“Well,” said Herb, with a grin, “it will be a relief not to get any more broken shins putting up aerials.”
Mr. Brandon laughed.
“I’m with you,” he said. “I’ve been there myself.”
“Have you read about that radio-controlled tank?” Joe asked. “The one that was exhibited in Dayton, I mean?”
“I not only read about it, I saw it,” Mr. Brandon answered, and the boys stared at him in surprise. “I happened to be there on business,” he said; “and you can better believe I was on hand when they rolled that tank through the traffic.”
“What did it look like?” asked Jimmy eagerly.
“The car was about eight feet long and three feet high,” responded Brandon. “It was furnished with a motor and storage batteries, and I guess its speed was about five or six miles an hour.”
“And was it really controlled by radio?” put in Herb, wishing that he had been on the spot.
“Absolutely,” returned Brandon. “An automobile followed along behind it and controlled it entirely by wireless signals. The apparatus that does all the work is called the selector, and it’s only about the size of a saucer. It decodes the dots and dashes and obeys the command in an inconceivably short time—about a quarter of a second.”
“It can be controlled by an airplane, too, can’t it?” asked Bob, and the radio inspector nodded.