Next day, at the Marconi Works at Chelmsford, he discussed with several of his fellow-engineers the scandal of the Moscow Bolshevik propaganda, but each of them declared that nothing could be done to suppress it. Lenin and Trotsky ruled Red Russia, and certainly the tide of lies sent out broadcast into space could not be stemmed.
Sylvia’s words constantly recurred to him. She had urged him to do something to stifle the pernicious propaganda against law and order in Great Britain. But how?
Many days went by. He was busy in the experimental laboratory up at Marconi House, and had but little time to devote to anything except the highly scientific problem which he was assisting three great wireless experts to try to solve.
About three weeks had passed when one afternoon he happened to be in the great airy apartment at Chelmsford where various instruments were being subjected to severe tests before being passed as “O.K.”—note-magnifiers, direction-finders, calling-devices, amplifiers, and all the rest—when, with the telephones on his ears, he heard Moscow sending out “C.Q.”—or a request for all to listen. Then again came that never-ending praise of Soviet Russia, which, under the absolute rule of a little group of men, mostly Russian or German Jews obeying the orders of Lenin—the new Ivan the Terrible—and his war minister, Trotsky, was, it was said, converting Russia into a terrestrial paradise. On the contrary, it was well known that Russia was a terrestrial hell, where torture was deliberately being used on a great scale, and with a cruelty that had never been surpassed, even by the Spanish Inquisition. The recapture of Kharkoff by Deniken had revealed a most terrible state of affairs, atrocities of which even the terrible Turks would have been ashamed. And yet the Moscow wireless was inviting the people of Britain and America to rise and establish a similar régime!
As Geoffrey listened attentively, his ear trained to the variations of the sound of the signals of different stations, it suddenly occurred to him that the “note” was slightly different from that which he had heard and discarded on so many occasions.
He called across to one of the technical assistants, and he also agreed.
“It’s probably due to some atmospheric interference,” the latter remarked.
Again the young radio-engineer listened. But it seemed to him to be a different note, though the wave-length was about the same. It was higher pitched, and just a little more difficult to tone.
When any problem arose, of whatever nature, Geoffrey Falconer never rested until he had solved it. That was how he had invented his improved amplifier. He had all the patience, the disregard of disappointment, the dogged perseverance, and the refusal to accept failure which characterises the great inventor. In the days long past most inventors died in poverty. Now in the days of stringent patent laws, fortunes are sometimes made out of a new safety-pin, or a sweet-smelling hair wash.
Though he carried on the important experiments both at Marconi House and at Chelmsford, and also at another station which had been established in secret not far from London, he nevertheless each night when at home listened in for “M.S.K.,” and diligently took down all the wilful perversions of the truth sent out by Soviet Russia.