PRESSED INTO SERVICE
"Just what do you mean?" asked Bob. "Do you want to talk radio with us
all tomorrow afternoon?" he went on, with an irritating grin.
"No, of course I don't, stupid," she exclaimed. "But why can't you
bring your old wireless things into the hotel parlor and let us all
hear some music? We'd be ever so grateful if you would."
The radio boys looked doubtfully at each other.
"We'd do it, fast enough," said Bob. "But we didn't bring a loud
speaker with us, and without that nobody could hear much unless he had
a set of telephone receivers."
"Oh, dear!" she exclaimed. "I just knew you'd make some excuse or
other."
"A loud speaker is something that looks like an old-fashioned
phonograph horn, isn't it?" asked Ruth, the younger sister, before any
of the radio boys could refute the older girl's accusation.
"Well, yes, it looks like that; but the details are different,"
replied Bob.
"Yes, but if you had a phonograph horn, couldn't you fix it up so that
the music would be loud enough for us all to hear it?" persisted Ruth.
"Good for you, Ruth!" exclaimed her sister. "I know what you mean.
You're thinking of that old phonograph they used to have in this
hotel, before they got the big new cabinet machine."
"If Edna and I get that horn for you, it will be easy for such experts
as you boys are to make a--a what-you-may-call-it--loud speaker--out
of it, won't it?" asked Ruth, demurely.
"I think they're kidding us now, Bob," said Joe, grinning. "When a
girl tells you you're an expert, you can bet she's figuring to wish
something on you."
"Yes, but it's so unusual that we ought to do something to encourage
it," laughed Bob. "Let's call their bluff. Probably they'll never be
able to find a horn, anyway."
"Don't count too much on that," said Edna, with a dangerous smile. "We
almost always get what we ask for."
"Yes, and you are everlastingly asking for something, it seems to me,"
grumbled her father, who had joined the little group at that moment.
"Now, Daddy, you know you love to give us things," chided Ruth. "If we
suddenly had everything we wanted, you'd be dreadfully disappointed."
"There's no danger of that happening," said her father, a smile
softening his grim face. "But what is it you're after just at
present?"
"We want that big phonograph horn they used to have here in the
hotel," said Edna, with a provoking side glance at the radio boys.
"Will you ask the manager to hunt it up and lend it to us?"
"I'll see what I can do about it," promised Mr. Salper. "I remember
the horn you mean, but it was probably thrown away long ago."
The radio boys rather wished that this might prove to be the case, but
they were not destined to get off so easily. The first thing they saw
when they entered the dining room the next morning was a large wooden
horn, of a style in universal use in the early years of the
phonograph, standing prominently near their table.
"There, now!" exclaimed Jimmy, in a low voice. "You see what you've
let us in for, Bob. Why didn't you tell them that we didn't have time
to waste building a loud speaker, and settle the thing right then and
there."
"That's easier said than done," answered Bob. "Why don't you go over
to the Salper's house and tell the girls that?"
"Yes, go right over and be rough with them," advised Joe. "Tell them
that you're not afraid of girls, and they can't put anything over on
you."
"Aw, I would have, last night; but it's too late now," said Jimmy,
lamely.
"Yes, you would!" jeered Herb. "After all, it won't be so much work.
You're an expert carpenter, Jimmy, and can make a bang-up job of it."
"That's always the way," complained Jimmy, heaving a dismal sigh. "You
fellows think up a good, hard job, and then I do the work. I've never
known it to fail yet."
"Buck up, Doughnuts," said Bob. "Think of how the girls will thank you
for it. You'll be the most popular fellow in the hotel."
"Like fun I will!" returned the fat boy. "But I'm not going to let it
interfere with my appetite. I can see where I've got a hard day ahead
of me."
It proved to be a busy morning for all the radio boys. Immediately
after breakfast they fell to work on the horn, and after some three
hours of steady labor they had constructed a passable loud-speaking
horn, using one telephone receiver clamped securely at the narrow end.
They mounted the whole thing on a solid wooden pedestal, leaving two
substantial shelves at the back to hold their radio apparatus.
It did not take them long to mount the receiving outfit in a neat
manner, and when this was done they all drew a long breath and sat
down to admire the result of their labors. While still engaged in this
gratifying occupation, Edna and Ruth Salper entered.
"Oh!" exclaimed the former, with a gesture of delight, "doesn't it
look simply beautiful? I never thought you boys could make it so
quickly."
"You've got Jimmy to thank for that," said Bob. "I never saw him work
so hard in his life before. It was easy to see that he was thinking of
you and Ruth all the time, from the way he put his heart into it."
"I didn't anything of the kind," said the embarrassed Jimmy. "I never
thought of them once, even."
"What a dreadful thing to say," laughed Ruth. "I didn't know you hated
girls, Jimmy."
"Who said I hated 'em?" demanded Jimmy, getting as red as a beet.
"I--I----"
"Love them," Joe finished for him. "Is that what you are trying to
say, Jimmy?"
"Say, who asked you to butt in?" inquired Jimmy, desperately.
"Everybody is trying to tell me what I mean, until I don't know which
is right myself."
"Never mind," said Edna, coming to the rescue of the floundering
youth. "We are grateful to you for working so hard for us, anyway."
"Oh, that's all right," mumbled Jimmy. "If it works all right, we
won't worry about the labor we put into it."
"But don't you expect it to work?" asked Edna, teasingly.
"Sure it will work," asserted Bob, before Jimmy could involve himself
again. "That is, you'll hear music, all right, but it probably won't
be very loud, even with the help of the horn. We're a long way from
the broadcasting station, you know. If we were within ten or fifteen
miles of it, I'd say surely that it would be a success."
"I'll go and get the loop aerial, Bob, and we can test it right now,"
suggested Joe. "What do you think?"
Bob nodded, and Joe left the room, returning a few minutes later with
the loop. This was soon connected with the set, and then Bob began
tuning for signals.
"Mercy! what was that?" exclaimed Edna, while Ruth gave a little
scream.
From the horn came an ear-piercing howl, followed by whistles and
weird unearthly shrieks. But the boys only laughed heartily at the
girls.
"That's nothing but old man static," said Bob. "We'll soon get him off
the wires."
"Does he live near here?" asked Ruth, innocently.
"Wow!" shouted Herb, and the boys could not help laughing, although
they stopped as soon as they saw the mystified and somewhat hurt
expression in the girl's eyes.
"That was just Bob's slangy way of talking," explained Joe, after he
was sure that he had regained control of his features. "Static is the
electricity that is always in the air, and gives us radio fans a good
deal of trouble."
"Oh, I see," said Ruth, and she was a good enough sport to laugh at
her own mistake.
Meantime Bob had finally got the set tuned to the proper wave length,
and the little group were all delighted with the clarity and volume of
the resultant sounds. They were not nearly as loud as an ordinary
phonograph, but were sufficient to be heard distinctly in a fairly
large room.
"It's too bad we only have a one-stage amplifier," said Bob. "If we
only had another transformer and vacuum tube, we'd have a loud speaker
that you could hear all over the hotel."
"I think this one is plenty good enough," asserted Edna.
Both she and her sister were as excited as children with a new toy,
and they were both delighted with the music.
"You boys will have to bring this wonderful thing into the parlor
tonight, and let everybody hear it," coaxed Edna. "I know they will
all be tickled to death to hear a concert in this new way."
"They might not be as enthusiastic as you think," said Bob,
doubtfully. "Maybe they'd rather just talk, and wouldn't thank us for
interrupting them."
"What an idea!" exclaimed Ruth. "Just try it once, just to please us,
and you'll soon find out whether they like it or not."
"Well, if it's to please you, we'll certainly do that thing!" Bob
gallantly remarked, and was rewarded by a friendly smile.
"Edna and I will speak to the manager about it this afternoon, and I
know it will be all right," she said. "We'll tell you what he says at
supper time."
The radio boys, although they were radio enthusiasts themselves, did
not actually realize how deeply interested people had become in this
new and wonderful science. They were somewhat surprised, therefore,
when the manager sought them out that afternoon and told them that he
would be more than delighted to have them give a radio concert that
evening.