"Just when I was having a swell nap, too," complained Jimmy. "Somebody's
always taking the joy out of life."
"Never mind about that now, Doughnuts," said Bob. "Just grab hold of a
screw driver and open some of these boxes. There's nothing like a little
exercise to drive the sleep out of your eyes."
"You'll find sympathy in the dictionary, Jimmy," said Joe heartlessly.
"Yes, and that's about the only place I will find it around here," said
Jimmy. "But give me the screw driver. Somebody's got to do all the hard
work, and I suppose I'm elected, as usual."
In spite of his grumbling, he worked faithfully, and soon had the lids
off a number of mysterious looking boxes, from which the boys got out
much complicated looking apparatus. They had brought Bob's set, the one
that had been awarded the big prize the previous spring, and Bob handled
this lovingly.
All the radio boys worked with a will, and the way in which the various
apparently unrelated parts became connected up into a compact and highly
efficient receiving station was surprising. After two hours of steady
work they had the set in condition to test.
"I don't think we've forgotten anything," said Bob, carefully going over
the various connections. "Everything looks all right to me, so here goes
to test it out."
And sure enough, it was not long before they heard the familiar call of
the big Newark broadcasting station and were listening to a big band
perform in stirring style.
"That sounds familiar," said Joe, as the band finished its selection
with a flourish. "It doesn't seem to be any different than when we were
in Clintonia, even though we're considerably further away from the
sending station."
"I guess a few miles don't make much difference to old man Electricity,"
said Herb.
"It wouldn't make any difference to me, if I could travel as fast as he
does," grinned Jimmy.
"You've got to train down a good deal before you can do that," remarked
Herb.
"Well, I guess my chances of traveling one hundred and eighty six
thousand miles per second are about as good as yours, anyway." retorted
Jimmy.
"Who's talking about traveling at such extremely high rates of speed?"
asked a voice behind them that they all recognized. Turning, they saw
Frank Brandon, the government radio inspector who had been of so much
assistance to them a few months before in locating the scoundrel, Dan
Cassey.
"Glad to see you. Sit down and make yourself at home," they chorused,
and almost before he knew it the radio inspector found himself seated in
the most comfortable chair with a set of earphones over his head.
"You see, I haven't lost any time coming to see you, as I promised," he
remarked. "I spoke to my cousin, Brandon Harvey, about you fellows, and
he said to bring you up to the big station any time you wanted to go,
and he'd show you all around it."
"That's fine!" exclaimed Bob. "That's what we've all been wanting to see
for a long time. I think we'll take your cousin at his word and land
down on him to-morrow. How about it, fellows?"
This met with the enthusiastic approval of all the radio boys, so it was
settled that they should go to the big station early the following day,
where Frank Brandon would be waiting for them and would introduce them
to his cousin.
Accordingly, they set out the next day immediately after breakfast. The
station was located something over a mile from the bungalow colony, but
it was a beautiful day, and the walk seemed like nothing to the boys.
The antenna of the station covered a large tract of land, and the
station was capable of sending and receiving messages of almost any wave
length. The station itself was a snug-looking building, ample enough to
accommodate all the apparatus, and provide comfortable sleeping quarters
for the operators as well.
As the boys approached this building they could see their friend, the
inspector, sitting on the porch. When he caught sight of the boys he
rose and stood waiting for them.
"You're earlier than I expected you," he said. "You must have set the
alarm clock away ahead."
"No, not that. But we had a hunch that there would be a lot to see, and
we thought the earlier we started the better it would be," said Bob.
"Besides, we didn't want to keep you waiting."
"I've only been here a few minutes myself," replied Brandon. "Come
inside, and I'll introduce you to my cousin. He's even more of a radio
fan than I am."
The boys followed him into a large, well-lighted room that seemed
literally packed with electrical apparatus. Switchboards, dials and
various recording instruments lined the walls, while in one corner stood
a glittering high frequency alternator. Seated at a table covered with
wires was a young fellow of about Brandon's own age, who looked enough
like him to proclaim their relationship.
At the time the radio boys entered he was receiving some message, but as
soon as he had finished he took the headphones off and turned to greet
his visitors.
He and the boys were introduced, and their common interest in radio work
made them all feel like old friends in a short time.
"I suppose you fellows want to see all there is to see," said Brandon
Harvey, after they had chatted on general subjects a few minutes. "We
have a pretty complete layout here, and I'll be glad to show you around
and tell you all I can about it."
The boys were not slow to avail themselves of this offer. The radio
inspector volunteered to substitute for his cousin while the latter was
busy with the boys, which left Mr. Harvey free to explain the
bewildering details of the plant to his guests.
"I wouldn't take this much trouble with everybody," he said. "But Frank
tells me that you fellows are so interested in the subject and have
studied it up so much that you'll be able to understand what I show you.
Lots of people come in here that know absolutely nothing about
radiophony, and expect me to explain the whole science to them while
they wait."
"They'd have to wait a long while," grinned the irrepressible Jimmy.
"I've just about learned enough about it to know I don't know anything,
if you understand what I mean."
"I get you, all right," returned Harvey, with a smile. "I've worked at
it a long time myself, but as it is I can hardly keep up with all the
new developments. There seems to be something new discovered every day."
All that morning he took the boys about the plant, showing and
explaining the various instruments. Some of these the boys were familiar
with, while others were entirely new to them. But by dint of asking many
questions, which were answered with great patience by the wireless man,
they obtained a reasonably clear idea of the functions of the various
parts and their relations to each other, and when they finally departed
they felt that they had learned a great deal. Harvey even allowed them
to "listen in" to messages arriving from big ships hundreds of miles out
at sea.
"Well, we've had a wonderful morning and learned a lot, but I guess we
must have tired you out, Mr. Harvey," said Bob, as the boys were taking
their leave.
"Not a bit of it," denied the radio man. "I'll be glad to see you any
time you want to drop in. Lots of times there isn't much coming in, and
it gets pretty lonely around here."
"You can bet we'll be only too glad to come," said Bob, and the boys
left with many expressions of friendliness on both sides.
"We're in luck to be located so near this station and to be friends with
one of the operators," said Joe, as the boys started homeward.
"We surely are!" agreed Bob. "I know I feel as though I'd learned a good
deal this morning, and I guess you fellows do, too."
"Mr. Harvey is certainly a prince," declared Jimmy enthusiastically. "He
answers questions without making you feel as though you were a natural
born fool for having asked them, the way some teachers I know do."
"Yes, we'll have to take advantage of Mr. Harvey's invitation and visit
him often while we're down here," said Bob. "He even promised that he'd
give me lessons in sending when he had time."
"Good enough!" exclaimed Joe. "It's lots of fun receiving, but that's
only half the game. We ought to be able to send, too."
"If you like, we'll study up on the code a little this evening," said
Bob. "I brought the book with me. We've already got so much from it that
we ought to be able now to finish up."
"I agree to that," said Joe, and so that was settled.
"How quiet the ocean is to-day," remarked Herb, as they noted how little
surf there was and how lazily the waves were breaking on the beach.
"You wouldn't think there was anything cruel about it to look at it
now," said Jimmy. "And yet we know that it is about the most cruel thing
in the world."
"It's taken millions of lives without the least thought of mercy," put
in Bob thoughtfully. "To-day it's like a tiger asleep. But it's a tiger
just the same, and when it wakes up--then look out!"