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CHAPTER IX – THE LOOP

“Do you know, fellows,” remarked Bob, as he was talking with his friends a few days later, “I’ve been thinking – ”

“Bob’s been thinking!” cried Herb. “Fire the cannon, ring the bells, hang out the flags. Bob’s been thinking!”

“Are you sure it’s that, or have you only been thinking that you’ve been thinking?” grinned Joe.

“When did it attack you first?” asked Jimmy, with great solicitude. “And where does it hurt you worst? Are you taking anything for it? You don’t want to let it go too long, Bob. I knew a fellow who had that same trouble and didn’t think it was worth while to send for a doctor, and before he knew it – ”

Bob made a dive at him that Jimmy adroitly ducked, losing nothing but his hat in the process.

“Listen to me, you boneheads,” Bob commanded, “and I’ll try to get down on the same level with your feeble intelligence. I’ve been thinking that perhaps we can better our set still more in the matter of aerials.”

“Alexander always looking for new worlds to conquer,” murmured Joe. “We nearly got killed the last time we bettered our aerial. What’s the matter with the umbrella type? I thought that was the ne plus ultra, the sine qua non, the – the – ”

“The e pluribus unum,” Herb helped him out, “the hoc propter quod, the hic jacet, the requiescat in pace, the – ”

At this point his hat followed Jimmy’s.

“The umbrella kind is good, all right,” admitted Bob; “and, for that matter, I’m not dead sure that it isn’t the best. It certainly gave us fine results in the baseball game on Saturday. But there’s nothing so good that there may not be something better, and I thought it might be well to rig up a loop some day and try it out. If it works as well or better than the umbrella, we may use it when we come to set up our radio at Ocean Point.”

“Is it a big job?” asked Herb, who as a rule was not on speaking terms with anything that looked like work.

“No,” answered Bob. “It’s easy enough to make. We’ll just get Jimmy here to make a frame for it down in his father’s carpenter shop – .”

“Jimmy!” repeated that individual, in an aggrieved tone. “We’ll just get Jimmy to make the horn. Sure! We’ll just get Jimmy to make a frame. Sure! I suppose if one of us was marked out to die, you’d say, ‘We’ll just let Jimmy do it.’ Just as easy as that.”

“Stop right there, Jimmy,” commanded Joe. “You’ll have me crying in a minute, and it’s an awful thing to see a strong man weep.”

“After Jimmy has made the frame,” continued Bob, not at all moved by the pathos of the situation, “all we’ll have to do will be to wind it about eight times with copper wire. That will give us a lot of receiving area and capacity. The frame ought to be about four feet square. It’ll have to be mounted on a pivot – ”

“Let Jimmy make the pivot,” murmured Jimmy.

“So that it can be swung end on in the direction of the broadcasting station,” continued Bob, not deigning to notice the interruption. “It has to be pointed in that direction in order to get the message. If it were at right angles, for instance, we probably would hear only very little or perhaps nothing at all. You see, with that kind of aerial we don’t have to put up anything on the roof at all. We could have it inside the room. It could be fastened to a hook in the ceiling, so that when we weren’t using it we could hoist it up and get it out of the way. That kind is used a lot on ships and at ship stations on shore. They call it sometimes a ‘radio compass.’ You can see it must be pretty good or they wouldn’t use it so widely.”

“It is good,” broke in a bass voice behind them, and as they turned in surprise they were delighted to recognize in the owner of the voice Mr. Frank Brandon, the radio inspector, by whose aid they had been able to track down Dan Cassey, the rascal who had tried to defraud Nellie Berwick, an orphan girl, of her money.

There was an exclamation of pleasure from all of the boys, with whom Mr. Brandon was a great favorite.

“What good wind blew you down this way?” asked Bob, after the greetings and hand-shakings were over.

“A little matter of business brought me down to a neighboring town, and while I was so near I thought I would run over to Clintonia and call on my old friend, Doctor Dale,” replied Brandon. “He told me that you boys won the Ferberton prizes,” he continued, addressing Bob and Joe, “and I congratulate you. I wasn’t surprised, for I knew you’d been doing hard and intelligent work on your sets. And I can see from the conversation I overheard that you’re just as much interested in it as ever.”

“More than ever,” affirmed Bob, and the others agreed. “We’re just crazy about it. We think it’s just the greatest thing that ever happened.”

“There are lots more who think the same thing,” said Brandon, with a smile. “And I guess they’re about right. By the way, there’s an interesting thing about that radio compass you were speaking about that isn’t generally known. I was over on the other side when the thing happened, and I got some inside dope on it.”

“Tell us about it,” urged Bob, and the others joined in.

“It was just before the battle of Jutland,” replied Brandon, “which, as of course you know, was the biggest naval battle fought during the World War. The German fleet had been tied up in their own home waters for nearly two years, and hadn’t ventured out to try conclusions with the British fleet that was patrolling the North Seas. In fact, it began to be thought that they never would come out. But at last the German naval leaders determined to risk a battle. They made their preparations with the greatest secrecy, because, their vessels not being as numerous as those of the British, their only chance of success lay in catching a part of the British fleet unawares before the rest of the fleet could come to their rescue.

“But the British naval authorities were on the alert. They had this radio compass you were talking about developed to a high point of efficiency and were able to listen in on the orders given by the German commanders to their vessels. The Germans hadn’t any idea that they could be overheard and used their wireless signals freely. Now, you remember that the battle took place on May thirty-first.”

They did not remember at all, but they nodded their heads and tried to look as wise as possible. Jimmy especially had such an owlish expression that the others could hardly keep from laughing.

“On the night of May thirtieth,” resumed Brandon, “the German flagship wirelessed a lot of instructions that were heard at several places on the British coast. These were compared and it was possible to ascertain just where the flagship was stationed. The next morning the flagship sent another lot of orders, that were also heard by the British. It was then found that the flagship had moved seven miles down the river from the station where she had been the night before. That showed that the fleet was on the move. Instantly the British fleet was sent out to meet them. So when the Germans came out to surprise the British, they found that it was the other way around and it was they themselves that were surprised. Well, you know the result. The German ships had to retreat to their harbor, and they never came out again except to surrender after the war was over. That was one way that radio helped to win the war.”

“Just as it helped our aviators,” put in Joe.

“Precisely,” assented Mr. Brandon. “The Germans are usually pretty well up in science, but we put it all over them in the matter of wireless while the war was on.”

CHAPTER X – OFF FOR THE SEA SHORE

“But valuable as the radio was in war,” Brandon went on, “I believe it is going to be still more valuable in the matter of maintaining peace. I think, in fact, that it may do away with war altogether.”

“I don’t quite get you,” said Bob, with a puzzled air.

“In this way,” explained Brandon. “It’s going to make all the people of the world neighbors. And when people are neighbors they’re usually more or less friends. They have to a large extent the same interests and they understand each other.

“Now, most wars have been due to exclusiveness and misunderstandings. Each nation has dwelt in its own borders, behind its own mountains or its own rivers, and they’ve shut out of their minds and interests all people outside of themselves. They’ve grown to think that a stranger must necessarily be an enemy. Some little thing happens that makes them mad and they’re ready to fight.

“But the radio is going to break down all these barriers of exclusiveness and remove these misunderstandings. When people get to talking together each finds that the other one isn’t such a bad fellow after all. When a man in Paris picks up his telephone and has a chat with one man in England and then another man in Spain and still another in Italy he finds that they are all human beings and very much like himself. If he had the Englishman, the Spaniard, the Italian in his office together, he’d probably invite them out to dinner and they’d all have a good time. When the time comes that in every country in South America men can tune in on the radio and listen to the inaugural address of the President of the United States coming from his own lips, they’ll know that we have no unfriendly designs on their country and are only anxious to see them happy and prosperous. We’ll hear the same speeches, we’ll listen to the same concerts, and gradually we’ll come to feel that we’re all neighbors. That’s why I say that the radio may in the course of time make all wars impossible, or at least very improbable.”

“It sounds reasonable,” commented Bob. “I only hope that you’re right.”

“I’m mighty glad that we happened to be in town when you dropped in to see the doctor,” said Joe. “A few days later and we’d all have been down at Ocean Point for the summer.”

“Ocean Point!” exclaimed Mr. Brandon. “Is that where you boys are going?”

“Yes,” replied Joe. “Our folks have a little colony down there, and we go every summer. Why, do you know anything about the place?”

“I should say I did!” replied Mr. Brandon, “I usually spend a week or two at Ocean Point myself, and I have a cousin there who has charge of the Ocean Point radio station. His name is Brandon Harvey. His first name you see is the same as my last name.”

“Why, that’s fine!” exclaimed Bob.

“Radio seems to run in your family,” said Herb, with a smile.

“We’ll look him up and introduce ourselves,” said Joe. “We’re all radio fans, and that’s a sort of freemasonry.”

“You’ll find him a good fellow,” said Brandon. “And I’m sure he’ll be glad to meet you. If I happen to get down there about the same time that you do, I’ll take you around and introduce you myself. You’ll find that what he doesn’t know about radio isn’t worth knowing. He can run rings all around me.”

“He must be pretty good then,” laughed Bob. “Though I don’t believe it. But it will be dandy if you are able to spend part of the summer with us down there.”

“What time are you going?” asked Mr. Brandon.

“Just as soon as school closes,” answered Bob. “The closing exercises are to be held next Wednesday, and we expect to get off the next day.”

“Not losing any time, are you?” smiled Brandon. “Well, I’ll see how I can fix it, and I shouldn’t be surprised if you’d find me waiting for you when you get there.”

They had reached the school gate by this time, and with cordial farewells they separated.

The next few days passed with great rapidity. The boys were busy in preparing for the closing examinations, and even their beloved radio had to be laid aside for a time. Bob and Joe had kept well up in their classes and did not anticipate much trouble in passing, but Jimmy and Herb had been more remiss, and it took many anxious nights and much “boning” to prepare for the ordeal.

However, they all got through, Bob and Joe with flying colors and Jimmy and Herb with marks that were at least respectable. And it was a happy group of boys who on the Wednesday afternoon that the school term came to a close tossed their books up on the shelves, not to be disturbed again until the fall.

But there is apt to be a fly in the ointment, and the fly on this occasion was the news that Jimmy passed on to his companions the night before they left for Ocean Point.

“Say, fellows, who do you think is going down to Ocean Point for the summer besides our bunch?” he asked, almost out of breath with the haste he had made to come over to the Laytons’ house, where the friends were seated on the porch enjoying the evening breeze after a hot day.

“President of the United States, for all I know,” answered Joe flippantly, as he fanned himself with his cap.

Jimmy glared at him.

“It can’t be the old Kaiser,” said Herb. “Don’t tell me, Doughnuts, that it’s the Kaiser.”

“Worse than that,” answered Jimmy. “Buck Looker and his gang are going to be there.”

There was a general straightening up of his astonished hearers.

“What?” ejaculated Bob. “I’m knocked all in a heap!”

“Say that again,” demanded Joe. “Or, rather, don’t say it again. Let me think it’s all a horrible dream.”

“Sure as shooting,” affirmed Jimmy. “I was in Dave Slocum’s store when Mr. Looker came in to get some fishing tackle. He got to talking to Dave, and told him that he was going to take his family down to Ocean Point for the summer, and that Buck was going to take a couple of his friends along with him. He didn’t say who the friends were, but of course we know it wouldn’t be any one but Carl Lutz and Terry Mooney. In fact, those are the only fellows he hangs out with. None of the decent fellows in town will have anything to do with him. So what do you think of that?”

“Punk!” declared Joe.

“It’s a shame that we can’t get rid of that gang even in vacation time,” said Bob. “Half the fun of getting through with school was the thought that we wouldn’t have to look on Buck’s ugly face for a couple of months.”

“It’s lucky the air down at the Point is salt, or Buck would poison it,” remarked Herb disconsolately. “That fellow’s a regular hoodoo.”

“Oh, well,” Bob comforted himself, “we don’t have to mix up with him, anyway. He won’t be living in our little separate colony, and our folks and his never had anything to do with each other. It’ll probably be only once in a while when we have to come across him. And it’s more than likely that he’ll steer clear of us, for he knows he’s about as popular with us as a rattlesnake at a picnic party.”

“If he tries any of his low-down tricks there won’t be any Mr. Preston to save him again from a licking,” put in Joe. “But let’s forget him and think of something pleasant.”

The women of the party had gone that same day to the Point in order to get everything ready for the coming of the boys and their sisters on the morrow. The fathers were still in town, where business or profession detained them. Their plan for the summer was to go down to the Point for the week-ends only.

Dr. Atwood, Joe’s father, had taken his wife and the other women down to the resort in his spacious car early in the morning. It was only a pleasant spin of about forty miles, and after seeing them comfortably settled, he had returned in order to take the boys and girls down on the following day.

He found on his return, however, that a friend of Herb Fennington’s sisters, Agnes and Amy, had arranged to take the girls down early that evening. They had asked Rose Atwood to go down with them, so that left only the radio boys to take the trip down the next day in the doctor’s car.

And as the boys had to pack their suitcases and get their fishing tackle and other sporting material together they stayed chatting only for a little while on Bob’s porch that evening and separated early.

The next morning dawned gloriously and gave promise of a perfect day. The doctor was on hand at about ten o’clock, and the boys bundled into the car, full of the highest spirits and looking forward to a summer of unalloyed fun and sport.

The doctor himself drove, and the car, under his skilful handling, made rapid time along the beautiful roads. The boys joked and laughed and sang and enjoyed themselves to the full. They were like so many frisky colts let out to pasture.

As they passed through the little town of Lisburn they saw a young girl watering the flowers in the garden of one of the houses. Bob’s keen eye detected and recognized her at once.

“It’s Miss Berwick!” he cried. “Doctor, would you mind stopping here a minute?”

“Certainly I’ll stop,” replied the doctor, with a smile, and slowed down immediately. “Take all the time you want.”

Bob and Joe jumped out and ran to the gate. The girl looked at them for a moment and then with a glad cry came hurrying toward them.

“How glad I am to see you,” she cried, extending both hands in welcome. “Come into the house.”

“Thank you,” answered Bob. “We’d like to, but we’re with a party and can stay only a minute. But we had to stop to say how do you do and ask you how everything was going with you.”

“Couldn’t be better,” she answered, with a smile. “I’ve got my health back completely. And I have my house, and my mind’s at rest, thanks to you two boys. I’ll never forget what you did for me in rescuing me from that wrecked auto and then later in getting that mortgage back from the man who was trying to cheat me.”

“Oh, what we did was nothing much, and anybody else would have done the same thing,” disclaimed Bob. “But tell us about that rascal, Dan Cassey. Have you seen or heard anything about him?”

“Only once,” replied Miss Berwick. “He came back to this vicinity to wind up his affairs and get out. I met him one day on the road when no one else was about. I was going to pass him without speaking, for I dread the man almost as much as I despise him, but he planted himself in my way and went on dreadfully about you boys. Said he was going to fix you for butting into his affairs – those were the words he used. Some one came in sight just then and he passed on. But what he said has worried me. I do hope you boys will keep on your guard against him. I’d feel dreadful if anything happened to you for being so good to me.”

“Don’t worry about us,” Bob adjured her. “We’re able to take care of ourselves.”

“Did he stutter as much as usual?” asked Joe, with a grin.

“Worse, if anything,” Miss Berwick answered. “He had to whistle to go on.”

They all laughed, and after a moment more of conversation and repeated warnings from the girl to be careful, the boys said good-bye and went to the car. She waved to them until the car was out of sight.

The doctor put on a little extra speed to make up for the delay, and the car purred along the road until finally Ocean Point came in sight. A cry of delight broke from the boys as they saw the ocean stretched out before them, that shimmering, sunlit ocean that seemed so friendly now, but whose menace and danger they were soon to feel.

CHAPTER XI – A LONG SWIM

“Ocean Point strikes me as being just all right,” said Bob, as he stretched out luxuriously in one of the comfortable chairs on the shady porch.

“Right you are,” agreed Joe, heartily. “We ought to acquire a coat of sunburn here that will last over the winter and into next spring.”

“It wouldn’t take long out in that sun to get cooked nice and brown on both sides,” said Bob. “It’s going to be hot work putting up the aerials.”

“Yes, but the best of it is that, no matter how hot you get, you can always cool off again in jig time by taking a dive in the ocean,” said Joe. “And that’s what I’m going to do pretty soon, too.”

“You won’t have to go alone, I can promise you that,” said Jimmy. “I don’t want to go in before we get the antenna strung up, though, because when I once do get there, I shan’t want to come out in a hurry.”

“You’ll come out soon enough, Doughnuts, when you find a big shark chasing you,” said Herb, with a sly wink at the others. “I’ve been told that there’s a big man-eating shark around here that’s just lying in wait for somebody to come in and furnish a nice dinner for him.”

“Shark, nothing!” exclaimed Jimmy. “Anyway, if there were sharks around here, they’d be just as apt to eat you or Bob or Joe as they would be to go after me.”

“Not a bit of it,” said Herb seriously. “This shark I’m telling you about doesn’t care for any one but very fat people. That’s what makes me think it would be dangerous for you to go in.”

“Well, I don’t know that I can blame the shark for preferring me to you,” said Jimmy, refusing, with the wisdom born of long experience, to take Herb’s story seriously. “If the shark swallowed you, I’ll bet he’d die of indigestion afterwards.”

“All right, then, do as you please, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” said Herb resignedly. “You don’t get much gratitude for trying to do people favors anyway, I’ve found.”

“If you fellows put as much energy into getting that aerial strung as you do in chinning with each other, we’d be receiving messages by now,” said Bob, laughing. “Let’s get busy and get things fixed up, and then we’ll go down and see if there’s any sign of that shark friend of Herb’s.”

The radio boys all agreed to this, and without further delay took up the business of stringing the antenna. They had brought two masts with them, and these they proceeded to mount on the roofs of the two bungalows occupied by the Laytons and the Atwoods. These were so situated that the umbrella antenna ran directly over the community living room, thus giving an ideal condition for sending, as the boys intended to set up their apparatus in the big living room, so that everybody in the little colony could get the benefit of the nightly concerts and news bulletins sent out by the big broadcasting stations.

As the radio boys had surmised, getting up the aerial was a blisteringly hot job, and before they had been at it many minutes the perspiration was running off them in streams. They kept doggedly at it, however, and at last the final turn-buckle had been tightened up, and everything looked taut and shipshape.

“There!” exclaimed Bob, looking with satisfaction at the result of their labors. “I guess it will take a pretty strong gale to knock that outfit over.”

“A cyclone, you mean,” said Joe. “I don’t think anything short of that would even bother it.”

“Well, we’ll hope not,” said Bob. “Who’s going for a swim? It would take a whole school of sharks to keep me out of the water now.”

The others were of the same mind, and it did not take them long to jump into their bathing suits and make a dash for the white beach. A gentle surf was breaking with a cool, splashing rumble that seemed almost like an invitation to come in and get cool. The boys were not long in accepting it, and dashed in with shouts and laughter. They were all good swimmers, and they gave themselves up to the delight of breasting the incoming breakers, rising and falling with the slow heave and swell of the cool, green ocean. Puffing and blowing, flinging the spray from their eyes, they passed beyond the surf, and then slowed down, just exerting themselves enough to keep their heads above water.

“Wow!” exclaimed Jimmy. “This is the life, eh, fellows?”

“I’ll say so!” agreed Bob. “Where’s that shark of yours, Herb?”

“Oh, I suppose he’s away visiting some friends of his,” said Herb. “But if you wait around long enough, we’ll probably see him. Just have a little patience, can’t you?”

“All the patience in the world,” laughed Joe. “I don’t really care how long he stays away, myself.”

“He couldn’t catch me if he did come around,” boasted Jimmy. “I’ll bet none of you hobos can catch me, anyway,” and he was off in a smother of foam.

This was a challenge not to be overlooked, and the rest were after him like hounds after a fox. Jimmy soon found it an impossibility to make good his boast, and before he had gone fifty yards he was overhauled by Bob, and then by Joe. Herb did his best for a while, but soon decided that it was more trouble than it was worth, and turned over on his back and floated instead.

“Why, you couldn’t beat a lame crab, Doughnuts,” chaffed Bob, as they all slowed up to get their wind. “I thought from the way you talked that you were the boy wonder of the world.”

“Oh, I don’t care. I made you fellows work hard, anyway,” panted Jimmy, puffing out a mouthful of water that he had inadvertently shipped. “This is one place where I can exercise without getting overheated, anyway.”

“No danger of that,” said Joe. “I’m about ready to go in for a while. How about you fellows?”

“Guess it might be a good idea,” said Bob. “We’re out further than I thought, as it is.”

In fact, when the boys looked toward the shore, it did look a long distance away. But they swam in easily, with long, easy strokes, reveling in the clean tang of the salt water and the joy of the brilliant sun on their faces as they clove through the sparkling waves. Before long they had reached the outer line of gentle combers, and let themselves be carried shoreward in a rush and swirl of white foam. A little further, and they felt the hard sand of the beach, and got on their feet, somewhat winded, but intoxicated with the joy and sense of glorious well being that comes of salt spray, glinting sun, and salty breeze.

“That was the greatest ever!” exclaimed Bob, flinging himself down in the soft, hot sand. “Fresh water is all right, but give me old ocean for real sport.”

Each boy burrowed out a comfortable nest in the sand, which felt very warm and grateful after the cold sea water. But it was not very long before the sun began to make itself felt, and pretty soon their bathing suits were steaming.

“Say!” exclaimed Jimmy, at length, scrambling to his feet, “it’s me for the water again. I can begin to feel my skin drying up and getting nice and crispy. Who’s game for another swim?”

It appeared that they all were, and with shouts and laughter they once more dashed into the surf. They did not stay in so long this time, however, as it was drawing on toward evening, and they all had ravenous appetites that told them it must be nearly supper time.

Jimmy was the first to put this thought into words.

“I feel as though I hadn’t eaten anything in days,” he remarked. “I’ve often heard that salt water was a great thing to give a person an appetite, and now I know it.”

“Yes, but I don’t believe that you have to come all the way to Ocean Point, Doughnuts, to get one,” said Herb. “I don’t see how you could very well eat more than you do when you’re in Clintonia.”

“Huh! I don’t suppose you feel hungry at all, do you?” asked Jimmy.

“Well, I must admit I feel as though I could punish a pretty square meal,” said Herb. “But if I were as fat as some people I know, I’d be ashamed to talk about eating, even.”

“Maybe if I floated around on my back while I’m in the water, instead of really swimming, I wouldn’t feel so hungry, either,” said Jimmy scathingly, and this turned the laugh on Herb.

“He’s got you there, Herb,” said Bob. “If you keep on you’ll be getting fat yourself. If you ever do, you’ll be out of luck, because Jimmy will never get through pestering you about it.”

“I guess I won’t have to worry about that for a while yet,” said Herb. “It will take me a good many years to catch up with Jimmy.”

“Don’t you worry about me,” said that aggrieved individual. “I don’t worry about you just because you look like an animated clothespin, do I?”

Herb was still trying to think up some fitting reply to this when his meditations were cut short by their arrival at the little bungalow colony.

There were several small bungalows grouped about one much larger one. This latter contained a large dining and living room and a kitchen big enough to supply the needs of all the families residing in the smaller buildings. It was in this large central living room that the boys had started to set up their radio apparatus when the lure of the ocean had tempted them away.

They returned none too soon, for the evening meal was ready, but, as Joe remarked, “It was no more ready than they were.” They did all the good things ample justice, and then went out on the wide veranda to rest and allow digestion to take its course.

“We ought to be able to get the set working this evening,” remarked Bob, as they sat looking out over the sand, with the boom of the surf in their ears, “provided, of course, we all feel energetic enough to tackle it.”

“Well, I’m willing to take a fling at it a little later,” said Joe. “But just at present I don’t feel strong enough even to handle a screw driver.”

“I’ll bet Jimmy’s crazy to get to work, anyway,” said Bob. “How about it, old energetic?”

But the only answer was a gentle snore from Jimmy’s direction, and everybody laughed.

“Guess that swim has tired him out,” said Joe. “Swimming in salt water always seems to leave you mighty lazy afterward.”

“You boys must be more careful when you go swimming, and not go out so far from shore,” said Mrs. Atwood, Joe’s mother. “This afternoon I was watching you from the porch, and it seemed to me you went for a dreadful distance before you started back.”

“Oh, that’s two-thirds of the fun of swimming, Mother,” said Joe. “There’s no use in puttering around close to shore. What’s the use in knowing how to swim, if you do that?”

“We keep pretty close together, anyway,” Bob added. “So if one should get tired, the others could help him in.”

“Yes, I know,” said Mrs. Atwood. “But just the same, I wish you’d be careful.”

The boys promised that they would, and then, feeling somewhat rested, they woke Jimmy, after some difficulty, and went inside to rig up their receiving set.