CHAPTER II.--THE WIRELESS.
As Frank rounded the point, the waves almost lapping his feet as heedged along the rocky promontory, he came into full view of the adjunctto the little settlement which was mentioned in the preceding chapter.This was nothing more nor less than the hulk of what had once been afair-sized schooner. But her masts had vanished, and on her decksnothing now rose above the bulwarks but a towering structure ofsufficiently odd form to have set the wits of every man in Motthaven whohad seen it at their keenest edge.
This structure began about amidships, where it attained a height of somethirty feet. From thence its skeleton form sloped sharply down towardthe stern of the dismantled hulk, much in the manner of the "Chute theChutes" familiar to most lads throughout the land from their having seenthem at amusement resorts. The old schooner--formerly rejoicing in thename of _Betsy Jane_--had been picked up for a song in Portland by theBoy Aviators, who saw in it exactly what they needed for a bit ofexperimental apparatus. At their orders the inclined "slide" had beenbuilt, and when this was accomplished the craft had been towed into thecove, where it now lay anchored by a stout line, about 200 yards offshore.
As Frank came into view of the black old hull, swinging on her mooringline on the turning tide, a "Hampton" motor boat came chugging round the_Betsy Jane's_ stern. In it were three lads. The one in the bow handlingthe wheel is already familiar to our readers, who will at once recognizethe cherubic, smiling features of the spectacled Billy Barnes. In thestern, tending to the engine--a five horse power one of themake-and-break type--was Harry Chester, Frank's younger brother, andstanding amidships, waving cheerfully to Frank, was a youth bestdescribed as being "tubby" of build, with round rosy cheeks and a mostgood-natured expression of countenance.
This last lad was Ulysses--otherwise "Pudge" Perkins, the son of theaerial scientist who had sent the lads on their strange mission.
"Batter and butterflies!" he shouted, as the boat drew closer and hespied Frank, "how are you, Frank? Get lonely without your chums?"
"No; I rather enjoyed myself," laughed back Frank, shouting his wordsacross the water; "you see, while you were away I had some quiet, and achance to work out a few problems."
"Mumps and mathematics!" sputtered Pudge amiably, "you don't mean to sayI worry you, Frank?"
By this time the motor boat had approached close to her mooring, atwhich swung a small boat of the dory type. The motor boat was speedilymade fast, and the boyish occupants tumbled into the small boat andHarry rapidly sculled them ashore. Before leaving the motor boat somesacks of supplies had been thrown in, and the small craft was so heavilyladen that Pudge had to be sternly warned to keep still on peril ofswamping it.
"Dories and dingbats! as if my sylphlike form could bother this staunchcraft! Yo-ho! my lads, yo-ho! pull for the shore and don't bother aboutme."
The beach was reached without catastrophe, and while Frank helped theothers unload the supplies he told them of what had occurred duringtheir absence.
"After you left," he said, "I got busy figuring on that plane problem.All at once I heard voices, and by listening I soon recognized them asZenas Daniels and that precious son of his. As I knew what uglycustomers they were I turned the current into the fence and sauntereddown toward the shore. Sure enough it was Zenas and Zeb and they triedto rush the fence."
Frank then went on to tell of what had happened. Shouts of laughtergreeted his narrative.
"Sugar and somersaults! But I'd have liked to see those chaps do aflip-flap," chuckled the rotund Pudge, hugging himself in his joy.
"I guess Zenas must have learned that electricity is good for therheumatiz," laughed Billy Barnes gleefully; "I'd like to have had apicture of them when they hit the wire," he added, swinging hisinevitable camera at the end of its carrying straps.
"It would have been worth while," laughed Harry; "but come on, boys,let's get this stuff up to the hut. Anything to eat, Frank? I'm hungryenough to swallow one of old Zenas' lobster pots."
"Sandwiches and sauerkraut! So am I," chimed in Pudge.
"Great Scott!" cried Billy Barnes, "as if we didn't know that. If youtold us you _weren't_ hungry it would be something new."
"Well, I don't see where I've got anything on you when it comes to mealtimes," retorted the fat youth.
"Only about six inches more around the waist line," grinned Billy,dodging a blow from the fleshy youth's fat but muscular arm.
Shouldering the supplies, which consisted of such staples as bacon,flour, sugar, rice and so forth, the lads made their way up the beach,having first carried the dory's anchor far up above highwater mark. Theytook their way along the electrically-charged fence till they came to aspot where there was a gate and a switch to break the connection. Frankturned off the switch, grounded the current, and opened the gate,through which they passed, and entered on a narrow path winding up amongthe rocks. When they had all gone through, Frank closed the gate,snapped on the switch again and the fence became as mischievous asbefore.
In single file, headed by Harry, for Frank had now taken a rear place,they toiled up the steep path until, at the summit of the rocky littlecliff, it plunged into the woods. Traversing these for a short distance,and always climbing upward, for the island converged to a point in themiddle, they at length emerged on a clearing, evidently of nature'sworkmanship, for there was no trace of recently felled trees or otherhuman work.
The floor of this clearing was of rock, and off at one side a clearspring bubbled cheerfully over into a barrel set so as to catch theoverflow. In the center of the open space stood a small butsubstantially-built portable house--one of the sectional kind. Thisformed the living quarters of the young island dwellers. Above it rose,like gaunt, leafless trees, two iron poles set thirty feet apart andstayed by stout guy wires. Between those two poles were suspended, byblock and tackle, the aerials, or antennae, by which messages were caughtand sent. Within the hut was the rest of the wireless apparatus, which,with the exception of some improvements of Frank's devising, was of theportable kind--the same in fact that they had used in Florida. Outsidethe hut was a small shelter covering a four horse-power gasolene engine,which generated the power for the station.
As most boys are familiar nowadays with the rudiments of wirelesstelegraphy we are not going into technical details concerning the plant.Suffice it to say that the boys were able to converse with Portland,under favorable conditions, and judged that, in suitable weather, theyhad a radius of some two hundred and fifty miles.
But it was off to one side of the clearing, the side nearest to thecove, that the most interesting structure on the island was situated.This was more of a covering than a shed, for it consisted merely of aroof supported with uprights; but in bad weather canvas curtains couldbe drawn so as to make its interior stormproof.
This shed was now open, and under the roof could be seen what wasperhaps at the moment the most unique machine of its kind in the world.Looking into that shed you would have said at first that it housed aboat. For the first object that struck your eye was a double-ended,flat-bottomed craft of shimmering aluminum metal, about thirty feet inlength and built on the general lines of one of our life-saving craft.That is to say, with "whalebacks" at each end containing air chambers,and plenty of beam and room within the cockpit. A peculiar feature,however, was the addition of four wheels.
But the boat theory would have had to be abandoned the next moment, forabove the hull of the whaleboat-shaped craft was what appeared to be theunderstructure of an aeroplane. But the planes--the broadwings--themselves were lacking. The twin propellers connected to a motorwithin the boat were, however, in place. Apparently they were driven bychains, similar to, but stouter than, the ordinary bicycle variety.
All about was a litter of tools and implements of all kinds. Severallarge frames leaning against one side of the shed appeared to be theskeleton forms of the wings which were soon to be added to thesuperstructure.
"Tamales and terrapins!" cried Pudge admiringly, as he gazed at theunco
mpleted craft, "but she begins to look like something, eh, Frank?"
"Yes," nodded the young aviator, "but until your father arrives wecannot adjust the wings. There is a lot of theoretical work connectedwith them that he will have to do. By the way, I wonder if Portland'sgot any answer to our message yet?"
Followed by the others, Frank entered the living hut, which proved to bea snug, neat compartment about fifteen feet in length, by ten in width.It had four windows, two on a side, and a door at one end. At the otherend was the wireless apparatus, with its glittering bright metal parts,and businesslike-looking condensers and tuning coils. Along the wallswere four bunks, two on a side, one above the other. In the center werea table and camp chairs, and from the ceiling hung a large oil lamp.
A shelf held a good collection of books on aero and wireless subjects,and at one side of the door was a blue-flame kerosene stove. On theother side of the door was a cupboard containing crockery, knives, forksand cooking utensils. Altogether, if the boys had not been there for amore serious purpose, the place might have been said to form an almostideal camp for four healthy, active lads.
"Start up the motor, Harry," said Frank, as soon as they had depositedtheir burdens, "and we'll try and get some track of Dr. Perkins. Hisanswer to our message ought to be in Portland by now."
The younger Chester lad hastened outside, and soon the popping of themotor announced that it was running. Frank sat down at the key and,depressing it, sent a blue-white flame crackling across the spark gap.Out into space, from the aerials stretched above, the message wentvolleying. It was the call of the Portland station that Frank wassending. He flashed it out three times, as is customary, and then signedit F-C., the latter being Brigg Island's agreed-upon signature. Then,while the others gathered round, Frank adjusted the "phones," thedelicate receivers that clamp over the ear and through which, by way ofthe detector, any message vibrating in the air may be caught as itencounters the antenna.
Frank listened some time but--save for the conversation of two wirelessoperators far out at sea--he could hear nothing. With a gesture ofimpatience Frank began adjusting his tuning coil. All at once he brokeinto a smile of satisfaction. At last Portland was answering:
"F--C! F--C! F--C!"
"All right," rejoined Frank, sending a volley of sparks crashing andflashing across the gap as soon as he could break in, "is there anyanswer to my message?"
"Yes. Perkins will be at Motthaven to-morrow night. He wants you to meethim," came back the answer, winging its way over the intervening milesof space.
"Is that all?"
"That's all."
Frank removed the "phones," grounded his key and told Harry he couldstop the motor.
"I'll be glad when the doctor does get here," he confided to the others,after he had communicated the message, "for I'm beginning to think thatwe are in for some sort of trouble. Those two Daniels are prettyinfluential in the village, and it only needs a word from them to turnthe whole crowd against us."
"We could stand 'em off," bragged Pudge grandiloquently, "lassoes andlobsters, we could stand 'em off. I half wish they would come--buttonsand buttercakes, but I do!" and Pudge doubled up his fists and lookedfierce.
"You forget, Pudge," said Frank, "that we are here in positions ofresponsibility. All this property is your father's. It is our duty tosee that no harm comes to it. A bunch of those fishermen inflamed byanger might be able to do more harm here in an hour than could berepaired in months, not to mention the cost."
"Surely you don't think they'd come down to actual violence, Frank?"inquired Harry.
"I don't know. The two Daniels looked mighty savage to-day, I can tellyou. If it hadn't been for the electric fence they might have madetrouble. At all events I'll be glad to have some advice."