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Show OnMnoFfiietess AftJHUR, B. REEVE (Continued From Oar Laet iue) i ' HA PTE R VI THE WIRELESS DICTOGRAPH. i "Your wireless dictagraph? Bully!" exclaimed Garrlrk. "We could Ueel that little mechanical eavesdropper. I Where li it."' "In my laboratory." Garrlck's face fell. He glanced at his watch and then at the sun. "Yosi . . . I think we ean make it . . . Wo must." Two hours later found thorn In Dick's own wireless workshop. It was the boathouso on his estate where he had done some remarkable things with wireless. It was truo that Defoe bad some wonderful equipment but all the equipment In the world would not have availed I him if he had not had that srpark of inventive genius inherited from hla famous father. Outside ho had a big aerial from two steel towers. Oarrlck looked with admiration at the completeness of the workshop Inside, th- hack saws, mitre sawn, crosscut saws, frames, ihisels. gouges, flies, vises. There were drills, hands, breast, geared and twist, pliers with all sorts of ( noses. There was wire, cupper. Iron, aluminum, plain and insulated of all sizes, flexible insulated wire COrd, enough for a supply store Fibre board and bakellte, porcelain in-iilat-ors. tubing, wheet braaSi sheel coppeir, The conversation was lucrative to l..r everything at the very fingertips of 1 the young inventor. Interested though he would have been at any other time, Cnarrlck urged haste. Dick led him proudly I to a table on which WU his apparatus. appa-ratus. "So this Is tho Defoe Wireless Dlc-I Dlc-I tograph," i-ornpllmonted Garrlck I picking up the familiar little round ! transmitter like that which he had I used so many times on the wired machine. As he packed the parts. Dick hastily hast-ily enumerated them, his sending set, batteries, coil. of wire, small portable i antennae, and 'be receiving set. They at last had everything strapped strap-ped In on the rear of Garrlck's car and aa they swung up toward the, turnpike they stopped for a moment at the Nonowantuc club. As Dick hoppod out, followed by I Guy. there was suspicious silenco j on the porch as often happens when tho friends of an Interesting factor of the preceding conversation draw nigh. I Silence is Freudian. Dick winked at j Garrlck. I A buxom old lady, trembling for j gossip, was actually short-breathed to get to Garrlck before a Broup of flappers, Ruth's friends, reached him. "Mr Garrlck ah-h-h Mr Garrlck" Gar-rlck" The flappers won out. They nearly always do these days. "Hey Dick! Where's Ruth? . . . Guy, have you heard how badly she was hurt? . . . Kor heaven's sake, get her back here. The place Is dead without Ruth." The old lady plumped down In a nearby chair to listen, actually with mouth open. With a smile on his face. Professor Yarlo of tho Radio Central at Rock I Ledge, crossed over to them to make friendly Inquiries. I "Going into town?" Inquired Vario when Garrlck returned with a small j handhag from his rooms, "Yes." observing how Vario waa j dressed "aro you?" "I was waiting for the club bus to take me up to the station. Yes. to ths j Radio Show at the Seventy-first Regiment Regi-ment Armory. I'm to givo a lecture and demonstration tonight of my new j wave meter." "Well, Jump In." The professor was eager to assist i them In every way as far as they hose to take him Into their cop.fl-; cop.fl-; dence. Garrlck had met him many 1 times at tho club and Dick and Vario Va-rio had hud much In common in their work. Ho seemed particularly interested inter-ested In keeping Ruth out of further harm and very sympathetic toward I Mrs. Walden In her trouble. I However, Garrlck did not propose to discuss much with even :irio and on the way ho and Dick fell Into a discussion of their hobby, especially on Varlo's lecture on his now wave meter. "8o many amateurs." explained Yarlo. "have difficulty In finding the wave length of the broadcasting stations sta-tions that I have concluded that tuimo simple method of lunlne and calibrating th e 6et would clear thiuu up, especially for those who are some! distance away from the sending stations. sta-tions. They liav weak bigna.ls to be-, be-, gin with and must listen In on very I nearly the proper tune If they are to got any signals at all." "I see," nodded Dick. "For that purposo a wave meter is needed. It's to the radio what a pitch pipe Is to 1 a piano tuner." "Yea. -Mine Is simply a calibrated, ! J oscillating lrcult and is ono of the; simplest t in nils to build." The pro- I feasor launched Into u description of. his small coil, variable condenser, valvemeter phones, and general hookup. hook-up. In town Garrlck called up Nita 1 Walden at her apartments on Park I uvenue. She had got ahead of any-lone any-lone else and bad bail Ruth's car towed to a garage They stopped there a moment and Professor Varlo's solicitude for Mrs. Walden seomed ti offer Garrlck the opportunity to got rid of him, for they certainly did not want any strangers about In what they were going to do. "But tho show," remonstrated Mrs. Walden as Vario offered to stay ana do anything he could to relieve her anxiety. "I'll telephone them that I'm delayed. de-layed. They can postpone my stunt until later In the evening," he Insisted In-sisted "And, Mrs. Waldon, don't you worry when you have two such good i friends as Garrlck and Dick helping You should have .seen the way they settled the porch crowd and you lean fount on me SI S third. I may ' be tho last but I hop-- not the least I whero Miss Ruth's welfare Is concerned con-cerned " "I really appreelato your kindness! deeplybut of course, I want my little girl. I can't think of any- ' thins else. i rant talk over the telephone, right; I can't read; I am Just Incapacitated until Ruth gets back to hit." "Dick, I'll stay with Mrs. Walden for a little while. If I may 1 know' she needs some h-lp. If you Want me later I'll be at the Radjo Show." Garrlck thanked him. then leaned over Nlta. Walden. "We'll havo some-word some-word tonight- -sure. By tomorrow you'll have her hack safe." Outside he found McKay and de- i Hvered Mrs. Walden's Instructions. I "You aro to take Professor Yarlo down to the Armory to the Radio Show; then you may put the car up." Garrlck had been thinking out a plan for the Intalllnpr of the dict.-grnph. dict.-grnph. T'p Do street irom tho Inner Circle were two houses turned Into studio apartments. He found the caretaker and the conversation wis lucratlvo to her. Dick selected and carried up to the I roof the apparatus and they went u silently as possible across the intervening inter-vening roofs until they came to the roof of the Inner Circle It was a curious roof. In the center cen-ter had been built a great concrete box as big as a room. There waa no time to Investigate that, however. 'i.inlck fished with a line down th chimney, by sounding, until he locatei the flue to tho I'lnk Room Then, dangling down, he lowered the dictagraph dic-tagraph transmitter until It must have hung a foot from the floor of the hearth buck of the Iron grill work under the mantel below In tho Pink Room. Meanwhile, on the roof. Dick had been busy placing his sending set and Garrlck helped him complete the setup set-up As thoy loft the studio house, two men were passing. One of them brushed suspiciously against Dick with enough force to knock the bag he was carrying out of his hand. Gar- ; ' rick controlled his temper Here wcro the mysterious shadowers again. J ; Wore they emissaries of tho gang? Garrlck picked up the bag himself.! looked significantly at the man. and remarked, "Well, see? Nothing dripping!" A they had been at work on the roof, thoy had determined on placing tho receiving end up at Garrlck's J apartment which was only several blocks uptown. At Bachelors' Hall Dick worked rapidly, for It was now getting dar!t in spite of the length of the days. Ho unpacked the receiving end ot his wireless dictagraph In the room, then went up on the roof and erected the portable aerial. Carefully and deftly he began to tune up, now that this second Instal-j latlon was complete It was rather difficult to get the fine adjustment, but at last he got the rlsht wave length. ne iookou up ni 'rarricK. smneo. and took the headgear off. handing It to him. "Get that?" Garrlck adjusted It. listened for a moment In some perplexity, '. i -1 i exclaimed. ex-claimed. "Why, I can hear the whirr of a vacuum cleaner In tho rooinl" Dick smiled proudly. "I think I've made tho transmitter about as sensitive sensi-tive a microphone as can bo made. I only hope it Isn't so sensitive that It picks up through the wall what happens hap-pens in the house next door." They listened In for soveral minutes min-utes hut i ber- was nothing more yet. Whoever was cleaning the room finished fin-ished and left. The buzzer on Garrlck's door sounded. He opened It on a crack It was McKay "I Just saw that Rae Larue, with a man. at thu Park Garage on Sixtieth Six-tieth street, where T put the car up." "What sort of'looklng man"" "I didn't know him. sir. Sort of shopgy hair " "Brock!" exclaimed Dick, who had come over. "Then Jack Curtis came In a car. He didn't stay long, went downtown, I think." Rae had been fussing with the Interior In-terior of one car In tho long lino In tho garage. She was apparently very busy but McKay noticed that nothing escaped her. no matter how slight. He had continued to watch some time. Suddenly a very' rakish roadster drew tip and Rao looked out of the sedan In which she was When she saw Glenn Buckley In the roadster she Jumped out to meet him Glenn greeted her with a sickly smile. 'Well, you poor fish!" exclaimed Rae. "You must believe In ghost?. You look as though you'd seen one. What are you doing here?" "Just looking to see If there's anyone about." "Geo. Glenn I'm thirsty. Let's go down to the Inner Circle. Will you take me?" - ' Surely. Rao. Always glad to re- 1 llev a drought and be charitable to I my own at the s;imo time " Rae grabbed his arm and swun? up behind the wheel They worw off. To hlmoelf Glnn hnd had to ad-j mit that no on could bo bored In I Ha'H noclety. No wonder Vlra wa Jealous But he wouldn't have t.xken dozf-n Rues for one Vini. He didn't like coarseness and sometimes Rae did not suit hln faatldlous nature. Vlra with all her modernity, vivacity and Tho Man Went Sprawling Backward. recklessness never was coarse. M. Kay had gone, properly rewarded, reward-ed, and Garrlck was pondering over what ho had Just learned. Were they the threo at tho Parr estate last night Rae. Brock and Jack?" he spoculated aloud at length. "But Jack could hardly havo been back then," hastened Dick. "Ha must have been on the 'Bacchante'." "How about Glenn ."' 'Or Georges?" parried Dick "Perhaps . . . What of Ruth" . . . Say. Dick. I'm going to leave you here with that wireless dictagraph. dicta-graph. You can work It best anyhow. any-how. I must get a line on that garago and do It right away " Down the street In a lunchroom Garrlck caught sight of McKay again and beckoned him quietly out. "I was thinking about calling you up, sir, soon," Informed McKay ' I was ju.st talking to one of the polishers polish-ers In there He tells me that Jack Curtis gave orders to some driver abuii' thp place, u stranger, to go after af-ter something at 11 o'clock. Ho didn't know what It was or where t was but he givo him a key, sir." McKay pointed tho fellow, a Strang-er, Strang-er, out. and Garrlck reached Into hls pocket for his ever-ready roll of bills. McKay seemed really offended. "Mr. Garrlck please. I didn't feel right when you slipped me that other five Npot. Mrs. Walden haH been so fine to me I've driven her threo i vears and. as you might say. seen , Miss Ruth grow up. Say. I believe, I'd lose an arm or leg to get this, thing settled straight." Alone Garrlck waited. It was now half past nine. He had an hour and a half to watch. As he did so ho re- volved the two robberies over and j over In his mind. Each time his ; thought led him to tho same path. W ho was the "man higher up'"' Waa It Jack Curtis; Or Brock? Might It. not be Georges? Whata, after all. did ho know about Georges, since bo-foro bo-foro tho war and during tho easy violation vio-lation of selling service men that which Is wet? It was nearly midnight when Gar-, rick in whal seomed llko a reliable I taxtcab, concluded tho trailing of the man who had received Instruo- , tlons from Curtis He had evidently been watting until the streets ware sufficiently deserted. de-serted. N'ow he drew his car, a big sedan, up to the curb, leaving the englno running, but well muffled, as silent as sleeve valves could mako It Garrlck dismissed his taxi at the corner and began to reconnoitre To his amazement he saw that he was on the block where was tho town house of Vlra Gerard's family. It was an added shock when h saw that the car hnd stopped Just Iu front of the Gerard house and thai th driver had entered 'he Kate and was fumbling with a key at the door. Garrick quickened his steps. It ' " " n lef was now or : set 1st this mystery. .; ptr As hi.- turn.-.l H, at the I . " man a, the door hoard him, quickly as If expecting hind y n catching a better look utta oath and swung on him. Garri' k irri' .l iml uinter ;rjc man wont sprawling Im kwari yd Mt of turf i: th'.- In I'- front At that moment 'Jarrlcj ,-( the clatter of feet from afl H ntn I and around tho motfl ttt beforo he could turn, the ot) t was on him. bearing him dot ij. th" momentum of I It- rush. m a husky but Garrick felt h outwrestle him. Tho sprawling onj g. swore again as he crouched ,u his hands and knee.-, w ilting t -t, Two woro moro than j Ei ou'd nd an heads i ui i ,iri" u'Ottin J nea r-r ; h- - . ;, . . . - of th i,0 " 'ori'lii h i ),i i ,r Next II W |
