"I think so."
"Is the name Hal Stone familiar to you?"
"Never met the gentleman."
"Then your name is not Alvin Baker?"
"Maybe you know my name better than I do."
"No, but I know just as well as you do that you are not Alvin Baker."
"How do you know that?"
"Because Alvin Baker is my cousin. I am Hal Stone, and I live in Oswego, New York."
"I do not believe you. You are an impostor."
"Let me tell you a secret. I have penetrated your plot. You are an enemy of my cousin. There was no wager between him and you, but you don"t want us to find him. You had better keep out of the atmosphere or I will have you arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct in the air."
No answer.
"V A X, V A X, V A X," called Hal.
Still no reply.
"I cornered him, proved he was an impostor, and now he won"t talk to me any more," said Hal, addressing his companions. Then he translated the code conversation, just completed, for the benefit of Mr. Perry.
"Well, that disposes of him for the time being, at least," was the latter"s comment.
"But leaves a mystery as to his ident.i.ty," put in Bud with a "mystery smile".
"No, I don"t think there"s any question as to his ident.i.ty."
"Have you worked it out by mathematics, dad?" Cub inquired.
"Yes, by sines and cosines."
"What are sines and cosines?" asked Hal.
"You"ll find out when you go to college and study trigonometry," Mr.
Perry replied.
"Oh, I"ve seen those words," Cub answered, with some of his alleged characteristic "highbrow eagerness". "You spell sine, s-i-n-e, and cosine, c-o-s-i-n-e."
"Exactly," smiled Mr. Perry. "Those are terms used in higher mathematics.
But, in order that you youthful minds may not work too hard over my trick, I"ll admit that in my mind I spelled sine s-i-g-n, and cosine, c-o-s-i-g-n."
"No use to try to get ahead of my father," Cub declared, shaking his head. "He could prove that water runs uphill by mathematics. He means the signs and cosigns indicate that--. What do they indicate, dad? We got off the question just because you wanted to carry your point with a pun."
"I meant to say that this fellow whom you cornered and chased out of the air is one of the fellows who hazed Hal"s cousin by marooning him on this island," Mr. Perry answered.
"Gee! that never occurred to me," exclaimed Cub, swinging his long arm with a snap of his finger like the crack of a whip. "I bet anything you"re right."
"We get one step nearer every time we make a move," said Bud eagerly.
"Yes, but the question is, how many steps do we have to take before we settle this--this--mystery?" Cub demanded.
"Don"t look ahead so far," Mr. Perry warned. "Here"s a rule in such matters that applies to all men--and boys--of small or large capability.
Be careful never to look ahead so far you can"t see the step you are in the act of taking."
"All right," Cub a.s.sented. "What is the next step for us to take?"
"Find out who the fellows are that hazed Hal"s cousin." Bud replied.
"Yes, that"s a good suggestion, though it"ll probably require several steps to gain that information. Still, you"re not looking so far ahead, when you propose that move, as to be unable to see your first step."
"Why not try to get in touch with some amateur in Cousin Alvin"s home town by wireless?" Hal suggested.
"That"s the very thing I was in hope one of you would propose," Mr. Perry replied. "You boys haven"t by any means exhausted the possibilities of your radio outfit."
"We have no Canadian call book," said Hal, "but perhaps I can induce one of the amateurs we"ve been talking with to look up the call of one or more amateurs in Port Hope and give them to me."
Without more ado, he swung the switch into sending position and began to call the amateur who had given them the information that had enabled them to locate Friday Island. Success rewarded his efforts almost immediately.
The curiosity of the Rockport amateur, however, had to be satisfied before further service could be had from him. This Hal did with due patience and speed, reciting their experiences since their arrival at the island. Meanwhile the Canadian consulted his call book, and was ready with the desired information by the time his very excusable curiosity had been satisfied. He supplied Hal with two Port Hope calls, together with their wave lengths.
Then began the task of getting into communication with the Port Hope amateurs. Hal sent the call of each of them a score or more of times, but got no answer from either. At last, however, another Port Hope amateur, who chanced to be listening in, answered for them. He informed Hal that the sending outfit of one of these Port Hope boys was out of working order and the other amateur was out of town. Then the operator on Friday Island put the following questions to him:
"Do you know Alvin Baker?"
"Yes," was the reply.
"Is he at home?" Hal continued.
"I think not. He is at college."
"I am his cousin, Hal Stone, from Oswego, New York. I am with some friends on an island in the St. Lawrence River. I have learned that Alvin is in trouble. He was hazed by some soph.o.m.ores, who left him alone on an island in the river. We found the island, but Alvin had been spirited away and is probably being held prisoner by them. This hazing gang seems to consist of some pretty rough characters. I want to get in touch with my uncle, Alvin"s father."
"I will call your uncle on the telephone and tell him what you say," the Port Hope amateur dot-and-dashed in reply.
"Ask him to come over to your house, and tell him I will explain everything to him through you, and then perhaps he can form a plan for his son"s rescue."
These and subsequent proceedings, in furtherance of the plan outlined "over the wireless" by Hal, took considerable time, but at last the situation was made clear to Mr. Baker, who announced his intention to start on a search for his son at once. Meanwhile Bud and Cub listened-in eagerly and translated the code messages for Mr. Perry.
"I tell you what we"ll do," the latter said after the communication of events had been completed for the benefit of Mr. Baker. "Tell him to take a train to some river port, the nearest possible to this island, and we"ll meet him with the motor boat."
Hal did as requested, and presently Mr. Baker caused this message to be sent:
"I will meet you at Rockport about noon to-morrow."