Doctor Dale heard of this act of kindness on the part of the boys and he was warm in his praise.
“Radio,” he told the boys one day when he met them on the street, “is a wonderful thing for those of us that can see, but for the blind it is a miracle. You boys have done an admirable thing in your kindness to Adam McNulty, and I hope that, not only individuals, but the government itself will see the possibilities of so great a charity and follow your example.”
The boys glowed with pride at the doctor’s praise, and then and there made the resolve that whenever they came across a blind person that person should immediately possess a radio set if it lay within their power to give it to him.
On this particular day when so many things happened the boys were walking down Main Street, talking as usual of their sets and the marvelous progress of radio.
Although it was still early spring, the air was as warm almost as it would be two months later. There was a smell of damp earth and pushing grass in the air, and the boys, sniffing hungrily, longed suddenly for the freedom of the open country.
“Buck and his bunch have it all their own way,” said Herb discontentedly. “I wouldn’t mind being up in a lumber camp myself just now.”
“Too early for the country yet,” said Jimmy philosophically. “Probably be below zero to-morrow.”
“What you thinking about, Bob?” asked Joe, noticing that his chum had been quiet for some time.
“I was thinking,” said Bob, coming out of his reverie, “of the difference there has been in generators since the early days of Marconi’s spark coil. First we had the spark transmitters and then we graduated to transformers——”
“And they still gave us the spark,” added Joe, taking up the theme. “Then came the rotary spark gap and later the Goldsmith generator——”