But Frank had not heard the story and so, from radio, the conversation drifted to Mr. Pauling’s experiences as an officer of the Department of Justice during the war and from that to his present problem of tracing to its source the mysterious influx of liquor which was flooding New York and other ports despite every effort of the government to stop it.
It was on this work that he was leaving for the West Indies, and long after he and Mrs. Pauling had left the room, Tom and Frank remained, talking earnestly, and with boyish imagination discussing the possibilities of aiding the government through picking up some stray information from the air by means of their instruments.
“We ought to have better sets,” declared Tom. “These are all right for getting the broadcasted entertainments and spark signals, but we can’t get the long waves from the big stations. And we don’t always get farther than Arlington or Pittsburgh with this. Last night, we heard Balboa, but
the night before that we couldn’t get Havana. If we’re going to hear Dad from Nassau or Cuba we want a set we can depend upon.”
“I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” replied Frank. “Let’s put everything that we both have together and have a fine set here in your room. I’ll bring my stuff down and we can work together—have duplicate sets and everything—and I’ll just keep that little old set of mine so I can use it when I happen to be home.”
“That’s a good idea,” agreed Tom, “Dad’s so interested in our work I can spend a lot more money on instruments and he won’t mind and school will soon be over and we can devote all our time to it. Gosh, I bet we have the best sets of any boys in the whole of New York! Say, won’t it be great when we can hear messages from England and Germany and France?”
“Yes, and we want to get busy on a sending set too. It’s twice as much fun when we can talk to others as well as hear them. And say! my folks are going to Europe next month. If your mother and father don’t mind I could stay here with you.”
“That’s bully! Of course mother won’t mind
and Dad will be glad to have you,” declared Tom. “We’re not going any place this summer and so we can give all our vacation to radio. Say, we may make some big discovery or invention. I was reading the other day about how many things there are to be done in radio yet and the fellow that wrote it said he believed some of the big things would be discovered by boys or beginners accidentally.”
Mrs. Pauling was very glad to have Frank plan to stay with Tom while his parents were absent and for several days the two boys were busy packing up Frank’s radio outfits and carrying them to Tom’s house.