Too bad we didn’t know then. Might have been a different tale, eh? Oh, Oscar’s all right. Yes, same old place. Nothing doing, old man. Never a suspicion. Oh, it’s a cinch. I don’t know. Some kids, I expect. Got to see him to-night. So long, old man.”
“Just the same old stuff,” commented Tom when he had finished. “Only no figures this time.”
“And another flower,” added Henry.
“Jim would swear he was crazy if he noticed that,” chuckled Frank. “I’m beginning to think that may be it myself.”
For three consecutive nights the boys heard the conversation and despite all efforts failed to hear anything of interest over the ordinary phones while the radio words were coming in, although they heard various scraps of conversations between other persons.
“Mr. Henderson was off that time,” declared Tom, when the boys rose from their sets on the third night. “His theory was wrong. The other chap’s not talking on a telephone, I’ll bet.”
“Doesn’t look that way at any rate,” agreed Frank. “Let’s go down to-morrow and tell him.”
Accordingly, the three boys visited Mr. Henderson the next day and reported the results of their experiments.
“That does puzzle me,” exclaimed Mr. Henderson as they finished. “If you heard others it’s pretty conclusive evidence he’s not on a wire. Did you hear those buzzing sounds or words again?”
“I did,” said Henry, “and I heard ’em just as plain and no plainer when I was a long way from the phone as when I was touching it.”