CHAPTER XXI
A SUDDEN INSPIRATION
Unconsciously their feet had carried the radio boys in the directionof the radio station and now they were surprised to find themselvesconfronted by the building itself.
"We've come some way," Herb began with a chuckle, but Bob cut himshort excitedly.
"Look!" he cried. "Didn't I tell you that radio was the best ever?Just cast your eye on that aerial. You don't see that trailing on theground, do you?"
For a moment the other radio boys failed to grasp the significance ofhis words. Then they let out a great shout of triumph. For what Bobhad said was true. Where other means of communication with the outsideworld failed, radio stood firm.
The aerial was there, towering as serenely against the slaty sky asthough there was no such thing as a snowstorm. The great marvel ofradio! For no wires, other than the antenna, were needed to carry itsmessages to the farthermost parts of the world!
For a moment the boys were awed as the real significance of the modernmiracle was borne home to them. It was magnificent, it was inspiringmerely to have the privilege of living in such an age.
"Well, Mr. Salper doesn't need to worry," said Joe, at last. "There'salways radio on the job if he wants to get a quick message through toNew York."
"It's queer he didn't think of it," agreed Bob, adding, as the intensecold struck still more deeply into his bones: "Come on in, fellows.I'd like to see what the operator has to say to all this excitement."
"You bet," said Jimmy, adding fervently: "And it will give us a chanceto thaw out."
When the boys reached the room which had become so familiar to them,they found that here too, the old regime had been interrupted. Severalmen were gathered in the far corner of the room, talking earnestly,and the long table where the operator could be seen daily bendingearnestly over his beloved apparatus was vacant. The operator himselfwas nowhere to be seen.
Sensing something unusual, the boys came forward hesitantly. At sightof them one of the men detached himself from the group of hiscompanions and came quickly over to them. The boys did not know hisname, but his face was familiar to them.
"A most unfortunate thing has happened," burst out this man nervously,without even an attempt at a preface. "The operator here has beentaken very ill with a fever and we are at a loss to find any one whocan take his place in this emergency."
The modesty of the radio boys was such that at that moment no thoughtof the possibility of their being able to take the experiencedoperator's place entered their heads. They were earnestly sorry forthe misfortune which had overtaken their friend, and they told the manso. It seemed to them that the latter was rather disappointed aboutsomething, and he listened to their words of sympathy absently. Aftera moment he left them and rejoined his companions at the other end ofthe room.
"Say, that's tough luck," said Jimmy, his round face comically long."I knew that fellow would get into trouble if he didn't take moreexercise."
Bob fumbled with the familiar apparatus on the table, his facetroubled.
"If he's out of his head with fever, he must be pretty sick," hemuttered, as though talking to himself. "And that means that he won'tbe able to attend to radio for a good long time to come."
"And with telegraph and telephone wires all down, that's pretty muchof a calamity," added Joe, his eyes meeting Bob's with a look ofunderstanding.
"Say!" cried Herb, suddenly seeing what they were driving at, "thatknocks out Mr. Salper's last chance of getting even with thosecrooks."
"Yes," said Bob, soberly, "I guess the game's up, as far as he'sconcerned."
"Let's go over to the hotel and inquire for the sick man," Joesuggested, adding hopefully, "maybe he isn't as sick as they makeout."
The operator had a room at the hotel, and the boys had been there onceor twice to talk over points on radio with him and so they knewexactly where to go.
However, if they had treasured any hope that Bert Thompson's sicknesshad been exaggerated, they were promptly undeceived. No one wasallowed to speak to him, the nurse at the hotel told them, adding, inher briskly professional manner, that it would be no use to speak tohim anyway, since he was delirious and recognized nobody.
But before they went, softened by their real concern, she said, quitekindly, that as soon as the patient was able to receive visitors atall she would let them know.
They thanked her and went out into the freezing air again. The snowhad stopped and the wind had died down completely but in theatmosphere was a deadly chill, a biting cold that seemed to penetrateto their very marrow.
"Suppose we go to the Salpers," Bob suggested. "Mrs. Salper and thegirls may need help, for I imagine Mr. Salper isn't in a very pleasantmood."
"I wonder," said Joe, as with common consent they turned in thedirection of the Salper home, "if Mr. Salper has heard yet that eventhe radio is out of business."
"Give it up," said Herb, while Jimmy added, with a grin: "I'd hate tobe the one to break the news to him."
But, as it happened, that was just what they had to do. They saw Mr.Salper coming and tried to pretend that they did not, but he wouldhave none of it.
He made for them directly, with a scowl on his face as fierce as ifthey had been the cause of all his trouble.
"This is a fine business, isn't it?" he asked, waving his hand in thedirection of the snow-weighted wires. "No telegraph, notelephone--only the radio left. I'm on my way to the station to try toget the message through, though that operator is a stubborn youngdonkey and has before this refused to send messages for me."
Herb and Jimmy made frantic motions to Bob to keep quiet, for they sawthat he was about to tell the news. And Bob did.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Salper," he said quietly. "But the operator at thewireless station has become suddenly very ill and there's no one thereto operate the apparatus."
For a moment Mr. Salper simply glared while the news sank home. Thenhe gazed wildly about him as though to escape from his own worrisomethoughts. Then the fierce scowl returned to his face and he made anangry motion toward the boys.
"The operator sick!" he muttered. "And not a doctor up here!"
The boys started and looked at him queerly.
"Do you need a doctor?" asked Bob quickly, thinking immediately ofMrs. Salper and the girls. "Is some one sick?"
"Yes," snapped Mr. Salper. "My wife is sick, very sick. And if I can'tget any sort of word through, even by radio----" He paused and hismouth looked as though he were grinding his teeth.
He turned back toward his house, and the boys accompanied him withsome vague idea of at least offering their sympathy, even if theycould not do anything to help.
They found Edna and Ruth nearly frantic with fright.
"Mother is dreadfully ill," said Edna, between sobs. "Her hands andface are burning up and she talks queerly. I'm afraid it's pneumonia,and if she doesn't get a doctor pretty quick she'll d-die!" And with asob she fled into the room where the sick woman lay.
The boys felt awkward, and, since there was nothing they could do tohelp, deeply concerned over the trouble of these friends of theirs.
"There's some good in Mr. Salper, anyway," said Joe, as they trampedalong. "He was so worried over Mrs. Salper that he didn't mentionthose Wall Street scoundrels."
"I reckon it's worrying him just the same," said Jimmy.
"If only there was something we could do----" began Bob, then stoppedshort, a great idea leaping to his eyes. "Say, fellows, what's thematter with our sending that message?"