Frank Brandon shook his head and smiled.
“I’m afraid I don’t know much more to tell,” he said. “As I have said, what will happen when we materially decrease the wave length, is still in the land of conjecture. But I tell you,” he added, with sudden enthusiasm, “I’m mighty glad to be living in this good old age. What we have already seen accomplished is nothing to what we are going to see. Why,” he added, “some scientists, Steinmetz, for instance, are even beginning to claim that ether isn’t the real medium for the propagation of radio waves.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Bob, with interest. “Is it some sort of joke?”
“Joke, nothing!” replied Frank Brandon. “As a matter of fact, I fully believe that electro-magnetic waves can as easily be hurled through a void as through ether.”
The boys were silent for a moment, thinking this over. It sounded revolutionary, but they had great respect for Frank Brandon’s judgment.
“There’s the Rogers underground aerial,” Bob suggested tentatively, and Brandon took him up quickly.
“Exactly!” he said. “That leans in the direction of what I say. Why, I believe the day is coming—and it isn’t so very far in the future, either—when no aerial will be used.
“Why, I believe,” he added, becoming more and more enthusiastic as he continued, “that ten years from now we shall simply attach our receiving outfits to the ground and shall be able to receive even more satisfactorily than we do to-day.” He laughed and added lightly:
“But who am I to assume the rôle of prophet? Perhaps, like a good many prophets, I see too much in the future that never will come true.”
“I don’t believe it,” said Bob. “I shouldn’t wonder if all your prophesy will come true in a few years.”