"That's enough; that's plenty!" Bunny was thinking hard and fast. "We all know a little something about electricity. Roundy, you go to the telephone and look it over. I'll meet you there." Roundy was off on a run. The old gentleman, staring in blank surprise, suddenly comprehended and shouted that the telephone was in the hall, just inside the front door.
"Now for the insulators," Bunny said briskly. "You notice how the wires run from the house along those trees, with the insulators on the limbs. If somebody shinnies up each tree, we'll soon discover whether the trouble's between here and the regular poles."
There was no time to discuss matters with the aged cottager, who seemed still dazed and wondering. Like so many squirrels, the boys scattered and began squirming their way up the proper trunks.
Eight trees carried the glass insulators. Fortunately, however, the one nearest the house could be examined with the aid of a friendly stepladder. Bunny was up and down in the twinkling of an eye. With the other volunteer repairmen fairly started, he now made his way to Roundy, already deep in his labors of examining the telephone.
"I can't see anything wrong here," Roundy grunted, squinting at the wire coiled in the box. He tested the poles of the battery with a wet finger. "Plenty of juice in that. Everything tightly connected, and transmitter and receiver in good shape."
Bunny flung open the nearest window.
"Find anything wrong, Bi?"
"Nothing here. How about you, Specs?"
"Right as a trivet on this tree."
Down the line the Scouts reported, each to the effect that his wire and insulator were in prime condition. From the last tree, Prissler shouted a confident, "O. K. here."