"You seem to be all on your feet, as far as I can judge," Mrs. Layton smiled back. "But you can make all the noise you want as long as you are happy," and with a wave of her hand she left them.

"A triple play!" exclaimed Bob hilariously. "The thing that happens only once in a blue moon. Say, fellows, maybe we didn't pick out a corking game to christen our radio with!"

"And almost as good as though we were right at the grounds," cried Joe.

"I've seen many a game, and I never got more real excitement over one than I've had this afternoon. I could almost hear my heart beat while I was wondering what Krug was going to do."

"And just think what it will be when the World's Series comes along in the fall!" chuckled Jimmy. "We'll take in every game without going out of Clintonia."

"That is, if it's played in the East," put in Herb. "It may not be so easy if it's played in the West."

"It doesn't matter where it's played," rejoined Jimmy. "By the time fall comes, we'll probably have improved our radio set so that we can listen in on Chicago just as easily as we have to-day on Newark. And, anyway, the results will be sent to the Newark station so that it can be broadcasted all over the East. We'll take them all in, never you fear, and we won't have to pay a fortune to speculators for the tickets either. But what is that I smell?" he broke off suddenly, sniffing the air that had become laden with savory odors.

"See his nose twitch," gibed Joe. "Trust him to forget baseball or anything else when doughnuts are around."

"Doughnuts!" exclaimed Jimmy, an expression of cherubic bliss coming on his face. "Can it be? Yes, there can be no mistake. It must be-it is-doughnuts!"

"Right the first time," laughed Bob. "I didn't want to say anything about it while the game was on, but Mother gave me a tip that she'd start making them so that we could have them fresh and hot by the time we were through. So come ahead downstairs, fellows, and if any of you get away without having your fill of about the niftiest doughnuts ever made, it will be your own fault."

There was no need of a second invitation, and the boys, with Jimmy in the van, hurried downstairs where several big dishes heaped high with crisp, delicious doughnuts awaited them. They fell to at once, and the table was swept clear as though by magic.

"That puts the finishing touch on a perfect day," sighed Jimmy, with perfect content.

"Right you are," agreed Joe. "And say, fellows, wasn't that a peach of a game?"

CHAPTER IX-THE LOOP

"Do you know, fellows," remarked Bob, as he was talking with his friends a few days later, "I've been thinking--"

"Bob's been thinking!" cried Herb. "Fire the cannon, ring the bells, hang out the flags. Bob's been thinking!"

"Are you sure it's that, or have you only been thinking that you've been thinking?" grinned Joe.

"When did it attack you first?" asked Jimmy, with great solicitude. "And where does it hurt you worst? Are you taking anything for it? You don't want to let it go too long, Bob. I knew a fellow who had that same trouble and didn't think it was worth while to send for a doctor, and before he knew it--"

Bob made a dive at him that Jimmy adroitly ducked, losing nothing but his hat in the process.

"Listen to me, you boneheads," Bob commanded, "and I'll try to get down on the same level with your feeble intelligence. I've been thinking that perhaps we can better our set still more in the matter of aerials."

"Alexander always looking for new worlds to conquer," murmured Joe. "We nearly got killed the last time we bettered our aerial. What's the matter with the umbrella type? I thought that was the _ne plus ultra_, the _sine qua non_, the-the--"

"The _e pluribus unum_," Herb helped him out, "the _hoc propter quod_, the _hic jacet_, the _requiescat in pace_, the--"

At this point his hat followed Jimmy's.

"The umbrella kind is good, all right," admitted Bob; "and, for that matter, I'm not dead sure that it isn't the best. It certainly gave us fine results in the baseball game on Sat.u.r.day. But there's nothing so good that there may not be something better, and I thought it might be well to rig up a loop some day and try it out. If it works as well or better than the umbrella, we may use it when we come to set up our radio at Ocean Point."

"Is it a big job?" asked Herb, who as a rule was not on speaking terms with anything that looked like work.

"No," answered Bob. "It's easy enough to make. We'll just get Jimmy here to make a frame for it down in his father's carpenter shop--."

"Jimmy!" repeated that individual, in an aggrieved tone. "We'll just get Jimmy to make the horn. Sure! We'll just get Jimmy to make a frame.

Sure! I suppose if one of us was marked out to die, you'd say, 'We'll just let Jimmy do it.' Just as easy as that."

"Stop right there, Jimmy," commanded Joe. "You'll have me crying in a minute, and it's an awful thing to see a strong man weep."

"After Jimmy has made the frame," continued Bob, not at all moved by the pathos of the situation, "all we'll have to do will be to wind it about eight times with copper wire. That will give us a lot of receiving area and capacity. The frame ought to be about four feet square. It'll have to be mounted on a pivot--"

"Let Jimmy make the pivot," murmured Jimmy.

"So that it can be swung end on in the direction of the broadcasting station," continued Bob, not deigning to notice the interruption. "It has to be pointed in that direction in order to get the message. If it were at right angles, for instance, we probably would hear only very little or perhaps nothing at all. You see, with that kind of aerial we don't have to put up anything on the roof at all. We could have it inside the room. It could be fastened to a hook in the ceiling, so that when we weren't using it we could hoist it up and get it out of the way.

That kind is used a lot on ships and at ship stations on sh.o.r.e. They call it sometimes a 'radio compa.s.s.' You can see it must be pretty good or they wouldn't use it so widely."

"It is good," broke in a ba.s.s voice behind them, and as they turned in surprise they were delighted to recognize in the owner of the voice Mr.

Frank Brandon, the radio inspector, by whose aid they had been able to track down Dan Ca.s.sey, the rascal who had tried to defraud Nellie Berwick, an orphan girl, of her money.

There was an exclamation of pleasure from all of the boys, with whom Mr.

Brandon was a great favorite.

"What good wind blew you down this way?" asked Bob, after the greetings and hand-shakings were over.

"A little matter of business brought me down to a neighboring town, and while I was so near I thought I would run over to Clintonia and call on my old friend, Doctor Dale," replied Brandon. "He told me that you boys won the Ferberton prizes," he continued, addressing Bob and Joe, "and I congratulate you. I wasn't surprised, for I knew you'd been doing hard and intelligent work on your sets. And I can see from the conversation I overheard that you're just as much interested in it as ever."

"More than ever," affirmed Bob, and the others agreed. "We're just crazy about it. We think it's just the greatest thing that ever happened."

"There are lots more who think the same thing," said Brandon, with a smile. "And I guess they're about right. By the way, there's an interesting thing about that radio compa.s.s you were speaking about that isn't generally known. I was over on the other side when the thing happened, and I got some inside dope on it."

"Tell us about it," urged Bob, and the others joined in.

"It was just before the battle of Jutland," replied Brandon, "which, as of course you know, was the biggest naval battle fought during the World War. The German fleet had been tied up in their own home waters for nearly two years, and hadn't ventured out to try conclusions with the British fleet that was patrolling the North Seas. In fact, it began to be thought that they never would come out. But at last the German naval leaders determined to risk a battle. They made their preparations with the greatest secrecy, because, their vessels not being as numerous as those of the British, their only chance of success lay in catching a part of the British fleet unawares before the rest of the fleet could come to their rescue.

"But the British naval authorities were on the alert. They had this radio compa.s.s you were talking about developed to a high point of efficiency and were able to listen in on the orders given by the German commanders to their vessels. The Germans hadn't any idea that they could be overheard and used their wireless signals freely. Now, you remember that the battle took place on May thirty-first."

They did not remember at all, but they nodded their heads and tried to look as wise as possible. Jimmy especially had such an owlish expression that the others could hardly keep from laughing.

"On the night of May thirtieth," resumed Brandon, "the German flagship wirelessed a lot of instructions that were heard at several places on the British coast. These were compared and it was possible to ascertain just where the flagship was stationed. The next morning the flagship sent another lot of orders, that were also heard by the British. It was then found that the flagship had moved seven miles down the river from the station where she had been the night before. That showed that the fleet was on the move. Instantly the British fleet was sent out to meet them. So when the Germans came out to surprise the British, they found that it was the other way around and it was they themselves that were surprised. Well, you know the result. The German ships had to retreat to their harbor, and they never came out again except to surrender after the war was over. That was one way that radio helped to win the war."

"Just as it helped our aviators," put in Joe.

"Precisely," a.s.sented Mr. Brandon. "The Germans are usually pretty well up in science, but we put it all over them in the matter of wireless while the war was on."

CHAPTER X-OFF FOR THE SEA Sh.o.r.e