“Something has happened!” gasped Bertha, starting for the door of the cottage. “Where is that child?”
“Never mind Henrietta. We will take care of her,” Jessie called after the worried girl, wishing to relieve her anxiety.
Bertha ran out of the house, and the next moment the Roselawn girls heard the car start. Bertha was being whisked away to Stratfordtown. The voice of Mark Stratford continued to repeat the call several times. Then he read the weather report, as expected.
“I can tell you one thing,” Jessie said eagerly to her chum and the Shannons. “Mark Stratford does not usually give out the announcements from that station. Now, does he, Monty?”
“No, ma’am, Miss Jessie. Only once in a while.”
“Then something has happened at the Blair house, or to Mr. Blair himself. That is why they send out this call, hoping that somebody down here would get it and tell Bertha.”
“Think! How funny it must feel to hear your name called out of the air in that way,” Amy remarked.
“Why, we had that experience ourselves,” Jessie said. “Don’t you remember? Mark thanked us publicly for finding his watch.”
“But that was not just like this,” replied Amy. “Anyway, there is something unsatisfactory about radio—and always will be—until we can ‘talk back’ as well as receive. See! If Monty had a sending set as well as a receiving, he could have answered Mark Stratford, and told him Bertha had heard the call and was starting home without any delay.”
“I am afraid something really serious has happened,” Jessie said. “Let’s go back home and call up Stratfordtown on the telephone.”