“Oh, we’ve been talking about that, but we don’t really expect to,” said Joe. “We might be able to get the wireless telegraph signals from the other side, though, don’t you think?” 155
“That’s likely enough,” answered Brandon. “The best time to get them is late at night, when the broadcasting and amateur stations are not sending. I’ve often sat and listened with Brandon Harvey to the big station at Nauen, Germany, or to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.”
“Jimminy!” exclaimed Herb. “We’ll have to bone down at our language courses at high school, fellows. I suppose that they send in whatever language the people speak where the sending station is located, don’t they?”
“As a rule they do, but not always,” replied Frank Brandon. “It depends to a great extent where the message is being sent to. If it is being sent to this country, it is often in English, while if it were being sent to France, it would be in French, naturally.”
“Yes, I suppose it would have to be that way,” said Bob, thoughtfully, “although I never thought about that side of it before. It won’t make much difference what language they’re sending in, though, so long as we know that we can get their signals. It will be a lot of fun, though, trying to make out what they’re saying.”
“It will be a good alibi, anyway,” said Jimmy. “If we can’t understand the dots and dashes, we can just say that they’re sending in German or French or Italian. Nobody could expect us to know all those languages.” 156
“If they did expect it, they’d be badly disappointed,” said Herb. “I’ve been wrestling with French for three terms now, but I don’t seem to know much more about it than when I started.”
“I can believe that, all right,” said Jimmy. “Only day before yesterday you flunked your recitation in French, and the professor told you that you were forgetting your French faster than you were learning it. He was right, wasn’t he?”
“I’ll say he was,” said Herb, shamelessly. “At the rate I’m learning it, it would be strange if I weren’t forgetting it faster. I’ll have to do a lot of cramming to pass the mid-term exams.”
“You fellows had better quit your talking and listen to the music,” suggested Joe. “Here’s a swell quartette that has just been announced. Can the chatter and do a little listening.”