CHAPTER IV
THE BOYS DRAW A BLANK
Hardly had the door to Mr. Henderson's office closed behind them beforeFrank commenced to dance and caper wildly about.
"Hurrah!" he shouted. "This _is_ great! We're real detectives andworking for Uncle Sam!"
"Yes, but don't make such a row," cautioned Tom. "We don't want everyone in the place to know it and they'll think you're crazy. Come on,let's hurry and tell Henry."
When they reached Gramercy Square and dashed into Henry's room and toldhim of their talk with Mr. Henderson, he was as excited and pleased asFrank.
"Say, it _was_ funny we didn't think of that fellow using a telephone!"he exclaimed, when the boys had told him of Mr. Henderson's theory. "Andhe's right about that capacity effect of a fellow near a phone. I _was_a fool not to have thought of it. Why, Jim told me about that long ago.He even said his brother Ed showed him with his set on the _SanJacinto_. But I guess it must have been because we were so intent on themessages that we couldn't think of anything else. I'll bet we can hearfolks on the phone through my set right now."
"That _is_ funny!" declared Tom, when, a moment later, the boys werelistening to a telephone conversation coming to them through Henry'sset. "Say," he continued, "there isn't much privacy nowadays, is there?Why, if you could amplify that enough, every one could hear everythingthat was going on over the telephones."
"Yes, and to think we were so close to getting that other chap's talkand never realized it," said Frank. "Mr. Henderson must think we aregreat radio fans! I'll bet he had a mighty good laugh at our expenseafter we left."
"Well, we'll not be fooled again," declared Tom. "If that fellow beginstalking to-night we'll nail him, too."
"But we can't locate him," objected Henry. "So what good will it do?"
"That's so," admitted Tom. "But the main thing is to hear what he says.Then perhaps we can make sense out of it."
"Say," suddenly exclaimed Henry, "did you fellows notice that every timewe heard those messages the fellow mentioned a flower? First 'twas'Azalia' and then 'Magnolia' and then 'Hibiscus' and last time 'twas'Frangi Pani.' I'd like to know what that meant."
"I hadn't thought of that," said Tom. "Of course Azalia and Magnolia andHibiscus are flowers, but what's Frangi Pani--sounds like some sort ofJapanese thing to me. I guess this fellow must be talking about boats.Lots of ships are named after flowers, you know."
"Well, he must have a whole fleet then," said Henry.
"Perhaps it's perfumes or he may be in the flower business," suggestedFrank with a laugh.
"Perhaps we'll get the answer to that when we hear his mate," said Tom.
"Hope we hear him to-night," remarked Henry. "Say, what do you think ofthis scheme?"
For some time the boys forgot all else in examining a new hook-up whichHenry had devised and at last left him with final cautions to be at hisinstruments that evening and each night thereafter until they againheard the unknown speakers.
But it was several nights before the mysterious messages again greetedtheir ears. Then Frank and Tom caught them at the same instant and bothboys gave a little start and looked at each other in surprise, for thefirst word they heard was "Tuberose." Once more the name of a flower hadentered into the conversation and mentally wondering what in the worldthis meant the two boys slipped the receiver of the desk telephone fromits hook. Hardly had they done so when they almost jumped, as clear andloud, they heard a human voice; but the next instant their spirits sankto zero and they glanced at each other with disgusted expressions, forinstead of the voice of the man they had expected to hear they heard awoman's voice and her words were: "Number, please?"
With a savage jerk, Tom hung up the receiver.
"Gee!" he exclaimed. "Of course we'd get _her_. I'll bet Mr. Hendersonknew that and just tried to jolly us. Now what _are_ we going to do? Ifwe--Hello! What's that?"
Clearly to his ears, and interrupting the words of the mysterious manwhom they had almost forgotten in their disappointment, came anothervoice, evidently that of a woman, and pitched in high tones. "Oh, yes!"it exclaimed. "I'm _so_ glad, my dear. Do you know--" Tom drew his handfrom the desk phone on which it had been resting and the words trailedoff into a faint indistinct buzz. Tom and Frank grinned.
"Well, it works!" ejaculated Frank. "Of course it doesn't make anydifference if the receiver is off or not--we aren't getting waves overwires. Henry kept the receiver on to-day, didn't he?"
"I don't know," replied Tom. "But say, we've got to get busy. Thatchap's been talking for the last five minutes and we haven't put down athing he's said."
Trying to make up for lost time, the two boys jotted down the words thatcame in, now and then placing a hand on the desk phone to see if theycould hear the other party to the conversation, but each time the nasalvoice of the woman, gossiping with a friend, was all that came to them.Then the man's voice ceased and after a few moments' wait the boys rosefrom their seats.
"Darn that old hen!" exclaimed Tom, petulantly. "How the dickens could afellow expect to hear anything with her tongue going like a houseafire?"
"Just think what it'll be when every one's talking by radio," chuckledFrank. "And won't the women have the time of their lives hearing alltheir neighbors' gossip?"
"Government'll have to license 'em to talk, I guess," muttered Tom."Come on, let's go over to Henry's and see if he had any better luck."
But Henry had nothing to tell them. He had heard no conversation overthe phone except some man talking business with a friend, but he hadwritten down all the words the mysterious man had spoken and showed themto the boys who had explained how they had forgotten to get the greaterpart of the conversation.
"Tuberose," Tom read. "We'll begin next week. Getting stocked up. I'llbet it'll wake things up. Too bad we didn't know then. Might have been adifferent tale, eh? Oh, Oscar's all right. Yes, same old place. Nothingdoing, old man. Never a suspicion. Oh, it's a cinch. I don't know. Somekids, I expect. Got to see him to-night. So long, old man."
"Just the same old stuff," commented Tom when he had finished. "Only nofigures this time."
"And another flower," added Henry.
"Jim would swear he was crazy if he noticed that," chuckled Frank. "I'mbeginning to think that may be it myself."
For three consecutive nights the boys heard the conversation and despiteall efforts failed to hear anything of interest over the ordinary phoneswhile the radio words were coming in, although they heard various scrapsof conversations between other persons.
"Mr. Henderson was off that time," declared Tom, when the boys rose fromtheir sets on the third night. "His theory was wrong. The other chap'snot talking on a telephone, I'll bet."
"Doesn't look that way at any rate," agreed Frank. "Let's go downto-morrow and tell him."
Accordingly, the three boys visited Mr. Henderson the next day andreported the results of their experiments.
"That _does_ puzzle me," exclaimed Mr. Henderson as they finished. "Ifyou heard others it's pretty conclusive evidence he's not on a wire. Didyou hear those buzzing sounds or words again?"
"I did," said Henry, "and I heard 'em just as plain and no plainer whenI was a long way from the phone as when I was touching it."
"Well, we've drawn a blank there," smiled Mr. Henderson. Then, after amoment's thought, he exclaimed, "Boys, I'm going to take a chance. I'mpretty well convinced something's going on that's crooked and I'm goingto send some men out and search every building in that block from cellarto garret. You understand, of course, this is a profound secret. No onewill know who they are or what they're after. It must be a surprisevisit so don't even talk it over among yourselves. But I want you tohelp us a bit. I'm going to start the men out at eight o'clock sharp,to-night. You must be at your sets and listening. If the fellow'stalking, you'll know when my men find him, either by what he says or theway he shuts off, and if he goes on talking without interruption forhalf an hour you'll know you've made some mistake and he's not in thatblock. Meet me here to
-morrow at about this time and we'll havesomething to report--or nothing."
"Oh, and there's something else," announced Tom as the boys turned toleave. "Henry called attention to those names of flowers yesterday. We'dalmost forgotten about them. Every time that fellow talks he gets a newname of a flower. Have you noticed it?"
Mr. Henderson chuckled. "You're getting a pretty good training at this,boys," he replied. "Yes, I've noticed that--that's one thing thatinfluences me more than anything else. There's some code to those names,I think, and they may prove the key to the whole thing. We'll find outsometime probably."
Remembering Mr. Henderson's injunction about discussing the proposedraid the boys refrained from mentioning it to one another, but couldscarcely restrain their impatience until the time came for them to be attheir instruments.
Eight o'clock came and, excited and expectant, the boys listened, hopingto hear the message coming in and to learn from its words or its abruptending of the success of the raid. But the minutes ticked by, the handsof the clock pointed to half-past eight, and nine o'clock came and wentwithout a word from the source they so longed to hear.
Anxious to learn the result of the search, the boys hurried to Mr.Henderson's office the following day.
"Another blank, boys," he announced when they entered his office. "Therewasn't a sign of a wireless outfit in that block. Did you hear anythinglast night?"
The boys admitted that they had heard nothing.
"But--but there _must_ be a set there," insisted Tom, utterly unable tobelieve that they had been mistaken. "Why, we were all around there withour loops and we got cross bearings and knew he was there."
"It's a bit mysterious, I grant," replied Mr. Henderson. "I fullyexpected we'd locate it, but my men will swear there isn't even a pieceof radio apparatus in the block. They went through it with a fine-toothcomb. Either you boys were mistaken or else the fellow's moved away. Ifyou hear him again you'll know whether he's changed his location. I'mafraid you'll never locate him by your instruments, though. I've usedthose loops as direction finders at sea and to some extent ashore and Iadmit I can't see how you went wrong, but we've got to face the factthat he's not there--at least not now."
Thoroughly disappointed and discouraged, the boys left the office andfor hours discussed the matter with one another, but at the end of thetime were no nearer a solution than ever.
"Oh, bother the old thing, anyhow!" exclaimed Tom at last. "We've hadour fun and now let's do something else. Dad's leaving Nassau to-morrowand we can try sending to him when he gets nearer. Wonder what he'll sayabout this thing."
"Yes, but it gets my goat to think that Mr. Henderson will think we'resuch dubs," said Frank. "He thinks we've made some big mistake and puthim to all that trouble for nothing."
"Well, let's forget it," suggested Henry, and this seeming the bestadvice the boys followed it and were soon so busy experimenting alongnew lines that the mysterious conversations almost slipped from theirminds, and as no further messages were heard from the same source theydecided that by some coincidence the sender had moved bag and baggagefrom his former location just in time to escape detection by the men Mr.Henderson had sent on the search.
Tom and Frank were overjoyed when, a day before Mr. Pauling's shipdocked, they succeeded in getting a message to him.
"That's pretty near 300 miles," declared Tom jubilantly, "and our set'sonly supposed to send 100. Say, that's a real freak message."
But when, a few moments later, they heard some one calling their lettersand this was followed by a question as to their location and theinformation that the inquirer was the government operator at FortRandolph, Canal Zone, Panama, the two boys could only stare at eachother in utter amazement.
"Jehoshaphat!" exclaimed Frank at last. "We were heard clear down inPanama! Why that's pretty near 2000 miles!"
"Almost as good as that fellow over in Jersey who was heard in Scotlandand Honduras!" cried Tom. "Hurrah, Frank! Let's try again."
But despite every effort the boys failed to get a reply from any onemore than fifty or sixty miles distant and realized that, by somepeculiar atmospheric condition, their dots and dashes had been carriedthrough the ether for twenty times and more their normal sending range.
"That's something to tell Dad," declared Tom, and rushing down thestairs he excitedly told his mother of the wonderful feat.
"I suppose it is remarkable, if you say so," said Mrs. Pauling, "butreally, I can't see why you should not talk to Balboa or Europe or anyother point if you can talk to your father's ship out at sea. One isjust as wonderful as the other to me. But I'm proud of you just thesame, Tom."
When, the next day, Mr. Pauling arrived, Tom could scarcely wait torelate the story of his freak message and his father was enthusiasticenough to satisfy any boy.
"Marvelous!" he declared. "And the operator on the _San Jacinto_ tellsme you've improved a lot since he first talked to you. Says you can sendwell and had no trouble in getting his message at regular speed. I'mmighty glad you've done so well, Son. Just as soon as I have a chanceI'm coming up to see that wonder set of yours. How many have you builtsince I've been gone?"
Then Tom told his father of the mysterious messages and what had come oftheir attempts to locate the sender.
Mr. Pauling laughed heartily. "Well, if you got old Henderson interestedhe must have believed there was something in it. I don't know but whatthere was. I'll talk it over with him. But I can imagine yourdisappointment, and his too--when nothing came of it. No, Son, I can'toffer any explanation and we're as much in the dark as ever about thesmugglers. By the way, I met a chap down at Nassau that was just aboutas keen on experiments as you boys only he's not a radio fan. No, he's adiver. He's invented a new type of diving suit--self-contained he callsit. Just a sort of rubber cloth shirt and a khaki-colored helmet andlead-soled shoes. He goes down without ropes or life lines or air hose.Gets his air from a little box or receptacle strapped to his body. Idon't know what is in it, but it's some chemical which produces oxygenand he can walk about where he pleases on the bottom. It's the weirdestthing I've ever seen to watch him wade out into the water and disappearand then, half an hour or two hours later, have him bob up somewhereelse."
"Gosh, I'd love to see that," declared Tom. "Suppose he wants to come upfrom deep water without walking ashore, how does he manage?"
"He just produces more oxygen so he floats up," replied Mr. Pauling."And you'll have a chance to talk with him next week. He's returning toNew York and I've asked him to call and see us. Nice young chap, name'sRawlins. The only trouble with his outfit is that he can't communicatewith others ashore or on the boats. Of course he can take down a line oreven a telephone, but then he at once destroys one of the greatadvantages of his invention. A trailing line or wire is as liable to becaught or tangled in a wreck or in coral as an air pipe or any otherrope or line and it means some one must be stationed in a boat over him.He claims one big advantage of his suit will be the fact that as no boator air pump is needed, no one can tell where he is. That would be a finething in time of war, of course. Think you'll take a great fancy to him,Tom."
For a moment, Tom was silent and then he suddenly let out a yell like anIndian.
"I have it!" he fairly screamed. "Radio! Submarine radio! I'll bet it'llwork."
Then, filled with enthusiasm, he started to explain his ideas to hisfather.
"All right! All right!" cried Mr. Pauling, laughing and holding up hishands in protestation. "I'll take your word for the technical end of it.Wait and tell Rawlins about it. But honestly I don't know but what theremay be something in it. You and Rawlins can work it out."
So filled with his new idea was Tom, that he fairly rushed to tell Frankwhen the latter arrived, and for the next ten days the two wereceaselessly at work, drawing plans and diagrams, making and discardinginstruments, purchasing countless rolls of wire and knock-downapparatus, as they strove to put into concrete form the vision in Tom'sbrain.
But they found innumerable difficulti
es to be overcome and were almostdiscouraged when one evening Rawlins called.
He was such an enthusiastic and interesting man that the boys took ahuge liking for him and as soon as Tom told him of his idea he at oncefell in with the boys' plans.
"I do believe it can be done!" he declared, when Tom had shown him theplans and had described his ideas fully. "I don't know much about radio,but if you are right about the matter there's no reason I can see whyyou shouldn't get it to work. I tell you what, Tom, we'll fit up aworkshop and laboratory down at my father's dock--it's down near the footof 28th St. and we don't use it except for storage. The old gentleman'sgone out of the wrecking business and has sold all his outfit except thethings stored there. It's a fine place to work and experiment. There aretools and a machine lathe and about ten tons of odds and ends that maycome in handy. My father had his office and workshop there--did all hisrepairing of pumps, diving suits and tugs there, and never threwanything away. I learned to dive there--my father and grandfather weredeep-sea divers, too--and there's a trapdoor where the divers went downto test their suits and pumps. I made my suits and even my under-seamotion picture outfit there and it's private and no one will disturb us.The only way we can test out this idea of yours is by actual trial underwater. If we do get it, it will be a mighty big thing--greatestimprovement in sub-sea work ever. I'll get the place ready and cleanedup a bit to-morrow. I'm just as crazy as you are to try it out."
Mr. Henderson also was deeply interested in the boys' new experimentsand declared he believed their ideas might be worked out successfully.
"You'll run across a lot of unexpected and unforeseen difficulties," hewarned them. "One never knows what new laws and phenomena one may run upagainst in a thing of this sort. During the war our government and theAllies, and no doubt Germany also, carried on a good many experimentswith under-water radio, but as far as I know they never came to much.Radio had not progressed so far then and there were more importantthings to be done and not enough men to attend to it. We _did_ usevacuum tubes and amplifiers for detecting submarines, however. By theway, I have a few things that may be of help to you boys and I'll beglad to let you have them. Among them is a remarkable tuning device ofGerman make and I don't think it has ever been tried out. You'll needsomething that is simple and accurate and easy to control and this maydo the trick."
By the end of a week a snug little laboratory had been set up onRawlins' dock and the boys and their diver friend spent every availablemoment of their time there.
Tom and Frank were as interested in seeing Rawlins go down in his oddsuit as he was in their radio work, and the first time he put it on todemonstrate it to the boys they became tremendously excited. Rawlinscarefully explained all about it, pointing out its various parts andshowing them how the oxygen generator worked.
"You have to be careful about this," he said, "if a drop of water getsinto it, it blazes or flames up and may kill a fellow. That's the onlydanger about it. If a man forgets and takes the mouthpiece from his lipsto speak without shutting it off and water gets in, he'll have a red hotflame inside his helmet. It's easy to get accustomed to it though--comesas natural as breathing, after a bit of practice."
But even now that it had been explained to them it seemed a mostremarkable feat for Rawlins to don the shirtlike suit and helmet and,with only these over his ordinary garments and with no rubber trouserscovering his legs, descend the ladder and disappear in the water withoutlines, pipes or ropes trailing after him. Both Tom and Frank were crazyto go down, but Rawlins refused to permit it until he had made the suits"fool proof" as he put it. Even then, the boys' parents objected untilthey had visited the workshop and Rawlins had proved to theirsatisfaction that the boys were perfectly safe in shallow water when heaccompanied them.
"We'll have to go down to test out the radio," argued Tom, "so we mightas well learn right away."
At last the fathers gave in and Tom went down first with Rawlins. For aweek afterwards he could think or talk of nothing else and never tiredrelating his sensations and experiences to his parents and his boyfriends, and Frank did the same. But after the first few times thenovelty wore off and the boys soon became quite accustomed to going tothe bottom of the river. Rawlins, however, never allowed them to staydown more than a few minutes at a time and after the first few descentsthe boys found little fun in it. They had expected to find a smooth,hard bottom and to see fishes swimming about and to be able to look upand see passing boats overhead. To their surprise, they found they couldnot walk upright, but leaned far forward and had a peculiar dreamysensation when they attempted to walk, their feet seeming to half-drag,half-float behind them and that, despite the fact that the bottom of theriver was soft and muddy, they did not sink into the bottom to anyextent. As Tom put it, it was like trying to hurry in a dream when one'sfeet seem tied to something and one can't possibly run. Moreover, theyfound the water dark and so filled with sediment that they could see buta few feet and even near-by objects, such as the spiles and abutments ofthe dock, the ladder down which they descended and the figure of theircompanion were scarcely visible a yard distant and took on strange,hazy, indistinct and distorted forms. Indeed, Rawlins always held theirhands when they went down, explaining that should they stray a few yardsaway they might be lost or might be swept off in some current.
But they were glad of the experience and realized that in order to carryon their experiments with any hopes of success they must learn to usethe suits, for Rawlins had not yet mastered the details of radio.
In the meantime, however, they worked at the radio devices and at lastTom announced that he had a set which he believed might work.
"It's only an experimental set," he explained to Rawlins. "And it won'tstand up long under water, but if the idea's all right and we get anyresults we can go to work and make a good outfit on the same principle."
Rawlins was almost as excited as the boys when the day came to test thenew device and at Tom's suggestion was to go down alone with thereceiver in his helmet while the boys remained on the dock and attemptedto communicate with him.
"We'll try receiving under water first," said Tom. "If it works we'llget it into good shape and then get busy on the under-water sendingset."
So, with the compact but complicated little set inside his helmet, whichwas specially made to accommodate it, and with the receivers clampedover his ears, Rawlins backed down the ladder while the boys, feelinglike explorers about to set foot on some new and unknown land, watchedhis head disappear beneath the surface of the river.
It was little wonder that they were wildly excited for now, in a fewmoments, they would know beyond question whether their ideas had beenright and whether all their work and trouble had been thrown away orthey had made an advance in radio which might revolutionize under-seawork.
At first the boys had not fully realized what the success of theirefforts would mean and had gone into it enthusiastically merely assomething new and strange.
But as soon as Rawlins had explained the possibilities which asuccessful under-sea radio telephone would open up, they understood howmuch might hinge on the triumph or failure of their plans.
"Why," Rawlins had exclaimed, "think what it will do if it works! A mancan go down and walk about any place he chooses and yet can talk backand forth with men on a ship or on shore. In wrecking, he could go allthrough a ship with no danger of getting his life-line or air-hosetangled and he could direct the fellows on the tug or lighter, tellingthem just where to lower chains or tackle or anything else. And thinkwhat it would mean in time of war! Why, a man could walk out from shoreanywhere, go under a ship and fasten a mine to her and blow her up andhear all that was going on aboard the enemy's ship. And just think whata dangerous sort of spy a man would be--out of sight under the sea andyet able to hear all the talk and messages of the enemy! I tell you,boys, up to now diving's been like blind man's work--mostly feeling andsignaling by jerks on a line. Of course the ordinary phone was a bigadvance, but with that you still had to trail a wire
along and there wasa visible connection between the diver and the surface. With my suitsand your radio the country that owned the secrets would be mighty nearmasters of the sea, I'll say."