He and Tony had been enterprisingly industrious during Guy’s absence. Tony had made a diligent study of wireless telegraphy and was already showing promise of early proficiency, as he was naturally quick. Walter had received several letters from Guy, and these were all long and full of interesting detail. The boy on the other side of the Atlantic told all about his doings in London, the acquaintances he made, and the sights he saw. He devoted pages to a description of how he and Artie Fletcher “saw London in a fog,” and this letter was followed by other lengthy ones, telling of his association with Smithers and the hotel clerk. He described these two characters so minutely that Walter and Tony received clear mental pictures of them.
“Save these letters,” Guy requested in his second long writing to his brother. “I’m telling you everything because I don’t want to forget anything. I’m going to claim these letters as my own property when I get back, if you don’t object. You won’t care nearly so much for them as I do.”
The last letter informed Walter and his father that Guy and his mother would return on the Herculanea. It contained information also as to the day they would start and the expected time of reaching New York.
About a week before Guy and Mrs. Burton started on their return, the last of the winter snows at Ferncliffe melted and spring weather arrived. Although the coast was still dangerous, Walter and Tony got the motor yacht in condition for a trip as soon as the weather became sufficiently settled for safety. The craft was inspected and overhauled from stem to stern, and with Mr. Burton’s consent, the gasoline tanks were filled. Walter also transferred one of the wireless apparatus to the deck house, extending several wires between the fore and aft service masts for an aerial.
“We’ll have everything ready for a little cruise when Guy gets back,” he said to Tony as they worked and discussed their plans.
After all the preparations were completed, Walter suggested to Det Teller that they make a run out of the harbor, as the sea was calm and there seemed to be a promise of pleasant weather; but the sailor-farmer objected.
“This boat doesn’t stir out of this place until your father gets back,” he said very decidedly. “When he says ‘go’, we go, but not until.”
That settled it, and Walter realized that he had made a foolish suggestion. Mr. Burton had been called to New York on business the day before and would remain there to meet his wife and Guy on their arrival from Europe. Walter and Tony were therefore left alone in the house, as Jetta was staying with Mrs. Teller during her mother’s absence. Sometimes the boys ate at Mrs. Teller’s table and sometimes at Tony’s home.
Naturally they ran things pretty much their own way when they found themselves sole occupants of the house. Fortunately they were even tempered youth, and “their own way” proved to be fairly sane, so that they did not break the windows or burn the house down. But they had a good time after boy’s fashion, reading, playing games, talking wireless, and going to bed when they were too tired and sleepy to stay up longer.
In this latter respect they violated long established tradition. They had learned that night is the best time for sending and receiving radio messages, as the atmospheric conditions are then most favorable for the transmission of electric waves, and they applied this information to practice. The first night they were alone they stayed up until 10:30 o’clock, the second night until after 11, and the third—well, they were up until after midnight and then something happened that drove sleep from their minds till the next succeeding sunset.