CHAPTER XXIV

A PLOT THAT WENT WRONG

"So far, so good," breathed Bob happily, as the boys were discussing the news that Mrs. Salper had pa.s.sed the crisis and was now probably on the road to recovery. "That's one thing we can set down to the credit of radio."

"And it's not the only thing of the same sort," put in Joe. "Do you remember what Mr. Brandon told us of that ship with thirty men and no doctor on board, where twenty-four of the men were down with a mysterious disease? The captain got a message by wireless to sh.o.r.e telling of his plight, and one of the best doctors in New York City went to the radio station there and got in touch with the captain. He talked to him by radio for hours, had him describe just the symptoms, and then told the captain just what to do. A couple of days later the captain wirelessed in that he had followed directions and that all of the men had recovered and were fit for duty."

"Yes," said Herb, "and about that other case, too, where a man had an infected hand and they were afraid he was going to have lockjaw. A doctor on land told the captain how to treat it and the man got along all right."

"Trust radio, and you won't go wrong," summed up Bob. "On land and sea it's right on the job."

"I only hope it will be as effective in saving Mr. Salper's money,"

observed Joe.

"I think very likely it will," replied Bob. "He's about as keen as they make them, and now that he knows what those rascals are plotting against him it's dollars to doughnuts that he'll get the best of them.

Their only chance was in taking him by surprise and putting over that deal while his back was turned. And now that he's got in touch with his brokers I guess the game is up."

"I wonder how long it will be before we know how it turned out,"

conjectured Herb.

"Oh, probably not more than two or three days," replied Bob. "Things move pretty fast in Wall Street when a fight is on for control."

"I hope he comes out on top," observed Joe. "He's a good deal of a crab, and I was mighty sore at him when he landed on us the way he did the day we were coming up here. Acted as though he thought we ought to be shot at sunrise. But since that time I've seen a good deal about him to like and I've come to the conclusion that he's a regular fellow after all."

"You can tell by the fondness that the girls have for him that he can't be so bad," said Bob. "That's a pretty good sign to go by. They know him better than any one else except his wife, and she seems to think, too, that the sun rises and sets in him."

"I want him to come out ahead not only for his own sake but because I want to see that fellow Mohun downed," put in Jimmy. "I'm sore at him right down to the ground. I don't like his eyes, I don't like his voice, I don't like his teeth, I don't like his character----"

"Outside of that, though, I suppose he's all right," suggested Joe, grinning. "He seems to be just about as popular with you as a rattlesnake."

"That's what he reminds me of, anyway," admitted Jimmy.

"Talking of rattlesnakes," put in Herb, "here come three of them now,"

and he indicated Buck Looker, who, with Lutz and Mooney, was coming along the road. For some time now the Looker crowd had kept out of the radio boys' way.

"I wonder what trick they're up to now," said Bob, as he saw that the bunch had their heads together in earnest conversation.

"No knowing," answered Joe; "but it's a safe bet that it's something cheap and low down. Buck would think the day was wasted if he didn't have something of the kind on hand."

The groups pa.s.sed each other without speaking, though Buck darted a look at Bob in pa.s.sing that had in it the usual malignance, mingled with a touch of triumph.

"Did you see that look?" queried Herb, with interest. "Seemed as if he had something up his sleeve."

"I know what it meant well enough," answered Bob, with a shade of soberness. "My dad was telling me that he'd been notified that a suit had been started against him and the fathers of you other fellows by Mr. Looker to recover the value of the cottage that he said we set on fire."

"That's all bunk!" cried Herb indignantly. "He couldn't prove it in a hundred years. A lawsuit, eh? Huh!"

"Dad doesn't think Looker has much of a case," replied Bob. "Still, he says that you can never tell what a man like Looker and the kind of lawyer he would hire may do. Of course we can't get away from the fact that we were in the house the day before it burned, and that looks bad. We know we didn't set it on fire, but n.o.body else knows we didn't. At any rate, even if Looker loses his case, our folks will have to hire lawyers and lose a lot of time in attending court, so that all in all it makes a pretty bad mess."

"So that's what Buck was looking so tickled about!" exclaimed Joe.

"I'd like to wipe that look off his face."

"It might be a little satisfaction," laughed Bob. "But it wouldn't help us win the lawsuit."

By this time their walk had taken them near the vicinity of the radio station; and as they approached it they caught sight of Mr. Salper pacing back and forth in a state of impatience.

"Seems to be stirred up about something," remarked Joe.

"Did you ever see him when he wasn't?" laughed Jimmy.

At this moment Mr. Salper caught sight of the boys and came hastily toward them.

"I want some messages sent and taken," he said, in his usual abrupt way, though there was none of the sharpness in his voice that had usually been in evidence when he spoke to them. "I wonder if you could do this for me," and his eyes rested inquiringly upon Bob.

"I'll do my best, Mr. Salper," replied the latter, and the whole group went into the wireless room.

"I suppose you have permission to use this plant?" came from Joe.

"Oh, yes. If it hadn't been for that I couldn't have used it as I did those other times," answered the broker.

Bob seated himself at the sending key and, following the financier's directions, got in touch with the Wall Street house that had figured in the previous communications.

For an hour or more there was an interchange of messages that were mostly nonunderstandable to Bob and his friends who listened with the keenest interest. There was talk of stocks and bonds and of consolidations and controls and proxies and a host of other things that bore on financial deals.

At the beginning, Mr. Salper sat with furrowed brows and an air of intense concentration. But as the answers came in to his various inquiries, his brow gradually cleared and he relaxed somewhat in his chair.

Finally there came an answer that stirred him mightily. He jumped to his feet and slapped his thigh.

"I've got him!" he cried jubilantly. "By Jove, I've got him!"

CHAPTER XXV

SOLVING THE MYSTERY

Just whom Mr. Salper had got the radio boys could not tell with certainty, but they had a shrewd suspicion that Mohun was the hapless individual.

The financier walked happily and springily about the office, chuckling to himself, and Jimmy declared afterward that if they had not been there he would have danced a jig.

At last, when he had given sufficient vent to his elation, Mr. Salper turned to Bob.

"I'm sure I can't tell you how I thank you," he declared, with a cordiality and heartiness that they had never yet seen in him. "This matter was one of the most important that has come to me in the whole course of my life. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were involved in it, and I'd surely have lost out if I hadn't had your services in this extremity. And now I'm going to prove my grat.i.tude. A check--"