The Radio Boys in the Thousand Islands

The Radio Boys in the Thousand Islands , by

J. W. Duffield
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Radio Boys in the Thousand Islands
Author: J. W. Duffield
Release Date: July 10, 2004 [eBook #12878]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RADIO BOYS IN THE THOUSAND ISLANDS ***
E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

RADIO BOYS IN THE THOUSAND ISLANDS
or, The Yankee-Canadian Wireless Trail
by
J. W. DUFFIELD
Author of
RADIO BOYS IN THE SECRET SERVICE; or, Cast Away on an Iceberg. RADIO BOYS IN THE FLYING SERVICE; or, Held For Ransom by Mexican Bandits. RADIO BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; or, The Mystery of the Lost Valley.
1922

CONTENTS
Chapter
I
Vacation Plans
II Tragedy or Joke
III Talking it over
IV The Catwhisker
V A Baffling Situation
VI A Mystery and Cub's "Goat"
VII Returning Cub's "Goat"
VIII Mathematics or Geography?
IX The Radio Diagram
X The Island-Surrounded Island
XI The Deserted Camp
XII Hal's Discovery
XIII "Robinson Crusoe's" Diary
XIV More Light and More Mystery
XV The Hook-up on Shore
XVI Running down a Radio Fake
XVII Bud's Discovery
XVIII Unwelcome Visitors
XIX "S.O.S." from Friday Island
XX Four Prisoners
XXI The Hostage
XXII The "Crusoe Mystery" Deepens
XXIII "Sweating" the Prisoner
XXIV "Something Happens"
XXV Bud Shoots
XXVI The Slingshot Victim
XXVII Chased out
XXVIII A Radio Eavesdropper
XXIX The End of the "Mystery"
XXX The Result of a Radio Hazing
CHAPTER I
Vacation Plans
"Now, fellows, what are we goin' to do this vacation?" demanded Cub Perry as he leaned back in his upholstered reed rocker and hoisted his size 8 shoes onto the foot of his bedstead. "School's all over, we've all passed our exams, and now we've got a long vacation before us with nothing to do. It's up to yo-uns to map out a program."
"Why can't you help map it out?" asked Bud Taylor with something of a challenge in his voice. "You always have the last word?"
"Cub's the dictator of our outfit, and we do the work, that's why," declared Hal Stone. "We always have to listen to him, you know that, Bud. So what's the use o' kickin'?"
"Oh, I'm not kickin'," Bud replied. "It's no use. Cub 'u'd drown us out with his voice if we hollered. You know you made 'im admit once that noise was the only thing that 'u'd convince him."
"You c'n change that now and call it static instead of noise since we've all become radio experts," smirked Cub with characteristic superiority.
"Ha, ha," laughed Bud.
"Tee-hee," tittered Hal.
By the way, it was from this peculiar manner of laugh, that Hal got his nickname, Tee-hee. Cub's given name was Robert, shortened sometimes to Bob and Bud's was Roy. Cub and Bud were always known by their nicknames, but Hal was addressed as Tee-hee only on fitting or intermittent occasions.
The three boys were seated in Cub's room at the Perry home, one of the largest and most interesting samples of domestic architecture in the City of Oswego, on the shore of Lake Ontario. Cub was a rich man's son, but he was constitutionally, almost grotesquely, democratic. There was nothing that would make him angrier, to all appearance at least, than open reference in conversation to the wealth of his father. For such offense he was ever ready to "take off the head" of the offender. However, once in a while one of the bolder of his friends would beard the lion in his den more or less successfully. But it was necessary for such venturesome person to be ever in command of ready wit in order to emerge with a whole skin, figuratively speaking, and Bud and Tee-hee were the real leaders of this victorious few. That was the reason why they were chums of Cub.
The fact of the matter, to be perfectly frank, was that Cub was a good deal of an actor. Whether he was conscious of this fact we will not venture to say. He is the only one who knows, and we have never broached the subject to him. The average person on first making his acquaintance doubtless would set him down as a very domineering youth; some might even call him a bully, but they would change their minds eventually if the acquaintance continued. Perhaps the best way one could judge Cub, without being Cub himself, would be to characterize him as being fond of playing the bully just for fun. Indeed, it is quite probable that Cub carried a perpetual laugh in his sleeve.
This dominant youth was tall and lanky. He was only 17 years old, but as big as a man, so far as altitude and the size of his feet were concerned. He lacked one inch of being six feet tall, and he wore size 8