They all listened for some time for something else to come in over the aerial, but apparently the concert was over, for they could hear nothing but a confused murmur, with here and there some fragment of a sentence coming out clear above the general confusion. This was probably due to the sending being so distant as to be almost beyond their range. Just before supper time they heard a message from a ship at sea, and Joe, Herb, and Jimmy could hardly tear themselves away to go home to supper. They finally got started, however, promising to return as soon as they could after supper, so as to be in time for the evening concert.
After they had gone, Bob called up Doctor Dale, and told him of the successful outcome of their experiment. The minister was delighted.
"That's great work!" he exclaimed heartily. "So the set works well, does it?"
"Yes, sir, it certainly does," said Bob. "Of course it's not as good as yours, and we can't tune out interference very well. But it does all that I hoped it would, and more. I wish you could get around to hear it when you get a chance."
"I tell you what I'll do," said the doctor. "I have an expert radio man visiting me here this evening. How would it be if I dropped around some time during the evening, and brought him with me?"
"Fine!" exclaimed Bob, delighted at the prospect of talking with an experienced radio man. "We'll all be looking for you, sir."
Bob was delighted over the doctor's promise, and told his friends about it as soon as they arrived that evening. They were all equally pleased.
"He can tell us just what we need to know," commented Joe. "You can dig a lot of stuff out of books, but lots of times just the question you want answered doesn't seem to be in them."
The boys had just raised the Newark station, end were listening to the first number on the program, a soprano solo, when the minister and his friend arrived. He introduced the stranger as Mr. Brandon, and the latter immediately made himself at home.
"I hear you fellows got your set working first crack out of the box," he said, as they were going upstairs. "You're luckier than I was with my first one, because I had a lot of trouble before I got my first signal through. I fooled around a long time before I found out what the trouble was, too."