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The Floating Press - Hyatt Verrill A.

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91 pages

English

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Enthralled by the emerging technology of radio, young Tom Pauling begins building rudimentary radios of his own. But what begins as a harmless hobby leads Tom and his buddies into a shadowy world of intrigue, mystery and danger. Young readers will delight in this tightly plotted detective story.

Sujets

Adventure (Guyana)

Adventure

Informations

Publié par	The Floating Press
Date de parution	01 août 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781776527724
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0134€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE RADIO DETECTIVES
* * *
A. HYATT VERRILL

*
The Radio Detectives First published in 1922 ISBN 978-1-77652-772-4 © 2013 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
*
Chapter I - Tom Takes Up Radio Chapter II - Mysterious Messages Chapter III - The Radio Detectives Chapter IV - The Boys Draw a Blank Chapter V - The Under-Sea Wireless Chapter VI - The Red Menace Chapter VII - The Cry from the Depths Chapter VIII - Astounding Discoveries Chapter IX - The Battle Beneath the River Chapter X - Radio Wins Chapter XI - Henderson Has an Interview Chapter XII - The Confession Chapter XIII - Rawlins' Proposal
Chapter I - Tom Takes Up Radio
*
"Oh, Dad! I've made a new set," cried Tom, as he entered the diningroom.
"That so, Son?" replied Mr. Pauling interestedly. "Seems to me you boysdo nothing but junk your sets as fast as you make them and build others.Does this one work better than the last?"
"It's a peacherino!" declared Tom enthusiastically. "Just wait till yousee it and listen to the music coming in."
"I'll come up after dinner," his father assured him. "Let me know whenthe fun begins. I've some papers to go over in the library first."
Throughout the meal the talk was all of radio, in which Tom and his boyfriends had become madly interested and in which Tom's father and motherhad encouraged him.
"Go to it, Tom," his father had said when the boy had glowinglyexpatiated on the wonderful things he had heard on a friend's instrumentand had asked his father's permission to get a set. "I'm glad you'reinterested in it," he had continued. "It's going to be a big thing inthe future and the more you learn about it the better. But begin at thebeginning, Tom. Don't be satisfied merely with buying instruments andusing them. Learn the whole thing from the bottom up and use yourmechanical ability to build instruments and to make improvements. Wishthey'd had something as fascinating when I was a kid."
Tom had lost no time in availing himself of his father's permission, andof the roll of bills which had accompanied it, and there was no prouderor more excited boy in Greater New York than Tom Pauling when hetriumphantly brought home his little crystal receiving set and exhibitedit to his parents.
"I can't understand how a little box with a few nickel-plated screws andsome knobs can do all the things you say," was his mother's comment."But then," she added, "I never could understand anything mechanical orelectrical. Even a phonograph or an electric light is all a mystery tome."
Mr. Pauling looked the instrument over carefully and listenedattentively to Tom's graphic explanation of detectors, tuners,condensers, etc.
"H-m-m," he remarked, "I guess I'll have to take a back seat now, Son.You evidently have a pretty good grip on the fundamentals. Sorry I can'thelp you any, but it's all Greek to me, I admit."
"Oh, it's all mighty simple," Tom assured him. "Frank's coming over thisafternoon and we're going to put up the aërial and then you and mothercan hear the music and songs from Newark to-night."
But despite the fact that Mrs. Pauling declared it the most remarkablething she had ever seen or heard, and his father complimented him, Tomwas far from satisfied with his first set. He didn't like the idea ofbeing obliged to sit with head phones clamped to his ears in order tohear the music from the big broadcasting stations; he felt that it wasmighty unsatisfactory for only one person to hear the sounds at one timeand he soon found that despite every effort he was continuallyinterrupted by calls and messages from near-by amateur stations.
Being of a naturally inventive and mechanical mind and remembering hisfather's advice to try to improve matters, he spent all his spare timestudying the radio magazines, haunting the stores where radio suppliesand instruments were sold and arguing about and discussing variousdevices and sets with his boy friends. Hardly a day passed that he didnot arrive at his home carrying some mysterious package or bundle.Accompanied by his chum Frank, from the time school was over until latein the evening he kept himself secluded in his den while faint sounds ofhammering or of animated conversation might have been heard within.
"What's all the mystery, Son?" his father had asked on one occasion."Going to spring some big invention on an unsuspecting world?"
Tom laughed. "Not quite, Dad," he replied, "but I'm going to give youand mother a surprise pretty soon."
When at last all was ready and his parents were invited to Tom's holy ofholies they were indeed surprised. Upon a small table were variousinstruments and devices and a seeming tangle of wires, while, tuckedaway on a bookshelf, was the little crystal set which had so recentlybeen Tom's pride and joy.
And still greater was their surprise when, after busying himself overthe instruments, the faint sounds of music filled the room, comingmysteriously from the apparent odds and ends upon the table.
"It's all homemade," Tom had explained proudly. "But it works. Frank andI rigged it up just as an experiment. Now I'm going to reassemble it andput it in a case and have a regular set."
"Wait a minute, Tom," his father had interrupted. "You'll have toexplain a bit. If that lot of stuff can give so much better results thanthe set you bought, why didn't you make it in the first place, andwhat's the difference anyway?"
"Well, you see, Dad," Tom tried to explain, "I had to start at thebottom as you said and a crystal set's the bottom. This is a vacuum tubeset. Those things like little electric lights are the tubes and they'rethe heart of the whole thing, and I've a one-step amplifier and that hasto have another tube. I didn't have enough pocket money to buyeverything so Frank lent me some of his. You see it's this way—"
"Never mind about the technicalities," laughed his father. "As I saidbefore, go to it. Get what you need and keep busy. It's a fine thing foryou boys. Now turn her on again, or whatever you call it, and let's hearsome more music."
From that time, Tom's progress was rapid although, as his father hadjokingly remarked, the boy's chief occupation appeared to be buildingsets one day only to tear them down and reconstruct them the next.
Tom's room had assumed the appearance of an electrical supply shop.Tools, wire, sheet brass, bakelite, hard rubber knobs, odds and ends ofmetal, coils and countless other things had taken the places of books,skates, baseball bats and papers, and the fiction magazines had givenway to radio periodicals, blue prints and diagrams. Mrs. Pauling was indespair and complained to her husband that Tom was making a dreadfulmess of his room and expressed fears that he might get hurt fooling withelectricity.
"Don't you fret over that," her husband had advised. "Tom and hisfriends are having the time of their lives. As long as they are learningsomething of value, what does it matter if they do keep his room in amess? Besides, it's clean dirt you know—and it's orderly disorder if youknow what I mean. They're exploring a new world and haven't time to lookafter such trifles as having a place for everything and everything inits place. That will come later. Just now they are fired with the zealand enthusiasm of great inventors and scientists. We mustn't interferewith them—such feelings come to human beings but once in a lifetime. Iconsider this radio craze the best thing for boys that ever occurred. Itgives them an interest, it's educational, it keeps them off the streetand occupies their brains and hands at the same time. Do you know, if Ididn't have my time so fully occupied, I believe I'd get bitten by thebug myself. Besides, they may really discover something worth while. Iwas talking to Henderson of our staff to-day—he had charge of our radiowork during the war—and he tells me some of the best inventions in radiohave been made by amateurs—quite by accident too. I expect Tom knowsthat and that's what makes the kids so keen on the subject—it's awonderful thought to feel you may stumble on some little thing that willrevolutionize a great science at any moment."
"Yes, I suppose you're right, Fred," agreed Tom's mother resignedly."But I do wish it were possible to have boys amuse themselves withouttracking shavings all over the halls and burning holes in their clothesand having grimy fingers."
But Tom's mother need not have worried. Gradually order came out ofchaos. As the boys progressed, they found that the accumulation of oddsand ends and the disorder interfered with their work; many experimentalinstruments and devices had been discarded and were now tossed into ajunk box in the closet; a neat work table with the tools handilyarranged had been rigged up and Tom and Frank had developed awell-equipped and orderly little workshop with the completed instrumentson an improvised bench under the window.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Pauling had noticed the gradual improvement, as fromtime to time they had been summoned by Tom to witness demonstrations ofthe latest products of the boys' brains and hands, and both parentscongratulated the boys on their handiwork and the strides they had made.So, on the night when Tom had assured his father that his latest set wasa "peacherino," the two grownups entered a room which, as Mr. Paulingexpressed it, reminded him of a wireless on a ship.
And then, after Tom with the glowing eyes and flushed face of aninventor and the pride of a showman, had exhibited