CHAPTER VII
RADIO WONDERS
That day and the next were busy ones for the radio boys. The party wasto go in two big automobiles that Mr. Layton had hired, and the boyshad secured permission to take a small radio set with them. On themorning set for their departure they were ready to the last detail,and it was not long before they and their belongings were snuglypacked into the two automobiles and they were all on their way to themountain resort.
Although it was still only mid-autumn, the air had a keen edge to it,the sky was gray and overcast, and there was the indefinable feel ofsnow in the air. The big cars rolled crisply through long drifts ofdead leaves, going at a lively pace, as it was quite a journey to theresort, with many steep grades to be encountered on the way. The boyswere warmly wrapped, and the keen air only gave zest and added totheir high spirits.
"These cars ought to be equipped with a radio set," remarked Bob, ashort time after they had started. "I saw a picture the other day of acar that was rigged up that way, with an antenna from the radiator toa mast in the rear."
"It's not a bad idea, at that," said Joe. "If a person were going on along tour, he could keep in touch with the weather forecasts, and knowjust what to expect the next day."
"Yes, and when he camped for lunch, he could have music while thecoffee pot was boiling," said Herb. "Pretty soft, I'll say."
"He'd be out of luck if the static were bad, though," observed Jimmy.
"Oh, it won't be long before they'll get around that static nuisance,"said Bob. "Have you heard of the latest method of overcoming it?"
The others had not, and Bob proceeded to explain.
"At Rocky Point, Long Island, they put up twelve radio towers, eachfour hundred and ten feet high, in a row three miles long. Then theyhitched up a couple of two hundred kilowatt alternators so that theyrun in synchronism. That means four hundred kilowatts on the aerial,and I guess that can plough through the worst static that everhappened."
"Four hundred kilowatts!" exclaimed Joe. "That's an awful lot ofjuice, Bob."
"You bet it is," agreed Bob, nodding his head. "But it does the work.When they tested out this system signals were received in Nauen,Germany, of almost maximum strength, in spite of bad weatherconditions. You know they have a numbered scale, running from nothingto ten, which is maximum. Well, the Rocky Point signals were classedas number nine, which means they were almost maximum strength."
"It must have been a terrible job to synchronize those twoalternators," commented Joe.
"No doubt of it," agreed Bob. "This article stated that they had toexperiment for months before they succeeded. Those machines turn overat somewhere around twenty-two thousand revolutions per minute, youknow."
"About three hundred and sixty-six times a second," said Joe, after ashort mental calculation. "Nothing slow about that, is there?"
"It's fast enough to do the trick, anyway," agreed Bob. "Wouldn't itbe great to be in charge of a station like that?"
The others agreed that it would, and for some time they discussed thislatest marvel of radio. Then their minds were drawn away by thewonderful scenery through which they were passing. The leaves stillleft on the trees were tinted in rich reds and browns, and as the bigcars climbed to higher levels the party had some wonderful views ofhigh hills and spreading valleys.
But the sky became continually more leaden and overcast, and thedrivers put on more speed in an effort to reach their destinationbefore the impending storm should start. But they had gone only ashort distance further when a few white flakes came swirling silentlydown from the leaden sky. Scattered at first, they rapidly increasedin numbers until the air was filled with swirling sheets of white. Thesnow packed over the windshields and powdered the occupants of the twocars, and the drivers were forced to stop and put up the sidecurtains. The snow hissed through the branches of the trees andwhispered to the dead leaves, making the only sound in a world thatwas rapidly changing from autumn brown to winter white.
With the side curtains adjusted as snugly as possible, the partyresumed its journey. The fine, dry snow searched out every chink andopening between the curtains, penetrating in some mysterious mannerwhere rain would have been kept out. In a surprisingly short time ithad thrown a thick mantle over the road, and the cars began to feelthe drag of ploughing through it. Another stop had to be made to puton tire chains, and by this time it was plainly to be seen that thedrivers were becoming worried.
They had still about a third of the distance to cover, which includedsome of the worst grades in that part of the country. The road hadchanged from smooth macadam to a rough trail that required carefuldriving even under the most favorable conditions, and now the snow,drifting into holes and depressions, hid them from sight, the firstintimation of their presence being a jolt and slam as the wheelsdropped into some pit that the driver could easily have avoidedotherwise. The passengers were shaken about unmercifully, and had tohold fast to anything handy to keep from being thrown against theroof.
"Good night!" exclaimed Herb, as one particularly heavy jolt threw himfrom the seat and left him floundering on the floor. "We won't haveany springs left on the cars by the time we reach the hotel, providedwe ever do. I know people who have driven over this road, and theynever mentioned its being so bad."
"So have I," said Bob, peering out through the side curtains. "Myprivate opinion is, that we've gotten off the main road altogether.There was a fork a way back, and I thought then that the driversturned in the wrong direction."
"That hardly seems possible, Bob," said Mr. Layton. "They are bothexperienced drivers, and are supposed to know this road like a book."
"Well, likely enough I'm wrong," said his son. "If they did take thewrong fork, though, I suppose they'll soon find it out and turn back."
But Bob was gifted with a keen sense of direction, and it was not longbefore the little party found that he had been correct in his surmise.The leading car halted, the other followed suit, and the drivers,beating their numbed hands together, held a conference in the road.
After a struggle with the fastenings of the side-curtain, Mr. Laytondescended and joined them. The boys followed suit, leaving Mrs. Laytonin sole possession of the two cars.
"We don't rightly know how it happened, sir," said one of the drivers,addressing Mr. Layton; "but somehow we've got off the right road inthis confounded snow, and I guess there's nothing for it but to turnand try to get back on it at the place where we branched off."
"Well, let's do it then, as quickly as possible," said Mr. Layton,decisively. "The snow is getting deeper every minute, and we can'tafford to lose any more time. I thought you men knew the road too wellto make a mistake like that."
One of the drivers muttered something about "snow" and "can't seenothin' ten feet ahead," and they climbed into their seats, while theothers scattered to their places inside.
The driver of the leading car stepped on the electric starter button,but instead of the engine starting there was a shock, a sharp snap ofbreaking steel, and the starter motor whirred idly around with no moreeffect on the engine than one of the thickly fallen snowflakes.
The driver uttered a fierce exclamation. "There goes that starterspring again!" he exclaimed. "Now I'll have to crank the blamed engineevery time I want to start for the rest of this trip."
He fished around under the front seat, produced a starting crank, andtried to turn the engine over by hand. In his haste, however, he hadforgotten to retard the spark, and as he lunged down on the crank withall his strength, the motor backfired, the crank spun around severaltimes, and the driver staggered back, his right arm hanging limp anduseless.