MORE MESSAGES
Oysterman Dan's little cottage became the scene of more than a reunion
of old friends and of glad father and son. The news reporters also came,
and, somewhat to his disgust, old Dan had to submit to his "pixture
bein' took," along with the banker, Bill, Gus, Tony, and some of the
insistent police and detectives who are often too eager for notoriety.
The Malatesta brothers, too, were not forgotten. Before they were taken
off to a well deserved imprisonment, they were pictured and thus
indelibly branded. Later they were returned to their native country.
All this business having been accomplished and Oysterman Dan rewarded
utterly beyond his imagination, Mr. Sabaste took command with a lavish
hand, and the return of the four principals, by yacht and motor car,
became a gala affair. Bill and Gus refused beyond parley to accept the
reward Mr. Sabaste had offered. What the boys had done was in friendship
only. Expenses? The banker had the say as to that.
Tony, in spite of his long imprisonment, was speedily restored to his
happy, kindly state of mind. A long, roundabout trip took them all back
to the Marshallton Tech where the late unfortunate could again outfit
himself from an ample wardrobe, while Bill and Gus restored, with the
janitor's knowledge, the radio transmitting set and the portable
receiver. A new receiving set was to be completed soon and set up for
Oysterman Dan.
The Farrells were visited; Tony went to the room he had occupied, but he
could not remember a thing that had occurred there in connection with
his mysterious disappearance. The farmer's wife and daughter set them
all down to a good, old-fashioned American dinner that the Sabastes
laughingly declared did not need spaghetti to make it perfect.
Then, at the school again, the banker requested the use once more of the
radio transmitter. Bill sat, listening in. Gus and Tony stood in the
doorway, talking of school days.
"This is Angelo Sabaste speaking. I wish especially to convey a message
to my old friend Guglielmo Marconi, on his yacht, the _Elettra_."
Then followed many words in Italian, interspersed only here and there
with an American proper name.
At the end of the message there was the usual pause. The banker took up
the phones, Gus and Tony rushed to others. Presently they heard, in
quiet, even tones, the hoped-for reply in English, as Mr. Sabaste had
requested it should be:
"Senatore Marconi sends congratulations to Signor Sabaste that his son
is restored to him and that two criminals, though they are our
countrymen, are to be sent from America, where too many such have come
and belittled the name of Italy. But men like Signor Sabaste will lift
that estimate.
"Senatore Marconi suggests, at your request, that the finest reward that
could come to these young Americans who have shown such loyalty to your
son, with such ingenuity and mechanical ability, is that they be
encouraged to complete their technical education and then, with your
son, to use their talents in a commercial way. Again congratulations for
your son and those young Americans and--the best of success!"
How Mr. Sabaste, eager to carry out this suggestion from the famous
inventor of wireless communication, joined with the boys' old friend Mr.
Hooper in the establishment of a company in mechanical and electrical
engineering, under the name of The Loyalty Company, will be told in
"Bill Brown, Radio Wizard."
THE END