The Radio Detectives Part 5

"That _is_ funny!" declared Tom, when, a moment later, the boys were listening to a telephone conversation coming to them through Henry's set. "Say," he continued, "there isn't much privacy nowadays, is there?

Why, if you could amplify that enough, every one could hear everything that was going on over the telephones."

"Yes, and to think we were so close to getting that other chap's talk and never realized it," said Frank. "Mr. Henderson must think we are great radio fans! I'll bet he had a mighty good laugh at our expense after we left."

"Well, we'll not be fooled again," declared Tom. "If that fellow begins talking to-night we'll nail him, too."

"But we can't locate him," objected Henry. "So what good will it do?"

"That's so," admitted Tom. "But the main thing is to hear what he says.

Then perhaps we can make sense out of it."

"Say," suddenly exclaimed Henry, "did you fellows notice that every time we heard those messages the fellow mentioned a flower? First 'twas 'Azalia' and then 'Magnolia' and then 'Hibiscus' and last time 'twas 'Frangi Pani.' I'd like to know what that meant."

"I hadn't thought of that," said Tom. "Of course Azalia and Magnolia and Hibiscus are flowers, but what's Frangi Pani-sounds like some sort of j.a.panese thing to me. I guess this fellow must be talking about boats.

Lots of ships are named after flowers, you know."

"Well, he must have a whole fleet then," said Henry.

"Perhaps it's perfumes or he may be in the flower business," suggested Frank with a laugh.

"Perhaps we'll get the answer to that when we hear his mate," said Tom.

"Hope we hear him to-night," remarked Henry. "Say, what do you think of this scheme?"

For some time the boys forgot all else in examining a new hook-up which Henry had devised and at last left him with final cautions to be at his instruments that evening and each night thereafter until they again heard the unknown speakers.

But it was several nights before the mysterious messages again greeted their ears. Then Frank and Tom caught them at the same instant and both boys gave a little start and looked at each other in surprise, for the first word they heard was "Tuberose." Once more the name of a flower had entered into the conversation and mentally wondering what in the world this meant the two boys slipped the receiver of the desk telephone from its hook. Hardly had they done so when they almost jumped, as clear and loud, they heard a human voice; but the next instant their spirits sank to zero and they glanced at each other with disgusted expressions, for instead of the voice of the man they had expected to hear they heard a woman's voice and her words were: "Number, please?"

With a savage jerk, Tom hung up the receiver.

"Gee!" he exclaimed. "Of course we'd get _her_. I'll bet Mr. Henderson knew that and just tried to jolly us. Now what _are_ we going to do? If we-h.e.l.lo! What's that?"

Clearly to his ears, and interrupting the words of the mysterious man whom they had almost forgotten in their disappointment, came another voice, evidently that of a woman, and pitched in high tones. "Oh, yes!"

it exclaimed. "I'm _so_ glad, my dear. Do you know-" Tom drew his hand from the desk phone on which it had been resting and the words trailed off into a faint indistinct buzz. Tom and Frank grinned.

"Well, it works!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Frank. "Of course it doesn't make any difference if the receiver is off or not-we aren't getting waves over wires. Henry kept the receiver on to-day, didn't he?"

"I don't know," replied Tom. "But say, we've got to get busy. That chap's been talking for the last five minutes and we haven't put down a thing he's said."

Trying to make up for lost time, the two boys jotted down the words that came in, now and then placing a hand on the desk phone to see if they could hear the other party to the conversation, but each time the nasal voice of the woman, gossiping with a friend, was all that came to them.

Then the man's voice ceased and after a few moments' wait the boys rose from their seats.

"Darn that old hen!" exclaimed Tom, petulantly. "How the d.i.c.kens could a fellow expect to hear anything with her tongue going like a house afire?"

"Just think what it'll be when every one's talking by radio," chuckled Frank. "And won't the women have the time of their lives hearing all their neighbors' gossip?"

"Government'll have to license 'em to talk, I guess," muttered Tom.

"Come on, let's go over to Henry's and see if he had any better luck."

But Henry had nothing to tell them. He had heard no conversation over the phone except some man talking business with a friend, but he had written down all the words the mysterious man had spoken and showed them to the boys who had explained how they had forgotten to get the greater part of the conversation.

"Tuberose," Tom read. "We'll begin next week. Getting stocked up. I'll bet it'll wake things up. Too bad we didn't know then. Might have been a different tale, eh? Oh, Oscar's all right. Yes, same old place. Nothing doing, old man. Never a suspicion. Oh, it's a cinch. I don't know. Some kids, I expect. Got to see him to-night. So long, old man."

"Just the same old stuff," commented Tom when he had finished. "Only no figures this time."

"And another flower," added Henry.

"Jim would swear he was crazy if he noticed that," chuckled Frank. "I'm beginning to think that may be it myself."

For three consecutive nights the boys heard the conversation and despite all efforts failed to hear anything of interest over the ordinary phones while the radio words were coming in, although they heard various sc.r.a.ps of conversations between other persons.

"Mr. Henderson was off that time," declared Tom, when the boys rose from their sets on the third night. "His theory was wrong. The other chap's not talking on a telephone, I'll bet."

"Doesn't look that way at any rate," agreed Frank. "Let's go down to-morrow and tell him."

Accordingly, the three boys visited Mr. Henderson the next day and reported the results of their experiments.

"That _does_ puzzle me," exclaimed Mr. Henderson as they finished. "If you heard others it's pretty conclusive evidence he's not on a wire. Did you hear those buzzing sounds or words again?"

"I did," said Henry, "and I heard 'em just as plain and no plainer when I was a long way from the phone as when I was touching it."

"Well, we've drawn a blank there," smiled Mr. Henderson. Then, after a moment's thought, he exclaimed, "Boys, I'm going to take a chance. I'm pretty well convinced something's going on that's crooked and I'm going to send some men out and search every building in that block from cellar to garret. You understand, of course, this is a profound secret. No one will know who they are or what they're after. It must be a surprise visit so don't even talk it over among yourselves. But I want you to help us a bit. I'm going to start the men out at eight o'clock sharp, to-night. You must be at your sets and listening. If the fellow's talking, you'll know when my men find him, either by what he says or the way he shuts off, and if he goes on talking without interruption for half an hour you'll know you've made some mistake and he's not in that block. Meet me here to-morrow at about this time and we'll have something to report-or nothing."

"Oh, and there's something else," announced Tom as the boys turned to leave. "Henry called attention to those names of flowers yesterday. We'd almost forgotten about them. Every time that fellow talks he gets a new name of a flower. Have you noticed it?"

Mr. Henderson chuckled. "You're getting a pretty good training at this, boys," he replied. "Yes, I've noticed that-that's one thing that influences me more than anything else. There's some code to those names, I think, and they may prove the key to the whole thing. We'll find out sometime probably."

Remembering Mr. Henderson's injunction about discussing the proposed raid the boys refrained from mentioning it to one another, but could scarcely restrain their impatience until the time came for them to be at their instruments.

Eight o'clock came and, excited and expectant, the boys listened, hoping to hear the message coming in and to learn from its words or its abrupt ending of the success of the raid. But the minutes ticked by, the hands of the clock pointed to half-past eight, and nine o'clock came and went without a word from the source they so longed to hear.

Anxious to learn the result of the search, the boys hurried to Mr.

Henderson's office the following day.

"Another blank, boys," he announced when they entered his office. "There wasn't a sign of a wireless outfit in that block. Did you hear anything last night?"

The boys admitted that they had heard nothing.

"But-but there _must_ be a set there," insisted Tom, utterly unable to believe that they had been mistaken. "Why, we were all around there with our loops and we got cross bearings and knew he was there."

"It's a bit mysterious, I grant," replied Mr. Henderson. "I fully expected we'd locate it, but my men will swear there isn't even a piece of radio apparatus in the block. They went through it with a fine-tooth comb. Either you boys were mistaken or else the fellow's moved away. If you hear him again you'll know whether he's changed his location. I'm afraid you'll never locate him by your instruments, though. I've used those loops as direction finders at sea and to some extent ash.o.r.e and I admit I can't see how you went wrong, but we've got to face the fact that he's not there-at least not now."

Thoroughly disappointed and discouraged, the boys left the office and for hours discussed the matter with one another, but at the end of the time were no nearer a solution than ever.

"Oh, bother the old thing, anyhow!" exclaimed Tom at last. "We've had our fun and now let's do something else. Dad's leaving Na.s.sau to-morrow and we can try sending to him when he gets nearer. Wonder what he'll say about this thing."

"Yes, but it gets my goat to think that Mr. Henderson will think we're such dubs," said Frank. "He thinks we've made some big mistake and put him to all that trouble for nothing."

"Well, let's forget it," suggested Henry, and this seeming the best advice the boys followed it and were soon so busy experimenting along new lines that the mysterious conversations almost slipped from their minds, and as no further messages were heard from the same source they decided that by some coincidence the sender had moved bag and baggage from his former location just in time to escape detection by the men Mr.