Part 27 (1/2)

CHAPTER XXIV

A PLOT THAT WENT WRONG

”So far, so good,” breathed Bob happily, as the boys were discussing the news that Mrs. Salper had pa.s.sed the crisis and was now probably on the road to recovery. ”That's one thing we can set down to the credit of radio.”

”And it's not the only thing of the same sort,” put in Joe. ”Do you remember what Mr. Brandon told us of that s.h.i.+p with thirty men and no doctor on board, where twenty-four of the men were down with a mysterious disease? The captain got a message by wireless to sh.o.r.e telling of his plight, and one of the best doctors in New York City went to the radio station there and got in touch with the captain. He talked to him by radio for hours, had him describe just the symptoms, and then told the captain just what to do. A couple of days later the captain wirelessed in that he had followed directions and that all of the men had recovered and were fit for duty.”

”Yes,” said Herb, ”and about that other case, too, where a man had an infected hand and they were afraid he was going to have lockjaw. A doctor on land told the captain how to treat it and the man got along all right.”

”Trust radio, and you won't go wrong,” summed up Bob. ”On land and sea it's right on the job.”

”I only hope it will be as effective in saving Mr. Salper's money,”

observed Joe.

”I think very likely it will,” replied Bob. ”He's about as keen as they make them, and now that he knows what those rascals are plotting against him it's dollars to doughnuts that he'll get the best of them.

Their only chance was in taking him by surprise and putting over that deal while his back was turned. And now that he's got in touch with his brokers I guess the game is up.”

”I wonder how long it will be before we know how it turned out,”

conjectured Herb.

”Oh, probably not more than two or three days,” replied Bob. ”Things move pretty fast in Wall Street when a fight is on for control.”

”I hope he comes out on top,” observed Joe. ”He's a good deal of a crab, and I was mighty sore at him when he landed on us the way he did the day we were coming up here. Acted as though he thought we ought to be shot at sunrise. But since that time I've seen a good deal about him to like and I've come to the conclusion that he's a regular fellow after all.”

”You can tell by the fondness that the girls have for him that he can't be so bad,” said Bob. ”That's a pretty good sign to go by. They know him better than any one else except his wife, and she seems to think, too, that the sun rises and sets in him.”

”I want him to come out ahead not only for his own sake but because I want to see that fellow Mohun downed,” put in Jimmy. ”I'm sore at him right down to the ground. I don't like his eyes, I don't like his voice, I don't like his teeth, I don't like his character----”

”Outside of that, though, I suppose he's all right,” suggested Joe, grinning. ”He seems to be just about as popular with you as a rattlesnake.”

”That's what he reminds me of, anyway,” admitted Jimmy.

”Talking of rattlesnakes,” put in Herb, ”here come three of them now,”

and he indicated Buck Looker, who, with Lutz and Mooney, was coming along the road. For some time now the Looker crowd had kept out of the radio boys' way.

”I wonder what trick they're up to now,” said Bob, as he saw that the bunch had their heads together in earnest conversation.

”No knowing,” answered Joe; ”but it's a safe bet that it's something cheap and low down. Buck would think the day was wasted if he didn't have something of the kind on hand.”

The groups pa.s.sed each other without speaking, though Buck darted a look at Bob in pa.s.sing that had in it the usual malignance, mingled with a touch of triumph.

”Did you see that look?” queried Herb, with interest. ”Seemed as if he had something up his sleeve.”

”I know what it meant well enough,” answered Bob, with a shade of soberness. ”My dad was telling me that he'd been notified that a suit had been started against him and the fathers of you other fellows by Mr. Looker to recover the value of the cottage that he said we set on fire.”