"But valuable as the radio was in war," Brandon went on, "I believe it is going to be still more valuable in the matter of maintaining peace. I think, in fact, that it may do away with war altogether."
"I don"t quite get you," said Bob, with a puzzled air.
"In this way," explained Brandon. "It"s going to make all the people of the world neighbors. And when people are neighbors they"re usually more or less friends. They have to a large extent the same interests and they understand each other.
"Now, most wars have been due to exclusiveness and misunderstandings.
Each nation has dwelt in its own borders, behind its own mountains or its own rivers, and they"ve shut out of their minds and interests all people outside of themselves. They"ve grown to think that a stranger must necessarily be an enemy. Some little thing happens that makes them mad and they"re ready to fight.
"But the radio is going to break down all these barriers of exclusiveness and remove these misunderstandings. When people get to talking together each finds that the other one isn"t such a bad fellow after all. When a man in Paris picks up his telephone and has a chat with one man in England and then another man in Spain and still another in Italy he finds that they are all human beings and very much like himself. If he had the Englishman, the Spaniard, the Italian in his office together, he"d probably invite them out to dinner and they"d all have a good time. When the time comes that in every country in South America men can tune in on the radio and listen to the inaugural address of the President of the United States coming from his own lips, they"ll know that we have no unfriendly designs on their country and are only anxious to see them happy and prosperous. We"ll hear the same speeches, we"ll listen to the same concerts, and gradually we"ll come to feel that we"re all neighbors. That"s why I say that the radio may in the course of time make all wars impossible, or at least very improbable."
"It sounds reasonable," commented Bob. "I only hope that you"re right."
"I"m mighty glad that we happened to be in town when you dropped in to see the doctor," said Joe. "A few days later and we"d all have been down at Ocean Point for the summer."
"Ocean Point!" exclaimed Mr. Brandon. "Is that where you boys are going?"
"Yes," replied Joe. "Our folks have a little colony down there, and we go every summer. Why, do you know anything about the place?"
"I should say I did!" replied Mr. Brandon, "I usually spend a week or two at Ocean Point myself, and I have a cousin there who has charge of the Ocean Point radio station. His name is Brandon Harvey. His first name you see is the same as my last name."
"Why, that"s fine!" exclaimed Bob.
"Radio seems to run in your family," said Herb, with a smile.
"We"ll look him up and introduce ourselves," said Joe. "We"re all radio fans, and that"s a sort of freemasonry."
"You"ll find him a good fellow," said Brandon. "And I"m sure he"ll be glad to meet you. If I happen to get down there about the same time that you do, I"ll take you around and introduce you myself. You"ll find that what he doesn"t know about radio isn"t worth knowing. He can run rings all around me."
"He must be pretty good then," laughed Bob. "Though I don"t believe it.
But it will be dandy if you are able to spend part of the summer with us down there."
"What time are you going?" asked Mr. Brandon.
"Just as soon as school closes," answered Bob. "The closing exercises are to be held next Wednesday, and we expect to get off the next day."
"Not losing any time, are you?" smiled Brandon. "Well, I"ll see how I can fix it, and I shouldn"t be surprised if you"d find me waiting for you when you get there."
They had reached the school gate by this time, and with cordial farewells they separated.
The next few days pa.s.sed with great rapidity. The boys were busy in preparing for the closing examinations, and even their beloved radio had to be laid aside for a time. Bob and Joe had kept well up in their cla.s.ses and did not antic.i.p.ate much trouble in pa.s.sing, but Jimmy and Herb had been more remiss, and it took many anxious nights and much "boning" to prepare for the ordeal.
However, they all got through, Bob and Joe with flying colors and Jimmy and Herb with marks that were at least respectable. And it was a happy group of boys who on the Wednesday afternoon that the school term came to a close tossed their books up on the shelves, not to be disturbed again until the fall.
But there is apt to be a fly in the ointment, and the fly on this occasion was the news that Jimmy pa.s.sed on to his companions the night before they left for Ocean Point.
"Say, fellows, who do you think is going down to Ocean Point for the summer besides our bunch?" he asked, almost out of breath with the haste he had made to come over to the Laytons" house, where the friends were seated on the porch enjoying the evening breeze after a hot day.
"President of the United States, for all I know," answered Joe flippantly, as he fanned himself with his cap.
Jimmy glared at him.
"It can"t be the old Kaiser," said Herb. "Don"t tell me, Doughnuts, that it"s the Kaiser."
"Worse than that," answered Jimmy. "Buck Looker and his gang are going to be there."
There was a general straightening up of his astonished hearers.
"What?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Bob. "I"m knocked all in a heap!"
"Say that again," demanded Joe. "Or, rather, don"t say it again. Let me think it"s all a horrible dream."
"Sure as shooting," affirmed Jimmy. "I was in Dave Sloc.u.m"s store when Mr. Looker came in to get some fishing tackle. He got to talking to Dave, and told him that he was going to take his family down to Ocean Point for the summer, and that Buck was going to take a couple of his friends along with him. He didn"t say who the friends were, but of course we know it wouldn"t be any one but Carl Lutz and Terry Mooney. In fact, those are the only fellows he hangs out with. None of the decent fellows in town will have anything to do with him. So what do you think of that?"
"Punk!" declared Joe.
"It"s a shame that we can"t get rid of that gang even in vacation time,"
said Bob. "Half the fun of getting through with school was the thought that we wouldn"t have to look on Buck"s ugly face for a couple of months."
"It"s lucky the air down at the Point is salt, or Buck would poison it,"
remarked Herb disconsolately. "That fellow"s a regular hoodoo."
"Oh, well," Bob comforted himself, "we don"t have to mix up with him, anyway. He won"t be living in our little separate colony, and our folks and his never had anything to do with each other. It"ll probably be only once in a while when we have to come across him. And it"s more than likely that he"ll steer clear of us, for he knows he"s about as popular with us as a rattlesnake at a picnic party."
"If he tries any of his low-down tricks there won"t be any Mr. Preston to save him again from a licking," put in Joe. "But let"s forget him and think of something pleasant."
The women of the party had gone that same day to the Point in order to get everything ready for the coming of the boys and their sisters on the morrow. The fathers were still in town, where business or profession detained them. Their plan for the summer was to go down to the Point for the week-ends only.
Dr. Atwood, Joe"s father, had taken his wife and the other women down to the resort in his s.p.a.cious car early in the morning. It was only a pleasant spin of about forty miles, and after seeing them comfortably settled, he had returned in order to take the boys and girls down on the following day.
He found on his return, however, that a friend of Herb Fennington"s sisters, Agnes and Amy, had arranged to take the girls down early that evening. They had asked Rose Atwood to go down with them, so that left only the radio boys to take the trip down the next day in the doctor"s car.
And as the boys had to pack their suitcases and get their fishing tackle and other sporting material together they stayed chatting only for a little while on Bob"s porch that evening and separated early.
The next morning dawned gloriously and gave promise of a perfect day.
The doctor was on hand at about ten o"clock, and the boys bundled into the car, full of the highest spirits and looking forward to a summer of unalloyed fun and sport.
The doctor himself drove, and the car, under his skilful handling, made rapid time along the beautiful roads. The boys joked and laughed and sang and enjoyed themselves to the full. They were like so many frisky colts let out to pasture.
As they pa.s.sed through the little town of Lisburn they saw a young girl watering the flowers in the garden of one of the houses. Bob"s keen eye detected and recognized her at once.
"It"s Miss Berwick!" he cried. "Doctor, would you mind stopping here a minute?"
"Certainly I"ll stop," replied the doctor, with a smile, and slowed down immediately. "Take all the time you want."
Bob and Joe jumped out and ran to the gate. The girl looked at them for a moment and then with a glad cry came hurrying toward them.
"How glad I am to see you," she cried, extending both hands in welcome.
"Come into the house."