"Oh, we"d never have to worry about you," said Joe. "You"ve heard the old saying that "only the good die young.""
"I certainly have," admitted Larry. "And that probably explains why that stage scenery didn"t kill me outright. It"s been rather a mystery to me why it didn"t, but you"ve put me wise to the real reason."
"It will do for want of a better one, anyway,"" laughed Bob.
"If we can once get you interested in radio, Larry, you"ll be as stuck on it as any of us," said Joe. "It"s interesting right from the beginning, but when you dig into it a bit, it gets more fascinating all the time."
"Oh, I"m interested in radio all right, don"t male any mistake about that," returned Larry, with a twinkle in his eye. "It"s my meal ticket now, you know."
"Yes, but I mean in the way of recreation," persisted Joe.
"Yes, I suppose it must be mighty interesting, for a fact," admitted Larry, more seriously. "Just wait until I get strong again, and maybe I"ll take it up in earnest. I"ve seen enough of it to realize that there are wonderful possibilities in it, anyway."
"Well, we"ll be glad to initiate you any time you say the word," offered Bob. "We don"t know enough about it to keep us awake at night, but we can probably explain a few things to you."
"Oh, I"ll ask questions until you wish you"d never mentioned radio to me,"
laughed Larry. "If I do take it up, I"ll have to start at the beginning."
"That"s where most everybody starts," announced Jimmy. "You won"t be a bit worse off than we were, will he, fellows?"
"I should say not," answered Bob. "When we started, we hardly knew the difference between an antenna and a ground wire. We had our own troubles at first; and we"re still having them, as far as that goes. There always seems to be something new coming up that you have to work out."
"If I keep on getting good pay from the broadcasting station, I"ll be able to buy a set, anyway," said Larry. "What"s the use of working so hard over one, when you can buy them all made up? All you have to do is hook them up to a small antenna, and you get your music right off the bat."
But the radio boys all scouted this idea.
"Of course you can buy one all made up," said Bob. "But there"s not half the fun in operating that kind of set as there is in one that you"ve made yourself. And besides, you can get a lot better results when you"ve made the thing yourself and understand just what"s in it and how it works. If you don"t get good results some evening, you know where to look for the trouble."
"It"s like driving an automobile when you don"t understand the mechanism,"
added Joe. "As long as everything goes all right you go sailing along, but let something go wrong, and you"re up a tree right away. You haven"t any idea of where to look for the trouble."
"All right, all right," laughed Larry. "Don"t shoot, and I"ll promise never to mention it again."
"See that you keep it, then," said Bob, laughing. "But anybody who buys a made-up set isn"t ent.i.tled to be called a real radio fan; at least, we don"t think so."
"I suppose you"re right," agreed Larry. "It must be half the fun of the game when you do the job yourself. But remember that everybody can"t build elaborate sets the way you fellows do, even if they want to. They haven"t got the knack."
"I suppose that"s so," conceded Bob. "But almost anybody that can drive a nail straight can do it. It"s mostly a matter of hard work and a little study."
"Well, when I get a little stronger, maybe I"ll take a fling at it," said Larry. "But just at present, the only thing I can think about is getting something to eat. I had a pretty early breakfast, and now I"m rather anxious to try some of that good cooking you tell me this hotel is famous for."
"My!" exclaimed Bob, jumping to his feet. "I"m glad you mentioned dinner, Larry. I"ll have to take it on the run if I"m going to get home in time for dinner. They"re always sore if I"m late, too."
"And to think that I overlooked such an important thing as Sunday dinner!"
e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Jimmy, searching frantically around for his cap. "I only hope I can last out until I get home," he went on. "If I do, it will only be on account of my strong will power. I"m afraid poor old Herb hasn"t much chance to pull through."
"Huh!" snorted Herb. "If you had to depend on will power to get you home, you"d never get a block away from here. You"ll get home all right, but the thing that gets you there will be the thought of how good the chicken and apple pie are going to taste."
"Well, n.o.body could have a stronger motive than that, after all," said Jimmy. "Confound this elevator, anyway. I guess it"s never going to come up. You fellows can wait if you want to, but I"m going to walk down. I know I"ll get there, then."
"Doughnuts does have a good idea once in a while," said Joe. "I"ll do the same thing." The others were nothing loath, so they shook hands with Larry and clattered down the long flights of stairs at high speed, for, as Bob said, it would never do to let the elevator beat them down after all.
CHAPTER XX
THE WONDERFUL SCIENCE
The boys arrived at the street floor breathless but triumphant, and started in the direction of home at so brisk a pace that poor Jimmy had some difficulty in keeping up. He was in as much of a hurry as any of the others, however, and by great effort managed to keep up with his companions.
"After this, we all should be eligible to go in a walking race," laughed Bob, as they paused a minute at his door. "Can you all get around this evening and listen to some radio? I"ve got to get out some lessons this afternoon, and I guess you have, too."
"I should say so!" exclaimed Joe. "You know how much chance we had to do them yesterday, and I"ve got a good three hours" work ahead of me. I guess I can get around this evening all right, though."
Herb and Jimmy both said that they would be on hand, and then they went on, separating as each reached his own home.
Shortly after supper that evening they all met at the Layton home according to appointment. As it was Sunday, they did not do any work on their new set, but the whole Layton family gathered around the loud speaker that evening, as a prominent preacher was to deliver a sermon by radio, and they were all eager to hear it.
Before the sermon there was an organ recital, and they heard this perfectly, after the boys had succeeded in tuning out one or two amateurs who sometimes made them trouble. Of course, everybody enjoyed the recital, and also the sermon, which was delivered in very effective style.
"This is certainly being up to date," commented Mr. Layton, when the sermon was over. "When I was the same age as you boys, I was expected to be in church every Sunday evening without fail. But now it does not seem quite so necessary, when it is possible to have religious services right in the home, as we have had them this evening. I think the Layton family is indebted to you boys, as the chances are neither Mrs. Layton nor I would ever have become interested in it if Bob and you hadn"t introduced us to it."
"I"ll bet you never thought much of it when we first started to build an amateur set, now did you, Dad?" accused Bob.
"As I don"t see any way out of it, I suppose I"ll have to confess that you"re right," laughed Mr. Layton. "But you must remember that you boys were among the first to take up wireless in Clintonia, and at that time n.o.body in town had thought anything about it. I guess we didn"t realize its possibilities."
"It was a surprise to me when that first set that you boys made really worked," admitted Mrs. Layton. "I remember that it sounded very nice right from the start, too."
"Yes, that was a good old set," said Bob. "It didn"t satisfy us for long, though. It was all right under favorable conditions, but you couldn"t do much tuning with it."
"Not only that, but the range was pretty limited, too," chimed in Joe.
"When I think of all the planning we had to do before we got it made, I feel like laughing."
"It was no laughing matter then, though," said Herb. "If it hadn"t worked, we"d have been a pretty disappointed crowd."
"I"ll never forget the sensation when that first music came in over our set," said Bob. "It was certainly a grand and glorious feeling. I only hope our new set comes up to scratch as well as that one did."
"I guess there isn"t much doubt about the new set," observed Joe, confidently. "It will just _have_ to work."
"Look out," laughed Mr. Layton. "Don"t forget the old saying, that "pride goeth before a fall.""
"Yes, we may have an awful b.u.mp coming to us, I suppose," said Joe. "But we"d be awfully sore if it didn"t work, after all the labor we"ve put on it."
"We"ll make it work, all right," predicted Bob. "Maybe not on the very first trial, but we"ll get it going in the end, I"ll bet a cookie."
"I surely hope it will be all right, because I know how bad you would all feel if it didn"t," said Mrs. Layton. "I never knew boys would work so hard at anything, just for the sake of the fun they expect to get out of it."