“I suppose old Mother Necessity had something to do with it,” said Jack; “but the fact that those life jackets lay right close to us helped a lot. I reasoned it out that they would float on the water, and therefore, if they could be emptied and made air-tight, they would rise when filled with gas equally well.”
“And you’re going to hitch the aerials on to that one and send them up?”
“I’m not sure that one of them will be enough to raise such a weight of copper wire. I guess we’ll make another one.”
“And I’ll help you,” cried Tom enthusiastically.
Half an hour later when Mr. Jesson and his brother-in-law returned from exploring the island, which they had found to be a desolate spot some five miles off shore, they found two busy lads.
The wires had been strung on “spreaders” cut from the brush. Then one of the ends was connected to each of the buoyant “balloons” that were to carry the antenna aloft.
In the lee of the Flying Road Racer the boys had arranged the wireless equipment, and were now occupied in securing the lower end of the antenna and adjusting the connecting wires from aerials to the instruments.
At last all was ready, and the two canvas “balloons” were cut loose. Slowly but steadily they rose, carrying with them the strands of copper wire,—five of them, each one hundred feet in length. The wind had died down quite a lot, and there was not much strain on the wires as they were pulled skyward like the string of a kite.
As the wires tightened and became extended to their full length the boys broke into a cheer. Held by the captive “balloons,” the five parallel wires made as effective an aerial as if they had been rigged to a lofty pole.
“Boys,” exclaimed Professor Chadwick proudly, “that’s what I call a real wireless triumph!”