The Radio Boys at Mountain Pass: or, The Midnight Call for Assistance

“If you fellows are building sets, you’re just as likely to make some important discovery as anybody else,” said Thompson. “That super-regenerative circuit is a corker, though. I’m going to keep that sketch you made, if you don’t mind, and see if I can make a small set along those lines. I have lots of spare time just at present.”

“It will repay you for your trouble, all right,” remarked Joe. “We’re figuring on doing the same thing when we get back home.”

Jimmy had tried faithfully to follow the technicalities of the recent conversation, but his was an easy-going nature, disinclined to delve deeply into the intricate mysteries of science. Herbert was somewhat the same way, and they two wandered about the station, laughing and joking, while Bob and Joe and the young wireless man argued the merits of different equipments and hook-ups.

“Say!” exclaimed Jimmy, at length, “I hate to break up the party, but don’t you think it’s about time that we thought of getting back to the hotel? Remember we’ve got a long way to go, and it’s four-thirty already.”

“Gee!” said Bob, glancing in surprise at his watch. “I guess Jimmy is right for once in his life. We’ll have to hustle along now, but we’ll drop in here often while we are at Mountain Pass – unless you put up a ‘no admittance’ sign.”

“No danger of that,” laughed the other. “The oftener you come, the better I’ll like it. This is a lonely place, as you can see for yourselves.”

The radio boys shook hands with Bert Thompson, and after thanking him for the trouble he had taken to show them the station, they started back for the hotel at a brisk pace.

The days were growing very short, and it was after dark when they reached the hotel. Very warm and comfortable it looked as they approached it, windows lighted and throwing cheerful beams over the white snow outside. A red glow filled the windows of the living room, and the boys knew that a big wood fire was roaring and crackling in the big fireplace. As they drew close, a tempting aroma of cookery reached them, and caused them to hasten their steps.

They had barely time to get freshened up before the dinner bell rang, and in a short time they were making havoc with as fine a meal as any of them ever tasted.

When they told about their visit to the radio station, Edna and Ruth Salper, the daughters of the Wall Street broker they had met in the snowstorm, were among the most interested of the listeners.

“We find it so dull over at our house we are glad to come over here for meals and to visit,” said Ruth Salper.

“I suppose being in the woods in winter is rather dull,” returned Joe, politely.

“Did you boys really know enough about radio to talk all afternoon with the man in charge of the government station?” inquired Edna, curiously.

“Why not?” asked Bob. “Don’t you think radio is a broad enough subject to talk about for an entire afternoon?”

“Oh, I suppose it is,” she admitted. “But why don’t you share some of your fun with us?”

CHAPTER XIII – 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.

CHAPTER XIV – SCORING A TRIUMPH

When he had gone the boys grinned at one another.

“We’re getting to be popular around this place,” remarked Bob.

“We sha’n’t be quite so popular tomorrow, if the concert broadcasted tonight isn’t a good one,” said Joe.

“I only wish we could get that loudspeaker to speak just a bit louder,” said Herb. “It’s only fair now, and those people will be expecting a lot, I suppose.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” remarked Bob. “And if we’re willing to pitch in this afternoon, we can improve the strength of our set a lot”

The others looked incredulously at him.

“Explain,” said Joe. “You’ve got us guessing, Bob.”

“The way we’ve got our set hooked up now, we’re using a loop antenna, aren’t we? Well,” as the others nodded assent, “why not unwind the loop and string a double aerial on the roof? That would give us a lot more power, you know.”

“Right you are!” exclaimed Joe. “That should make a lot of difference.”

“But if we do that, we’ll have to have a ground, which isn’t necessary with the loop antenna,” objected Herb.

“That’s true enough,” agreed Bob. “But that’s easy, after all. We can hook our ground wire to one of the steam radiators.”

“Trust Bob to think of everything!” ejaculated Jimmy.

“Bob is thinking that we’d better get busy, then,” said that individual. “Heave yourself off that nice soft couch, Jimmy, and get your hat and overcoat on.”

Jimmy emitted a dismal groan.

“Have a heart, Bob,” he complained. “You know I worked so hard this morning that I’m all in.”

“All right, then, you stay there; but we’ll tell Edna and Ruth that you refused to help,” said Joe, cruelly.

This threat had its effect, and Jimmy struggled to his feet and had his outer clothing on almost as soon as the others. It was a beautiful day outside, and after they once got warmed up, they thoroughly enjoyed the work of stringing the aerial on the roof. They brought the leading-in wire to one of the windows of the hotel parlor. It was not necessary to insulate this with anything heavier than friction tape, as this was to be only a temporary installation. Before dark they had everything ready, and then they went inside, moved their receiving set into the parlor, and connected it up to the leading-in wire. Following Bob’s suggestion, they attached a ground wire to a radiator, and found that everything worked perfectly. As they had anticipated, the signals were considerably louder, and the old phonograph horn filled the big room with a satisfying volume of sound.

During dinner the boys were so excited that they could hardly eat, and immediately afterward they hurried into the parlor. The guests had been notified of the impending concert, and soon almost everybody in the hotel had crowded into the room.

The hotel manager made a little speech introducing the boys to those who had not already become acquainted with them, and mentioning the concert that was to come. Then every one waited expectantly for the promised entertainment.

It proved unnecessary to do much tuning, as the adjustment they had secured that afternoon proved to be very nearly correct still.

When the first clear notes floated into the room many of the audience straightened up in their chairs, while looks of astonishment passed over their features. At first they were too engrossed with the novelty of the thing to pay much attention to the music, but gradually the golden notes wove their magic net and held them all enthralled. The night was an ideal one for radiophony, cold and still, with hardly any static to annoy. One selection after another came in clear and distinct, and after each one the audience applauded instinctively, hardly conscious of the fact that upward of one hundred miles of bleak and snow-covered mountains and valleys lay between them and the performers.

At length, to everybody’s regret, the last number was played, and the receiving set was silent. Not so the audience, however, who overwhelmed the boys with thanks, and made them promise to entertain them in a similar manner on other evenings.

After most of the audience had drifted out the Salper girls thanked the boys prettily for all they had done, and they felt more than repaid for the hard work of the day, even Jimmy admitting afterward that “it was worth it.”

The next day the boys were eager to see Bert Thompson, the radio man, and tell him about their successful experiment, so they set out for the government station soon after breakfast. It had snowed in the early morning, but had now stopped, and the air was cold and bracing.

The four lads relieved the monotony of the long walk with, more than one impromptu exchange of snowballs. It seemed that they had hardly started before they had traversed the miles of difficult going and found themselves in the snug interior of the wireless house.

As they were approaching it, they were astonished to see Mr. Salper emerge, a heavy frown on his usually none-too-cheerful countenance. He only nodded to the radio boys in passing, and hurried away through the snow at a pace of which they would never have believed him capable.

When they entered the station they found Bert Thompson excited and angry. When they opened the door he started up, but when he saw who his visitors were, sank back in his chair.

“I’m glad it’s you fellows!” he exclaimed. “I thought it was that Wall Street man coming back. I’m not sure but I’ll throw him out if he does. I’d like to, anyhow.”

“You are all up in the air,” said Bob. “Did you have an argument with Mr. Salper?”

“Well, he did most of the arguing,” said the other, with a faint smile. “He’s so blamed used to having his own way that if any one doesn’t do just as he wants, he gets mad.

“I suppose I should make allowances for him, because he has plenty to worry him,” went on Thompson. “Some of those Wall Street manipulators are a ruthless bunch, and when they aren’t busy taking money from an innocent public, they stage some battles between each other. Mr. Salper has an idea that a bunch of them are trying to swing the market against him while he’s up here, and he seems to think that this is a public radio station, with nothing to do but send and receive messages for him all day. I’m working for Uncle Sam, not for him.”

“Oh, well, don’t let him get you all stirred up, anyway,” said Bob. “He doesn’t mean half of what he says. He was real decent last night while we were giving our concert.”

“What do you mean, concert?” asked the wireless man. “Are you in the entertainment game now?”

“Something like that,” answered Bob, grinning, and then he told the operator about the concert of the previous evening.

“That’s fine,” said Thompson heartily, when he had finished. “That was a good idea, to use a regular aerial instead of the loop. It certainly catches a lot more.”

“Yes, but the loop is mighty handy, just the same,” remarked Joe. “Especially in a portable set. You can set it up in no time.”

“Oh, it’s handy, there’s no doubt of that,” admitted the young wireless man. “I wish I had been there for the concert. I heard most of it here, but it must have been fun to watch the faces of the audience when you started in.”

“It was,” laughed Herb. “I think that some of them imagined we had a phonograph hidden somewhere because after the concert was over a number of them looked all around the set as though they were hunting for something suspicious.”

“Likely enough,” agreed Thompson. “Some people are mighty hard to convince.”

After some further conversation the boys took their leave, promising to come again for a longer visit. On the way back the chief topic of discussion was Mr. Salper, and the boys wondered more than once just what the nature of the trouble was that caused him to haunt the wireless station and besiege the operator with a flood of messages.

CHAPTER XV – THE SNOWSLIDE

“Well,” said Herb, philosophically, “‘it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good.’”

Bob, who had been shaking a tree for nuts and had shaken down more snow than anything else, looked at Herb inquiringly.

“Now what’s the poor nut raving about?” he asked slangily of Jimmy and Joe, who were also engaged in nut gathering.

“I was just thinking,” said Herb, with an attempt at dignity, “how sorry I am for all those poor sick people in Clintonia.”

“Oh, yes, you were,” scoffed Jimmy, who was eating more nuts than he saved. “You were thinking how lucky we are to be here picking nuts in the woods instead of slaving away in Clintonia High.”

“Gee, that fellow must be a mind reader!” exclaimed Herb, grinning, and Bob, coming near, made a pass at him.

“Say, get busy, old bluffer,” he said. “You’re getting slower than Doughnuts here. You haven’t got half the nuts that I have.”

“But I’m having twice as much fun,” countered Herb, unmoved “A fellow can’t work all the time.”

“I wish I knew what was worrying Mr. Salper,” said Joe, suddenly. “I wonder if that Wall Street bunch, is really out after his money.”

“Gee, he sure does know how to change the subject,” murmured Herb, and Bob threw a nut at him, which he successfully ducked.

“He seemed rather cut up about it, anyway,” said Bob, in answer to Joe.

“I wouldn’t trust those Wall Street sharpers out of my sight myself,” added Jimmy solemnly.

“Gee, listen to the financier,” gibed Herb. “He’s lost so many millions in Wall Street himself.”

“Not yet,” said Jimmy, plaintively. “But wait, my boy, my life is all before me.”

“Say,” cried Joe, “if you two fellows don’t look out I’ll put you in my pocket with the other nuts.”

“Mr. Salper seems kind of a nut himself,” said Joe, continuing with his own reflections. “He seems to have a grouch on everything and everybody.”

“No wonder, with all the worries he’s got,” said Jimmy, adding dolefully: “You see the penalties of extreme wealth.”

“One thing you’ll never have to worry about,” said Herb, and Jimmy grinned good-naturedly.

“I’d rather have my sweet disposition,” he sighed, “than all of Salper’s wealth.”

“I don’t see why you think he’s so wealthy,” Bob objected. “Everybody who trades in Wall Street isn’t a millionaire, you know.”

“Say, wait a minute!” cried Bob suddenly, with an imperative wave of his hand. “Did you hear anything?”

They listened for a moment in breathless silence and it came again, the call that Bob’s sharp ears had first detected. In the distance it was, surely, but a distinct cry for help, nevertheless.

“Come on, fellows! We’re needed!” cried Bob, and, dropping his bag of nuts in the snow, he started off at a swift pace in the direction of the sound.

The rest of the radio boys needed no second invitation. They started after Bob, pushing swiftly through the deep snow.

But as the seconds passed and they heard no further outcry, they thought that they must have been mistaken or that they had started in the wrong direction.

However, as they stopped to consider what to do, the cries began again, louder this time, a fact which told them they had been on the right track all along.

They hurried on again, sometimes plunging into snowdrifts that reached nearly to their waists, but keeping doggedly on to the rescue.

It was enough for the radio boys that some one was in trouble. Even roly-poly Jimmy, puffing painfully, but running gallantly along in the rear, had but one thought in his head, and that to help whoever needed help.

As they came nearer the cries became louder, and they thought they could distinguish three voices, and one seemed to be that of a woman.

Another minute they came upon a cleared space and stopped still for a moment to stare at the amazing scene which met their eyes.

A woman stood, nearly knee deep in snow, waving her arms wildly, and even in that moment of astonishment they recognized her as Mrs. Salper. She was gesticulating toward something in front of her and calling urgently to the boys to hurry.

Then the lads saw the cause of her distress. At the foot of a steep rise of ground, almost a small hill, was all that was to be seen of two girls. These latter had their heads above the snow that enveloped them and they were trying desperately to work their arms free of the icy blanket. From their expressions and from their wild cries for help it could be seen they were panic-stricken.