Now was the crucial moment, and the boys waited breathlessly for some sound to come out of the air to them.
CHAPTER XVI
SWEETS OF VICTORY
Bob set one of the sliders about at the middle of the tuning coil, and set the other—the one connected to the leading-in wire—about opposite. Then he adjusted the sharp pointed wire on the detector until the point was just touching the crystal. Still there was no sound in the ear phones, and the boys looked at one another in bitter disappointment. Bob moved the antenna slider slowly along the tuning coil, and suddenly, faint, but very clear, the boys heard the opening chords of an overture played by a famous orchestra nearly a hundred miles away! Sweet and resonant the distant music rose and fell, growing in tone and volume as Bob manipulated the contacts along the coil. The boys sat spellbound listening to this miracle, to this soul stirring music that seemed as though it must surely be coming from some other world. Hardly breathing, they listened until the last blended chords whispered away into space, and then looked at each other like people just awakened from a dream.
Bob was the first to speak.
"I think we can call our set a success, fellows," he said, with a quiet smile.
"Bob, that was simply wonderful!" cried Joe, jumping up and pacing about the room in his excitement. "Why, we can sit here and hear that orchestra just as well as though we were in the same hall with it. It seems like a fairy tale."
"So it is," said Bob. "Only this is a fairy tale that came true.
I wish Jimmy had been here to listen in with us."
"He's here now, anyway," said a familiar voice, and Jimmy burst into the room, puffing and blowing. "Does it work, fellows? Tell me about it."
"I should say it did work!" replied Joe. "We just heard a wonderful selection played by a big orchestra. It must be the Newark broadcasting station, as they had promised a concert for this afternoon."