RADIO AND ITS WONDERS
“Oh well, probably it was only a coincidence,” remarked Phil. “As for
Benton himself he struck me as just about all right. The kind of fellow
you’d like to have at your back in a scrap.”
“That’s the way I sized him up, too,” agreed Dick.
“He sure has seen a lot of the world,” observed Tom, “and he’s got a
pair of eyes that aren’t likely to have overlooked anything. I’m keen to
see him again and start him talking.”
“Well, he’s promised to run up to the house tomorrow night,” said Phil.
“Be sure to get over, Dick.”
“I’ll be there with bells on,” promised Dick as they separated.
He kept his word, and on the following night all three were gathered
about the table on which Phil kept his radio set, when the bell rang and
Benton was ushered into the room.
The Radio Boys gave him a rousing welcome, and he on his part was
unaffectedly glad to see them.
“How are you feeling?” asked Phil, as he drew up a chair for him.
“Fine as silk,” replied Benton. “This old head of mine has stopped its
buzzing, and outside a little soreness I’m as well as ever. It takes
nothing less than an axe to kill us old leathernecks,” he added with a
grin.
“I see that you fellows are radio fans,” he went on, as he settled
himself comfortably and nodded his head in the direction of the
apparatus on the table.
“Thirty-third degree,” replied Phil. “Are you a member of the
fraternity, too?”
“I’m crazy over it,” said Benton, as he bent over to examine the set. “I
see you’ve got all the latest wrinkles, super-regenerative circuit and
all that. What’s your range?”
“Easily over a thousand miles,” replied Phil, “and probably a good deal
more than that. On quiet nights we’ve frequently picked up the signals
of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the station at Nauen, Germany. We’ve
talked as far as Texas, and any night we want to we can listen in on a
radio broadcast from Newark, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago. We keep
watches regulated by the nightly signals from Arlington. It’s a peach of
a set all right.”
“We wouldn’t know how to do without radio in the Navy,” remarked Benton.
“Every ship is equipped with it now, and the captain on his bridge can
talk as easily with the Department in Washington as though he were
seated at a desk in the Secretary’s room. Of course most of the work is
done by the radio telegraph, but before long we’ll be able to use the
radio telephone just as well. I tell you it’s a wonderful thing. No
worrying your heart out now in a fog and mist and storm. You don’t need
to have the sun in order to get your bearings. You don’t even need the
lighthouses at night. Just get busy on your loop aerial and get in touch
with shore stations and they’ll tell you to a dot just what your
latitude and longitude is. A blind man could navigate a ship nowadays.
No one can figure how many vessels and how many lives have been saved by
this blessed old radio.”
“Right you are,” agreed Phil. “I know that one time it saved mine. It’s
the youngest of all the sciences and yet it’s made greater strides than
any other in the history of the world. Every day something new develops,
and it fairly makes you dizzy trying to keep up with it. It’s
revolutionized peace and it will revolutionize war.”
“As a matter of fact,” replied Benton, “it’s going to make war
practically impossible, because it would make it too terrible. A fleet
of airplanes without a single man in them could fly over the cities of
the enemy and drop high explosives that would destroy them all. The
airplanes could be directed by radio many miles away. The same is true
of battleships. Torpedoes could be sent out from land and guided by
radio directly against any ship it was desired to destroy. And all this
without risk on the part of the attacking party.
“My ship was off the Virginia Capes last year,” he went on, “when they
were having that duel between airplanes and battleships, to test out
which was the more effective. The old Iowa was picked out to be the
victim of the plane attack. There wasn’t a soul on board, and I tell you
it seemed something uncanny to see how that big ship sailed along,
turned, wheeled, zigzagged just as perfectly as if it had had its whole
crew aboard. All the controls, rudder, propeller and steering devices
were regulated by radio.”
“It surely seems like a miracle,” agreed Phil. “It’s quite within the
range of possibility that merchant ships after a while will be able to
sail from America to Europe without a soul on board. The ship could send
out signals every hour by which its path could be plotted by the shore
operator over the entire route.”
“And that’s only a single feature of radio,” put in Tom. “I see that in
Italy and Germany they are locating ore and coal mines by means of
radio. Radio waves are sent underground and by means of certain
instruments the observer can notice the difference in the intensity of
the sounds received, and so can chart out the position of ore and coal
veins. The old-time prospector will soon be a thing of the past, as
extinct as the dodo. Of course they have to have super-sensitive vacuum
tubes, but the thing is being done every day. By the same means it will
be possible to locate the position of buried treasures that have been
carried down in sunken ships.”
“What’s that?” interrupted Benton with keen interest.
“Buried treasures,” repeated Tom. “The principle is practically the same
as in locating the coal veins. The difference in signals when the radio
waves are coming from the ocean bed and those received when there is
some big object on the bed like a ship will indicate the location of the
object. Up to now it has been a matter of great difficulty to get the
exact position of a sunken ship. A submarine would help some, but that
can only be used where the water is comparatively shallow, for if the
submarine went down too far it would be crushed by the increasing
density of the water. But you can’t crush radio waves. They go
everywhere and through everything.”
“Locating sunken ships,” murmured Benton reflectively, almost as though
he were talking to himself. “That sure is a new thing to me, though I
try to keep pretty well up with things. I sure am glad to know it.”
“Lost any ships lately?” asked Dick with a grin.
“Not exactly,” replied Benton, “but I’m mighty interested in one that
was lost a good long time ago.”
“You’re talking in riddles,” laughed Phil. “Why not let us in on the
story?”
Benton studied their faces for a full minute without replying. Then he
straightened bolt upright in his chair as though he had reached a
definite decision.
“I will,” he said. “It’s a queer story and perhaps you think I’ve gone
loco before I get through with it. But first I want to ask a question.
Are you fellows game for an adventure?”
The boys looked at one another and it was Phil that answered.
“Yes,” he said, “if it’s straight and legitimate and seems to us worth
while. Of course we’ve got to know what it is first.”
“That goes without saying,” replied Benton. “It’s perfectly straight,
and I think I can prove to you that it is worth while. I don’t disguise
from you, however, that it’s attended with great risks. But it also has
great rewards if it is successful.”
“We’ve taken risks before,” laughed Phil.
“I know you have,” answered Benton. “I was sure that I had sized you
boys up right last night, and that’s why I nearly told you then what I’m
going to tell you now. But this thing means so much to me that I
couldn’t afford to act on first impressions. I don’t mind telling you
that I’ve been making inquiries about town today, and everything that
I’ve learned proves that my first impressions were right.
“I’ve heard about your work in running down the counterfeiting gang in
Florida. And I’ve learned about your adventures with the Mexican bandits
and the way you rounded up ‘Muggs’ Murray. Perhaps you don’t know it,
but the people in this town think that you’re about the finest fellows
on the footstool.”
“You must take that with a grain of salt,” said Phil deprecatingly.
“Local pride and all that, you know. We’ve just got into a few scrapes
and had the luck to come out of them with a whole hide. That about lets
us out.”
“I prefer to take their verdict,” smiled Benton, “and I have further
proof if I needed it in what happened yesterday afternoon. At any rate,
I’m perfectly satisfied in my own mind that you’re the fellows I want to
share my plan if it appeals to you. You see I’m somewhat in the position
of a man who thinks he has a gold mine but can’t work it alone.”
He took a package of papers from his pocket and laid them on the table.
Tom nudged Phil mischievously.
“Say ‘pirate’” he said, “and see Benton jump.”
Benton looked puzzled for a moment. Then he laughed.
“I catch on,” he said. “Well, there’s a pirate in this story all right,
but he’s been a long time dead. Now just one other little thing. If
after I’ve told you my plan you don’t want to go in with me on it, I
want you to promise me on your word of honor that you won’t mention the
matter to a living soul.”