“Hundred nothing!” said Jimmy indignantly. “Don’t think because it will take you that long that I’ll be just as slow. I’m going to show you some speed.”
“Go on!” chaffed Herb. “Who ever heard of anybody as fat as you showing speed? You don’t know what that word means.”
“Just the same, I haven’t seen you read any words yet,” retorted Jimmy. “About the only one you know is E, and that’s because it’s only one dot.”
“Well, I’ll know the whole blamed thing pretty soon,” said Herb. “You see if I don’t.”
“I’ve no doubt you’ll all be experts in a little while,” laughed Harvey. “‘Practice makes perfect’ in that as in most other things.”
The boys remained at the big station until late in the afternoon, and then, with many thanks to their friend for his assistance, they started back home.
“Mr. Harvey is one of the finest men I’ve ever met,” said Bob, as they walked briskly along. “He and his cousin are a good deal alike. They both know a lot, and they’re both willing to help other people understand the things they’re interested in.”
“Yes, we couldn’t have made a better friend,” said Joe. “I only hope we have the chance to do something for him some day. I feel as though I’d learned a lot about radio just since we came to Ocean Point.”
Jimmy and Herb warmly indorsed this statement, and had the radio man been able to hear them, he would probably have felt fully repaid for his efforts in their behalf.
He, for his part, felt indebted to the boys. Their eager enthusiasm had stirred him deeply, and their laughter and good fellowship had come like a fresh breeze into the routine of his daily life. He was still young enough himself to feel in perfect touch with them, and he welcomed their coming and regretted their departure.