As for Bill, the hours each day and all of Saturday spent in the shop sufficed for exercise; the rest was spent in study, brief eating and no more sleep than he needed. And nearly every moment that could be spared found both boys in their shop.
They had under way the construction of five radio receivers of the finer type, for each of which they would get sixty dollars, the materials costing about fifteen dollars. These receivers were equal to more than a thousand miles, with strong, durable batteries and very wide amplification. As with their first radio and the one for their good old friend, Mr. Hooper, they made nearly all the parts themselves, even to the switch arms, contacts, buzzer and binding posts, cutting all threads with a fine set of standard taps and dies.
They also had two crystal sets to make, for which they charged twenty dollars each, and made a profit of seventeen dollars over the cost of the materials.
The most interesting was the making of four portable sets, with vacuum tube detectors and loop aërials not over six inches in diameter, each packed in small, neatly made wooden cases about the size of an ordinary paper shoe box, the lids when opened forming the upright panels and the loop aërials hinged to open out and upright. Being rather unique in design, and satisfying fads for unusual construction, the boys felt they should get at least fifty dollars for each of these sets, the materials costing about twelve dollars.
Earning enough in this way to help them along very nicely with their schooling, and being more deeply interested in their work than in anything else, it was not surprising that Bill and Gus found little time for play.
When they had finished one of the larger and two cheaper sets, that upon installation at fraternity and boarding houses were found to work most satisfactorily, the cash was quickly paid over. Bill divided it equally and handed half to Gus.
“No, you don’t, old fellow!” Gus demurred. “You get this and you can pay me a sort of wages if you want to, or you needn’t. You did all of the planning, the—” He got no further for Bill started in with this indignant tirade:
“You’re a fatheaded, heterogeneous, quadrangular parallelepipedon! What are you trying to get through your topknot, anyway? Don’t we always work together? Isn’t it a partnership?”
“But—er—Bill——”
“‘Butter bill’? Sure. This will pay our bread bill, too, and our entire board bill for some time. And what we’ll get out of these other sets will see us through all of next year nicely, without worrying. Then something will turn up for the third year. Now, then, will you write to Cotton & Staples for that additional wire, or shall I?”