LESSONS
The joy of Mrs. King when she was informed that both her sons were to
be all summer at Surfside cannot be pictured.
"Why, it is like a dream or an answer to prayer!" ejaculated she.
"Think of having you so near! Now were Bob to be electrocuted, I could
get to him within half an hour."
The fact evidently caused her profound satisfaction and each of her
sons laughed.
"I'm not planning to end my days by electrocution," smiled Bob.
"Few do plan to," was the grim retort. "But anyway, whether or no, it
is wonderful to have you so close at hand. I shall feel as if I had a
great prop behind me."
"I hope so, Mater," Bob said affectionately.
"I suppose you'll not have much time to be spending at home, though,"
mused the mother presently. "Your work, likely, will keep you busy."
"I expect it will, especially during the next fortnight," Bob
answered. "There will be all the apparatus to set up and get into
working order; and in addition the equipment aboard the yacht must be
overhauled. I want both wireless outfits in perfect condition for
much depends on their being trim and tight."
"It isn't probable you'll have much to handle that is important,"
declared Mrs. King. "It won't be like dealing with government messages
or wrecks." The two boys exchanged a glance. Much as they wished to
they dared not initiate their mother into the secrets of Surfside.
"You never can tell what messages you'll catch by wireless," Bob
returned ambiguously. "Besides, Mr. Crowninshield intends to have some
of his business relayed to him from New York."
"Oh!"
"I guess I shall find plenty to do," the elder boy remarked.
"Well, I reckon you will at that rate. But do be careful, won't you?
And don't let Walter go dabbling with those evil wires."
"I'll look out for him."
The evasive answer did not, however, satisfy the woman.
"Surely you don't mean to start Walter in learning about wireless, do
you?"
"I may give him a few lessons, yes."
"Now don't you do it," retorted Mrs. King in spirited protest. "He was
always a blunderer and were he to go messing about with electrical
currents I should not have a happy moment. It is bad enough to have
one of you in constant danger without two."
"But it isn't dangerous," Walter interrupted.
"Much you know about it," declared his mother, wheeling on him with
scorn. "What experience have you had with radio, pray?"
Meekly the lad closed his lips.
"I am going to give some lessons to Mr. Crowninshield's son, Mater,
and it seemed to me it was a good chance for Walter to learn
something, too," Bob responded gently. "Sometime the kid might find it
useful to have such knowledge. You never can tell. Nothing we learn is
ever wasted."
"No, I suppose not," was the grudging reply. "Well, just stand over
him and see that he doesn't kill himself."
"I've no desire to have him killed."
"No more you have. Of course not," Mrs. King smiled. "But you know if
there is any way of crossing the wires he'll do it. He's made that
way. Still, unlucky as he is, I'd not care to lose him."
Fondly she beamed on the ill-starred Walter.
"I'll keep at his elbow, Mother," said Bob soothingly.
"I know you will. You were ever good to your brother." She patted the
big fellow's hand. "And mind the pair of you come to see me when you
can. You'll be busy, I know; but you mustn't forget your mother."
"We'll not do that," cried the boys in chorus.
Nevertheless in spite of the promise there were few opportunities
during the next few days for either of them to go a-visiting. The New
York electricians arrived and with them came aerials, generators,
detectors, tuners, insulators, amplifiers, and all the hundred and one
parts necessary for a perfectly equipped radio station. Mr.
Crowninshield had indulged in no cheap outfit. On the contrary he had
purchased the best there was to be had and as the coils of copper
wire, glistening wire rope, and spotless porcelain insulators were
unpacked Bob's eyes sparkled with anticipation. With the touch of a
connoisseur he handled the materials, examining the quality of each.
What was Greek to the others was familiar ground to him.
A low building adjoining the boathouse had been hurriedly constructed
and it was here, where the new station was to be situated, that an
interested audience congregated daily. Perched on an overturned
packing case Mr. Crowninshield surveyed the installment of the novel
toy which was not only to gratify Dick's birthday longings but also,
he hoped, bring to him the information he coveted concerning Lola.
Much as he knew about stocks and bonds he was as much of a novice in
the presence of things electrical as were either his son or Walter
King, and therefore to their avalanche of questions he added still
others, gratefully accepting the information Bob offered with the
eagerness of one who is not too superior to learn.
"What is that thing they are putting in place now?" inquired he. "And
what is it for?"
"Oh, even I can answer that, Dad!" cried the delighted Dick. "That is
the aerial or antenna and it catches the wireless waves as they travel
through the air. The higher and longer it is the better, so far as
messages are concerned--that is, within certain limits."
His father's eyes twinkled.
"Where did you pick up so much knowledge?" chuckled he.
"Bob told me."
"I'll be bound he did," sniffed the man. "I wasn't asking about the
antenna, though. Green as I am I recognized that. It was that other
wire that interested me."
"The lead in?" asked Bob quickly.
"I guess so, although I never was introduced to it by name before."
Everybody laughed at the naive reply.
"The lead in, sir, is the conductor that carries the wireless waves
from the aerial into the house. The idea is not to have it too long.
It must run as directly as possible and be very carefully insulated
from any buildings, trees, or masts because of the current."
"I see. And that other thing?"
"That is the lightning arrester. It can be fastened inside or outside
the station, as is most convenient; but it is compulsory to have it to
satisfy the insurance companies. The antenna is secured to it and by
means of a ground wire any electrical discharges will in a great
measure pass off through the earth."
"Mater should see that," murmured Walter mischievously to Bob.
The elder brother nodded humorously.
"The ground helps a lot in radio work," continued he. "In fact were
it not for good old Mother Earth furnishing her aid, we should have no
wireless at all. One side of our circuit passes through the ground and
the other half, which completes it, goes through the air between the
aerials of the different stations. Therefore you can readily see that
it is most important to make sure of a good earth connection. Often
city water pipes are resorted to, the contact being made by soldering
a wire to the water faucet. Down here on the Cape, however, where
there are only wells and windmills we shall have to sink some metal
plates in the ground and connect the wires with these."
"And that is all that goes outside the building?"
"Yes, sir. The lead in brings the wires into the station and they are
then connected up with the receiver. Sometimes there are separate
antennae for sending and receiving messages. Of course the big stations
always have two. But for a place this size and doing such a small
amount of business we can send and receive from the same wire. With a
tuner, which can be tuned to bring you into the same key with the
station you are listening to; a detector to catch the signal after the
persons talking have been brought into tune; and an amplifier that
intensifies or increases the sound you have your receiving outfit.
Batteries you know about without my telling you; and the head 'phones
too, which you have of course seen telephone operators wear hundreds
of times."
"Yes, I believe I should recognize one of those," laughed Mr.
Crowninshield. "So that is all there is to it, eh?"
"That is about all there is to receiving, yes."
"The sending part of the machine is more complicated, is it?"
"Yes, sir. And so is the job," smiled Bob.
"I mean to learn to transmit as well as receive," put in Dick.
His Highness grinned derisively.
"Do you indeed!" said he. "Well, there is nothing like aiming high.
But I guess for the present you'll be pretty well content if you get
so you can take down the Morse code as it comes in."
"Is it so hard?"
"That depends on how good you are at memorizing dots and dashes.
French verbs are nothing compared to it."
"I hadn't thought of learning to read code."
"You have to, son, if you are going into wireless. With a tutor here
on the spot, it should not be difficult. Besides, that is half the
fun. I want you to learn this thing intelligently and not just make a
plaything of it. I've done my part by buying you the best outfit there
was to be had. The rest is up to you."
"That's square, Dick," chimed in Walter.
"Sure it is. I'll go to it and do my darndest, too, Dad," returned the
boy.
"That's the proper spirit!" exclaimed his father.
His Highness smiled with ironic satisfaction.
"If Bob is to tutor you you will study harder than you ever did in
your precious life," whispered he. "I know Bob. He can be stiff as any
college professor. He tutored me in Latin once to pull me through my
exams and I barely lived. I don't envy you, old man."
"Gee! Will it be that bad?"
"You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's all. Take it from
me," was the teasing rejoinder.
"Oh, I hope he won't bone down as hard as that," wailed Dick
dolefully. "I want to get some sport out of this thing. I wasn't
planning to be turned into a galley slave during hot weather."
Seeing that he had his victim thoroughly terrified Walter thought it
time to shift the jest.
"Don't fret. I was only jollying, old chap," declared he. "Bob won't
really stand over you with a whip. He is the best fellow alive. Still,
he will expect you to work if you set out to do so. He is always
terribly in earnest about whatever he undertakes. I suppose that is
why he has got on so well and never failed to make a success of what
he has tried to do. You can count on him to duff into this job with
the same spirit. You'll get your money's worth of instruction, you may
be sure, if he has been hired to give it."
Dick shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, I guess I can stand it if he is not too rough on me," responded
he. "I do not mind studying so much if it is about a subject I like;
and I am crazy about wireless."
[Illustration: "You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's
all. Take it from me." _Page_ 154.]
"Oh, it isn't the wireless part I object to," drawled His Highness.
"It is that dot and dash code that gets me. I never could learn it if
I tried ten years; and as for taking twenty words a minute in any
language--well, they could have the whole outfit before I'd do it."
"I shall be interested to see what speed I can make," mused Dick.
"Speed! You won't make any speed at all--at least not at first, so do
not hope or expect to. If you even get the words correctly you will be
going some," sniffed Walter. "Still, I guess you need not worry for
the present about receiving or sending messages for Bob will give you
a lot to think about before that. As for the Morse code, you may not
meet it for weeks."
"What do you mean?" Dick inquired.
"Oh, Bob will get right down to brass tacks at the start and find out
what you know about electricity and wireless anyway. That is the way
he did to me when he tutored me in Latin. He wasn't content with just
translating Caesar but must needs splash right into Roman history and
make me hunt up everything I could find about the Goths and the rest
of those heathen tribes. Gee, but he made me sweat! He will do that
with you and your wireless. If you think you are going to begin taking
messages in code you don't know Bob."
Having delivered himself of these brotherly appreciations His Highness
walked away, leaving Dick to ponder on the joyous prospects they
contained. His sinister prediction Richard Crowninshield soon found to
be true. Thorough was no name for Bob King. Before a week had passed
Dick whimsically remarked to his father that it must be a task to Bob
to swim on the top of the sea without diving down with a spy glass and
examining every particle that was on the ocean's bottom. The fact that
the new tutor never dipped into any subject but instead explored it
greatly delighted Mr. Crowninshield.
"I shouldn't mind letting that young chap tutor me a little," observed
he half jestingly to his wife. "I am as vague as a fog when it comes
to this wireless business. I should get a lot of information if I
listened in on Dick's lessons."
The words, idly spoken, much to the amusement of all became a reality.
After drifting in to the first talk Mr. Crowninshield came to the
second lesson and from then on he became a regular pupil.
"You needn't be afraid I have come here to criticize," explained he
with appealing simplicity. "I'm green as grass and have come to
learn."
"It is just that you have not had the time to take up radio, sir," was
Bob's modest answer. "We all have our specialties."
"That's right," agreed the capitalist. "Sometimes I fall to wondering
whether it is better to know something about everything or everything
about something."
"To know something about everything would be spreading it pretty thin,
I am afraid," was Bob's characteristic reply.
"That wouldn't do for you, eh?" remarked Mr. Crowninshield with a
chuckle.
"It would not satisfy me; no, sir. As it is I cannot begin to master
what there is to be known concerning this one branch of science. Were
my head to be filled with a little of everything I should feel as if
it were a grab bag."
"Many heads are," was the laughing retort. "Still, with each
successive generation rolling up its accumulation of knowledge the
intellectual snowball is getting to be of ponderous size. History's
remedy for this malady has always been to knock the whole structure to
pieces every now and then and begin again. Perhaps we shall have to
have another period of the Dark Ages and another Renaissance to set us
right."
Thoughtfully he puffed his cigar.
"This wireless now--think of the new fields it has opened up. Not only
are our ships equipped so that they can send and receive all sorts of
messages, get their location, be informed concerning harbor entrances
and coast lines; set their compasses and clocks but soon wireless
telephones will be installed in the staterooms of all passenger
steamers so that those crossing the ocean can talk with their friends
ashore any time they may elect to do so. Of course there are times
when such a thing might have its advantages; but for tired
people--doctors and the like--who are trying to get to a spot where
they cannot be reached by business cares it will be a negative sort of
blessing. I, myself, for example, always count on my stay on shipboard
as a sort of vacation, an interval when nobody can bother me with
office matters. But if in future I must have a wireless telephone at
my bedside I shall be no more isolated than I should have been had I
remained at home. Pretty soon there will be no place under the sun
where a man can go and get peace and quiet. The Maine woods will be
full of radio outfits and the tops of distant mountains in touch with
the stock market. Even an aeroplane carries its wireless. It is
hideous to contemplate!" he sighed. "As for city life, we shall be
beset wherever we go. And if the fashion set by some of our city
police of having wires tucked away in uniforms and a wireless receiver
carried in the pocket prevails in due time even when we walk the
streets we shall all be in constant touch with our particular
headquarters."
At his rueful expression Bob could not but laugh.
"There certainly is no question that a great day for wireless is
coming," replied he. "Whether we like it or not the thing has come to
stay and as yet we have only half discovered what can be done with it.
It is undoubtedly rough on those who want isolation. But most people
don't. They are glad to feel, for instance, that the ocean is so small
they can talk with their friends while they are crossing it. Besides,
you must not forget how much good ship surgeons and doctors can now do
for those who otherwise would have no aid at hand. Remote lighthouses
and small ships that need medical service often signal the big liners
now and ask advice of the ship's doctor. I heard a little while ago of
a lighthouse keeper whose leg was amputated under the wireless
direction of one of our great surgeons. Had instructions not been
available the man would probably have died of blood poison. And many
times there is sickness aboard small vessels that are out to sea. They
signal the symptoms of their patients and the doctor hundreds of miles
away replies with a remedy. As all boats carry medicine chests the
distant physician can easily designate what dose to give."
"That is a fine idea!" nodded Mr. Crowninshield. "I hadn't thought of
treating illness by radio. A bit tough on the doctor, though. It must
keep him busy."
"I am afraid it does. In fact some of the ship's surgeons are
demanding higher pay because of the rush of work put on them. To have
the health of a large ship under one's supervision is task enough
without treating all the people sailing the ocean. They say some
doctors are all in after a trip simply because of the extra calls that
pour in from outside ships and stations. It keeps them hopping day and
night, for of course no decent doctor will ever refuse aid to those
who are suffering."
"Humph! That is quite a new phase of wireless."
"It proves it can save life not only at a time of shipwreck but in
other crises as well," Bob responded with enthusiasm. "Now all that
remains is for some clever fellow to come along who shall find a
remedy for the difficulties that baffle the radio man. Then the
science will come into its own. We must get rid of static
interference--our greatest bugbear."
"Come, come, son! You must not spring any of your technical terms on
me. Remember that while I am old in years I am still young in radio
knowledge. Before you go slipping those phrases jauntily off your
tongue you have got to begin at the very beginning and tell us the
laws on which the radio telephone is based."
"That is a rather big order, sir," Bob replied modestly. "However, I
am willing to try to fill it. I can at least pass on to you all that I
know myself."
"That will satisfy me," affirmed the capitalist. "I see no reason,
either, why your young brother cannot arrange his work so that he can
join our class. The more the merrier. I even propose to drag in my
wife and daughter. If in future we are to have wireless apparatus
wherever we go it will be unintelligent not to know something about
it."
"I am afraid it is going to pursue us pretty much to every corner of
the earth," smiled Bob gravely. "You see, one of its great advantages
is that it can go where the telephone with its myriad wires and poles
cannot. It would be out of the question, for example, to string
telephone wires through densely wooded sections and to the tops of
high mountains, and even if the impossible could be accomplished the
expense of keeping such lines in proper repair would be so great that
no one could afford to shoulder it. Poles rot and wires rust out with
wear and exposure to weather. Then there is the damage from gales,
ice-storms, and falling timber. Even under the best of conditions
linemen would be kept busy all the time repairing the equipment. And
as if these difficulties were not great enough in times of peace think
of the added burden of protecting miles and miles of telephone wires
in time of war. Contrast with this the small district to be protected
when it comes to a wireless station. Instead of having soldiers
scattered through miles of territory the few needed can be
concentrated within easy reach of provisions and reinforcements. And
the same advantages that the radio telephone has on land prevail as
well at sea for transmission of messages by cable is a frightfully
expensive thing. Not only is the laying of such a line difficult,
dangerous, and costly, but to maintain it is expensive and hard as
well. In time of war it is particularly at a disadvantage since the
cable can be cut and all communication with the outside world easily
severed. Wireless, on the other hand, is not dependent on any such
extravagant equipment. It finds its own way through air, water, and
earth with very little help from us; and if it has its defects we must
not forget that the first telephones were far from perfect, and that
both telephone and cable have also their disadvantages."