"And you got away with some of the tools. Does he know it?"
"Oh, yes, sir, he knows it. I sat there and watched him tapping away. He told me it was New York on the other end of the wire, after he had called up. I didn't believe him, and he told me if I didn't believe, I could prove it for myself by simply touching two little posts that he pointed out."
"And you touched?"
"Yes, if you must know the details, I touched it, and incidentally I jumped about six feet in the air. It gave me a shock, you see."
"And then you realized that it really was New York on the other end of the wire?" queried Frank, who knew something about telegraphy because he had studied it in a series of articles in the Boys' Magazine.
"Sure, I realized at once that it was New York, for I've heard that New York is a shocking city. Now, then, will you be good?"
"Put him out! Put him out!" said David, looking up.
"Electrocute him, I should say," cried Jimmy. "He ought to be given two thousand volts in the neck for that."
"Well, if you will draw down these things on your heads, keep on interrupting my story. I asked the gent if it took much brains to learn it, and he had the nerve to tell me it didn't take much of any, and added that he thought I could just about accomplish it. If I had been a fighter like Redhead here, I'd have been insulted, but as it was I kept a dignified silence."
"Well, when did you make away with the instrument?"