While the Radio Boys, as they soon began to be called, were popular with and friendly to almost all the other Clintonia boys, there was one group in the town with whom they were almost constantly at odds. Buck Looker and two of his cronies, Carl Lutz and Terry Mooney, were the special enemies of the Radio Boys and never lost an opportunity, if it were possible to bring it about, of doing them mischief in a mean and underhand way.
Buck’s father was one of the richest men in the town, and this enabled Buck to lord it over Lutz, slightly younger than he, and Mooney, younger yet, both of them sneaks and trouble-makers, who cringed to Buck because of his father’s wealth.
The boys might not have made such rapid progress with their radio had it not been for the help and inspiration given them by Dr. Dale, the pastor of the Old First Church, who was himself keenly interested and very proficient in the science. He understood boys, liked them and was always ready to help them out when they were perplexed in any phase of their sending or receiving. They in turn liked him thoroughly, a liking that was increased by their knowledge that he had been a star athlete in his college days.
Another thing that stimulated their interest in radio was the offer of prizes by Mr. Ferberton, the member of Congress for their district, for the best radio sets turned out by the boys themselves. Herb was a bit lazy and kept out of the contest, but Bob, Joe and Jimmy entered into the competition with zest.
An unexpected happening just about this time led the boys into a whole train of adventures. A visitor in town, a Miss Nellie Berwick, lost control of the automobile she was driving and the machine dashed through the windows of a store. A fire ensued and the girl might have lost her life had it not been for the courage of the Radio Boys who rescued her from her shattered car.
How the boys learned of the orphan girl’s story; how by the use of the radio they got on the track of the fellow who had defrauded her, how Buck Looker and his gang attempted to ruin their chances in the radio competition, can be read in the first volume of this series, entitled: “The Radio Boys’ First Wireless; Or, Winning the Ferberton Prize.”
Summer had come by that time and the Radio Boys went with their parents to a little bungalow colony on the seashore. They carried their radio sets with them, though they had no inkling of what an important and thrilling part those sets were to play. What advances they made in the practical knowledge of the science; how in a terrible storm they were able to send out radio messages that brought help to the steamer on which their own people were voyaging; all these adventures are told in the second book of the series, entitled: “The Radio Boys at Ocean Point; Or, the Message that Saved the Ship.”
Several weeks still remained of the vacation season, and the boys had an opportunity of saving the occupants of a rowboat that had been heartlessly run down by thieves in a stolen motor-boat. Two of the rescued people were Larry Bartlett and a friend who were vaudeville actors, between whom and the boys a warm friendship sprang up. How they exonerated Larry from a false charge of theft brought by Buck Looker; how when an accident crippled Larry they obtained for him a chance to use his talents in a broadcasting station; how this led eventually to themselves being placed on the program can be seen in the third volume of the series, entitled: “The Radio Boys at the Sending Station; Or, Making Good in the Wireless Room.”
The boys reluctantly bade farewell to the beach and returned to Clintonia for the fall term of high school. But their studies had not continued for many weeks before an epidemic in the town made it necessary to close the school for a time. This proved a blessing in disguise, for it gave the Radio Boys an opportunity to make a visit to Mountain Pass, a popular resort in the hills. Here they made the acquaintance of a Wall Street man to whom they were able to render a great service by thwarting a gang of plotters who were working for his undoing. By the use of radio they were able to summon help and save a life when all the passes were blocked with snow. They trapped Buck Looker and his gang in a clever way just when it seemed that the latter’s plots were going through, and had a host of other adventures, all narrated in the fourth volume of the series, entitled: “The Radio Boys at Mountain Pass; Or, the Midnight Call for Assistance.”
Shortly after the boys had returned to Clintonia, they were startled to learn that the criminal Dan Cassey, with two other desperate characters, had escaped from jail. A series of mysterious messages over the radio put them on the trail of the convicts. How well the boys played their part in this thrilling and dangerous work is told in the fifth volume of the series, entitled: “The Radio Boys Trailing a Voice: Or, Solving a Wireless Mystery.”