“Wireless Shoes”
Two more weeks elapsed, and Guy was authorized by the specialist to
“throw away” his glasses. This he did joyfully, for now he would be able
to see something of London in its natural colors. He had heard much of
the great city’s buildings, black from the smoke-laden fog, but was now
pleased to find that they were not nearly so unsightly as they had been
described to him.
His association with Smithers continued with more or less intimacy up to
the time of the departure for Liverpool to take passage for America. The
man persisted in making himself agreeable in a sort of inconsequential
manner, and the boy could see no reason for repelling his friendly
advances, inasmuch as they seemed to be genuine. Indeed, the Bond street
jeweler was cunningly skilled in the art of affability and could, on
occasion, advance his purpose by making himself useful as well as
entertaining.
On the last Saturday of Guy’s sojourn in London, Smithers invited him to
take another motor ride, this time through other parts of the city and
adjoining suburbs. As they were spinning back toward the hotel in the
evening, the conversation turned upon Guy’s expected departure for
America a few days later.
“What day are you going to leave?” asked the jewel merchant, introducing
the subject.
“Wednesday,” Guy replied.
“Well, I’m sorry you’re going, but glad your eyes are all right. Hope
you come back some time again. When you do, look me up, and I’ll be at
your service. I’m a lonesome fellow when alone and like to pick up folks
and give ’em a good time.”
“I’ve appreciated your kindness,” the boy responded warmly. “I wish I
could return the favor.”
“Oh, it’s nothing, nothing at all. You’re perfectly welcome. I took a
personal pleasure in doing it. But, by the way, you can do me a favor if
you will. Maybe you’ll be a little interested in the idea, too, as it
has a kind of affinity for your hobby. I have a friend in New York who
is troubled with rheumatism in the feet, and I want to send him a pair
of wireless shoes.”
“Wireless shoes!” exclaimed Guy. “That’s a new one on me.”
“It will be a new one on my friend, too,” declared Smithers with an
eager twinkle in his eyes. “But seriously, it’s a very good thing, and I
want my friend to get the benefit of it without having to wait until
we’ve protected all our rights with patents.”
“Why don’t you express them to your friend right from here?” asked Guy.
“That’s just the point that I want you to help me get around. I’m afraid
to put a pair of those shoes in the hands of anybody here in England. I
know we’re being watched by persons who wouldn’t hesitate to steal the
idea from us. You see, the revenue officers make a close inspection of
all such shipments, and I’m afraid they’d ask embarrassing questions if
I tried to send the shoes as you suggest. There’s no telling what might
happen, for the persons who are watching us have good government
connections. The best way to get around this danger, it seems to me, is
to have some trustworthy person take the shoes to America and there
express them to my friend. There’d be no revenue charge on a personal
item of that kind.”
“That’s very interesting,” said Guy; “and I’ll be glad to do anything I
can to help you get the shoes to your friend. But aren’t you putting too
much confidence in me? I might make a blunder of some kind that would
give your secret away.”
“I’m not afraid of that,” assured Smithers. “The only way you could do
me any harm is by purposely betraying me, and I’ll risk that without any
fear whatever. Of course, if it would inconvenience you any—”
“No inconvenience at all,” interrupted Guy reassuringly. “You can depend
on me to take care of the matter without fail. But I admit I’m curious
to know why you call them wireless shoes.”
“Because they are strictly wireless shoes, operating on the same
principle as wireless telegraphy.”
“You don’t say. But, understand, I’m not asking you to reveal your
secret to me. Of course, you wouldn’t do it if I asked you to.”
“No, not all of it,” Smithers replied. “But I’m glad to tell you this
much: Inside the heels are small induction coils. The antenna consists
of a wire belt with fine flexible wires running down inside the trouser
legs and coupling with wire posts at the tops of the shoes. This antenna
is sensitive to wireless waves constantly pulsating in the ether. When
the connections are complete, the induction coil is thrown into action
by the wireless waves received, and a condition of electro-magnetism is
produced. One necessary connection is made by pressing the bare sole of
the foot against two electrodes on the inner side of the sole of each
shoe, so that each foot gets the benefit of the wireless waves and the
electric reaction. That sounds like the whole secret, doesn’t it, but
there’s another important element I’m holding back.”
“The idea’s clever,” said the boy with a smile of amused interest. “I’ll
be glad to take a pair and express them to your friend in New York, and
I hope they’ll cure his rheumatism.”
And so when Guy and his mother started for Liverpool, the former had in
his trunk a box containing a pair of seemingly ordinary, well made shoes
and a detached arrangement of insulated wires and belt antenna. On a
card in his purse, he had also, as a memorandum, the name and New York
address of Stanley Pickett, to whom Smithers had requested him to
express the shoes.
Guy was especially sorry to part with Artie Fletcher. It seemed like
saying good-by to a chum of years. Of course, they agreed to write to
each other, and Artie promised to be careful when out in the fog and to
inform Guy if he saw or heard anything more of the highwayman of the
“funny voice.”
The liner, Herculanea, on which Mrs. Burton and her son took passage at
Liverpool was larger than the one on which they had made their first
voyage, affording a greater variety of service, convenience, and
entertainment. Guy found a new general pleasure on this trip, in that he
was permitted to view things without colored glasses. It seemed almost
like traveling on a new sea, in a new world, among a new kind of people
and on a new kind of ship.
On the first day out, a chance incident caused him to make the
acquaintance of the second mate, and in the conversation that followed,
Guy disclosed his interest in wireless telegraphy. The officer was
sociable and obliging and introduced the boy to the operator in the
radio house near the bridge. The latter, too, proved to be a
good-natured fellow, although perpetually busy, and allowed the “radio
boy” to listen in several times.
Guy made another acquaintance also while the steamer was passing from
Liverpool to Queensland. It was with a man who occupied a stateroom next
to his. This passenger was a very talkative fellow, with a peculiar
knack of seeming to say a good deal every time he spoke. He was
straight-built, of medium height and weight, wore a mustache and goatee,
and bore himself with the manner of one subconsciously wise. Guy was
well impressed with him at first because he was lively and interesting.
“I dropped a bunch of keys somewhere around here,” were the words with
which this passenger first addressed himself to Burton. The latter had
just come out of his stateroom and was moving toward the stairway to
join his mother on the promenade when “the man next door” spoke to him.
“I didn’t see them,” Guy replied, delaying just long enough to be
courteous and then moving on.
He reached the promenade and found his mother where he had left her, one
of a group of some twenty passengers, all watching the shifting scene
between them and the English shore. The steamer was plowing through St.
George’s channel, and the dominant feature of the scene consisted of
vessels of all sorts, big and small, and seemingly without number.
A few minutes later the stateroom neighbor of the Burtons approached and
took a seat near the boy. The latter did not observe him at once, but
when he did, the man greeted him with a careless smile that inspired
confidence and familiarity:
“Did you find your keys?” inquired Guy.
“Yes, thank you,” was the reply. “I’d dropped ’em in my stateroom.”
“You’re lucky.”
“You’re right, I’m lucky. I’d ’ave missed a very important wireless
message if I hadn’t found that key.”
“Is that so!” Guy returned with puzzled curiosity. “You interest me, for
I have a wireless outfit at home and I can’t see how the loss of a key
could ’ave caused you to miss a wireless message.”
“Oh,” replied the strange fellow; “that’s easily explained. You see I’m
on a business trip to America, and the business success of myself and my
partner depends to a considerable extent on the schemes we resort to for
the sake of economy. Now, it’s important that I receive a telegram from
my partner every day, but not important that I should answer those
telegrams. So I’ve provided myself with a wireless receiving set, and
every day at an agreed time I am at my station to get his message. I
just got today’s message which I’d ’ave missed if I hadn’t been able to
find my keys.”
“Do you mean that you have an indoor receiving outfit set up in your
stateroom?” Guy demanded in astonishment.
“That’s exactly what I do mean,” replied the “radio man.”
“You don’t mean to say that you expect to receive messages from England
with an indoor set all the way across the Atlantic ocean,” Guy continued
with increasing wonder.
“I certainly do,” was the others reply. “I’ve done it many times on
trips to America. But of course there are not many receiving sets like
mine. It’s almost an invention in itself. My partner was with the
British signal service in France, and he had a good deal of experience
with V-shaped antennae on scouting automobiles for locating German
wireless stations. Connected with those antennae were loading coils,
sufficient to give very small antennae the receiving range of aerials a
hundred feet long or more.”
“Excuse my inquisitiveness,” said Guy, “but do you maintain a sending
station in England? I don’t see where the economy comes in.”
“Very simply matter,” answered the “radio man,” “we have a secret ally
who is an operator for a certain mercantile station. He sends the
messages to me in secret code. I always know his wave length and never
miss.”
“That’s interesting,” Guy remarked at the close of this explanation, but
the tone of his voice did not indicate much enthusiasm. He felt
considerable doubt as to the propriety of the method employed by Gunseyt
and his partner in getting free trans-Atlantic wireless service.
“Come in and look my set over any time,” said the radio trickster.
“Here’s my card. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?”
“Guy Burton,” answered the boy, glancing at the card on which was
printed the name Christopher Gunseyt and the address London. “This is my
mother, Mr. Gunseyt,” he added; for Mrs. Burton had been an attentive
listener to the conversation.