length, apparently +satisfied that all was as it should be, he turned back into the cabin, +and soon the aroma of bacon and coffee came floating down the wind to +where the boys lay. Jimmy's nose twitched and his mouth watered, but he +thought of the importance of the mission that had been intrusted to them +by the radio inspector and stifled his longings. + +The man in the cabin ate a leisurely breakfast, and apparently was in no +hurry. Indeed, from the way he loitered over the meal, the boys rather +suspected that he was awaiting the arrival of some other members of the +gang. Nor were they mistaken. After a time the lads could hear the sound +of approaching voices, and soon three men entered the clearing and made +for the cabin. At the first sound of their voices, the man inside had +stepped swiftly to the door, one hand in the bulging pocket of his coat; +but when he recognized the others an ugly grin spread over his face, +while his hand dropped to his side. + +"So you have got here at last, eh?" he snarled. "I'm glad to find you +didn't hurry yourselves any. I thought I sent you a wireless message to +get here early." + +"So you did, chief," spoke up one of the newcomers. "But we couldn't get +here no sooner." + +"You couldn't?" snapped the other. "Why couldn't you?" + +"We got word that one of the government radio inspectors was at the +lumber camp, so we had to come here by the long way. We were afraid he +might recognize one of us if we happened to bump into him." + +"Well, the cops have photoed all of you so often that I don't wonder +you're shy," sneered the leader. "But come on inside. There's no use of +standing chinning here." + +Two of the men muttered sullenly to themselves, but ceased abruptly as +the leader's frowning gaze fell on them. They all shuffled into the +cabin, and the black-moustached man shut the door with a bang. + +"Say," whispered Bob, "we've got to listen in on this pow-wow, fellows. +I'm going to sneak up to the window and try to hear what they're saying. +They must have some purpose in meeting here like this." + +"Well, be mighty careful, Bob," said Joe anxiously. "They're a tough +crowd, and we've got to watch our step. If they discover you, head for +here, and if we can't get away we'll put up a battle." + +"If I have any kind of luck, they won't discover me," Bob assured him. +"Just sit tight, and I'll be back in a jiffy." + +Very cautiously he crept through the underbrush toward the cabin. In +spite of all his care a branch snapped under him and the second time the +door was flung wide and the ill-favored leader of the gang stepped out +and peered about him. + +Bob flattened out as close to the ground as he could get and lay tense, +while the outlaw gazed suspiciously at the bushes amid which he was +concealed. + +"What's the matter, Blackie?" called one of the gang. "Did you think you +heard somethin'?" + +"I know I did!" exclaimed the other. "But I suppose it was only some +animal prowling around." + +"Bein' alone in this shack has got on your nerves, maybe," taunted one +of the gang. + +"Nerves, my eye!" exclaimed the other. "I don't own such things! But +I've got a notion to take a look through those bushes, anyway," and he +started in Bob's direction. + +"Come on back, Blackie," urged another of the gang. "We can't be foolin' +around here all day. Be yourself, can't you?" + +The others chimed in to the same effect, and their leader reluctantly +abandoned his search and returned to the cabin. Had he gone another +twenty feet he would inevitably have discovered Bob, who had been on the +point of springing to his feet and giving battle. It was a narrow +escape, and the radio boys heaved sighs of relief as the door of the +cabin closed on the formidable figure of the leader. They knew that +these men were desperate criminals, heavily armed, who would not +hesitate at murder to avoid capture. + +Bob resumed his advance, an inch at a time, and at length reached the +edge of the clearing. Before him lay a stretch of perhaps twenty feet of +open ground, and should one of the desperados chance to open the door +while he was crossing this space, discovery would be certain. However, +this was a chance that Bob knew he must take, and without hesitation he +sprang to his feet and ran swiftly but silently toward the cabin. + +Fortunately he reached it unobserved, and crouched close to the wall +beneath one of the little windows. There were numerous cracks in the +side of the rude structure, and he had no difficulty in hearing what was +going on inside. + +The crooks were engaged in a heated debate, but soon the voice of their +leader spoke out commandingly and the others fell silent. + +"I tell you we haven't had a chance to get rid of that last load of silk +we got near Castleton," he said, in an angry voice. "I couldn't get the +price I wanted for it, and, besides, it will be just as easy to get rid +of two loads as one, and no more risk. Now, I'm going to send out a +radio message in code to the rest of the gang, and we'll pull off the +job to-night, just as I've already told you." + +There were no dissenting voices, and presently Bob heard the whirr of +the sending set, followed by the voice of the leader. + +"HDEA' HDEA'," he called again and again, switching over to the +receiving set to get an answer. At length he evidently reached the +station he was after, for he listened intently for a few minutes. Then +the generator hummed again, and Bob heard the black-moustached man +speaking again. + +"Get this, and get it right," he commanded, and there followed a string +of words that would have been mere gibberish to Bob had he not held the +key to their meaning. He searched frantically in his pockets for a +pencil, and scribbled the words down as the man spoke them. When he had +finished, the leader of the gang shut down the generator, and turned to +the others. + +"That's fixed," he said. "There won't be much to do for the rest of the +day but look over your guns and make sure they're in good working order. +Since we got that last truck they've been putting guards on them, and we +want to be prepared to shoot before they do." + +There was a general pushing back of chairs, and Bob realized that at any +moment the door might open. His mind worked quickly, and instead of +going back to his friends the way he had come, he made a rush for the +woods on the opposite side of the clearing. In this way the "blind," or +windowless, end of the cabin was toward him, so that he would not be +likely to be detected unless the robbers came out and walked around the +house. + +Lucky it was for Bob that he acted as he did, because he had barely +started when the door was flung open and those inside came streaming +out. For a few moments they stood in a group in front of the door, +talking, and then scattered, some walking about, while others threw +themselves on the ground and smoked. + +But by this time Bob had reached the cover of the woods undiscovered, +and set out to rejoin his friends. This necessitated a long detour, and +it was a full hour later that he crept silently into their hiding place. +So quietly did he come that Jimmy was on the point of uttering a +startled exclamation, but checked himself just in time. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +PREPARING AN AMBUSH + + +"Say, you came as quietly as a shadow," whispered the plump youth. "How +do you ever do it?" + +"You don't expect me to blow a whistle under the circumstances, do you?" +asked Bob. + +"Never mind that, but tell us what you heard," said Joe impatiently. +"What are they up to, Bob?" + +"I can't tell you until I compare what I copied down with the code key," +said Bob, as he fished in his pocket for the bit of paper on which he +had noted down the robber's message. Having found this, he and Joe +searched through the key and soon had the following message pieced +together: + +"Truck--silk--Barberton Road--to-night. Meet me and others--Hicks +Bridge--eight o'clock. Truck due--ten o'clock." + +Having deciphered the message, the boys gazed questioningly at one +another. + +"That doesn't give us much time to act," said Joe. "If we wait here it +may be close to eight o'clock before the others come to relieve us, and +then it will be too late to prevent the robbery." + +"The answer is, that we won't wait here," said Bob decisively. "As long +as we know their plans up until this evening, there's no need of +watching this cabin any longer, anyway. We'd better start back right +away, and tell Mr. Brandon what we've found out. He'll know the best +thing to do then." + +"That sounds all right to me," said Joe, and as Jimmy saw a chance of +getting back to camp in time for dinner, he put in no objections. + +"Now, for the love of butter, try to go quietly, Jimmy," warned Bob. "If +those fellows hear a sound from this direction, they'll be right after +us, because their suspicions are already aroused." + +"I'll do the best I can," promised his rotund friend. "But I'm heavier +than you fellows, and I can't slide around so easily." + +"Well, go easy, anyway," said Bob. "Now, are we all ready?" + +With infinite caution the boys wormed their way through the brushwood, +Bob leading. By luck rather than good management Jimmy managed to be as +quiet as his friends, and after almost an hour of this slow progress Bob +judged that they were far enough away from the cabin to risk a faster +pace. The shack was out of sight among the trees when he sprang to his +feet, followed by the others, and in a short time they had reached the +path leading to the main road. Here it was still necessary to be +extremely careful, for they never knew at what moment some turn in the +path would bring them face to face with some of the robber band. +Fortunately nothing of the kind happened, and soon they reached the main +road and started at high speed for camp. + +"I wonder if we can't take some sort of a short cut," came from Joe as +they raced along. + +"That's the talk," puffed poor Jimmy, who had great difficulty in +keeping up with his chums. "The shorter the better." + +"We won't dare risk it," returned Bob. "Why we might get lost." + +"Who's afraid of getting lost?" + +"We are, for we might lose too much time and all our plans would go to +smash. No, we've got to stick to the main road." + +"How much further have we to go?" + +"I don't know." + +"We've got to chase along until we reach camp," put in Joe. "Hustle now, +every minute may be precious." + +"I can't hustle any more than I am hustling," panted poor Jimmy. "Do you +want me to drop down of heart failure or something like that?" + +"Maybe we'd better go along and leave Jimmy behind," suggested Joe, with +a wink at Bob. + +"Not much," cried the stout youth, and after that did his best to keep +up with the others. + +Not a great while later they came in sight of camp, much to their +relief. + +Mr. Brandon was astonished to see them back so soon, but as briefly as +possible Bob told him of what they had learned and showed him the code +message. + +"You fellows have done a clever bit of detective work, and with +reasonable luck it ought to be possible to bag the whole gang to-night," +said Brandon. "I know where Hicks Bridge is. It's about five miles this +side of Barberton, and an ideal place for an ambuscade. The road runs +between high banks just before it gets to the bridge, and some of the +gang posted on those banks could command the road from either direction. +But I'll get in communication with the chief of police of Barberton, and +we'll see if we can't catch the thieves in their own trap." + +"I suppose the two men you were expecting haven't arrived yet, have +they?" inquired Bob. + +"No. And I'm afraid we won't be able to wait for them, either," said +Brandon. "I could radio to the Barberton chief, but I'm afraid the +message might be intercepted by the crooks, if one of them happened to +be listening. I guess it will be better to go by way of my automobile, +although I hate to lose the time that it will take." + +"Isn't there a telephone line from the camp?" suggested Joe. + +"No, unfortunately, one hasn't been installed yet," replied the +inspector. "But we can do the trick with the car if we start right away. +I suppose there's no need of asking if you fellows would like to come +with me?" + +"None whatever," answered Bob, grinning. "Just give us a chance to go in +and snatch a little grub off the table, and we'll eat it on the way." + +Frank Brandon nodded, and the three boys dashed into the mess hall and +caught up anything in the way of eatables that came nearest to hand, +Jimmy, of course, specializing on his favorite doughnuts. Then they +hurried out, and found Mr. Brandon waiting for them, with the motor +running. After a short search they found Herb fast asleep in his bunk, +and roused him unceremoniously, hustling him out before he was fairly +awake. + +"What's it all about?" he questioned, rubbing his eyes. "Has the camp +caught fire, or do you just want to borrow some money from me?" + +"Never mind the funny business now, we'll tell you all about it while +we're traveling," said Bob, as they reached the automobile. "In you go, +Herb." + +Before they could find seats Mr. Brandon had let in the clutch, and the +car started with a jerk that landed them in a heap on the cushions. +Regardless of the rough road, he kept picking up speed, and soon it was +all they could do to stay in the car at all. Barberton was about thirty +miles from the camp, and to reach it they had to cross Hicks Bridge. All +looked calm and peaceful just then, and it was hard to believe that in a +few short hours a desperate fight might be raging between the high banks +that flanked the road. The bridge was some two hundred feet long, and +passed over a deep cut between two hills. In spite of its present +peaceful appearance it was easy to see that the place would be an ideal +one to perpetrate such a crime as the robbers contemplated, and after +they had passed over the bridge Mr. Brandon opened the throttle wider in +his impatience to reach Barberton. + +They slowed down to go through the streets of the town, and as they drew +up in front of the police station, Brandon shut off his motor and leaped +to the sidewalk. + +"Come on in, boys, and we'll tell the chief about the little party +scheduled for this evening," he said, and the boys followed him into the +police station. + +Fortunately the chief of police, Mr. Durand, was in, and he greeted Mr. +Brandon with a heartiness that showed they were old friends. + +After they had shaken hands, Brandon introduced the radio boys, and then +proceeded to acquaint the chief with the details of the plot they had +discovered. As Mr. Durand listened a dark frown gathered between his +bushy eyebrows, and his fingers drummed angrily on the table before him. +When Mr. Brandon had finished, the chief jumped to his feet and strode +fiercely up and down the room. + +"This won't be the first trouble we've had with those rascals!" he +exclaimed wrathfully. "Members of the same gang have held up and robbed +stores in this town, and we have two of them doing their bit in jail +right now. And if we have any luck to-night we'll have the whole gang +under lock and key before the morning. These young fellows must have +been right on the job from start to finish, Frank." + +"Yes, I guess they were," replied Brandon. "If we land this gang, we'll +have them to thank for it. But now what are your plans for capturing the +crooks?" + +For answer the chief pressed a button, and a capable looking police +lieutenant appeared. + +"Get together ten of our best men," he directed, "and put them into two +automobiles. When they are ready to start, report to me." + +The lieutenant saluted, and left the room. + +"According to the code message, the robbers won't be at Hicks Bridge +much before eight o'clock, which is after dark these days," said the +chief. "We'll get there a lot earlier than that, and I'll conceal my men +in the woods. Then I'll leave orders here to stop the motor truck as it +comes through, and replace its crew with a few picked men from my force. +When the robbers try to hold up that truck, they'll have a big surprise +in store for them." + +"It might be a good plan," suggested Bob, "to mount a searchlight or two +on the motor truck. At the right minute you could turn these on the +crooks, and while it would confuse them, it would give your men in the +woods a big advantage, as they'd be able to see the hold-up men plainly +without being seen themselves." + +"Young man, that's a first-rate suggestion!" exclaimed the chief, eyeing +him appraisingly, "and you can believe we'll take advantage of it. I'll +commandeer a couple from the Electric Light Company in readiness to +mount on the truck when it comes along. I wish we could persuade you and +your friends to join the Barberton police force." + +"We'll be pretty nearly a part of it until those crooks are captured, if +you'll let us," said Bob. "We all want to be in at the finish." + +"It will be a dangerous business, and bullets may fly thick," the chief +warned him. "You fellows have done more than your full duty already, and +we can hardly call on you to do any more." + +"Just the same, we'll come along if you don't mind," insisted Bob. + +"Oh, I'll be very glad to have you, as far as I'm concerned," said Mr. +Durand. "I suppose you'll want to be in on it, too, Frank?" + +"You're dead right," Brandon assured him emphatically. "I've gone too +far with this to want to drop out now." + +At this point the lieutenant appeared and reported that the men were in +the automobiles, ready to start. Picking up the telephone, the chief +ordered his own car. He invited Mr. Brandon and the radio boys to ride +with him. + +"You can leave your car in the police garage, Frank," he said, and +Brandon was not slow in availing himself of this offer. In a short time +he returned, and the three automobiles started for the scene of the +projected hold-up, the chief's car leading and the other two following +close behind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +LYING IN WAIT + + +"Doesn't look as though there's going to be much monotony in our young +lives to-night," remarked Bob, as, tightly packed in the tonneau of the +car, the boys rode on through the gathering darkness. + +"For that matter there hasn't been much for several days past," chuckled +Joe, who sat at his right. "A fellow would have to be a glutton to want +more adventure than we've had since we came to Braxton Woods. What with +Buck Looker and Black Donegan, we ought to be pretty well satisfied." + +"I only hope Cassey will be in the gang that is rounded up to-night," +observed Herb. "It would be too bad if only the rest were captured and +that all-around scoundrel slipped through the meshes." + +"I guess Cassey is the brains of the whole bunch," put in Jimmy. +"Probably the others didn't know anything about radio until he put them +on to it. He'll be there all right. And he's likely to put up a pretty +stiff fight before he lets himself be captured, for he knows what it +means to him to be sent back to prison. With a new sentence tacked on to +the old one it'll probably mean that he'll be in for life." + +In a little while they reached the scene of the proposed robbery. They +were well in advance of the time set by the plotters, and the chief took +his time in carefully disposing his forces, availing himself of Frank +Brandon's advice in doing this. + +The bridge stretched between two hills at the bottom of which was a +small stream, about a hundred feet below. On each side, almost down to +the bridge itself, extended trees and shrubbery that afforded excellent +hiding places. The only trouble was that both the outlaws and the +officers who were trying to apprehend them were likely to seek the same +shelter and might in this way stumble across each other before the trap +was ready to be sprung. + +This, however, was a contingency that had to be faced, and preparations +were made accordingly. The men were placed at strategic points on both +sides of the bridge. Whether the attempt at hold-up would be made at the +entrance to the bridge or on the further side was a matter of +speculation. The chief went on the theory, however, that it would +probably take place at the entrance, and there he placed the majority of +the men under him. + +The radio boys hinted that there was where they would like to be also, +but in this the chief was adamant. + +"I've stretched a point in letting you young fire-eaters come along at +all," he said. "As it is, I may have a hard time explaining to your +parents. And I hate to think what my position would be if anything +happened to you. So I am going to put you where I think you'll be +comparatively out of danger. You're just to be lookers on at this +shindig. And if the bullets begin to fly, you just lie flat on the +ground behind the trees until they stop. It may not be so glorious, but +it's likely to be a mighty sight more healthy." + +So, much against their will, the boys were compelled to obey orders and +take the place assigned to them which was on the further side of the +bridge. + +"Putting us up in the gallery when we ought to have seats in the +orchestra," grumbled Joe, as the boys ensconced themselves in a thicket +behind a big clump of trees. + +"Cheer up, you old gloom hound," chaffed Bob. "We may get in on this +yet. At any rate, if we are in the gallery, we have a good view of the +stage. Or at least we shall have, when the searchlight gets busy." + +The darkness deepened until the night became as black as Egypt. There +was no moon, and even the stars were obscured by clouds that heavily +veiled the sky. The night was chill, and the boys buttoned their coats +tightly about them as they sat waiting for developments. + +They had perhaps an hour to wait, but it was not known but that some of +the robbers would be on the ground at an earlier time than had been set, +and every sense was on the alert as all strained their ears for the +slightest sound and peered into the darkness on the chance that they +might catch glimpses of shadowy forms. After the first few moments they +had not ventured to talk for fear that they might be overheard. But this +did not debar them from thinking, and they thrilled with excitement as +they pictured each to himself the struggle that seemed about to take +place on the road. + +The minutes dragged along interminably, and in the intense silence the +lads could almost hear the beating of their hearts. Then at a little +distance a twig cracked and sent the blood racing madly through their +veins. + +Soon footsteps were heard approaching, and the lads crouched still lower +in their hiding place. The sounds came nearer, and they could detect the +tread of two men. They were approaching without any excessive degree of +caution, as they had no reason to believe that their plans had been +discovered. As they drew closer, the boys could hear them conversing in +low tones. + +"I tell you it's all right," said a rough voice, which they recognized +as that of Black Donegan. "All the fellows are tipped off and know just +what they've got to do. Jake and Toppy will do the holding up, and then +the rest of us will jump in if the driver cuts up rough. If he does, +there'll be one more dead driver." + +The boys waited for the answer that seemed to be long in coming. What +they heard finally was a whistle that made them jump. They had heard +that whistle before! + +"Cassey!" whispered Bob to Joe. "Cassey, as sure as you're born!" + +The next instant his belief became a thrilling certainty. + +"It-t-t-t isn't the d-d-driver." The voice came out, with an explosive +quality. "It's the g-g-guards he may have w-w-with him. The p-p-police +are getting pretty l-l-leary about all the robberies t-t-t-that have +been taking place around here lately, and they've g-g-g-," again came +the whistle, "g-got to do something or lose their jobs. At any rate +t-t-this is the last thing we're g-g-going to pull off around here----" + +"I guess he's right about that," Joe whispered to Bob. + +"----and j-j-just as soon as we're through with this, w-w-we'd better +p-pull up stakes and try somewhere else." + +The voice was now so close at hand that if the boys had reached out of +the thicket they would almost have touched the speaker. At this thought +Jimmy and Herb, especially, felt a thrill of excitement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +AN EXCITING STRUGGLE + + +"I think myself that we've hung round this neck o' the woods about long +enough," agreed Donegan. "And I ain't any too well pleased to have that +radio inspector snooping around the woods. He ain't up to any good if +you ask me. But brace up, Cassey, for this last haul. You ain't +generally chicken-hearted." + +"You'll f-f-find that I have my n-n-nerve with me when the pinch comes," +replied Cassey. "I'd rather be k-k-killed by a bullet than g-g-g-go back +to prison." + +The voices receded as the men went on, and soon the sound of their +footsteps ceased. It was evident they were searching for the most +advantageous place for the crime that they contemplated. + +"I told you that I had a hunch that that villain would be here," +whispered Jimmy, when they felt that it would be safe to speak. + +"Good thing, too," said Bob grimly. "Cassey'll get to-night what's +coming to him." + +Half an hour passed--an hour--an hour and a half. Then far in the +distance the boys heard the hum of a motor engine and the rumble of a +heavy truck. + +"There it comes!" ejaculated Joe, throwing caution to the winds in his +excitement. + +The rumbling grew louder, and soon the boys knew that it must be close +to the bridge. Then they saw the lamps of an auto truck sending out +their beams of light a hundred feet in advance, and could just discern +above them the massive body of the truck. + +It came on at a moderate rate of speed, slowing up somewhat as it struck +the bridge. + +Suddenly shots rang out and the boys could see two dark figures standing +on the bridge and waving their hands at the driver, as they bellowed out +orders to stop. At the same time, as though the shots had been a signal, +three other figures came rushing from other directions. + +It was impossible for the boys to keep still, and they too sprang to +their feet and started for the scene of the hold-up, running at the top +of their speed. + +Just as they left their covert there was a blinding flash that made the +whole bridge as bright as day. A searchlight had been turned on from the +top of the truck full in the faces of the robbers. They staggered as +though they had been struck, and at the same instant there came a volley +of shots and the police were upon the hold-up men. + +There was a wild melee of struggling men, as they swayed back and +forth in a desperate struggle. The robbers had been taken completely by +surprise and were outnumbered two to one. There were shouts and the +crack of revolvers, and the thud of pistol butts. + +But the battle, though fierce, was of short duration. In a few minutes +the robbers had been subdued. One lay stunned on the bridge and another +lay by him wounded. Two more were held in the grasp of officers. + +One, however, tore himself away from the officer who had grappled with +him, and came rushing in the direction of the radio boys. In the glare +from the searchlight they recognized Cassey. + +He saw them, too, and fired his revolver at them. The shot went wild. He +pressed the trigger again but with no result. Then, realizing that his +weapon was empty, he hurled it at Bob, who was nearest to him. + +Bob dodged, and the next instant grabbed at Cassey's legs. The +expertness that had made him the star of his football team stood him in +good stead. His arms closed round Cassey in a flying tackle, and they +came heavily to the bridge together. + +Cassey struggled desperately to rise, but Bob held him in an unbreakable +grip, and a second later his comrades had come to his assistance and the +scoundrel was overpowered and delivered over to the police, who came +rushing up. + +The robbers were securely bound and bundled into the auto truck that +they had planned to rob. Then in high spirits the party drove back to +Barberton. The chief was jubilant, and the praises he heaped upon the +radio boys made their ears burn. They stayed long enough at his office +to see the prisoners safely jailed and then, though the hour was late, +rode back to their quarters in the woods with Mr. Brandon. + +They slept long and late after their exciting experience, and it was +almost noon the next day when they awoke. Bob was somewhat surprised to +find a letter waiting for him. It bore no stamp, and had evidently been +brought there by one of the lumbermen. + +He opened it curiously and glanced at the signature. Then he gave a +shout that brought his comrades quickly to his side. + +"What do you think of this, fellows?" he cried. "Buck Looker's writing +to me." + +There was a chorus of wondering exclamations. + +The last paragraph caught Bob's eye and he read it aloud: + +"As for Bob Layton and those other chumps, all we've got to do is to +stand pat. No one saw us put the stones in the snowballs, and if we just +deny it, they can't pin anything on us. They'll have to pay for the +window, and that'll even up things for what they did to us at Mountain +Pass. + + "Yours, + + "Buck." + +Bob was utterly dumbfounded. Then he glanced at the heading of the +letter and let out a whoop. + +"Oh, this is too rich!" he cried, almost choking with laughter. "This +letter is directed to Carl Lutz. You know he went home two or three days +ago. Buck has written two letters, one to Lutz and the other to +me--probably a roast--and he's put them in the wrong envelopes. Oh, how +he's given himself away!" + +Bob's comrades were fairly convulsed, and Jimmy grew so purple in the +face that they had to slap him vigorously on the back. They had scarcely +got him into a calmer frame, before he threatened to go off again, for +he saw Buck Looker strolling along the road. + +"Probably's come along to see how you were bearing up under the roast," +chuckled Joe. + +Bob ran over toward Buck, followed by his comrades. Buck looked alarmed +and put himself in a posture of defense. + +"Oh, we're not going to hurt you," said Bob. "I only wanted to tell you +that I got your letter." + +"I hope it blistered your hide," growled Buck. + +"It made me nearly laugh myself to death," replied Bob. "But let me +advise you, Buck, to make sure the next time that you get the right +letter in the right envelope." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Buck, in apprehension. + +"Only that I got the letter you meant for Carl Lutz," replied Bob. +"Maybe you've forgotten what you said, so I'll read the last paragraph," +and, dwelling on every word, he read it over deliberately. + +Before he had quite finished, Buck made a desperate grab at the letter, +but Bob was too quick for him. + +"No, you don't!" he exclaimed, as he folded it and put it carefully into +his pocket. "That letter's going to cost you about two hundred dollars, +for that's what it will cost to pony up for the broken window. We've got +you dead to rights, and you'd better pay up and pay up quick. So long, +Buck. And do be more careful next time to get the right letter in the +right envelope." + +With all his bluster knocked out of him, Buck slunk away. The boys were +not surprised to learn in the next letter from home that the insurance +company had been paid. + +"Some excitement we have had here," remarked Bob. "Wonder if we'll ever +have such strenuous times again." + +"Sure," declared Joe promptly, and he was right, as we shall see in the +next volume of this series, to be called, "The Radio Boys with the +Forest Rangers." In that volume we shall see how they fought a fire that +came close to ending tragically. + +After a good dinner, the boys lay sprawled out on the grass basking in +the spring sunshine and utterly at peace with themselves and the world. + +"Well, it's been hard work, but we've had pretty good luck at trailing a +voice," observed Bob. + +"Yes," agreed Joe with a grin, "and s-s-s-such a v-v-v-voice!" + +And Jimmy whistled. + +THE END + + + + * * * * * * + + + +THE RADIO BOYS SERIES +(Trademark Registered) + +By ALLEN CHAPMAN +Author of the "Railroad Series," Etc. + +Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers For Each Story. +Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +A new series for boys giving full details of radio work, both in sending +and receiving--telling how small and large amateur sets can be made and +operated, and how some boys got a lot of fun and adventure out of what +they did. Each volume from first to last is so thoroughly fascinating, +so strictly up-to-date and accurate, we feel sure all lads will peruse +them with great delight. + +Each volume has a Foreword by Jack Binns, the well-known radio expert of +the New York Tribune. + +THE RADIO BOYS' FIRST WIRELESS; +Or, Winning the Ferberton Prize. + +THE RADIO BOYS AT OCEAN POINT; +Or, The Message That Saved the Ship. + +THE RADIO BOYS AT THE SENDING STATION; +Or, Making Good in the Wireless Room. + +THE RADIO BOYS AT MOUNTAIN PASS; +Or, The Midnight Call for Assistance. + +THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE; +Or, Solving a Wireless Mystery. + +THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FOREST RANGERS; +Or, The Great Fire on Spruce Mountain. + +THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE ICEBERG PATROL; +Or, Making Safe the Ocean Lanes. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + * * * * * * + +THE TOM SWIFT SERIES +By VICTOR APPLETON + +Uniform Style of Binding. +Individual Colored Wrappers For Each Story. +Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +Every boy possesses some form of inventive genius. Tom Swift is a bright, +ingenious boy and his inventions and adventures make the most interesting +kind of reading. + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS +TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE +TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER +TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON +TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP +TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL +TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE +TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + * * * * * * + +THE OUTDOOR CHUMS SERIES +By CAPTAIN QUINCY ALLEN + +The outdoor chums are four wide-awake lads, sons of wealthy men of a +small city located on a lake. The boys love outdoor life, and are +greatly interested in hunting, fishing, and picture taking. They have +motor cycles, motor boats, canoes, etc., and during their vacations go +everywhere and have all sorts of thrilling adventures. The stories give +full directions for camping out, how to fish, how to hunt wild animals +and prepare the skins for stuffing, how to manage a canoe, how to swim, +etc. +Full of the spirit of outdoor life. + +THE OUTDOOR CHUMS +Or The First Tour of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club. + +THE OUTDOOR CHUMS ON THE LAKE +Or Lively Adventures on Wildcat Island. + +THE OUTDOOR CHUMS IN THE FOREST +Or Laying the Ghost of Oak Ridge. + +THE OUTDOOR CHUMS ON THE GULF +Or Rescuing the Lost Balloonists. + +THE OUTDOOR CHUMS AFTER BIG GAME +Or Perilous Adventures in the Wilderness. + +THE OUTDOOR CHUMS ON A HOUSEBOAT +Or The Rivals of the Mississippi. + +THE OUTDOOR CHUMS IN THE BIG WOODS +Or The Rival Hunters at Lumber Run. + +THE OUTDOOR CHUMS AT CABIN POINT +Or The Golden Cup Mystery. + +12mo. Averaging 240 pages. Illustrated. Handsomely bound in Cloth. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + * * * * * * + +THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH SERIES +By GRAHAM B. FORBES + +Never was there a cleaner, brighter, more manly boy than Frank Allen, the +hero of this series of boys' tales, and never was there a better crowd of +lads to associate with than the students of the School. All boys will read +these stories with deep interest. The rivalry between the towns along the +river was of the keenest, and plots and counterplots to win the champions, +at baseball, at football, at boat racing, at track athletics, and at ice +hockey, were without number. Any lad reading one volume of this series +will surely want the others. + +THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH +Or The All Around Rivals of the School + +THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE DIAMOND +Or Winning Out by Pluck + +THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE RIVER +Or The Boat Race Plot that Failed + +THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE GRIDIRON +Or The Struggle for the Silver Cup + +THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE ICE +Or Out for the Hockey Championship + +THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH IN TRACK ATHLETICS +Or A Long Run that Won + +THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH IN WINTER SPORTS +Or Stirring Doings on Skates and Iceboats + +12mo. Illustrated. +Handsomely bound in cloth, with cover design and wrappers in colors. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + * * * * * * + +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES +BY VICTOR APPLETON + +UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. INDIVIDUAL COLORED WRAPPERS. + +Moving pictures and photo plays are famous the world over, and in this +line of books the reader is given a full description of how the films are +made--the scenes of little dramas, indoors and out, trick pictures to +satisfy the curious, soul-stirring pictures of city affairs, life in the +Wild West, among the cowboys and Indians, thrilling rescues along the +seacoast, the daring of picture hunters in the jungle among savage beasts, +and the great risks run in picturing conditions in a land of earthquakes. +The volumes teem with adventures and will be found interesting from first +chapter to last. + +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE WEST +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE COAST +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE JUNGLE +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN EARTHQUAKE LAND +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AND THE FLOOD +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AT PANAMA +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS UNDER THE SEA +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE WAR FRONT +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON FRENCH BATTLEFIELDS +MOVING PICTURE BOYS' FIRST SHOWHOUSE +MOVING PICTURE BOYS AT SEASIDE PARK +MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON BROADWAY +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS' OUTDOOR EXHIBITION +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS' NEW IDEA + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + * * * * * * + +THE FAMOUS ROVER BOYS SERIES +BY ARTHUR M. WINFIELD +(Edward Stratemeyer) + +OVER THREE MILLION COPIES SOLD OF THIS SERIES +Uniform Style of Binding. Colored Wrappers. +Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +THE ROVER BOYS AT SCHOOL +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE OCEAN +THE ROVER BOYS IN THE JUNGLE +THE ROVER BOYS OUT WEST +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES +THE ROVER BOYS IN THE MOUNTAINS +THE ROVER BOYS ON LAND AND SEA +THE ROVER BOYS IN CAMP +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE RIVER +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE PLAINS +THE ROVER BOYS IN SOUTHERN WATERS +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE FARM +THE ROVER BOYS ON TREASURE ISLE +THE ROVER BOYS AT COLLEGE +THE ROVER BOYS DOWN EAST +THE ROVER BOYS IN THE AIR +THE ROVER BOYS IN NEW YORK +THE ROVER BOYS IN ALASKA +THE ROVER BOYS IN BUSINESS +THE ROVER BOYS ON A TOUR +THE ROVER BOYS AT COLBY HALL +THE ROVER BOYS ON SNOWSHOE ISLAND +THE ROVER BOYS UNDER CANVAS +THE ROVER BOYS ON A HUNT +THE ROVER BOYS IN THE LAND OF LUCK +THE ROVER BOYS AT BIG HORN RANCH +THE ROVER BOYS AT BIG BEAR LAKE +THE ROVER BOYS SHIPWRECKED + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + * * * * * * + +THE PUTNAM HALL STORIES + +Companion Stories to the Famous Rover Boys Series + +By ARTHUR M. WINFIELD +(Edward Stratemeyer) + +UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. INDIVIDUAL COLORED WRAPPERS. + +Being the adventures of lively young fellows at a Military Academy. Open +air sports have always been popular with boys and these stories that +mingle adventure with fact will appeal to every manly boy. + +THE MYSTERY OF PUTNAM HALL + Or The School Chums' Strange Discovery + +The particulars of the mystery and the solution of it are very interesting +reading. + +CAMPING OUT DAYS AT PUTNAM HALL + Or The Secret of the Old Mill + +A story full of vim and vigor, telling what the cadets did during the +summer encampment, including a visit to a mysterious old mill, said to be +haunted. The book has a wealth of fun in it. + +THE REBELLION AT PUTNAM HALL + Or The Rival Runaways + +The boys had good reasons for running away during Captain Putnam's +absence. They had plenty of fun and several queer adventures. + +THE CHAMPIONS OF PUTNAM HALL + Or Bound to Win Out + +In this volume the Cadets of Putnam Hall show what they can do in various +keen rivalries on the athletic field and elsewhere. There is one victory +which leads to a most unlooked-for discovery. + +THE CADETS OF PUTNAM HALL + Or Good Times in School and Out + +The cadets are lively, flesh-and-blood fellows, bound to make friends from +the start. There are some keen rivalries, in school and out, and something +is told of a remarkable midnight feast and a hazing with an unexpected +ending. + +THE RIVALS OF PUTNAM HALL + Or Fun and Sport Afloat and Ashore + +It is a lively, rattling, breezy story of school life in this country, +written by one who knows all about its pleasures and its perplexities, its +glorious excitements, and its chilling disappointments. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + * * * * * * + +THE RAILROAD SERIES +By ALLEN CHAPMAN + +Author of the Radio Boys, Etc. + +Illustrated. Handsomely Bound in Cloth. +Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +In this line of books there is revealed the whole workings of a great +American railroad system. There are adventures in abundance--railroad +wrecks, dashes through forest fires, the pursuit of a "wildcat" +locomotive, the disappearance of a pay car with a large sum of money on +board--but there is much more than this--the intense rivalry among +railroads and railroad men, the working out of running schedules, the +getting through "on time" in spite of all obstacles, and the manipulation +of railroad securities by evil men who wish to rule or ruin. + +RALPH OF THE ROUND HOUSE; + Or, Bound to Become a Railroad Man. + +RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER; + Or, Clearing the Track. + +RALPH ON THE ENGINE; + Or, The Young Fireman of the Limited Mail. + +RALPH ON THE OVERLAND EXPRESS; + Or, The Trials and Triumphs of a Young Engineer. + +RALPH, THE TRAIN DISPATCHER; + Or, The Mystery of the Pay Car. + +RALPH ON THE ARMY TRAIN; + Or, The Young Railroader's Most Daring Exploit. + +RALPH ON THE MIDNIGHT FLYER; + Or, The Wreck at Shadow Valley. + +RALPH AND THE MISSING MAIL POUCH; + Or, The Stolen Government Bonds. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE*** + + +******* This file should be named 25858.txt or 25858.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/5/25858 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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