Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been correctedwithout note. Dialect spellings, contractions and discrepancies havebeen retained. 

TED AND THE TELEPHONE

By Sara Ware Bassett

_The Invention Series_

PAUL AND THE PRINTING PRESSSTEVE AND THE STEAM ENGINETED AND THE TELEPHONE

[Illustration: "Would you like to go to college if you could?"persisted the elder man. FRONTISPIECE. _See page_ 178. ]

The Invention Series

TED AND THE TELEPHONE

By

SARA WARE BASSETT

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BYWILLIAM F. STECHER

BOSTONLITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY1922

_Copyright, 1922_, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 

_All rights reserved_

Published April, 1922

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO THE MEMORY OF

EDWIN T. HOLMES

WHO PLAYED A PART IN THE WONDERFULTELEPHONE STORY, THISBOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 

S. W. B. 

It gives me much pleasure to acknowledge the generosity of Mr. ThomasAugustus Watson, the associate of and co-worker with Mr. AlexanderGraham Bell, who has placed at my disposal his "Birth and Babyhood ofthe Telephone. "

Also the courtesy of Mrs. Edwin T. Holmes who has kindly allowed me tomake use of her husband's book: "A Wonderful Fifty Years. "

THE AUTHOR. 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

 I AN UNHERALDED CHAMPION 1

 II TED RENEWS OLD TIMES 11

 III GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING 21

 IV THE FIRST NIGHT IN THE SHACK 35

 V A VISITOR 49

 VI MORE GUESTS 60

 VII MR. LAURIE 76

VIII DIPLOMACY AND ITS RESULTS 94

 IX THE STORY OF THE FIRST TELEPHONE 106

 X WHAT CAME AFTERWARD 122

 XI THE REST OF THE STORY 141

 XII CONSPIRATORS 152

XIII WHAT TED HEARD 163

 XIV THE FERNALDS WIN THEIR POINT 173

 XV WHAT CAME OF THE PLOT 189

 XVI ANOTHER CALAMITY 199

XVII SURPRISES 213

ILLUSTRATIONS

"Would you like to go to college if you could?" persisted theelder man _Frontispiece_

"You can't be spreadin' wires an' jars an' things round myroom!" protested Mr. Turner Page 9

Soon he came within sight of the shack which stood at thewater's edge " 27

He heard an answering shout and a second later saw Ted Turnerdash through the pines " 88

TED AND THE TELEPHONE

CHAPTER I

AN UNHERALDED CHAMPION

Ted Turner lived at Freeman's Falls, a sleepy little town on the bankof a small New Hampshire river. There were cotton mills in the town; infact, had there not been probably no town would have existed. The millshad not been attracted to the town; the town had arisen because of themills. The river was responsible for the whole thing, for its swiftcurrent and foaming cascades had brought the mills, and the mills inturn had brought the village. 

Ted's father was a shipping clerk in one of the factories and histwo older sisters were employed there also. Some day Ted himselfexpected to enter the great brick buildings, as the boys of the townusually did, and work his way up. Perhaps in time he might become asuperintendent or even one of the firm. Who could tell? Such miraclesdid happen. Not that Ted Turner preferred a life in the cotton millsto any other career. Not at all. Deep down in his soul he detestedthe humming, panting, noisy place with its clatter of wheels, itsmonotonous piecework, and its limited horizon. But what choice had he?The mills were there and the only alternative before him. It was themills or nothing for people seldom came to live at Freeman's Falls ifthey did not intend to enter the factories of Fernald and Company. Itwas Fernald and Company that had led his father to sell the tumble-downfarm in Vermont and move with his family to New Hampshire. 

"There is no money in farming, " announced he, after the death of Ted'smother. "Suppose we pull up stakes and go to some mill town where wecan all find work. "

And therefore, without consideration for personal preferences, they hadlooked up mill towns and eventually settled on Freeman's Falls, notbecause they particularly liked its location but because labor wasneeded there. A very sad decision it was for Ted who had passionatelyloved the old farm on which he had been born, the half-blind grayhorse, the few hens, and the lean Jersey cattle that his fatherasserted ate more than they were worth. To be cooped up in amanufacturing center after having had acres of open country to roamover was not an altogether joyous prospect. Would there be anychestnut, walnut, or apple trees at Freeman's Falls, he wondered. 

Alas, the question was soon answered. Within the village there werealmost no trees at all except a few sickly elms and maples whosefoliage was pale for want of sunshine and grimy with smoke. In fact, there was not much of anything in the town save the long dingyfactories that bordered the river; the group of cheap and gaudy shopson the main street; and rows upon rows of wooden houses, all identicalin design, walling in the highway. It was not a spot where green thingsflourished. There was not room for anything to grow and if there hadbeen the soot from the towering chimneys would soon have settled uponany venturesome leaf or flower and quickly shrivelled it beneath acloak of cinders. Even the river was coated with a scum of oil andrefuse that poured from the waste pipes of the factories into thestream and washed up along the shores which might otherwise have beenfair and verdant. 

Of course, if one could get far enough away there was beauty in plentyfor in the outlying country stretched vistas of splendid pines, fieldslush with ferns and flowers, and the unsullied span of the river, wherein all its mountain-born purity it rushed gaily down toward thevillage. Here, well distant from the manufacturing atmosphere, were thehomes of the Fernalds who owned the mills, the great estates of Mr. Lawrence Fernald and Mr. Clarence Fernald who every day rolled to theiroffices in giant limousines. Everybody in Freeman's Falls knew them bysight, --the big boss, as he was called, and his married son; andeverybody thought how lucky they were to own the mills and take themoney instead of doing the work. At least, that was what gossip saidthey did. 

Unquestionably it was much nicer to live at Aldercliffe, the statelycolonial mansion of Mr. Lawrence Fernald; or at Pine Lea, the home ofMr. Clarence Fernald, where sweeping lawns, bright awnings, gardens, conservatories, and flashing fountains made a wonderland of the place. Troupes of laughing guests seemed always to be going and coming at bothhouses and there were horses and motor-cars, tennis courts, a golfcourse, and canoes and launches moored at the edge of the river. Freeman's Falls was a very stupid spot when contrasted with all thisjollity. It must be far pleasanter, too, when winter came to hurry offto New York for the holidays or to Florida or California, as Mr. Clarence Fernald frequently did. 

With money enough to do whatever one pleased, how could a person helpbeing happy? And yet there were those who declared that both Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Clarence Fernald would have bartered their fortunes tohave had the crippled heir to the Fernald millions strong like otherboys. Occasionally Ted had caught a glimpse of this Laurie Fernald, afourteen-year-old lad with thin, colorless face and eyes that werehaunting with sadness. In the village he passed as "the poor littlechap" or as "poor Master Laurie" and the employees always doffed theircaps to him because they pitied him. Whether one liked Mr. Fernald orMr. Clarence or did not, every one united in being sorry for Mr. Laurie. Perhaps the invalid realized this; at any rate, he never failedto return the greetings accorded him with a smile so gentle and sweetthat it became a pleasure in the day of whomsoever received it. 

It was said at the factories that the reason the Fernalds went to NewYork and Florida and California was because of Mr. Laurie; that was thereason, too, why so many celebrated doctors kept coming to Pine Lea, and why both Mr. Fernald and Mr. Clarence were often so sharp andunreasonable. In fact, almost everything the Fernalds did or did notdo, said or did not say, could be traced back to Mr. Laurie. From themoment the boy was born--nay, long before--both Mr. Lawrence Fernaldfor whom he was named, and his father, Mr. Clarence Fernald, hadplanned how he should inherit the great mills and carry on the businessthey had founded. For years they had talked and talked of what shouldhappen when Mr. Laurie grew up. And then had come the sudden andterrible illness, and after weeks of anxiety everybody realized that ifMr. Laurie lived he would be fortunate, and that he would never be ableto carry on any business at all. 

In what hushed tones the townspeople talked of the tragedy and how theyspeculated on what the Fernalds would do _now_. And how surprised thesuperintendent of one of the mills (who, by the way, had six husky boysof his own) had been to have Mr. Lawrence Fernald bridle with rage whenhe said he was sorry for him. A proud old man was Mr. Fernald, senior. He did not fancy being pitied, as his employees soon found out. PossiblyMr. Clarence Fernald did not like it any better but whether he did ornot he at least had the courtesy not to show his feelings. 

Thus the years had passed and Mr. Laurie had grown from childhood toboyhood. He could now ride about in a motor-car if lifted into it; buthe could still walk very little, although specialists had not given uphope that perhaps in time he might be able to do so. There was a rumorthat he was strapped into a steel jacket which he was forced to wearcontinually, and the mill hands commented on its probable discomfortand wondered how the boy could always keep so even-tempered. For it wasunavoidable that the large force of servants from Aldercliffe and PineLea should neighbor back and forth with the townsfolk and in this waymany a tale of Mr. Laurie's rare disposition reached the village. Andeven had not these stories been rife, anybody could easily have guessedthe patience and sweetness of Mr. Laurie's nature from his smile. 

Among the employees of Fernald and Company he was popularly known asthe Little Master and between him and them there existed a friendlinesswhich neither his father nor his grandfather had ever been able to callout. The difference was that for Mr. Lawrence Fernald the men did onlywhat they were paid to do; for Mr. Clarence they did fully what theywere paid to do; and for Mr. Laurie they would gladly have done whatthey were paid to do and a great deal more. 

"The poor lad!" they murmured one to another. "The poor little chap!"

Of course it followed that no one envied Mr. Laurie his wealth. Howcould they? One might perhaps envy Mr. Fernald, senior, or Mr. Clarence; but never Mr. Laurie even though the Fernald fortune and allthe houses and gardens, with their miles of acreage, as well as thevast cotton mills would one day be his. Even Ted Turner, poor as hewas, and having only the prospect of the factories ahead of him, neverthought of wishing to exchange his lot in life for that of Mr. Laurie. He would rather toil for Fernald and Company to his dying day than bethis weak, dependent creature who was compelled to be carried about bythose stronger than himself. 

Nevertheless, in spite of this, there were intervals when Ted did wishhe might exchange houses with Mr. Laurie. Not that Ted Turner covetedthe big colonial mansion, or its fountains, its pergolas, its widelawns; but he did love gardens, flowers, trees, and sky, and of thesehe had very little. He was, to be sure, fortunate in living on theoutskirts of the village where he had more green and blue than did mostof the mill workers. Still, it was not like Vermont and the unfencedmiles of country to which he had been accustomed. A small tenement inFreeman's Falls, even though it had steam heat and running water, wasin his opinion a poor substitute for all that had been left behind. 

But Ted's father liked the new home better, far better, and so did Ruthand Nancy, his sisters. Many a time the boy heard his fathercongratulating himself that he was clear of the farm and no longer hadto get up in the cold of the early morning to feed and water the stockand do the milking. And Ruth and Nancy echoed these felicitations andrejoiced that now there was neither butter to churn nor hens to carefor. 

Even Ted was forced to confess that Freeman's Falls had its advantages. Certainly the school was better, and as his father had resolved to keephim in it at least a part of the high-school term, Ted felt himself tobe a lucky boy. He liked to study. He did not like all studies, ofcourse. For example, he detested Latin, French, and history; but herevelled in shop-work, mathematics, and the sciences. There was nothingmore to his taste than putting things together, especially electricalthings; and already he had tried at home several crude experiments withimprovised telegraphs, telephones, and wireless contrivances. Doubtlesshe would have had many more such playthings had not materials cost somuch, money been so scarce, and Ruth and Nancy so timid. They did notlike mysterious sparks and buzzings in the pantry and about the kitchenand told him so in no uncertain terms. 

"The next thing you know you'll be setting the house afire!" Ruth hadasserted. "Besides, we've no room for wires and truck around here. You'll have to take your clutter somewhere else. "

And so Ted had obediently bundled his precious possessions into theroom where he slept with his father only to be as promptly ejected fromthat refuge also. 

"You can't be spreadin' wires an' jars an' things round my room!"protested Mr. Turner with annoyance. 

[Illustration: "You can't be spreadin' wires an' jars an' things roundmy room!" protested Mr. Turner. _Page_ 9. ]

It did not seem to occur to him that it was Ted's room as well, --theonly room the boy had. 

Altogether, his treasures found no welcome anywhere in the tinyapartment, and at length convinced of this, Ted took everything downand stowed it away in a box beneath the bed, henceforth confining hisscientific adventures to the school laboratories where they mightpossibly have remained forever but for Mr. Wharton, the manager of thefarms at Aldercliffe and Pine Lea. 

CHAPTER II

TED RENEWS OLD TIMES

Mr. Wharton was about the last person on earth one would have connectedwith boxes of strings and wires hidden away beneath beds. He was agraduate of a Massachusetts agricultural college; a keen-eyed, quick, impatient creature toward whom people in general stood somewhat in awe. He had the reputation of being a top-notch farmer and those who knewhim declared with zest that there was nothing he did not know aboutsoils, fertilizers, and crops. There was no nonsense when Mr. Whartonappeared on the scene. The men who worked for him soon found that out. You didn't lean on your hoe, light your pipe, and hazard the guess thatthere would be rain to-morrow; you just hoed as hard as you could anddid not stop to guess anything. 

Now it happened that it was haying time both at Aldercliffe and PineLea and the rumor got abroad that the crop was an unusually heavy one;that Mr. Wharton was short of help and ready to hire at a good wageextra men from the adjoining village. Mr. Turner brought the tidingshome from the mill one June night when he returned from work. 

"Why don't you try for a job up at Aldercliffe, my lad?" concluded he, after stating the case. "Ever since you were knee-high to a grasshopperyou had a knack for pitching hay. Besides, you'd make a fine bit ofmoney and the work would be no heavier than handling freight down atthe mills. You've got to work somewhere through your summer vacation. "

He made the latter statement as a matter of course for a matter ofcourse it had long since become. Ted always worked when he was notstudying. Vacations, holidays, Saturdays, he was always busy earningmoney for if he had not been, there would have been no chance of hisgoing to school the rest of the time. Sometimes he did errands for oneof the dry-goods stores; sometimes, if there were a vacancy, he helpedin Fernald and Company's shipping rooms; sometimes he worked at thetown market or rode about on the grocer's wagon, delivering orders. Byone means or another he had usually contrived, since he was quite asmall boy, to pick up odd sums that went toward his clothes and "keep. "As he grew older, these sums had increased until now they had become arecognized part of the family income. For it was understood that Tedwould turn in toward the household expenses all that he earned. Hisfather had never believed in a boy having money to spend and even if hehad every cent which the Turners could scrape together was needed athome. Ted knew well how much sugar and butter cost and thereforewithout demur he cheerfully placed in the hands of his sister Ruth, whoran the house, every farthing that was given him. 

From childhood this sense of responsibility had always been in hisbackground. He had known what it was to go hungry that he might haveshoes and go without shoes that he might have underwear. Money had beenvery scarce on the Vermont farm, and although there was now more of itthan there ever had been in the past, nevertheless it was notplentiful. Therefore, as vacation was approaching and he must get a jobanyway, he decided to present himself before Mr. Wharton and ask for achance to help in harvesting the hay crops at Aldercliffe and Pine Lea. 

"You are younger than the men I am hiring, " Mr. Wharton said, after hehad scanned the lad critically. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen. "

"I thought as much. What I want is men. "

"But I have farmed all my life, " protested Ted with spirit. 

"Indeed!" the manager exclaimed not unkindly. "Where?"

"In Vermont. "

"You don't say so! I was born in the Green Mountains, " was the quickretort. "Where did you live?"

"Newfane. "

Instantly the man's face lighted. 

"I know that place well. And you came from Newfane here? How did youhappen to do that?"

"My father could not make the farm pay and we needed money. "

"Humph! Were you sorry to give up farming?"

"Yes, sir. I didn't want to come to Freeman's Falls. But, " added theboy brightening, "I like the school here. "

The manager paused, studying the sharp, eager face, the spare figure, and the fine carriage of the lad before him. 

"Do you like haying?" asked he presently. 

"Not particularly, " Ted owned with honesty. 

Mr. Wharton laughed. 

"I see you are a human boy, " he said. "If you don't like it, why areyou so anxious to do it now?"

"I've got to earn some money or give up going to school in the fall. "

"Oh, so that's it! And what are you working at in school that is soalluring?" demanded the man with a quizzical glance. 

"Electricity. "

"Electricity!"

"Wireless, telegraphs, telephones, and things like that, " put in Ted. 

For comment Mr. Wharton tipped back in his chair and once more let hiseye wander over the boy's face; then he wheeled abruptly around to hisdesk, opened a drawer, and took out a yellow card across which hescrawled a line with his fountain pen. 

"You may begin work to-morrow morning, " he remarked curtly. "If it ispleasant, Stevens will be cutting the further meadow with a gang ofmen. Come promptly at eight o'clock, prepared to stay all day, andbring this card with you. "

He waved the bit of pasteboard to and fro in the air an instant to becertain that the ink on it was dry and afterward handed it to Ted. Instinctively the boy's gaze dropped to the message written upon it andbefore he realized it he had read the brief words:

 "Ted Turner. He says he has farmed in Vermont. If he shows any evidence of it keep him. If not turn him off. Wharton. "

The man in the chair watched him as he read. 

"Well?" said he. 

"I beg your pardon, sir. I did not mean to read it, " Ted replied with astart. "I'm very much obliged to you for giving me the job. "

"I don't see that you've got it yet. "

"But I shall have, " asserted the lad confidently. "All I asked was achance. "

"That's all the world gives any of us, " responded the manager gruffly, as he drew forth a sheet of paper and began to write. "Nobody candevelop our brains, train our muscles, or save our souls butourselves. "

With this terse observation he turned his back on the boy, and afterloitering a moment to make sure that he had nothing more to say, thelad slipped away, triumphantly bearing with him the coveted morsel ofyellow pasteboard. That its import was noncommittal and even containeda tang of skepticism troubled him not a whit. The chief thing was thathe had wrested from the manager an opportunity, no matter howgrudgingly accorded, to show what he was worth. He could farm and heknew it and he had no doubt that he could demonstrate the fact to anyboss he might encounter. 

Therefore with high courage he was promptly on hand the next morningand even before the time assigned he approached Stevens, thesuperintendent. 

"What do you want, youngster?" demanded the man sharply. He was in ahurry and it was obvious that something had nettled him and that he wasin no humor to be delayed. 

"I came to help with the haying. "

"We don't want any boys as young as you, " Stevens returned, movingaway. 

"I've a card from Mr. Wharton. "

"A card, eh? Why didn't you say so in the first place? Shell it out. "

Shyly Ted produced his magic fragment of paper which the overseer readwith disapproval in his glance. 

"Well, since Wharton wants you tried out, you can pitch in with thecrowd, " grumbled he. "But I still think you're too young. I've had boysyour age before and never found them any earthly use. However, youwon't be here long if you're not--that's one thing. You'll find apitchfork in the barn. Follow along behind the men who are mowing andspread the grass out. "

"I know. "

"Oh, you do, do you! Trust people your size for knowing everything. "

To the final remark the lad vouchsafed no reply. Instead he moved awayand soon returned, fork in hand. What a flood of old memories camesurging back with the touch of the implement! Again he was in Vermontin the stretch of mowings that fronted the old white house where he wasborn. The scent of the hay in his nostrils stirred him like an elixir, and with a thrill of pleasure he set to work. He had not anticipatedtoiling out there in the hot sunshine at a task which he had alwaysdisliked; but to-day, by a strange miracle, it did not seem to be atask so much as a privilege. 

How familiar the scene was! As he approached the group of older men ittook him only a second to see where he was needed and he thrust hispitchfork into the swath at his feet with a swing of easy grace. 

"Guess you've done this job before, " called a man behind him after hehad worked for an interval. 

"Yes, I have. "

"You show it, " was the brief observation. 

They moved on in silence up the field. 

"Where'd you learn to handle that fork, sonny?" another voice shouted, as they neared the farther wall. 

"In Vermont, " laughed Ted. 

"I judged as much, " grunted the speaker. "They don't train up farmersof your size in this part of the world. "

Ted flushed with pleasure and for the first time he stopped work andmopped the perspiration from his forehead. He was hot and thirsty buthe found himself strangely exhilarated by the exercise and the sweetmorning air and sunshine. Again he took up his fork and tossed thenewly cut grass up into the light, spreading it on the ground with amethodical sweep of his young arm. The sun had risen higher now and itsdazzling brilliance poured all about him. Up and down the meadow hewent and presently he was surprised to find himself alone near thepoint from which he had started. His fellow-laborers were no longer insight. The field was very still and because it was, Ted began towhistle softly to himself. 

He was startled to hear a quiet laugh at his elbow. 

"Don't you ever eat anything, kid?"

Mr. Wharton was standing beside him, a flicker of amusement in his grayeyes. 

"I didn't know it was noon, " gasped Ted. 

"We'll have to tie an alarm clock on you, " chuckled the manager. "Thegang stopped work a quarter of an hour ago. "

"I didn't notice they had. "

The boy flushed. He felt very foolish to have been discovered workingthere all by himself in this ridiculous fashion. 

"I wanted to finish this side of the field and I forgot about thetime, " he stammered apologetically. 

"Have you done it to your satisfaction?"

"Yes, I'm just through. "

For the life of him Ted could not tell whether the manager was laughingat him or not. He kicked the turf sheepishly. 

"Aren't you tired?" inquired Mr. Wharton at length. 

"No--at least--well, I haven't thought about it. Perhaps I am alittle. "

"And well you may be. You've put in a stiff morning's work. You'dbetter go and wash up now and eat your lunch. Take your full hour ofrest. No matter if the others do get back here before you. Stevens saysyou are worth any two of them, anyway. "

"It's just that I'm used to it, " was the modest reply. 

"We'll let it go at that, " Mr. Wharton returned ambiguously. "And onething more before you go. You needn't worry about staying on. We canuse you one way or another all summer. There'll always be work for aboy who knows how to do a job well. "

CHAPTER III

GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING

Thus it came about that Ted Turner began the long, golden days of hissummer vacation at the great estates of the Fernalds, and soon he hadmade himself such an indispensable part of the farming staff that bothMr. Wharton and Mr. Stevens came to rely on him for many servicesoutside of those usually turned over to the men. 

"Just step over to the south lot at Pine Lea, Ted, and see if thosefellows are thinning the beets properly, " Mr. Wharton would say. "Igave them their orders but they may not have taken them in. You knowhow the thing should be done. Sing out to them if they are not doingthe job right. "

Or:

"Mr. Stevens and I shall be busy this morning checking up the pay roll. Suppose you have an eye on the hilling up of the potatoes, Ted. Showthe men how you want it done and start them at it. I'll be over laterto see how it's going. "

Frequently, instead of working, the boy was called in to give anopinion on some agricultural matter with which he had had experience. 

"We are finding white grubs in the corner of the Pine Lea garden. Theyare gnawing off the roots of the plants and making no end of trouble. What did you do to get rid of them when you were up in Vermont?"

"Salt and wood ashes worked better than anything else, " Ted would replymodestly. "It might not be any good here but we had luck with it athome. "

"We can try it, at least. You tell Mr. Stevens what the proportions areand how you applied it. "

And because the advice was followed by a successful extermination ofthe plague, the lad's prestige increased and he was summoned to futureconclaves when troublesome conditions arose. 

Now and then there was a morning when Mr. Stevens would remark to Mr. Wharton:

"I've got to go to the Falls to-day to see about some freight. TedTurner will be round here, though, and I guess things will be allright. The men can ask him if they want anything. "

And so it went. 

First Ted filled one corner, then another. He did errands for Mr. Wharton, very special errands, that required thought and care, andwhich the manager would not have entrusted to every one. Sometimes heventured valuable suggestions which Mr. Stevens, who really had had farless farming experience than he, was only too grateful to follow. 

If the boy felt at all puffed up by the dependence placed upon him, hecertainly failed to show it. On the contrary he did his partenthusiastically, faithfully, generously, and without a thought ofpraise or reward. Although he was young to direct others, when he didgive orders to the men he was tactful and retiring enough to issue hiscommands in the form of wishes and immediately they were heeded withoutprotest. He never shirked the hard work he asked others to perform butwas always ready to roll up the sleeves of his blue jeans and pitchwith vigor into any task, no matter how menial it was. Had he beenarrogant and made an overbearing use of his authority, the men wouldquickly have rated him as a conceited little popinjay, the pet of theboss, and made his life miserable; but as he remained quite unspoiledby the preference shown him and exhibited toward every one heencountered a kindly sympathy and consideration, the workmen soonaccepted him as a matter of course and even began to turn to himwhenever a dilemma confronted them. 

Perhaps Ted was too genuinely interested in what he was doing to thinkmuch about himself or realize that the place he held was an unusualone. At home he and his father had threshed out many a problem togetherand each given to it the best his brain had to offer, without thoughtof the difference in their ages. Sometimes Ted's way proved the better, sometimes Mr. Turner's. Whichever plan promised to bring the moresuccessful results was followed without regard for the years of him whohad sponsored it. They were working together and for the same goal andwhat did it matter which of them had proposed the scheme they finallyfollowed? To get the work completed and lay low the obstacles in theirpath were the only issues of importance. 

So it was now. Things at Aldercliffe and Pine Lea must be done and donewell, and only what furthered that end counted. Nevertheless, Ted wouldnot have been a human boy had he not been pleased when some idea of hiswas adopted and found to be of use; this triumph, however, was lessbecause the programme followed was his own than because it put forwardthe enterprise in hand. There was a satisfaction in finding the key toa balking problem and see it cease to be a problem. It was fun, forexample, to think about the potatoes and then say to Mr. Wharton:

"Do you know, Mr. Wharton, I believe if we tried a different spray onthat crop that isn't doing well it might help matters. "

And when the new concoction was tried and it did help matters, what aglow of happiness came with the success!

What wonder that as the days passed, the niche awarded the lad grewbigger and bigger!

"There is no way you could come up here and live, is there, Ted?" Mr. Wharton inquired one day. "I'd give a good deal to have you here on thespot. Sometimes I want to talk with you outside working hours and Ican't for the life of me lay hands on you. It's the deuce of a way toFreeman's Falls and you have no telephone. If you were here----" Hepaused meditatively, then continued, "There's a little shack down bythe river which isn't in use. You may remember seeing it. It wasstarted years ago as a boathouse for Mr. Laurie's canoes andthen--well, it was never finished. It came to me the other day that wemight clean it up, get some furnishings, and let you have it. How wouldthe notion strike you?"

Ted's eyes sparkled. 

"I'd like it of all things, sir!" returned he instantly. 

"You wouldn't be timid about sleeping off there by yourself?"

"No, indeed!"

"Well, well! I had no idea you would listen to such a plan, much lesslike it. Suppose you go down there to-day and overhaul the place. Findout what would be required to make you comfortable and we will see whatwe can do about it. I should want you fixed up so you would be allright, you know. While we could not afford to go into luxuries, therewould be no need for you to put up with makeshifts. "

"But I am quite used to roughing it, " protested Ted. "I've often campedout. "

"Camping is all very well for a while but after a time it ceases to bea joke. No, if you move up here to accommodate us, you must have decentquarters. Both Mr. Fernald and Mr. Clarence would insist on that, I amcertain. So make sure that the cabin is tight and write down what youthink it would be necessary for you to have. Then we'll see aboutgetting the things for you. "

"You are mighty good, sir. "

"Nonsense! It is for our own convenience, " Mr. Wharton replied gruffly. 

"Shall I--do you mean that I am to go over there after work to-night?"

"No. Go now. Cut along right away. "

"But I was to help Mr. Stevens with the----"

"Stevens will have to get on without you. Tell him so from me. You cansay I've set you at another job. "

With springing step Ted hurried away. He was not sorry to exchange thetedious task of hoeing corn for the delightful one of furnishing adomicile for himself. What sport it would be to have at last a placewhich he could call his own! He could bring his books from home, hisbox of electrical things--all his treasures--and settle down in hiskingdom like a young lord. He did not care at all if he had only ahammock to sleep in. The great satisfaction would be to be his ownmaster and monarch of his own realm, no matter how tiny it was. Likelightning his imagination sped from one dream to another. If only Mr. Wharton would let him run some wires from the barn to the shack, whatelectrical contrivances he could rig up! He could then light the roomand heat it, too; he could even cook by electricity. 

Probably, however, Mr. Wharton would consider such a notion out of thequestion and much too ambitious. Even though the Fernalds had anelectrical plant of their own, such a luxury was not to be thought of. A candle would do for lighting, of course. 

[Illustration: Soon he came within sight of the shack which stood atthe water's edge. _Page_ 27. ]

Busy with these thoughts and others like them he sped across the meadowand through the woods toward the river. He was not content to walk thedistance but like a child leaped and ran with an impatience not to becurbed. Soon he came within sight of the shack which stood at thewater's edge, mid-way between Aldercliffe and Pine Lea, and wassheltered from view by a grove of thick pines. Its bare, boarded wallshad silvered from exposure to the weather until it was scarcelynoticeable against the gray tree trunks. Nevertheless, its crude, roughsides, its staring windows, and its tarred roof looked cheerless anddeserted enough. But for Ted Turner it possessed none of theseforbidding qualities. Instead of being a hermitage it seemed aparadise, a fairy kingdom, the castle of a knight's tale!

Thrusting the key which Mr. Wharton had given him into the padlock, herolled open the sliding door and intermingled odors of cedar, tar, andpaint greeted him. The room was of good size and was neatly sheathed asan evident preparation for receiving a finish of stain which, however, had never been put on. There were four large windows closed in bylights of glass, a rough board floor, and a fireplace of field stone. Everywhere was dirt, cobwebs, sawdust, and shavings; and scatteredabout so closely there was scarcely space to step was a litter ofnails, fragments of boards, and a conglomeration of tin cans of varioussizes. 

Almost any one who beheld the chaos would have turned away discouraged. But not so Ted! The disorder was of no consequence in his eyes. Throughall its dinginess and confusion he saw that the roof was tight, thewindows whole, and the interior quite capable of being swept out, scrubbed and put in order. That was all he wanted to know. Why, theplace could be made into a little heaven! Already he could see ittransformed into a dwelling of the utmost comfort. He had remodelledmany a worse spot, --the barn loft in Vermont, for example, and made ithabitable. One had only to secure a table, a chair or two, build a bunkand get a mattress, and the trick was turned. 

How proud he should be to have such a dwelling for his own!

He could hardly restrain himself from rolling up his sleeves and goingto work then and there. Fearing, however, that Mr. Wharton might beawaiting his report, he reluctantly closed the door again, turned thekey in it, and hurried back to the manager's office. 

"Well, " inquired the elder man, spinning around in his desk chair asthe boy entered and noting the glow in the youthful face, "how did youfind things at the shack? Any hope in the place?"

"Hope!" repeated Ted. "Why, sir, the house is corking! Of course, it isdirty now but I could clean it up and put it in bully shape. All I'dneed would be to build a bunk, get a few pieces of furniture, and theplace would be cosy as anything. If you'll say the word, I'll startright in to-night after work and----"

"Why wait until to-night?" came drily from the manager. 

"Why--er--I thought perhaps--you see there is the corn----"

"Never mind the corn, " Mr. Wharton interrupted. 

"You mean I could go right ahead now?" asked Ted eagerly. 

"Certainly. You are doing this for our accommodation, not for your own, and there is no earthly reason why you should perform the work outsideyour regular hours. "

"But it is for my accommodation, too, " put in the lad withcharacteristic candor. 

"I am very glad if it happens to be, " nodded Mr. Wharton. "So much thebetter. But at any rate, you are not going to take your recreation timefor the job. Now before you go, tell me your ideas as to furnishings. You will need some things, of course. "

"Not much, " Ted answered quickly. "As I said, I can knock together abunk and rough table myself. If I could just have a couple ofchairs----"

Mr. Wharton smiled at the modesty of the request. 

"Suppose we leave the furnishing until later, " said he, turning back tohis desk with a gesture of dismissal. "I may drop round there some timeto-day while you're working. We can then decide more fully upon what isnecessary. You'll find brooms, mops, rags, and water in the barn, youknow. Now be off. I'm busy. "

Away went Ted, only too eager to obey. In no time he was laden with allthe paraphernalia he desired. He stopped at Stevens' cottage only longenough to add to his equipment a pail of steaming water and then, staggering under the weight of his burden of implements, made his wayto the shack. Once there he threw off his coat, removed his collar andtie, rolled up his sleeves, and went to work. First he cleared the bulkof rubbish from the room and set it outside; then he swept up the floorand mopped it with hot suds; afterwards he washed the windows andrubbed them until they shone. Often he had watched his mother andsisters, who were well trained New England housekeepers, performsimilar offices and therefore he knew exactly how such things should bedone. It took him a solid morning to render the interior spotless andjust as he was pausing to view his handiwork with weary satisfactionMr. Wharton came striding in at the door. 

"Mercy on us!" gasped the newcomer with amazement. "You have been busy!Why, I had no idea there were such possibilities in this place. Theroom is actually a pretty one, isn't it? We shall be able to fix you upsnug as a bug in a rug here. " He ran his eye quickly about. "If you putyour bunk between the windows, you will get plenty of air. You'll needwindow shades, some comfortable chairs, a bureau, a table----"

"I think I can make a table myself, " Ted put in timidly. "That is, if Ican have some boards. "

"No, no, no! There are boards enough. But you don't want a makeshiftthing like that. If you are going to have books and perhaps read orstudy, you must have something that will stand solidly on four legs. Imay be able to root a table out of some corner. Then there will bebedding----"

"I can bring that from home. "

"All right. We'll count on you to supply that if you are sure you haveit to spare. I'll be responsible for the rest. " He stopped an instantto glance into the boy's face then added kindly, "So you think you aregoing to like your new quarters, eh?"

"You bet I am!"

"That's good! And by the by, I have arranged for you to have your mealswith Stevens and his wife. They like you and were glad to take you in. Only you must be prompt and not make them wait for you. Should youprove yourself a bother they might turn you out. "

"I'll be on hand, sir. "

"See that you are. They have breakfast at seven, dinner at twelve, andsupper at six. Whenever you decide to spend Sunday with your family, ortake any meals elsewhere, you must, of course, be thoughtful enough toannounce beforehand that you are to be away. "

"Yes, sir. "

Ted waited a few moments and then, as Mr. Wharton appeared to be on thepoint of leaving, he asked with hesitancy:

"How--how--much will my meals cost?"

An intonation of anxiety rang in the question. 

"Your meals are our hunt, " Mr. Wharton replied instantly. "We shall seeto those. "

"But--but----"

"You'll be worth your board to the Fernald estates, never fear, my lad;so put it all out of your mind and don't think of it any more. All is, should we ask of you some little extra service now and then, I am sureyou will willingly perform it, won't you?"

"Sure!" came with emphatic heartiness. 

"Then I don't see but everything is settled, " the manager declared, ashe started back through the grove of pines. "I gave orders up at thetoolhouse that you were to have whatever boards, nails, and tools youwanted, so don't hesitate to sail in and hunt up anything you need. "

"You are mighty kind, sir. "

"Pooh, pooh. Nonsense! Aren't you improving the Fernald property, I'dlike to know?" Mr. Wharton laughed. "This boathouse has been an eyesorefor years. We shall be glad enough to have it fixed up and used forsomething. "

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRST NIGHT IN THE SHACK

Throughout the long summer afternoon Ted worked on, fitting up his newquarters. Not only did he make a comfortable bunk for himself such ashe had frequently constructed when at logging or sugaring-off camps inVermont, but having several boards left he built along the racksoriginally intended for canoes some shelves for the books he meant tobring from home. By late afternoon he had finished all it was possiblefor him to do and he decided to go to Freeman's Falls and join his ownfamily at supper, and while there collect the possessions he wished totransfer to the shack. 

Accordingly he washed up and started out. 

It was a little late when he reached the house and already his fatherand sisters were at table. 

"Mercy on us, Ted, what under the sun have you been doing until thistime of night?" demanded Mr. Turner. "I should call from seven in themorning until seven at night a pretty long day. "

"Oh, I haven't been working all this time, " laughed the boy. "Or atleast, if I have, I have been having the time of my life doing it. "

Eagerly, and with youthful enthusiasm, he poured out the tale of theday's happenings while the others listened. 

"So you are starting out housekeeping, are you?" chuckled Mr. Turner, when the narrative was finished. "It certainly ain't a bad idea. Notthat we're glad to get rid of you--although I will admit we ain't gotthe room here that I wish we had. It is the amount of time you'll saveand the strength, too, that I'm thinking of. It must be a good threemiles up to Aldercliffe and Pine Lea is at least two miles farther. Being on the spot is going to make a lot of difference. But how are yougoing to get along? What will you do for food? I ain't going to haveyou eating stuff out of tin cans. "

"Oh, you needn't worry about me, Dad. Mr. Wharton has arranged for meto take my meals with Mr. And Mrs. Stevens who have a cottage on theplace. Stevens is the head farmer, you know. "

"A pretty penny that will cost you! What does the man think you are--amillionaire?"

"Mr. Wharton told me the Fernalds would see to the bill. "

"Oh! That's another matter, " ejaculated Mr. Turner, entirely mollified. "I will say it's pretty decent of Mr. Wharton. Seems to me he is doinga good deal for you. "

"Yes, he is. "

"Well, all is you must do your full share in return so he won't loseanything by it. " The elder man paused thoughtfully. "Ain't thereanything we could do to help out? Perhaps we could donate somethingtoward your furnishings. "

"Mr. Wharton said if I could supply my own bedding----"

"We certainly can do that, " put in Ruth quickly. "There is a trunkfulof extra comforters and blankets in the back room that I should bethankful enough to ship off somewhere else. And wouldn't you like somecurtains? Seems to me they'd make it cosy and homelike. I've a piece ofold chintz we've never used. Why not make it into curtains and do awaywith buying window shades?"

"That would be great!"

"It would be lots more cheerful, " remarked Nancy. "What kind of a bedhave you got?"

"I've built a wooden bunk-two bunks, in fact--one over the other likethe berths in a ship. I thought perhaps sometime Dad might want to comeup and visit me; and while I was at it, it was no more work to make twobeds than one. "

Mr. Turner smiled in friendly fashion into his son's eyes. The two weregreat pals and it pleased him that the lad should have included him inhis plans. 

"Beds like that will do all very well for a night or two; but for asteady thing they will be darned uncomfortable. Cover 'em with pineboughs after a long tramp through the woods and they seem like heaven;but try 'em day after day and they cease to be a joke. Wasn't there awire spring round here somewhere, Ruth? Seems to me I remember itstanding up against something. Why wouldn't that be the very thing? Youcould fasten it in place and have a bed good as you have at home. "

"That's a corking idea, Dad!"

"I wish we could go up and see the place, " Ruth suggested. "I am crazyto know what it looks like. Besides, I want to measure the windows. "

"Maybe we could run up there to-night, " her father replied rising. "Itis not late and the Maguires said they would take us out for a littlespin in their Ford before dark. They might enjoy riding up toAldercliffe and be quite willing we should take along the spring bed. Mat is a kind soul and I haven't a doubt he'd be glad to do us a favor. Run down and ask him, Ted; or wait--I'll go myself. "

The Maguires had the apartment just below the Turner's and Mat, athrifty and good-humored Irishman, was one of the night watchmen at theFernald mills. He had a plump little wife, but as there were nochildren he had been able to save more money than had some of hisneighbors, and in consequence had purchased a small car which it washis delight to use for the benefit of his friends. In fact, he oftencalled it the Maguire jitney, and the joke never became threadbare tohis simple mind, for every time he made it he laughed as heartily as ifhe had never heard it before, and so did everybody else. Therefore nosooner had Mr. Turner proposed his plan than Mat was all eagerness tofurther the project. 

"Sure I'll take you--as many of you as can pile in, and the spring bed, too! If you don't mind the inconvenience of the luggage, I don't. Andtell Ted to bring along anything else he'd like to carry. We can packyou all in and the stuff on top of you. 'Twill be easy enough. Justmake ready as soon as you can, so the dark won't catch us. "

You may be sure the Turners needed no second bidding. Ruth and Nancyscrambled the supper dishes out of the way while Ted and his fatherhauled the wire spring out, brushed it, and dragged it downstairs. Afterward Ted collected his box of electrical treasures, his books, andclothing. What he would do with all these things he did not stop toinquire. The chance to transfer them was at hand and he seized it withavidity. His belongings might as well be stored in the shack asanywhere else, --better, far better, for the space they left behindwould be very welcome to the Turner household. 

Therefore with many a laugh, the party crowded into the waiting car andset out for Aldercliffe; and when at length they arrived at the housein the pines and Ted unlocked the sliding doors and pushed them wideopen, ushering in his guests, what a landholder he felt!

"My, but this is a tidy little place!" Maguire ejaculated. "And it'snot so little, either. Why, it's a regular palace! Look at thefireplace and the four windows! My eye! And the tier of bunks is neatas a ship's cabin. Bear a hand here with the spring. I'm all of aquaver to see if it fits, " cried the man. 

"I made the bunks regulation size, so I guess there won't be anytrouble about that, " Ted answered. 

"The head on the lad!" the Irishman cried. "Ain't he the brainy one, though? You don't catch him wool-gathering! Not he!"

Nevertheless he was not content until the spring had been hoisted intoplace and he saw with his own eyes that it was exactly the proper size. "Could anything be cuter!" observed he with satisfaction. "Now with agood mattress atop of that you will have a bed fit for a king. You'llbe comfortable as if you were in a solid gold bedstead, laddie!"

"I'm afraid I may be too comfortable, " laughed Ted. "What if I shouldoversleep and not get to breakfast, or to work, on time!"

"That would never do, " Mr. Turner said promptly. "You must have analarm clock. 'Twould be but a poor return for Mr. Wharton's kindnesswere you to come dawdling to work. "

"I guess you can trust Ted to be on time, " put in Ruth soothingly. "Heis seldom late--especially to _meals_. Even if he were to be late atother places, I should always be sure he would show up when there wasanything to eat. "

"You bet I would, " announced the boy, with a good-humored grin. 

"I shall have enough chintz for curtains for all your windows, "interrupted Nancy, who had been busy taking careful measurements duringthe conversation. "We'll get some brass rods and make the hangings sothey will slip back and forth easily; they will be much nicer thanwindow shades. "

"Ain't there nothin' I can donate?" inquired Mat Maguire anxiously. "Arag rug, now--why wouldn't that be a good thing? The missus makes 'emby the dozen and our house is full of 'em. We're breakin' our necksmornin', noon, and night on 'em. A couple to lay down here wouldn't beso bad, I'm thinking. You could put one beside your bed and anotherbefore the door to wipe your feet on. They'd cheer the room up as wellas help keep you warm. Just say the word, sonny, and you shall have'em. "

"I'd like them tremendously. "

The kind-hearted Irishman beamed with pleasure. 

"Sure, they'll be better out of our house than in it, " remarked he, trying to conceal his gratification. "You can try stumbling over 'em aspell instead of me. 'Twill be interesting to see which of us breakshis neck first. "

It was amazing to see how furniture came pouring in at Ted's bachelorquarters during the next few days. The chintz curtains were finishedand hung; the Maguire rugs made their appearance; Mr. Turner produced ashiny alarm clock; and Nancy a roll of colored prints which she had cutfrom the magazines. 

"You'll be wanting some pictures, " said she. "Tack these up somewhere. They'll brighten up the room and cover the bare walls. "

Thus it was that day by day the wee shack in the woods became morecheery and homelike. 

"I've managed to hunt up a few trap's for you, " called Mr. Wharton onemorning, as he met the boy going to work. "If you want to run over tothe cabin now and unlock the door, I'll send a man over with them. "

Want to! Ted was off in a second, impatient to see what new treasureshe was to receive. He had not long to wait, for soon one of the farmtrucks came into sight, and the driver began to deposit its contents onthe wooden platform which sloped from the door down to the river. 

As Ted helped the man unload, his eyes shone with delight. Could anygifts be rarer? To be sure the furniture was not new. In fact, some ofit was old and even shabby with wear. But the things were all whole, and although they were simple they were serviceable and perhaps lookedmore in harmony with the old-fashioned curtains and the quaint rugsthan if they had come fresh from the shop. There was a chest ofdrawers; a rocking chair, a leather armchair, and a straight woodenchair; a mirror with frame of faded gilt; a good-sized wooden table;and, best of all, a much scarred, flat-topped desk. Ted had never owneda desk in all his life. Often he had dreamed of sitting behind one whenhe grew to be a man. But to have it now--here! To have it for his own!How it thrilled him!

After the furniture was in place and the teamster had gone, he arrangedhis few papers and pencils in the desk drawers a score of times, tryingthem first in one spot and then in another. It was marvelous how muchroom there was in such an article of furniture. What did men use tofill up such a mighty receptacle, anyway? Stretch his possessions as hewould, they only made a scattered showing at the bottom of three of thedrawers. He laughed to see them lying there and hear them rattle aboutwhen he brought the drawers to with a click. However, it was verysplendid to have a desk, whether one had anything to put in it or not, and perhaps in time he would be able to collect more pencils, rulersand blocks of paper. The contrast between not having any room at allfor his things and then so much that he did not know what to do with itwas amusing. 

Now at last he was fully equipped to take up residence in his new abodeand every instant he could snatch from his duties that day he employedin settling his furniture, making up his bed, filling his water pitcherfrom the river and completing his final preparations for residence atthe boathouse. That night he moved in. 

Nothing had been omitted that would contribute to his comfort. Mr. Wharton had given him screens for the windows and across the broad doorhe had tacked a curtain of netting that could be dropped or pushedaside at will. The candlelight glowing from a pair of old brasscandlesticks on the shelf above the fireplace contributed rather thantook away from the effect and to his surprise the room assumed underthe mellow radiance a quality actually æsthetic and beautiful. 

"I don't believe Aldercliffe or Pine Lea have anything better than thisto offer, " the boy murmured aloud, as he looked about him with pride. "I'd give anything to have Mr. Wharton see it now that it's done!"

Strangely enough, the opportunity to exhibit his kingdom followed onthe very heels of his desire, for while he was arranging the last fewbooks he had brought from home on the shelf above his desk he heard atap at the door. 

"Are you in bed, son?" called the manager. "I saw your light and justdropped round to see if you had everything you wanted. "

Rushing to the door, Ted threw it open. 

"I haven't begun to go to bed yet, " returned he. "I've been tooexcited. How kind of you to come!"

"Curiosity! Curiosity!" responded the man hastily. Although Ted knewwell that the comment was a libel, he laughed as Mr. Wharton came in, drawing the door together behind him. 

"By Jove!" burst out the manager, glancing about the room. 

"You like it?"

"Why--what in goodness have you done to the place? I--I--mercy on us!"

"You do like it then?" the boy insisted eagerly. 

"Like it! Why, you've made it into a regular little palace. I'd noidea such a thing was possible. Where did you get your candlesticks andyour andirons?"

"From home. We have radiators in the apartment and so my sisters hadstored them away and were only too glad to have me take them. "

"Humph! And your curtains came from home, too?"

"Yes, sir. "

"Well, you've missed your calling, is all I can say. You belong in theinterior decorating business, " asserted Mr. Wharton. "Wait until Mr. Clarence sees this place. " Again the elder man looked critically roundthe interior. "I wouldn't mind living here myself--hanged if I would. The only thing I don't like is those candles. There is a good deal of adraught here and you are too near the pines to risk a fire. Electricitywould be safer. "

Whistling softly to himself, he began to walk thoughtfully about. 

"I suppose, " he presently went on, "it would be a simple enough matterto run wires over here from the barn. "

"Wouldn't that be bully!"

"You'd like it?"

"Yes, siree!"

The manager took up his hat. 

"Well, we'll see what can be done, " he answered, moving toward thedoor. 

But on the threshold he stopped once more and looked about. 

"I'm going to bring some of the Fernalds over here to see the place, "observed he. "For some time Mr. Clarence has been complaining that thisshack was a blot on the estate and threatening to pull it down. He'dbetter have a peep at it now. You may find he'll be taking it away fromyou. "

He saw a startled look leap into the boy's eyes. 

"No, no, sonny! Have no fears. I was only joking, " he added. "Nevertheless, the house will certainly be a surprise to anybody whosaw it a week ago. I wouldn't have believed such a transformation waspossible. "

Then as he disappeared with his flash-light through the windings of thepine woods he called:

"We'll see about that electric wiring. I imagine it won't be much of ajob, and I should breathe easier to eliminate those candles, pretty asthey are. Until something is done, just be careful not to set yourselfand us afire!"

With that he was gone. 

Ted dropped the screen and loitered a moment in the doorway, lookingout into the night. Before him stretched the river; so near was it thathe could hear the musical lappings of its waters among the tall grassesthat bordered the stream. From the ground, matted thickly with pineneedles, rose a warm, sun-scorched fragrance heavy with sleep. 

The boy stretched his arms and yawned. Then he rolled the doorstogether and began to undress. 

Suddenly he paused with one shoe in his hand. A thought had come tohim. If Mr. Wharton ran the electric wires over to the shack, what wasto prevent him from utilizing the current for some of his owncontrivances? Why, he could, perhaps, put his wireless instruments intooperation and rig up a telephone in his little dwelling. What fun itwould be to unearth his treasures from the big wooden box in which theyhad been so long packed away and set them up here where they wouldinterfere with no one but himself!

He hoped with all his heart the manager would continue to be nervousabout those candles. 

CHAPTER V

A VISITOR

Fervent as this wish was, it was several days before Ted saw Mr. Wharton again and in the meantime the boy began to adapt himself to hisnew mode of living with a will. His alarm clock got him up in themorning in time for a plunge in the river and after a brisk rub-down hewas off to breakfast with the Stevens's, whose cottage was one of atiny colony of bungalows where lived the chauffeurs, head gardener, electricians, and others who held important positions on the twoestates. 

It did not take many days for Ted to become thoroughly at home in thepretty cement house where he discovered many slight services he couldperform for Mrs. Stevens during the scraps of leisure left him aftermeals. His farm training had rendered him very handy with tools and hewas quick to see little things which needed to be done. Moreover, thewillingness to help, which from the moment of his advent to Aldercliffeand Pine Lea had made him a favorite with Mr. Wharton and the men, speedily won for him a place with the kindly farmer's wife. 

Had Ted known it, she had been none too well pleased at the prospect ofadopting into her home a ravenous young lad who might, nay, probablywould be untidy and troublesome; but she did not dare oppose Mr. Wharton when the plan was suggested. Nevertheless, although sheconsented, she grumbled not a little to her husband about theinconvenience of the scheme. The money offered her by the manager hadbeen the only redeeming factor in the case. Quite ignorant of theseconditions, Ted had made his advent into the house and she soon foundto her amazement that the daily coming of her cheery boarder became anevent which she anticipated with motherly interest. 

"He is such a well-spoken boy and so nice to have round, " asserted sheto Mr. Wharton. "Not a mite of trouble, either. In fact, he's a hundredtimes handier than my own man, who although he can make a garden thrivecan't drive a nail straight to save his life. And there's never anyfussing about his food. He eats everything and enjoys it. I believeStevens and I were getting dreadful pokey all alone here by ourselves. The lad has brightened us up no end. We wouldn't part with him now foranything. "

Thus it was that Ted Turner made his way. His password was usefulness. He never measured the hours he worked by the clock, never was too busyor too tired to fill in a gap; and although he was popular witheverybody, and a favorite with those in authority, he never tookadvantage of his position to escape toil or obtain privileges. In fact, he worked harder if anything than did the other men, and as soon as hisassociates saw that the indulgence granted him did not transform himinto a pig, they ceased any jealousy they cherished and accorded himtheir cordial goodwill. For Ted was always modestly respectful towardolder persons; and if he knew more about farming and some other thingsthan did a good many of the laborers on the place, he did not pushhimself forward or boast of his superiority. 

Consequently when he ventured to say, "I wonder if somebody would helpme with this harrow?" he would receive a dozen eager responses, the mennever suspecting that Mr. Wharton had given this little chap authorityto order them to aid with the harrowing of the field. Instead eachworkman thought his cooperation a free-will offering and enjoyed givingit. 

Thus a fortnight passed and no one could have been happier than was TedTurner on a certain clear June evening. He had finished his Saturdaynight supper of baked beans and brown bread and after it was over hadlingered to feed the Stevens's hens, in order to let Mr. Stevens goearly to Freeman's Falls to purchase the Sunday dinner. As a result, itwas later than usual when he started out for his camp on the river'sbrink. The long, busy day was over; he was tired and the prospect ofhis comfortable bed was very alluring. It was some distance to theshack, and before he was halfway through the pine woods that separatedAldercliffe from Pine Lea darkness had fallen, and he was compelled tomove cautiously along the narrow, curving trail. How black the nightwas! A storm must be brewing, thought he, as he glanced up into thestarless heavens. Stumbling over the rough and slippery ground on hewent. Then suddenly he rounded a turn in the path and stood arrestedwith terror. 

Not more than a rod away, half concealed in the denseness of thesweeping branches rose his little shack, a blaze of light! A wave ofconsternation turned him cold and two solutions of the mysteryimmediately flashed into his mind--fire and marauders. Either somethinghad ignited in the interior of the house; or, since it was isolated andhad long been known to be vacant, strolling mischief-makers had brokenin and were ransacking it. He remembered now that he had left a windowopen when he had gone off in the morning. Doubtless thieves were atthis moment busy appropriating his possessions. Of course it could notbe any of the Fernald workmen. They were too friendly and honorable tocommit such a dastardly deed. No, it was some one from outside. Was itnot possible men had come down the river in a boat from Melton, thevillage above, and spying the house had made a landing and encampedthere for the night?

Well, live or die, he must know who his unwelcome guests were. It wouldbe cowardly to leave them in possession of the place and make noattempt to discover their identity. For that invaders were inside theshack he was now certain. It was not a fire. There was neither smokenor flame. Softly he crept nearer, the thick matting of pine needlesmuffling his footsteps. But how his heart beat! Suppose a twig shouldcrack beneath his feet and warn the vandals of his approach? Andsuppose they rushed out, caught him, and--for a moment he halted withfear; then, summoning every particle of courage he possessed, hetiptoed on and contrived to reach one of the windows. 

There he halted, staring, his knees weak from surging reaction. 

Instead of the company of bandits his mind had pictured, there in therocker sat Mr. Wharton and opposite him, in the great leather armchair, was Mr. Clarence Fernald. The latter fact would have been astoundingenough. But the marvel did not cease there. The light suffusing thesmall room came from no flickering candles but glowed steadily from twostrong, unblinking electric lights, one of which had been connectedwith a low lamp on his desk, and the other with a fixture in theceiling. 

Ted could scarcely believe his eyes. All day, during his absence, electricians must have been busy. How carefully they had guarded theirsecret. Why, he had talked with Tim Toyer that very morning on his wayto work and Tim had breathed no word, although he was the headelectrician and had charge of the dynamo which generated the currentboth for Aldercliffe and Pine Lea. The Fernalds had never depended onFreeman's Falls for their electricity; on the contrary, they maintaineda small plant of their own and used the power for a score of purposeson the two estates. 

Evidently either Mr. Wharton or Mr. Clarence Fernald himself must havegiven the order which had with such Aladdin-like magic been so promptlyand mysteriously fulfilled. It certainly was kind of them to do thisand Ted determined they should not find him wanting in gratitude. Pocketing his shyness, he opened the door and stepped into the room. "Well, youngster, I thought it was about time the host made hisappearance, " exclaimed Mr. Wharton. "We could not have waited muchlonger. Mr. Fernald, this is Ted Turner, the lad I have been tellingyou about. "

Ted waited. 

The mill-owner nodded, let his eye travel over the boy's flushed face, and then, as if satisfied by what he saw there, he put out his hand. 

"I have been hearing very excellent reports of you, Turner, " said he, "and I wished to investigate for myself the quarters they have givenyou to live in. You've made a mighty shipshape little den of thisplace. "

"It didn't need very much done to it, " protested Ted, blushing underthe fixed gaze of the great man. "I just cleaned it up and arranged thefurniture. Mr. Wharton was kind enough to give me most of it. "

"I can't claim any thanks, " laughed the manager. "The traps I gave youwere all cast-offs and not in use. It is what you have done with themthat is the marvel. "

"You certainly have turned your donations to good purpose, " Mr. Fernaldobserved. "I've been noticing your books in your absence and see thatmost of them are textbooks on electricity. I judge you are interestedin that sort of thing. "

"Yes, sir, I am. "

"Humph!"

The financier drummed reflectively on the arm of his chair. 

"How did you happen to go into that?" he asked presently. 

"I have been studying it at school. My father is letting me go throughthe high school--at least he hopes to let me finish my course there. Ihave been two years already. That is why I am working during thesummer. "

"I see. And so you have been taking up electricity at school, eh?"

"Yes, sir. I really am taking a business course. The science work inthe laboratory is an extra that I just run in because I like it. Myfather wanted me to fit myself for business. He thought it would bebetter for me, " explained Ted. 

"But you prefer the science?"

"I am afraid I do, sir, " smiled Ted, with ingratiating honesty. "But Idon't mean to let it interfere with my regular work. I try to rememberit is only a side issue. "

Mr. Clarence Fernald did not answer and during his interval of silenceTed fell to speculating on what he was thinking. Probably the magnatewas disapproving of his still going to school and was saying to himselfhow much better it would have been had he been put into the mill andtrained up there instead of having his head stuffed with stenographyand electrical knowledge. 

"What did you do in electricity?" the elder man asked at length. 

"Oh, I fussed around some with telephones, wireless, and telegraphinstruments. "

Mr. Fernald smiled. 

"Did you get where you could take messages?" inquired he with realinterest. 

"By telegraph?"

The financier nodded. 

"I did a little at it, " replied Ted. "Of course I was slow. "

"And what about wireless?"

"I got on better with that. I rigged up a small receiving station athome but when the war came I had to take it down. "

"So that outfit was yours, was it?" commented Mr. Fernald. "I noticedit one day when I was in the village. What luck did you have with it?"

"Oh, I contrived to pick up messages within a short radius. My outfitwasn't very powerful. "

"I suppose not. And the telephone?"

They saw an eager light leap into the lad's eyes. 

"I've worked more at that than anything else, " replied he. "You see oneof the instruments at the school gave out and they set me to tinkeringat it. In that way I got tremendously interested in it. Afterward someof us fellows did some experimenting and managed to concoct a crude onein the laboratory. It wasn't much of a telephone but we finally got itto work. "

"They tell me you are a good farmer as well as an electrician, " Mr. Fernald said. 

"Oh, I was brought up on a farm, sir. "

The great man rose. 

"Well, mind you don't let your electricity make you forget yourfarming, " cautioned he, not unkindly. "We need you right where you are. Still I will own electricity is a pleasant pastime. You will have acurrent to work with now whenever you want to play with it. Just besure you don't get a short circuit and blow out my dynamo. "

"Do--do--you really mean I may use the current for experiments?"demanded Ted. 

Whether Mr. Fernald had made his remarks in jest or expected them to betaken seriously was not apparent; and if he were surprised at havingthe boy catch him up and hold him to account, he at least displayed nota trace of being taken unawares. For only an instant was he thoughtful, and that was while he paused and studied the countenance of the ladbefore him. 

"Why, I don't know that I see any harm in your using the current forreasonable purposes, " he answered slowly, after an interval ofmeditation. "You understand the dangers of running too many voltsthrough your body and of crossing wires, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, sir, " laughed Ted. 

"I must confess I should not trust every boy with such a plaything, "continued the magnate, "but you seem to have a good head on yourshoulders and I guess we can take a chance on you. " He moved silentlyacross the room but on the threshold he turned and added withself-conscious hesitancy, "By the way my--my--son, Mr. Laurie, chancesto be interested in electricity, too. Perhaps some day he might drop inhere and have a talk about this sort of thing. "

"I wish he would. "

With a quiet glance the father seemed to thank the lad for his simpleand natural reply. Both of them knew but too well that such an eventcould never be a casual happening, and that if poor Mr. Laurie ever_dropped in_ at the shack it would be only when he was brought there, either in his wheel-chair or in the arms of some of the servants fromPine Lea. Nevertheless it was obvious that Mr. Fernald appreciated themanner in which Ted ignored these facts and suppressed his surprise atthe unusual suggestion. Had Mr. Laurie's dropping in been an ordinaryoccurrence no one could have treated it with less ceremony than didTed. 

An echo of the gratitude the capitalist felt lingered in his voice whenhe said good night. It was both gentle and husky with emotion and thelad fell asleep marvelling that the men employed at the mills shouldassert that the Fernalds were frigid and snobby. 

CHAPTER VI

MORE GUESTS

When with shining eyes Ted told his father about Mr. Fernald's visit tothe shack, Mr. Turner simply shrugged his shoulders and smiledindulgently. 

"Likely Mr. Clarence's curiosity got the better of him, " said he, "andhe wanted to look your place over and see that it warn't too good; ormebbe he just happened to be going by. He never would have taken thetrouble to go that far out of his way if he hadn't had something up hissleeve. When men like him are too pleasant, I'm afraid of 'em. And asfor Mr. Laurie _dropping in_--why, his father and grandfather would nomore let him associate with folks like us than they'd let him jumpheadfirst into the river. We ain't good enough for the Fernalds. Probably almost nobody on earth is. And when it comes to Mr. Laurie, why, in their opinion the boy doesn't live who is fit to sit in thesame room with him. "

Ted's bright face clouded with disappointment. 

"I never thought of Mr. Laurie feeling like that, " answered he. 

"Oh, I ain't saying Mr. Laurie himself is so high and mighty. He ain't. The poor chap has nothing to be high and mighty about and he knows it. Anybody who is as dependent on others as he is can't afford to tilt hisnose up in the air and put on lugs. For all I know to the contrary hemay be simple as a baby. It's his folks that think he's the king-pinand keep him in cotton wool. " Mr. Turner paused, his lip curling withscorn. "You'll never see Mr. Laurie at your shack, mark my words. Hispeople would not let him come even if he wanted to. "

The light of eagerness in his son's countenance died entirely. 

"I suppose you're right, " admitted he slowly and with evidentreluctance. 

Although he would not have confessed it, he had been anticipating, farmore than he would have been willing to own, the coming of Mr. Laurie. Over and over again he had lived in imagination his meeting with thisfairy prince whose grave, wistful face and pleasant smile had sostrongly attracted him. He had speculated to himself as to what theother boy was like and had coveted the chance to speak to him, neverrealizing that they were not on an equal plane. Mr. Fernald'ssuggestion of Laurie visiting the shack seemed the most natural thingin the world, and immediately after it had been made Ted's fancy hadrun riot, and he had leaped beyond the first formal preliminaries to atime when he and Laurie Fernald would really know one another, evencome to be genuine friends, perhaps. What sport two lads, interested inthe same things, could have together!

Ted had few companions who followed the bent of thought that he did. The fellows he knew either at school or in the town were ready enoughto play football and baseball but almost none of them, for example, wanted to sacrifice a pleasant Saturday to constructing a wirelessoutfit. One or two of them, it is true, had begun the job but they soontired of it and either sat down to watch him work or had deserted himaltogether. The only congenial companion he had been able to count onhad been the young assistant in the laboratory at school who, althoughhe was not at all aged, was nevertheless years older than Ted. 

But with the mention of Mr. Laurie myriad dreams had flashed into hismind. Here was no prim old scholar but a lad like himself, who probablydid not know much more about electrical matters than he. You wouldn'tfeel ashamed to admit your ignorance before such a person, or own thatyou either did not know, or did not understand. You could blunder alongwith such a companion to your heart's content. Such had been his beliefuntil now, with a dozen words, Ted saw his father shatter the illusion. No, of course Mr. Laurie would never come to the shack. It had beenabsurd to think it for a moment. And even if he did, it would only beas a lofty and unapproachable spectator. Mr. Fernald's words were asubtly designed flattery intended to put him in good humor because hewanted something of him. 

What could it be?

Perhaps he meant to oust him out of the boathouse and rebuild it, orpossibly tear it down; or maybe he had taken a fancy to use it as itwas and desired to be rid of Ted in some sort of pleasant fashion. Unquestionably the building belonged to Mr. Fernald and if he chose toreclaim it he had a perfect right to do so. 

Poor Ted! With a crash his air castles tumbled about his ears and theecstasy of his mood gave way to apprehension and unhappiness. Each dayhe waited, expecting to hear through Mr. Wharton that Mr. ClarenceFernald had decided to use the shack for other purposes. Time slippedalong, however, and no such tidings came. In the meanwhile Mr. Whartonmade no further mention of the Fernalds and gradually Ted's fearscalmed down sufficiently for him to gain confidence enough to unpackhis boxes of wire, his tools, and instruments. Nevertheless, in spiteof this, his first enthusiasm had seeped away and he did not attempt togo farther than to take the things out and look at them. 

Before his father had withered his ambitions by his pessimism, a scoreof ideas had danced through his brain. He had thought of running abuzzer over to the Stevens's bungalow in order that Mrs. Stevens mightring for him when she wanted him; and he had thought of connecting Mr. Wharton's office with the shack by telephone. He felt sure he could doboth these things and would have liked nothing better than try them. But now what was the use? If a little later on Mr. Fernald intended totake the shack away from him, it would be foolish to waste toil andmaterial for nothing. For the present, at least, he much better holdoff and see what happened. 

Yet notwithstanding this resolve, he did continue to improve theappearance of the boathouse. Just why, he could not have told. Perhapsit was a vent for his disquietude. At any rate, having some scraps ofboard left and hearing the gardener say there were more geraniums inthe greenhouse than he knew what to do with, Ted made some windowboxesfor the Stevens's and himself, painted them green, and filled them withflowering plants. They really were very pretty and added a surprisingtouch of beauty to the dull, weather-stained little dwelling in thewoods. Mr. Wharton was delighted and said so frankly. 

"Your camp looks as attractive as a teahouse, " said he. "You have noidea how gay the red flowers look among these dark pine trees. How cameyou to think of window-boxes?"

"Oh, I don't know, " was Ted's reply. "The bits of board suggested it, Iguess. Then Collins said the greenhouses were overstocked, and heseemed only too glad to get rid of his plants. "

"I'll bet he was, " responded Mr. Wharton. "If there is anything hehates, it is to raise plants and not have them used. He always has tostart more slips than he needs in case some of them do not root; whenthey do, he is swamped. Evidently you have helped him solve his problemfor no sooner did the owners of the other bungalows see Stevens's boxesthan everybody wanted them. They all are pestering the carpenter forboards. It made old Mr. Fernald chuckle, for he likes flowers and isdelighted to have the cottages on the place made attractive. He askedwho started the notion; and when I told him it was you he said he hadheard about you and wanted to see you some time. "

This time Ted was less thrilled by the remark than he would have been afew days before. A faint degree of his father's scepticism had creptinto him and the only reply he vouchsafed was a polite smile. It wasabsurd to fancy for an instant that the senior member of the Fernaldcompany, the head of the firm, the owner of Aldercliffe, the great andrich Mr. Lawrence Fernald, would ever trouble himself to hunt up a boywho worked on the place. Ridiculous!

Yet it was on the very day that he made these positive and scornfulassertions to himself that he found this same mighty Mr. LawrenceFernald on his doorstep. 

It was early Saturday afternoon, a time Ted always had for a holiday. He had not been to see his family for some time and he had made up hismind to start out directly after luncheon and go to Freeman's Falls, where he would, perhaps, remain overnight. Therefore he came swingingthrough the trees, latchkey in hand, and hurriedly rounding the cornerof the shack, he almost jostled into the river Mr. Lawrence Fernald whowas loitering on the platform before the door. 

"I beg your pardon, sir!" he gasped. "I did not know any one was here. "

"Nor did I, young man, " replied the ruffled millionaire. "You came likea thief in the night. "

"It is the pine needles, sir, " explained the boy simply. "Unless youhappen to step on a twig that cracks you don't hear a sound. "

The directness of the lad evidently pleased the elder man for heanswered more kindly:

"It is quiet here, isn't it? I did not know there was a spot within aradius of five miles that was so still. I was almost imagining myselfin the heart of the Maine woods before you came. "

"I never was in the Maine woods, " ventured Ted timidly, "but if it isfiner than this I'd like to see it. "

"You like your quarters then?"

"Indeed I do, sir. "

"And you're not afraid to stay way off here by yourself?"

"Oh, no!"

Mr. Fernald peered over the top of his glasses at the boy before him. 

"Would you--would you care to come inside the shack?" Ted inquiredafter an interval of silence, during which Mr. Fernald had not takenhis eyes from his face. "It is very cosy indoors--at least I think so. "

"Since I am here I suppose I might just glance into the house, " was thecapitalist's rather magnificent retort. "I don't often get around tothis part of the estate. To-day I followed the river and came fartheraway from Aldercliffe than I intended. When I got to this point the sunwas so pleasant here on the float that I lingered. "

Nodding, Ted fitted the key into the padlock, turned it, and rolled thedoors apart, allowing Mr. Fernald to pass within. The mill owner was alarge man and as he stalked about, peering at the fireplace with itsandirons of wrought metal, examining the chintz hangings, and castinghis eye over the books on the shelf, he seemed to fill the entire room. Then suddenly, having completed his circuit of the interior, he failedto bow himself out as Ted expected and instead dropped into the bigleather armchair and proceeded to draw out a cigar. 

"I suppose you don't mind if I smoke, " said he, at the same instantlighting a match. 

"Oh, no. Dad always smokes, " replied the boy. 

"Your father is in our shipping room, they tell me. "

"Yes, sir. "

"Where did you live before you came here?"

"Vermont. "

"Vermont, eh?" commented the older man with interest. "I was born inVermont. "

"Were you?" Ted ejaculated. "I didn't know that. "

"Yes, I was born in Vermont, " mused Mr. Fernald slowly. "Born on afarm, as you no doubt were, and helped with the haying, milking, andother chores. "

"There were plenty of them, " put in the boy, forgetting for the momentwhom he was addressing. 

"That's right!" was the instant and hearty response. "There wasprecious little time left afterward for playing marbles or flyingkites. "

The lad standing opposite chuckled understandingly and the capitalistcontinued to puff at his cigar. 

"Spring was the best time, " observed he after a moment, "to steal offafter the plowing and planting were done and wade up some brook----"

"Where the water foamed over the rocks, " interrupted the boy, withsparkling eyes. "We had a brook behind our house. There were great flatrocks in it and further up in the woods some fine, deep trout holes. All you had to do was to toss a line in there and the next youknew----"

"Something would jump for it, " cried the millionaire, breaking in turninto the conversation and rubbing his hands. "I remember hauling atwo-pounder out of just such a spot. Jove, but he was a fighter! I cansee him now, thrashing about in the water. I wasn't equipped with a rodof split bamboo, a reel, and scores of flies in those days. A hook, aworm, and a stick you'd cut yourself was your outfit. Nevertheless Imanaged to land my fish for all that. "

Lured by the subject Ted came nearer. 

"Any pickerel holes where you lived?" inquired Mr. Fernald boyishly. 

"You bet there were!" replied the lad. "We had a black, scraggy pondtwo miles away, dotted with stumps and rotting tree trunks. Aboutsundown we fellows would steal a leaky old punt anchored there and polealong the water's edge until we reached a place where the water wasdeep, and then we'd toss a line in among the roots. It wasn't longbefore there would be something doing, " concluded he, with a merrylaugh. 

"How gamey those fish are!" observed Mr. Fernald reminiscently. "Andbass are sporty, too. "

"I'd rather fish for bass than anything else!" asserted Ted. 

"Ever tried landlocked salmon?"

"N--o. We didn't get those. "

"That's what you get in Maine and New Brunswick, " explained Mr. Fernald. "I don't know, though, that they are any more fun to land thana good, spirited bass. I often think that all these fashionable campswith their guides, and canoes, and fishing tackles of the latestvariety can't touch a Vermont brook just after the ice has thawed. I'dgive all I own to live one of those days of my boyhood over again!"

"So would I!" echoed Ted. 

"Pooh, nonsense!" objected Mr. Fernald. "You are young and willprobably scramble over the rocks for years to come. But I'm an oldchap, too stiff in the joints now to wade a brook. Still it is apleasure to go back to it in your mind. "

His face became grave, then lighted with a quick smile. 

"I'll wager the material for those curtains of yours never was boughtround here. Didn't that come from Vermont? And the andirons, too?"

"Yes, sir. "

"Ah, I knew it! We had some of that old shiny chintz at home forcurtains round my mother's four-poster bed. "

He rose and began to pace the room thoughtfully. 

"Some day my son is going to bring his boy over here, " he remarked. "Heis interested in electricity and knows quite a bit about it. I wasalways attracted to science when I was a youngster. I----"

He got no further for there was a stir outside, a sound of voices, anda snapping of dry twigs; and as Ted glanced through the broad frame ofthe doorway he saw to his amazement Mr. Clarence Fernald wheel up theincline just outside a rubber-tired chair in which sat Laurie. 

"I declare if here isn't my grandson now!" exclaimed Mr. Fernald, bustling toward the entrance of the shack. 

Ah, it needed no great perception on Ted's part to interpret the pride, affection, and eagerness of the words; in the tones of the elder man'svoice rang echoes of adoration, hope, fear, and disappointment. Themillowner, however, speedily put them all to rout by crying heartily:

"Well, well! This seems to be a Fernald reunion!"

"Grandfather! Are you here?" cried the boy in the chair, extending histhin hand with the vivid smile Ted so well remembered. 

"Indeed I am! Young Turner and I were just speaking of you. I told himyou were coming to see him some day. "

Laurie glanced toward Ted. 

"It is nice of you to let me come and visit you, " he said, with easyfriendliness. "What a pretty place you have and how gay the flowersare! And the river is beautiful! Our view of it from Pine Lea is nothalf so lovely as this. "

"Perhaps you might like to sit here on the platform for a while, "suggested Ted, coming forward rather shyly and smiling down into thelad's eyes. Laurie returned the smile with delightful candor. 

"You're Ted Turner, aren't you?" inquired he. "They've told me aboutyou and how many things you can do. I could not rest until I had seenthe shack. Besides, Dad says you have some books on electricity; I wantto see them. And I've brought you some of mine. They're in a packagesomewhere under my feet. "

"That was mighty kind of you, " answered Ted, as he stooped to securethe volumes. 

"Not a bit. My tutor, Mr. Hazen, got them for me and some of them arecorking--not at all dry and stupid as books often are. If you haven'tseen them already, I know you'll like them. "

How easily and naturally it all came about! Before they knew it, Mr. Fernald was talking, Mr. Clarence Fernald was talking, Laurie wastalking, and Ted himself was talking. Sitting there so idly in thesunshine they joked, told stories, and watched the river as it creptlazily along, reflecting on its smooth surface the gold and azure ofthe June day. During the pauses they listened to the whispering musicof the pines and drank in their sleepy fragrance. More than once Tedpinched himself to make certain that he was really awake. It all seemedso unbelievable; and yet, withal, there was something so simple andsuitable about it. 

By and by Mr. Clarence rose, stretched his arms, and began boyishly toskip stones across the stream; then Ted tried his skill; and presently, not to be outdone by the others, Grandfather Fernald cast aside hisdignity and peeling off his coat joined in the sport. 

How Laurie laughed, and how he clapped his hands when one of hisgrandfather's pebbles skimmed the surface of the water six times beforeit disappeared amid a series of widening ripples. After this they allwere simply boys together, calling, shouting, and jesting with oneanother in good-humored rivalry. What use was it then ever again toattempt to be austere and unapproachable Fernalds? No use in the world!

Although Mr. Fernald, senior, mopped his brow and slipped back into hiscoat with a shadow of surprise when he came to and realized what he hadbeen doing, he did not seem to mind greatly having lapsed from seventyyears to seven. The fact that he had furnished Laurie with amusementwas worth a certain loss of dignity. 

Ah, it would have taken an outsider days, weeks, months, perhaps yearsto have broken through the conventionalities and beheld the Fernalds asTed saw them that day. It was the magic of the sunshine, the sparkle ofthe creeping river, the mysterious spell of the pines that had wroughtthe enchantment. Perhaps, too, the memory of his Vermont boyhood hadrisen freshly to Grandfather Fernald's mind. 

When the shadows lengthened and the glint of gold faded from the river, they went indoors and Mr. Laurie was wheeled about that he mightinspect every corner of the little house of which he had heard so much. This he did with the keenest delight and it was only after both hisfather and his grandfather had promised to bring him again that hecould be persuaded to be carried back to Pine Lea. As he disappearedamong the windings of the trees, he waved his hand to Ted and called:

"I'll see you some day next week, Ted. Mr. Hazen, my tutor, shall bringme round here some afternoon when you have finished work. I suppose youdon't get through much before five, do you?"

"No, I don't. "

"Oh, any time you want to see Ted I guess he can be let off early, "cried both Mr. Fernald and Mr. Clarence in one breath. 

Then as Mr. Clarence pushed the wheel-chair farther into the dusk ofthe pines, Mr. Fernald turned toward Ted and added in an undertone:

"It's done the lad good to come. I haven't seen him in such highspirits for days. We'll fix things up with Wharton so that whenever hefancies to come here you can be on hand. The poor boy hasn't manypleasures and he sees few persons of his own age. "

CHAPTER VII

MR. LAURIE

The visits of Laurie during the following two weeks became veryfrequent; and such pleasure did they afford him that orders were issuedfor Ted Turner to knock off work each day at four o'clock and return tothe shack, where almost invariably he found his new acquaintanceawaiting him. It was long since Laurie Fernald had had a person of hisown age to talk with. In fact, he had never before seen a lad whosefriendship he desired. Most boys were so well and strong that they hadno conception of what it meant not to be so, and their very robustnessand vitality overwhelmed a personality as sensitively attuned as wasthat of Laurie Fernald. He shrank from their pity, their blunderingsympathy, their patronage. 

But in Ted Turner he immediately felt he had nothing to dread. He mighthave been a Marathon athlete, so far as any hint to the contrary went. Ted appeared never to notice his disability or to be conscious of anydifference in their physical equipment; and when, as sometimeshappened, he stooped to arrange a pillow, or lift the wheel-chair overthe threshold, he did it so gently and yet in such a matter-of-factmanner that one scarcely noticed it. They were simply eager, alert, bubbling, interested boys together, and as the effect of the friendshipshowed itself in Laurie's shining eyes, all the Fernalds encouraged it. 

"Why, that young Turner is doing Laurie more good than a dozendoctors!" asserted Grandfather Fernald. "If he did no work on the farmat all, Ted would be worth his wages. Money can't pay for what he hasdone already. I'm afraid Laurie has been missing young friends morethan we realized. He never complains and perhaps we did not suspect howlonely he was. "

Mr. Clarence nodded. 

"Older people are pretty stupid about children sometimes, I guess, "said he sadly. "Well, he has Ted Turner now and certainly he is asplendid boy for him to be with. Laurie's tutor, Mr. Hazen, likes himtremendously. What a blessing it is that Wharton stumbled on him andbrought him up here. Had we searched the countryside I doubt if wecould have found any one Laurie would have liked so much. He doesn'tcare especially for strangers. "

With the Fernald's sanction behind the friendship, and both Laurie'stutor and his doctor urging it on, you may be sure it thrivedvigorously. The boys were naturally companionable and now, with everybarrier out of the way, and every fostering influence provided, the twosoon found themselves on terms of genuine affection. 

If Laurie went for a motor ride Saturday afternoon, Ted must go, too;if he had a new book, Ted must share it, and when he was not as well asusual, or it was too stormy for him to be carried to the shack, nothingwould do but Ted Turner must be summoned to Pine Lea to brighten thedreariness of the day. Soon the servants came to know the newcomer andunderstand that he was a privileged person in the household. Laurie'smother, a pretty Southern woman, welcomed him kindly and it was notlong before the two were united in a deep and affectionate conspiracywhich placed them on terms of the greatest intimacy. 

"Laurie isn't quite so well this afternoon, Ted, " Mrs. Fernald wouldsay. "Don't let him get too excited or talk too much. " Or sometimes itwas, "Laurie had a bad night last night and is dreadfully discouragedto-day. Do try and cheer him up. "

Not infrequently Mr. Hazen would voice an appeal:

"I haven't been able to coax Laurie to touch his French lesson thismorning. Don't you want to see if you can't get him started on it?He'll do anything for you. "

And when Ted did succeed in getting the lesson learned, and not onlythat but actually made an amusing game out of it, how grateful Mr. Hazen was!

For with all his sweetness Laurie Fernald had a stubborn streak in hisnature which the volume of attention he had received had only served toaccentuate. He was not really spoiled but there were times when hewould do as he pleased, whether or no; and when such a mood came to thesurface, no one but Ted Turner seemed to have any power against it. Therefore, when it occasionally chanced that Laurie refused to see thedoctor, or would not take his medicine, or insisted on getting up whentold to lie in bed, Ted was made an ally and urged to promote the thingthat made for the invalid's health and well-being. 

After being admitted into the family circle on such confidential terms, it followed that absolute equality was accorded Ted and he came andwent freely, both at Aldercliffe and Pine Lea. He read with Laurie, lunched with him, followed his lessons; and listened to his plans, hispleasures, and his disappointments. Perhaps, too, Laurie Fernald likedand respected him the more that he had duties to perform and thereforewas not always free to come at his beck and call as did everybody else. 

"I shan't be able to get round to see you to-day, old chap, " Ted wouldexplain over the telephone. "There is a second crop of peas to plant inthe further lot and as Mr. Stevens is short of men, I'm going to duffin and help, even if it isn't my job. Of course I want to do my bitwhen they are in a pinch. I'll see you to-morrow. "

And although Laurie grumbled a good deal, he recognized the presentneed, and becoming interested in the matter in spite of himself, wishedto hear the following day all about the planting. That he shouldinquire greatly delighted both his father and his grandfather who hadalways been anxious that he should come into touch with the managementof the estates. Often they had tried to talk to him of crops andgardens, plowing and planting, but to the subject the heir had lentmerely a deaf ear. Now with Ted Turner's advent had come a newinfluence, the testimony of one who was practically interested inagricultural problems and thought farming anything but dull. The boywas genuinely eager that the work of the men should be a success andtherefore when he hoped for fair weather for the haying and it seemedto make a real difference to him whether it was pleasant or not, howcould Laurie help being eager that it should not rain until the fieldswere mowed and the crop garnered into the great barns? Or when Ted wasworrying about the pests that invaded the garden, one wouldn't havebeen a true friend not to ask how the warfare was progressing. 

Before Laurie knew it, he had learned much about the affairs of theestates and had become awake to the obstacles good farmers encounter intheir strife with soil and weather conditions. As a result his outlookbroadened, he became less introspective and more alive to the concernsof those about him; and he gained a new respect for his father's andgrandfather's employees. One had much less time to be depressed anddiscouraged when one had so many things to think of. 

Sometimes Ted brought in seeds and showed them; and afterward a slenderplant that had sprouted; and then Mr. Hazen would join in and tell thetwo boys of other plants, --strange ones that grew in novel ways. Orperhaps the talk led to the chemicals the gardeners were mixing withthe soil and wandered off into science. Every topic seemed to reach sofar and led into such fascinating mazes of knowledge! What a surprisingplace the world was!

Of course, had the Fernalds so desired they could have relieved Ted ofall his farming duties, and indeed they were sorely tempted at times todo so; but when they saw how much better it was to keep the boy'svisits a novelty instead of making of them a commonplace event, andsensed how much knowledge he was bringing into the invalid's room, theydecided to let matters progress as they were going. They did, however, arrange occasional holidays for the lad and many a jolly outing did Tedhave in consequence. Had they displayed less wisdom they might havewrecked the friendship altogether. As it was they strengthened it dailyand the little shack among the pines became to both Ted and to Lauriethe most loved spot in the world. Frequently the servants from Pine Leasurprised the boys by bringing them their luncheon there; and sometimesMrs. Fernald herself came hither with her tea-basket, and the entirefamily sat about before the great stone fireplace and enjoyed a picnicsupper. 

It was after one of these camping teas that Mr. Clarence Fernald boughtfor Laurie a comfortable Adirondack canoe luxuriously fitted up withcushions. The stream before the boathouse was broad and containedlittle or no current except down toward Pine Lea, where it narrowedinto rapids that swept over the dam at Freeman's Falls. Therefore ifone kept along the edges of the upper part of the river, there was nodanger and the canoe afforded a delightful recreation. Both the elderFernalds and Mr. Hazen rowed well and Ted pulled an exceptionallystrong oar for a boy of his years. Hence they took turns at propellingthe boat and soon Laurie was as much at home on the pillows in thestern as he was in his wheel-chair. 

He greatly enjoyed the smooth, jarless motion of the craft; and often, even when it was anchored at the float, he liked to be lifted into itand lie there rocking with the wash of the river. It made a changewhich he declared rested him, and it was through this simple andapparently harmless pleasure that a terrible catastrophe took place. 

On a fine warm afternoon Mr. Hazen and Laurie went over to the shack tomeet Ted who usually returned from work shortly after four o'clock. Thedoor of the little camp was wide open when they arrived but their hostwas nowhere to be seen. This circumstance did not trouble them, however, for on the days when Laurie was expected Ted always left theboathouse unlocked. What did disconcert them and make Laurie impatientwas to discover that through some error in reckoning they were almostan hour too early. 

"Our clocks must have been ahead of time, " fretted the boy. "We shallhave to hang round here the deuce of a while. "

"Wouldn't you like me to wheel you back through the grove?" questionedthe tutor. 

"Oh, there's no use in that. Suppose you get out the pillows and helpme into the boat. I'll lie there a while and rest. "

"All right. "

With a ready smile Mr. Hazen plunged into the shack and soon returnedladen with the crimson cushions, which he arranged in the stern of thecanoe with greatest care. Afterward he picked Laurie up in his arms asif he had been a feather and carried him to the boat. 

"How's that?" he asked, when the invalid was settled. 

"Fine! Great, thanks! You're a wonder with pillows, Mr. Hazen; youalways get them just right, " replied the lad. "Now if I only had mybook----"

"I could go and get it. "

"Oh, no. Don't bother. Ted will be here before long, won't he? Whattime is it?"

"About half-past three. "

"Only half-past three! Great Scott! I thought it must be nearly four bythis time. Then I have quite a while to wait, don't I? I don't see whyyou got me over here so early. "

"I don't either, " returned Mr. Hazen pleasantly. "I'm afraid my watchmust have been wrong. "

Laurie moved restlessly on the pillows. He had passed a wretched nightand was worn and nervous in consequence. 

"I guess perhaps you'd better run back to the house for my book, "remarked he presently. "I shall be having a fit of the blues if I haveto hang round here so long with nothing to do. "

"I'm perfectly willing to go back, " Mr. Hazen said. "But are yousure----"

"Oh, I'm all right, " cut in the boy sharply. "I guess I can sit in aboat by myself for a little while. "

"Still, I'm not certain that I ought to----"

"Leave me? Nonsense! What do you think I am, Hazen? A baby? What onearth is going to happen to me, I'd like to know?"

"Nevertheless I don't like to----"

"Oh, do stop arguing. It makes me tired. Cut along and get the book, can't you? Why waste all this time fussing?" burst out the invalidfretfully. "How am I ever going to get well, or think I am well, if youkeep reminding me every minute that I am a helpless wreck? It is enoughto discourage anybody. Why can't you treat me like other people? If youchose to sit in a boat alone for half an hour nobody'd throw a fit. Whycan't I?"

"I suppose you can, " retorted the tutor unwillingly. "Only you know wenever do----"

"Leave me? Don't I know it? The way people tag at my heels drives mealmost crazy sometimes. You wouldn't like to have some one dogging yourfootsteps from morning until night, would you?"

"I'm afraid I shouldn't, " admitted Mr. Hazen. 

For an interval Laurie was silent; then he glanced up with one of hisswift, appealing smiles. 

"There, there, Mr. Hazen!" he said with winning sincerity. "Forgive me. I didn't mean to be cross. I do get so fiendishly impatient sometimes. How you can keep on being so kind to me I don't see. Do please go andget the book, like a good chap. It's on the chair in my room or else onthe library table. You'll find it somewhere. 'Treasure Island, ' youknow. I had to leave it in the middle of a most exciting chapter and Iam crazy to know how it came out. "

Reluctantly Mr. Hazen moved away. It was very hard to resist LaurieFernald when he was in his present mood; besides, the young tutor wasgenuinely fond of his charge and would far rather gratify his wishesthan refuse him anything. Therefore he hurried off through the grove, resolving to return as fast as ever he could. 

In the meantime Laurie threw his head back on the pillows and looked upat the sky. How blue it was and how lazily the clouds drifted by! Wasany spot on earth so still as this? Why, you could not hear a sound! Heyawned and closed his eyes, the fatigue of his sleepless nightovercoming him. Soon he was lost in dreams. 

 * * * * *

He never could tell just what it was that aroused him; perhaps it was apremonition of danger, perhaps the rocking of the boat. At any rate hewas suddenly broad awake to find himself drifting out into the middleof the stream. In some way the boat must have become unfastened and therising breeze carried it away from shore. Not that it mattered verymuch now. The thing that was of consequence was that he was helplesslydrifting down the river with no means of staying his progress. Soon hewould be caught in the swirl of the current and then there would be nohelp for him. What was he to do?

Must he lie there and be borne along until he was at last carried overthe dam at his father's mills?

He saw no escape from such a fate! There was not a soul in sight. Thebanks of the river were entirely deserted, for the workmen were faraway, toiling in the fields and gardens, and they could not hear himeven were he to shout his loudest. As for Mr. Hazen, he was probablystill at Pine Lea searching for the book and wouldn't be back for sometime. 

The boy's heart sank and he quivered with fear. Must he be drownedthere all alone? Was there no one to aid him?

Thoroughly terrified, he began to scream. But his screams only reëchoedfrom the silent river banks. No one heard and no one came. 

He was in the current of the stream now and moving rapidly along. Faster and faster he went. Yes, he was going to be swept on toFreeman's Falls, going to be carried over the dam and submerged beneaththat hideous roar of water that foamed down on the jagged rocks in aboiling torrent of noise and spray. Nobody would know his plight untilthe catastrophe was over; and even should any of the mill hands catchsight of his frail craft as it sped past it would be too late for themto help him. Before a boat could be launched and rescuers summoned hewould be over the falls. 

Yes, he was going to die, _to die_!

Again he screamed, this time less with a thought of calling for helpthan as a protest against the fate awaiting him. To his surprise heheard an answering shout and a second later saw Ted Turner dash throughthe pines, pause on the shore, and scan the stream. Another instant andthe boy had thrown off his coat and shoes and was in the water, swimming toward the boat with quick, overhand strokes. 

[Illustration: He heard an answering shout and a second later saw TedTurner dash through the pines. _Page_ 88. ]

"Keep perfectly still, Laurie!" he panted. "You're all right. Justdon't get fussed. "

Yet cheering as were the words, they could not conceal the fact thatTed was frightened, terribly frightened. 

The canoe gained headway with the increasing current. It seemed now toleap along. And in just the proportion that its progress wasaccelerated, the speed of the pursuer lessened. It seemed as if Tedwould never overtake his prize. How they raced one another, the bobbingcraft and the breathless boy! Ted Turner was a strong swimmer but thecanoe with its solitary occupant was so light that it shot over thesurface of the water like a feather. 

Was the contest to be a losing one, after all?

Laurie, looking back at the wake of the boat, saw Ted's arm move slowerand slower and suddenly a wave of realization of the other's dangercame upon him. They might both be drowned, --two of them instead of one!

"Give it up, old man!" he called bravely. "Don't try any more. You maygo down yourself and I should have to die with that misery on my soul. You've done your best. It's all right. Just let me go! I'm not afraid. "

There was no answer from the swimmer but he did not stop. On thecontrary, he kept stubbornly on, plowing with mechanical persistencethrough the water. Then at length he, too, was in the current and wasgaining surely and speedily. Presently he was only a length away fromthe boat--he was nearer--nearer! His arm touched the stern and LaurieFernald caught his hand in a firm grip. There he hung, breathingheavily. 

"I've simply got to stop a second or two and get my wind, " said he. "Then we'll start back. "

"Ted!"

"There are no oars, of course, but I can tie the rope around my body orperhaps catch it between my teeth. The canoe isn't heavy, you know. After we get out of the current and into quiet water, we shall have notrouble. We can cut straight across the stream and the distance toshore won't be great. I can do it all right. "

And do it he did, just how neither of the lads could have told. 

Nevertheless he did contrive to bring the boat and Laurie with it to aplace of safety. Shoulder-deep in the water stood the frenzied Mr. Hazen who had plunged in to meet them and drag them to land. They hadcome so far down the river that when the canoe was finally beached theyfound themselves opposite the sweeping lawns of Pine Lea. 

Ted and the tutor were chilled and exhausted and Laurie was weak fromfright and excitement. It did not take long, you may be sure, to summonhelp and bundle the three into a motor car which carried them to PineLea. Once there the invalid was put to bed and Mr. Hazen and Tedequipped with dry garments. 

"I shall get the deuce from the Fernalds for this!" commented the youngtutor gloomily to Ted. "If it had not been for you, that boy wouldcertainly have been drowned. Ugh! It makes me shudder to think of it!Had anything happened to him, I believe his father and grandfatherwould have lynched me. "

"Oh, Laurie is going to take all the blame, " replied Ted, making anattempt to comfort the dejected young man. "He told me so himself. "

"That's all very well, " rejoined Mr. Hazen, "but it won't help much. Ishouldn't have left him. I had no right to do it, no matter what hesaid. I suppose the boat wasn't securely tied. It couldn't have been. Then the breeze came up. Goodness knows how the thing actuallyhappened. I can't understand it now. But the point is, it did. Jove!I'm weak as a rag! I guess there can't be much left of you, Ted. "

"Oh, I'm all right now, " protested Ted. "What got me was the fright ofit. I didn't mind the swimming, for I've often crossed the river andback during my morning plunge. My work keeps me in pretty goodtraining. But to-day I got panicky and my breath gave out. I was soafraid I wouldn't overtake the boat before----"

"I know!" interrupted the tutor with a shiver. "Well, it is all overnow, thank God! You were a genuine hero and I shall tell the Fernaldsso. "

"Stuff! Don't tell them at all. What's the use of harrowing theirfeelings all up now that the thing is past and done with?"

"But Laurie--he is all done up and they will be at a loss to accountfor it, " objected Mr. Hazen. "Besides, the servants saw us come ashoreand have probably already spread the story all over the place. Andanyhow, I believe in being perfectly aboveboard. You do yourself, youknow that. So I shall tell them the whole thing precisely as ithappened. Afterward they'll probably fire me. "

"No, they won't! Cheer up!"

"I deserve to be fired, too, " went on the young tutor without heedingthe interruption. "I ought not to have left Laurie an instant. "

"Perhaps not. But you won't do it again. "

"You bet I won't!" cried Mr. Hazen boyishly. 

It subsequently proved that Mr. Hazen knew far more of his employersthan did Ted, for after the story was told only the pleas of the youngrescuer availed to soften the sentence imposed. 

"He's almighty sorry, Mr. Fernald, " asserted Ted Turner. "Don't tip himout. Give him a second try. He won't ever do it again. "

"W--e--ll, for your sake I will, " Mr. Clarence said, yieldingreluctantly to the pleading of the lad who sat opposite. "It would behard for me to deny you anything after what you've done. You've savedour boy's life. We never shall forget it, never. But Hazen can thankyou for his job--not me. "

And so, as a result of Ted's intercession, Mr. Hazen stayed on. Infact, as Mr. Clarence said, they could deny the lad nothing. It seemedas if the Fernalds never could do enough for him. Grandfather Fernaldgave him a new watch with an illuminated face; and quite unknown to anyone, Laurie's father opened a bank account to his credit, depositing asubstantial sum as a "starter. "

But the best of the whole thing was that Laurie turned to Ted with adeeper and more earnest affection and the foundation was laid for astrong and enduring friendship. 

CHAPTER VIII

DIPLOMACY AND ITS RESULTS

Laurie, Ted, and Mr. Hazen were in the shack on a Saturday afternoonnot long after the adventure on the river. A hard shower had driventhem ashore and forced them to scramble into the shelter of the camp atthe water's edge. How the rain pelted down on the low roof! It seemedas if an army were bombarding the little hut! Within doors, however, all was tight, warm, and cosy and on the hearth before a roaring firethe damp coats were drying. 

In the meantime the two boys and the young tutor had dragged out somecoils of wire and a pair of amateur telephone transmitters which Tedhad concocted while in school and for amusement were trying to run fromone end of the room to the other a miniature telephone. Thus far theirattempts had not been successful and Ted was becoming impatient. 

"We got quite a fair result at the laboratory after the things wereadjusted, " commented he. "I don't see why we can't work the same stunthere. "

"I'm afraid we haven't put time enough into it yet, " replied Mr. Hazen. "Don't you remember how long Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of thetelephone, experimented before he got results?"

Laurie, who was busy shortening a bit of wire, glanced up withinterest. 

"I can't for the life of me understand how he knew what he wanted todo, can you?" he mused. "Think of starting out to make somethingperfectly new--a machine for which you had no pattern! I can imagineworking out improvements on something already on the market. But toproduce something nobody had ever seen before--that beats me! How didhe ever get the idea in the first place?"

The tutor smiled. 

"Mr. Bell did not set out to make a telephone, Laurie, " he answered. "What he was aiming to do was to perfect a harmonic telegraph, a schemeto which he had been devoting a good deal of his time. He and hisfather had studied carefully the miracle of speech--how the sounds ofthe human voice were produced and carried to others--and as a result ofthis training Mr. Bell had become an expert teacher of the deaf. He wasalso professor of Vocal Physiology at Boston University where he hadcourses in lip reading, or a system of visible speech, which his fatherhad evolved. This work kept him busy through the day so whateverexperimenting he did with sounds and their vibrations had to be done atnight. "

"So he stole time for electrical work, too, did he?" observed Ted. 

"I'm afraid that his interest in sound vibration caused him a sorryloss of sleep, " said the tutor. "But certainly his later results wereworth the amount of rest he sacrificed. One of the first agencies heemployed to work upon was a piano. Have you ever tried singing a noteinto this instrument when the sustaining pedal is depressed? Do it sometime and notice what happens. You will find that the string tuned tothe pitch of your voice will start vibrating while all the othersremain quiet. You can even go farther and try the experiment ofuttering several different pitches, if you want to, and thecorresponding strings will give back your notes, each one singling outits own particular vibration from the air. Now the results reached inthese experiments with the piano strings meant a great deal more toAlexander Graham Bell than they would have meant to you or to me. Inthe first place, his training had given him a very acute ear; and inthe next place, he was able to see in the facts presented asignificance which an unskilled listener would not have detected. Hefound that this law of sympathetic vibration could be repeatedelectrically and, if desired, from a distance by means ofelectromagnets placed under a group of piano strings; and if afterwarda circuit was made by connecting the magnets with an electric battery, you immediately had the same singing of the keys and a similarsearching of each for its own pitch. "

"I'd like to try that trick some time, " exclaimed Ted, leaning forwardeagerly. 

"So should I!" echoed Laurie. 

"I think we could quite easily make the experiment if Laurie's motherwould not object to our rigging up an attachment to her piano, " Mr. Hazen responded. 

"Oh, Mater wouldn't mind, " answered Laurie confidently. "She neverminds anything I want to do. "

"I know she is a very long-suffering person, " smiled the tutor. "Do yourecall the white mice you had once, Laurie, and how they got loose andran all over the house?"

"And the chameleons! And the baby alligator!" chuckled Laurie. "Motherdid get her back up over that alligator. She didn't like meeting him inthe hall unexpectedly. But she wouldn't mind a thing that wasn'talive. "

"You call an electric wire dead then, " said Ted with irony. 

"Well, no--not precisely, " grinned Laurie. "Still I'm certain Materwould be less scared of it than she would of a mouse, even if the wirecould kill her and the mouse couldn't. "

"Let's return to Mr. Bell and his piano strings, " Ted remarked, afterthe laughter had subsided. 

Mr. Hazen's brow contracted thoughtfully and in his leisurely fashionhe presently replied:

"You can see, can't you, that if an interrupter caused the electriccurrent to be made and broken at intervals, the number of times itinterrupted per second would, for example, correspond to the rate ofvibration in one of the strings? In other words, that would be the onlystring that would answer. Now if you sang into the piano, you wouldhave the rhythmic impulse that set the piano strings vibrating comingdirectly through the air, while with the battery the impulse would comethrough the wire and the electromagnets instead. In each case, however, the principle involved would be the same. "

"I can see that, " said Ted quickly. "Can't you, Laurie?"

His chum nodded. 

"Now, " continued Mr. Hazen, "just as it was possible to start two ormore different notes of the piano echoing varying pitches, so it ispossible to have several sets of these _make-and-break_ or intermittentcurrents start their corresponding strings to answering. In this wayone could send several messages at once, each message being toned to adifferent pitch. All that would be necessary would be to have differentlykeyed interrupters. This was the principle of the harmonic telegraph atwhich Mr. Bell was toiling outside the hours of his regular work andthrough which he hoped to make himself rich and famous. His intentionwas to break up the various sounds into the dots and dashes of theMorse code and make one wire do what it had previously taken severalwires to perform. "

"It seems simple enough, " speculated Laurie. 

"It was not so simple to carry out, " declared Mr. Hazen. "Of course, asI told you, Mr. Bell could not give his entire time to it. He had histeaching both at Boston University and elsewhere to do. Nor was hewholly free at the Saunders's, with whom he boarded at Salem, for hewas helping the Saunders's nephew, who was deaf, to study. "

"And in return poor Mrs. Saunders had to offer up her piano forexperiments, I suppose, " Ted observed. 

"Well, perhaps at first--but not for long, " was Mr. Hazen's reply. "Mr. Bell soon abandoned piano strings and in their place resorted to flatstrips of springy steel, keying them to different pitches by varyingtheir length. One end of these strips he fastened to a pole of anelectromagnet and the other he extended over the other pole and leftfree. "

"And the current interrupters?" queried Ted. 

"Those current interrupters are the things which have since becomeknown as transmitters, " explained Mr. Hazen. "Those Mr. Bell made allalike except that in each one of them were springs kept in constantvibration by a magnet or point of metal placed above each spring sothat the spring would touch it at every vibration, thus making andbreaking the electric current the same number of times per second thatcorresponded to the pitch of the piece of steel. By tuning the springsof the receivers to the same pitch with the transmitters and running awire between them equipped with signalling keys and a battery, Bellreasoned he could send as many messages at one time as there werepitches. "

"Did he get it to work?" Laurie asked. 

"Mr. Bell didn't, no, " replied the tutor. "What sounded logical enoughon paper was not so easy to put into practise. The idea has beencarried out successfully, however, since then. But Mr. Bellunfortunately had no end of troubles with his scheme, and we all maythank these difficulties for the telephone, for had his harmonictelegraph gone smoothly we might not and probably would not have hadBell's other and far more important invention. "

"The discovery of the telephone was a 'happen, ' then, " Ted ventured. 

"More or less of a happen, " was the reply. "Of course, the intelligentrecognition of the law behind it was not a happen; nor was the patientand persistent toil that went into the perfecting of the instrument amatter of chance. Alexander Graham Bell had the genius to recognize thevalue and significance of the truth on which he stumbled and turn it topractical purposes. Many another might perhaps have heard the self-samesounds that came to him over that reach of wire and, detecting nothingunusual in the whining vibrations, have passed them by. But to Mr. Bellthey were magic music, the sesame to a new country. Strangely enough, too, it was the good luck of a boy not much older than Ted to sharewith the discoverer the wonderful secret. "

"How?" demanded both Laurie and Ted in a breath. 

"I can't tell you that story to-day, " Mr. Hazen expostulated. "It wouldtake much too long. We must give over talking and put our minds on thistelephone of our own which does not seem to be making any greatprogress. I begin to be afraid we haven't the proper outfit. "

As he spoke, a shadow crossed the window and in another instant Mr. Clarence Fernald poked his head in at the door. 

"What are you three conspirators up to?" inquired he. "You look as ifyou were making bombs or some other deadly thing. "

"We are making a telephone, Dad, and it won't work, " was Laurie'sanswer. 

Mr. Fernald smiled with amusement. 

"You seem to have plenty of wire, " he said. "In fact, if I werepermitted to offer a criticism, I should say you had more wire thananything else. How lengthy a circuit do you expect to cover?"

"Oh, we're not ambitious, " Laurie replied. "If we can cross the room weshall be satisfied, although now that you mention it, perhaps itwouldn't be such a bad thing if it could run from my room at home overhere. " He eyed his father furtively. "Then when I happened to have tostay in bed I could talk to Ted and he could cheer me up. "

"So he could!" echoed Mr. Fernald in noncommittal fashion. 

"It would be rather nice, too, for Mr. Wharton, " went on the diplomatwith his sidelong glance still fixed on his father. "He must sometimeswish he could reach Ted without bothering to send a man way over here. And then there are the Turners! Of course a telephone to the shackwould give them no end of pleasure. They must miss Ted and often wantto speak with him. "

He waited but there was no response from Mr. Fernald. 

"Ted might be sick, too; or have an accident and wish to get helpand----"

At last the speaker was rewarded by having the elder man turn quicklyupon him. 

"In other words, you young scoundrel, you want me to install atelephone in this shack for the joy and delight of you two electricianswho can't seem to do it for yourselves, " said Mr. Fernald gruffly. 

"Now however do you suppose he guessed it?" exclaimed Lauriedelightedly, as he turned with mock gravity to Ted. "Isn't he the mindreader?"

It was evident that Laurie Fernald thoroughly understood his father andthat the two were on terms of the greatest affection. 

"Did I say I wanted a telephone?" he went on meekly. 

"You said everything else, " was the grim retort. 

"Did I? Well, well!" commented the boy mischievously. "I needn't havetaken so much trouble after all, need I? But every one isn't such aSherlock Holmes as you are, Dad. "

Mr. Fernald's scowl vanished and he laughed. 

"What a young wheedler you are!" observed he, playfully rumpling up hisson's fair hair. "You could coax every cent I have away from me if Idid not lock my money up in the bank. I really think, though, that atelephone here in the hut would be an excellent idea. But what I don'tsee is why you don't do the job yourselves. "

"Oh, we could do the work all right if there wasn't danger of ourinfringing the patent of the telephone company, " was Laurie's impishreply. "If we should get into a lawsuit there would be no end oftrouble, you know. I guess we'd much better have the thing installed inthe regular way. "

"I guess so too!" came from his father. 

"You'll really have it put in, Dad?" cried Laurie. 

"Sure!"

"That will be bully, corking!" Laurie declared. "You're mighty good, Dad. "

"Pooh! Nonsense!" his father protested, as he shot a quick glance oftenderness toward the boy. "A telephone over here will be a usefulthing for us all. I may want to call Ted up myself sometimes. We nevercan tell when an emergency may arise. "

Within the following week the telephone was in place and although Tedhad not minded his seclusion, or thought he had not, he suddenly foundthat the instrument gave him a very comfortable sense of nearness tohis family and to the household at Pine Lea. He and Laurie chatteredlike magpies over the wire and were far worse, Mrs. Fernald asserted, than any two gossipy boarding-school girls. Moreover, Ted was now ableto speak each day with his father at the Fernald shipping rooms and bythis means keep in closer touch with his family. As for Mr. Wharton, hemarvelled that a telephone to the shack had not been put in at theoutset. 

"It is not a luxury, " he insisted. "It's a necessity! An indispensablepart of the farm equipment!"

Certainly in the days to come it proved its worth!

CHAPTER IX

THE STORY OF THE FIRST TELEPHONE

"I am going down to Freeman's Falls this afternoon to get some rubbertape, " Ted remarked to Laurie, as the two boys and the tutor wereeating a picnic lunch in Ted's cabin one Saturday. 

"Oh, make somebody else do your errand and stay here, " Laurie begged. "Anybody can buy that stuff. Some of the men must be going to theFalls. Ask Wharton to make them do your shopping. "

"Perhaps Ted had other things to attend to, " ventured Mr. Hazen. 

"No, I hadn't, " was the prompt reply. 

"In that case I am sure any of the men would be glad to get whateveryou please, " the tutor declared. 

"Save your energy, old man, " put in Laurie. "Electrical supplies areeasy enough to buy when you know what you want. "

"They are now, " Mr. Hazen remarked, with a quiet smile, "but they havenot always been. In fact, it was not so very long ago that it wasalmost impossible to purchase either books on electricity or electricalstuff of any sort. People's knowledge of such matters was so scantythat little was written about them; and as for shops of this type--why, they were practically unknown. "

"Where did persons get what they wanted?" asked Ted with surprise. 

"Nobody wanted electrical materials, " laughed Mr. Hazen. "There was nocall for them. Even had the shops supplied them, nobody would haveknown what to do with them. "

"But there must have been some who would, " the boy persisted. "Where, for example, did Mr. Bell get his things?"

"Practically all Mr. Bell's work was done at a little shop on CourtStreet, Boston, " answered Mr. Hazen. "This shop, however, was nothinglike the electrical supply shops we have now. Had Alexander Graham Bellentered its doors and asked, for instance, for a telephone transmitter, he would have found no such thing in stock. On the contrary, the shopconsisted of a number of benches where men or boys experimented or madecrude electrical contrivances that had previously been ordered bycustomers. The shop was owned by Charles Williams, a clever mechanicalman, who was deeply interested in electrical problems of all sorts. Ina tiny showcase in the front part of the store were displayed what fewtextbooks on electricity he had been able to gather together and thesehe allowed the men in his employ to read at lunch time and to usefreely in connection with their work. He was a person greatly belovedby those associated with him and he had the rare wisdom to leave everyman he employed unhampered, thereby making individual initiative thelaw of his business. "

The tutor paused, then noticing that both the boys were listeningintently, he continued:

"If a man had an idea that had been carefully thought out, he was givenfree rein to execute it. Tom Watson, one of the boys at the shop, constructed a miniature electric engine, and although the feat tookboth time and material, there was no quarrel because of that. The placewas literally a workshop, and so long as there were no drones in it andthe men toiled intelligently, Mr. Williams had no fault to find. Youcan imagine what valuable training such a practical environmentfurnished. Nobody nagged at the men, nobody drove them on. Each of thethirty or forty employees pegged away at his particular task, eitherdoing work for a specific customer or trying to perfect some notion ofhis own. If you were a person of ideas, it was an ideal conservatory inwhich to foster them. "

"Gee! I'd have liked the chance to work in a place like that!" Tedsighed. 

"It would not have been a bad starter, I assure you, " agreed Mr. Hazen. "At that time there were, as I told you, few such shops in the country;and this one, simple and crude as it was, was one of the largest. Therewas another in Chicago which was bigger and perhaps more perfectlyorganized; but Williams's shop was about as good as any and certainlygave its men an excellent all-round education in electrical matters. Many of them went out later and became leaders in the rapidly growingworld of science and these few historic little shops thus became theancestors of our vast electrical plants. "

"It seems funny to think it all started from such small beginnings, doesn't it, " mused Laurie thoughtfully. 

"It certainly is interesting, " Mr. Hazen replied. "And if it interestsus in this far-away time, think what it must have meant to the pioneersto witness the marvels half a century brought forth and look back overthe trail they had blazed. For it was a golden era of discovery, thatperiod when the new-born power of electricity made its appearance; andbecause Williams's shop was known to be a nursery for ideas, into itflocked every variety of dreamer. There were those who dreamedepoch-making dreams and eventually made them come true; and there werethose who merely saw visions too impractical ever to become realities. To work amid this mecca of minds must have been not only an educationin science but in human nature as well. Every sort of crank who hadgathered a wild notion out of the blue meandered into Williams's shopin the hope that somebody could be found there who would provide eitherthe money or the labor to further his particular scheme. 

"Now in this shop, " went on Mr. Hazen, "there was, as I told you, ayoung neophyte by the name of Thomas Watson. Tom had not found hisniche in life. He had tried being a clerk, a bookkeeper, and acarpenter and none of these several occupations had seemed to fit him. Then one fortunate day he happened in at Williams's shop andimmediately he knew this was the place where he belonged. He was a boyof mechanical tastes who had a real genius for tools and machinery. Hewas given a chance to turn castings by hand at five dollars a week andhe took the job eagerly. "

"Think how a boy would howl at working for that now, " Laurie exclaimed. 

"No doubt there were boys who would have howled then, " answered Mr. Hazen, "although in those days young fellows expected to work hard andreceive little pay until they had learned their trade. Perhaps theyouthful Mr. Watson had the common sense to cherish this creed; at anyrate, there was not a lazy bone in his body, and as there were no suchthings to be had as automatic screw machines, he went vigorously towork making the castings by hand, trying as he did so not to blind hiseyes with the flying splinters of metal. "

"Then what happened?" demanded Laurie. 

"Well, Watson stuck at his job and in the meantime gleaned right andleft such scraps of practical knowledge as a boy would pick up in sucha place. By the end of his second year he had had his finger in manypies and had worked on about every sort of electrical contrivance thenknown: call bells, annunciators, galvanometers; telegraph keys, sounders, relays, registers, and printing telegraph instruments. Thinkwhat a rich experience his two years of apprenticeship had given him!"

"You bet!" ejaculated Ted appreciatively. 

"Now as Tom Watson was not only clever but was willing to take infinitepains with whatever he set his hand to, never stinting nor measuringhis time or strength, he became a great favorite with those who came tothe shop to have different kinds of experimental apparatus made. Manyof the ideas brought to him to be worked out came from visionaries whohad succeeded in capturing the financial backing of an unwary believerand convinced themselves and him that here was an idea that was to stirthe universe. But too many of these schemes, alas, proved worthless andas their common fate was the rubbish heap, it is strange that theindefatigable Thomas Watson did not have his faith in pioneer workentirely destroyed. But youth is buoyed up by perpetual hope; andparadoxical as it may seem, his enthusiasm never lagged. Each time hefelt, with the inventor, that they might be standing on the brink ofgigantic unfoldings and he toiled with energy to bring somethingpractical out of the chaos. And when at length it became evident beyondall question that the idea was never to unfold into anything practical, he would, with the same zealous spirit, attack another seer's problem. "

"Didn't he ever meet any successful inventors?" questioned Ted. 

"Yes, indeed, " the tutor answered. "Scattered among the cranks andcastle builders were several brilliant, solid-headed men. There wasMoses G. Farmer, for example, one of the foremost electricians of thattime, who had many an excellent and workable idea and who taught youngWatson no end of valuable lessons. Then one day into the workshop cameAlexander Graham Bell. In his hand he carried a mechanical contrivanceWatson had previously made for him and on espying Tom in the distancehe made a direct line for the workman's bench. After explaining thatthe device did not do the thing he was desirous it should, he toldWatson that it was the receiver and transmitter of his HarmonicTelegraph. "

"And that was the beginning of Mr. Watson's work with Mr. Bell?" askedTed breathlessly. 

"Yes, that was the real beginning. "

"Think of working with a man like that!" the boy cried with sparklingeyes. "It must have been tremendously interesting. "

"It was interesting, " responded Mr. Hazen, "but nevertheless much ofthe time it must have been inexpressibly tedious work. A young man lesspatient and persistent than Watson would probably have tired of thetask. Just why he did not lose his courage through the six years ofstruggle that followed I do not understand. For how was he to know butthat this idea would eventually prove as hopeless and unprofitable ashad so many others to which he had devoted his energy? Beyond Mr. Bell's own magnetic personality there was only slender foundation forhis faith for in spite of the efforts of both men the harmonictelegraph failed to take form. Instead, like a tantalizing sprite, itdanced before them, always beckoning, never materializing. In theory itwas perfectly consistent but in practise it could not be coaxed intobehaving as it logically should. Had it but been possible for thoseworking on it to realize that beyond their temporary failure lay asuccess glorious past all belief, think what the knowledge would havemeant. But to always be following the gleam and never overtaking it, ah, that might well have discouraged prophets of stouter heart!"

"Were these transmitters and receivers made from electromagnets andstrips of flat steel, as you told us the other day?" asked Ted. 

"Yes, their essential parts comprised just those elements--anelectromagnet and a scrap of flattened clock spring which, as I haveexplained, was clamped by one end to the pole of the magnet and leftfree at the other to vibrate over the opposite pole. In addition thetransmitter had make-and-break points such as an ordinary telephonebell has, and when these came in contact with the current, the springsinside continually gave out a sort of wail keyed to correspond with thepitch of the spring. As Mr. Bell had six of these instruments tuned toas many different pitches--and six receivers to answer them--you maypicture to yourself the hideousness of the sounds amid which theexperimenters labored. "

"I suppose when each transmitter sent out its particular whine its ownsimilarly tuned receiver spring would wriggle in response, " Lauriesaid. 

"Exactly so. "

"There must have been lovely music when all six of them began to sing!"laughed Ted. 

"Mr. Watson wrote once that it was as if all the miseries of the worldwere concentrated in that workroom, and I can imagine it being true, "answered the tutor. "Well, young Watson certainly did all he could tomake the harmonic telegraph a reality. He made the receivers andtransmitters exactly as Mr. Bell requested; but on testing them out, great was the surprise of the inventor to find that his idea, sofeasible in theory, refused to work. Nevertheless, his faith was notshaken. He insisted on trying to discover the flaw in his logic andcorrect it, and as Watson had now completed some work that he had beendoing for Moses Farmer, the two began a series of experiments thatlasted all winter. "

"Jove!" ejaculated Laurie. 

"Marvels of science are not born in a moment, " answered Mr. Hazen. "YetI do not wonder that you gasp, for think of what it must have meant totoil for weeks and months at those wailing instruments! It is a miraclethe men did not go mad. They were not always able to work together forMr. Bell had his living to earn and therefore was compelled to devote agood measure of his time to his college classes and his deaf pupils. Inconsequence, he did a portion of his experimental work at Salem whileWatson carried on his at the shop, fitting it in with other odd jobsthat came his way. Frequently Mr. Bell remained in Boston in theevening and the two worked at the Williams's shop until late into thenight. "

"Wasn't it lucky there were no labor unions in those days?" put in Tedmischievously. 

"Indeed it was!" responded Mr. Hazen. "The shop would then have beenbarred and bolted at five o'clock, I suppose, and Alexander Graham Bellmight have had a million bright ideas for all the good they would havedone him. But at that golden period of our history, if an ambitiousfellow like Watson wished to put in extra hours of work, the moreslothful ones had no authority to stand over him with a club and say heshouldn't. Therefore the young apprentice toiled on with Mr. Bell, unmolested; and Charles Williams, the proprietor of the shop, wasperfectly willing he should. One evening, when the two were alone, Mr. Bell remarked, 'If I could make a current of electricity vary inintensity precisely as the air varies in density during the productionof sound, I should be able to transmit speech telegraphically. ' Thiswas his first allusion to the telephone but that the idea of such aninstrument had been for some time in his mind was evident by the factthat he sketched in for Watson the kind of apparatus he thoughtnecessary for such a device and they speculated concerning itsconstruction. The project never went any farther, however, because Mr. Thomas Saunders and Mr. Gardiner Hubbard, who were financing Mr. Bell'sexperiments, felt the chances of this contrivance workingsatisfactorily were too uncertain. Already much time and money had beenspent on the harmonic telegraph and they argued this scheme should becompleted before a new venture was tried. "

"I suppose that point of view was quite justifiable, " mused Ted. "Butwasn't it a pity?"

"Yes, it was, " agreed Mr. Hazen. "Yet here again we realize how manmoves inch by inch, never knowing what is just around the turn of theroad. He can only go it blindly and do the best he knows at the time. Naturally neither Mr. Hubbard nor Mr. Saunders wanted to swamp any moremoney until they had received results for what they had spent already;and those results, alas, were not forthcoming. Over and over again poorWatson blamed himself lest some imperceptible defect in his part of thework was responsible for Mr. Bell's lack of success. The spring of 1875came and still no light glimmered on the horizon. The harmonictelegraph seemed as far away from completion as ever. Patiently the menplodded on. Then on a June day, a day that began even less auspiciouslythan had other days, the heavens suddenly opened and Alexander GrahamBell had his vision!"

"What was it?"

"Tell us about it!" cried both boys in a breath. 

"It was a warm, close afternoon in the loft over the Williams's shopand the transmitters and receivers were whining there more dolefullythan usual. Several of them, sensitive to the weather, were out oftune, and as Mr. Bell had trained his ear to sounds until it wasabnormally acute, he was tuning the springs of the receivers to thepitch of the transmitters, a service he always preferred to performhimself. To do this he placed the receiver against his ear and calledto Watson, who was in the adjoining room, to start the current throughthe electromagnet of the corresponding transmitter. When this was done, Mr. Bell was able to turn a screw and adjust the instrument to thepitch desired. Watson admits in a book he has himself written that hewas out of spirits that day and feeling irritable and impatient. Thewhiners had got on his nerves, I fancy. One of the springs that he wastrying to start appeared to stick and in order to force it to vibratehe gave it a quick snap with his finger. Still it would not go and hesnapped it sharply several times. Immediately there was a cry from Mr. Bell who rushed into the hall, exclaiming, 'What did you do then? Don'tchange anything. Let me see. '

"Watson was alarmed. Had he knocked out the entire circuit or what hadhe done in his fit of temper? Well, there was no escape from confessionnow; no pretending he had not vented his nervousness on the mechanismbefore him. With honesty he told the truth and even illustrated hishasty action. The thing was simple enough. In some way themake-and-break points of the transmitter spring had become weldedtogether so that even when Watson snapped the instrument the circuithad remained unbroken, while by means of the piece of magnetized steelvibrating over the pole of the magnet an electric current wasgenerated, the type of current that did exactly what Mr. Bell haddreamed of a current doing--a current of electricity that varied inintensity precisely as the air within the radius of that particularspring was varying in density. And not only did that undulatory currentpass through the wire to the receiver Mr. Bell was holding, but as goodluck would have it the mechanism was such that it transformed thatcurrent back into a faint but unmistakable echo of the sound issuingfrom the vibrating spring that generated it. But a fact more fortunatethan all this was that the one man to whom the incident carriedsignificance had the instrument at his ear at that particular moment. That was pure chance--a Heaven-sent, miraculous coincidence! But thatMr. Bell recognized the value and importance of that whispered echothat reached him over the wire and knew, when he heard it, that it wasthe embodiment of the idea that had been haunting him--that was notchance; it was genius!"

The room had been tensely still and now both boys drew a sigh ofrelief. 

"How strange!" murmured Ted in an awed tone. 

"Yes, it was like magic, was it not?" replied the tutor. "For thespeaking telephone was born at that moment. Whatever practical work wasnecessary to make the invention perfect (and there were many, manydetails to be solved) was done afterward. But on June 2, 1875, thetelephone as Bell had dreamed it came into the world. That singledemonstration on that hot morning in Williams's shop proved myriadfacts to the inventor. One was that if a mechanism could transmit themany complex vibrations of one sound it could do the same for anysound, even human speech. He saw now that the intricate paraphernaliahe had supposed necessary to achieve his long-imagined result was notto be needed, for did not the simple contrivance in his hand do thetrick? The two men in the stuffy little loft could scarcely containtheir delight. For hours they went on repeating the experiment in orderto make sure they were really awake. They verified their discoverybeyond all shadow of doubt. One spring and then another was tried andalways the same great law acted with invariable precision. Heat, fatigue, even the dingy garret itself was forgotten in the flight ofthose busy, exultant hours. Before they separated that night, AlexanderGraham Bell had given to Thomas Watson directions for making the firstelectric speaking telephone in the world!"

CHAPTER X

WHAT CAME AFTERWARD

"Was that first telephone like ours?" inquired Ted later as, theirlunch finished, they sat idly looking out at the river. 

"Not wholly. Time has improved the first crude instrument, " Mr. Hazenreplied. "The initial principle of the telephone, however, has nevervaried from Mr. Bell's primary idea. Before young Watson tumbled intobed on that epoch-making night, he had finished the instrument Bell hadasked him to have ready, every part of it being made by the eagerassistant who probably only faintly realized the mammoth importance ofhis task. Yet whether he realized it or not, he had caught a sufficientdegree of the inventor's excitement to urge him forward. Over one ofthe receivers, as Mr. Bell directed, he mounted a small drumhead ofgoldbeater's skin, joined the center of it to the free end of thereceiver spring, and arranged a mouthpiece to talk into. The plan wasto force the steel spring to answer the vibrations of the voice and atthe same time generate a current of electricity that should vary inintensity just as the air varies in density during the utterance ofspeech sounds. Not only did Watson make this instrument as specified, but in his interest he went even farther, and as the rooms in the loftseemed too near together, the tireless young man ran a special wirefrom the attic down the two flights of stairs to the ground floor ofthe shop and ended it near his workbench at the rear of the building, thus constructing the first telephone line in history. 

"Then the next day Mr. Bell came to test out his invention and, as youcan imagine, there was great excitement. "

"I hope it worked, " put in Laurie. 

"It worked all right although at this early stage of the game it washardly to be expected that the instrument produced was perfect. Nevertheless, the demonstration proved that the principle behind it wassound and that was all Mr. Bell really wanted to make sure of. Watson, as it chanced, got far more out of this initial performance than did Mr. Bell himself for because of the inventor's practical work in phonics thevibrations of his voice carried more successfully than did those of theassistant. Yet the youthful Watson was not without his compensations. Nature had blessed him with unusually acute hearing and as a result hecould catch Bell's tones perfectly as they came over the wire and couldalmost distinguish his words; but shout as he would, poor Mr. Bell couldnot hear _him_. This dilemma nevertheless discouraged neither of themfor Watson had plenty of energy and was quite willing to leap up the twoflights of stairs and repeat what he had heard; and this report greatlyreassured Mr. Bell, who outlined a list of other improvements foranother telephone that should be ready on the following day. "

"I suppose they kept remodelling the telephones all the time afterthat, didn't they?" inquired Ted. 

"You may be sure they did, " was Mr. Hazen's response. "The harmonictelegraph was entirely sidetracked and the interest of both men turnedinto this newer channel. Mr. Bell, in the meantime, was giving less andless energy to his teaching and more and more to his inventing. Beforemany days the two could talk back and forth and hear one another'svoices without difficulty, although ten full months of hard work wasnecessary before they were able to understand what was said. It was notuntil after this long stretch of patient toil that Watson unmistakablyheard Mr. Bell say one day, '_Mr. Watson, please come here, I wantyou. _' The message was a very ordinary, untheatrical one for a momentso significant but neither of the enthusiasts heeded that. Thethrilling fact was that the words had come clear-cut over the wire. "

"Gee!" broke in Laurie. 

"It certainly must have been a dramatic moment, " Mr. Hazen agreed. "Mr. Bell, now convinced beyond all doubt of the value of his idea, hiredtwo rooms at a cheap boarding-house situated at Number 5 Exeter Place, Boston. In one of these he slept and in the other he equipped alaboratory. Watson connected these rooms by a wire and afterward allMr. Bell's experimenting was done here instead of at the Williams'sshop. It was at the Exeter Place rooms that this first wonderfulmessage came to Watson's ears. From this period on the telephone tookrapid strides forward. By the summer of 1876, it had been improveduntil a simple sentence was understandable if carefully repeated threeor four times. "

"Repeated three or four times!" gasped Laurie in dismay. 

The tutor smiled at the boy's incredulousness. 

"You forget we are not dealing with a finished product, " said hegently. "I am a little afraid you would have been less patient with theimperfections of an infant invention than were Bell and Watson. "

"I know I should, " was the honest retort. 

"The telephone was a very delicate instrument to perfect, " explainedMr. Hazen. "Always remember that. An inventor must not only be a manwho has unshaken faith in his idea but he must also have the courage tocling stubbornly to his belief through every sort of mechanicalvicissitude. This Mr. Bell did. June of 1876 was the year of the greatCentennial at Philadelphia, the year that marked the first century ofour country's progress. As the exhibition was to be one symbolic of ournational development in every line, Mr. Bell decided to show histelephone there; to this end he set Watson, who was still at theWilliams's shop, to making exhibition telephones of the two varietiesthey had thus far worked out. "

"I'll bet Watson was almighty proud of his job, " Ted interrupted. 

"I fancy he was and certainly he had a right to be, " answered Mr. Hazen. "I have always been glad, too, that it fell to his lot to havethis honor; for he had worked long and faithfully, and if there wereglory to be had, he should share it. To his unflagging zeal andintelligence Mr. Bell owed a great deal. Few men could sowhole-heartedly have effaced their own personality and thrownthemselves with such zest into the success of another as did ThomasWatson. "

The tutor paused. 

"Up to this time, " he presently went on, "the telephones used by Belland Watson in their experiments had been very crude affairs; but thosedesigned for the Centennial were glorified objects. Watson says thatyou could see your face in them. The Williams's shop outdid itself andmore splendid instruments never went forth from its doors. You cantherefore imagine Watson's chagrin when, after highly commending Mr. Bell's invention, Sir William Thompson added, '_This, perhaps, greatestmarvel hitherto achieved by electric telegraph has been obtained byappliances of quite a homespun and rudimentary character. _'"

Both Ted and Laurie joined in the laughter of the tutor. 

"And now the telephone was actually launched?" Ted asked. 

"Well, it was not really in clear waters, " Mr. Hazen replied, with adubious shrug of his shoulders, "but at least there was no furtherquestion as to which of his schemes Mr. Bell should perfect. Both Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Saunders, who were assisting him financially, agreedthat for the present it must be the telephone; and recognizing thevalue of Watson's services, they offered him an interest in Mr. Bell'spatents if he would give up his work at Williams's shop and put in allhis time on this device. Nevertheless they did not entirely abandon theharmonic telegraph for Bell's success with the other invention had onlyserved to strengthen their confidence in his ability and genius. It wasalso decided that Mr. Bell should move from Salem to Boston, take anadditional room at the Exeter Place house (which would give him theentire floor where his laboratory was), and unhampered by furtherteaching plunge into the inventive career for which heaven had sorichly endowed him and which he loved with all his heart. You canpicture to yourselves the joy these decisions gave him and theeagerness with which he and Watson took up their labors together. 

"They made telephones of every imaginable size in their attempts tofind out whether there was anything that would work more satisfactorilythan the type they now had. But in spite of their many experiments theycame back to the kind of instrument with which they had started, discovering nothing that was superior to their original plan. Exceptthat they compelled the transmitter to do double duty and act also as areceiver, the telephone that emerged from these many tests waspractically similar in principle to the one of to-day. "

"Had they made any long-distance trials up to this time?" questionedLaurie. 

"No, " Mr. Hazen admitted. "They had lacked opportunity to make suchtests since no great span of wires was accessible to them. But onOctober 9, 1876, the Walworth Manufacturing Company gave thempermission to try out their device on the Company's private telegraphline that ran from Boston to Cambridge. The distance to be sure wasonly two miles but it might as well have been two thousand so far asthe excitement of the two workers went. Their baby had never been outof doors. Now at last it was to take the air! Fancy how thrilling theprospect was! As the wire over which they were to make the experimentwas in use during the day, they were forced to wait until the plant wasclosed for the night. Then Watson, with his tools and his telephoneunder his arm, went to the Cambridge office where he impatientlylistened for Mr. Bell's signal to come over the Morse sounder. When hehad heard this and thereby made certain that Bell was at the other endof the line, he cut out the sounder, connected the telephone he hadbrought with him, and put his ear to the transmitter. "

The hut was so still one could almost hear the breathing of the lads, who were listening intently. 

"Go on!" Laurie said quickly. "Tell us what happened. "

"_Nothing happened!_" answered the tutor. "Watson listened but therewas not a sound. "

"Great Scott!"

"The poor assistant was aghast, " went on Mr. Hazen. "He was at acomplete loss to understand what was the matter. Could it be that thecontrivance which worked so promisingly in the Boston rooms would notwork under these other conditions? Perhaps an electric current was toodelicate a thing to carry sound very far. Or was it that the force ofthe vibration filtered off at each insulator along the line until itbecame too feeble to be heard? All these possibilities flashed intoWatson's mind while at his post two miles away from Mr. Bell he struggledto readjust the instrument. Then suddenly an inspiration came to hisalert brain. Might there not be another Morse sounder somewhere about?If there were, that would account for the whole difficulty. Springingup, he began to search the room and after following the wires, sureenough, he traced them to a relay with a high resistance coil in thecircuit. Feverishly he cut this out and rushed back to his telephone. Plainly over the wire came Bell's voice, '_Ahoy! Ahoy!_' For a fewseconds both of them were too delighted to say much of anything else. Then they sobered down and began this first long-distance conversation. Now one of the objections Mr. Bell had constantly been forced to meetfrom the skeptical public was that while the telegraph deliveredmessages that were of unchallenged accuracy telephone conversationswere liable to errors of misunderstanding. One could not therefore relyso completely on the trustworthiness of the latter as on that of theformer. To refute this charge Mr. Bell had insisted that both he andWatson carefully write out whatever they heard that the two recordsmight afterward be compared and verified. '_That is_, ' Mr. Bell hadadded with the flicker of a smile, '_if we succeed in talking at all_!'Well, they did succeed, as you have heard. At first they held only astilted dialogue and conscientiously jotted it down; but afterwardtheir exuberance got the better of them and in sheer joy they chatteredaway like magpies until long past midnight. Then, loath to destroy theconnection, Watson detached his telephone, replaced the Company'swires, and set out for Boston. In the meantime Mr. Bell, who hadpreviously made an arrangement with the _Boston Advertiser_ to publishon the following morning an account of the experiment, together withthe recorded conversations, had gone to the newspaper office to carryhis material to the press. Hence he was not at the Exeter Place roomswhen the jubilant Watson arrived. But the early morning hour did notdaunt the young electrician; and when, after some delay, Mr. Bell camein, the two men rushed toward one another and regardless of everythingelse executed what Mr. Watson has since characterized as a _war dance_. Certainly they were quite justified in their rejoicings and perhaps iftheir landlady had understood the cause of their exultations she mighthave joined in the dance herself. Unluckily she had only a scantsympathy with inventive genius and since the victory celebration notonly aroused her, but also wakened most of her boarders from theirslumbers, her ire was great and the next morning she informed the twomen that if they could not be more quiet at night they would have toleave her house. "

An appreciative chuckle came from the listeners. 

"If she had known what she was sheltering, I suppose she would havebeen proud as a peacock and promptly told all her neighbors, " grinnedTed. 

"Undoubtedly! But she did not know, poor soul!" returned Mr. Hazen. 

"After this Mr. Bell and Mr. Watson must have shot ahead by leaps andbounds, " commented Laurie. 

"There is no denying that that two-mile test did give them both courageand assurance, " responded the tutor. "They got chances to try out theinvention on longer telegraph wires; and in spite of the fact that nosuch thing as hard-drawn copper wire was in existence they managed toget results even over rusty wires with their unsoldered joinings. Through such experiments an increasingly wider circle of outsidepersons heard of the telephone and the marvel began to attract greaterattention. Mr. Bell's modest little laboratory became the mecca ofscientists and visitors of every imaginable type. Moses G. Farmer, wellknown in the electrical world, came to view the wonder and confessed toMr. Bell that more than once he had lingered on the threshold of thesame mighty discovery but had never been able to step across it intosuccess. It amused both Mr. Bell and Mr. Watson to see how embarrassedpersons were when allowed to talk over the wire. Standing up andspeaking into a box has long since become too much a matter of coursewith us to appear ridiculous; but those experiencing the novelty forthe first time were so overwhelmed by self-consciousness that theycould think of nothing to say. One day when Mr. Watson called from hisend of the line, 'How do you do?' a dignified lawyer who was trying theinstrument answered with a foolish giggle, 'Rig-a-jig-jig and away wego!' The psychological reaction was too much for many a well-poisedindividual and I do not wonder it was, do you?"

"It must have been almost as good as a vaudeville show to watch thepeople, " commented Ted. 

"Better! Lots better!" echoed Laurie. 

"In April, 1877, the first out-of-door telephone line running on itsown private wires was installed in the shop of Charles Williams atNumber 109 Court Street and carried from there out to his house atSomerville. Quite a little ceremony marked the event. Both Mr. Bell andMr. Watson attended the christening and the papers chronicled thecircumstance in bold headlines the following day. Immediately patronswho wanted telephones began to pop up right and left like so manymushrooms. But alas, where was the money to come from that shouldenable Mr. Bell and his associates to branch out and grasp theopportunities that now beckoned them? The inventor's own resources wereat a low ebb; Watson, like many another young man, had more brains thanfortune; and neither Mr. Hubbard nor Mr. Saunders felt they couldprovide the necessary capital. Already the Western Union had refusedMr. Hubbard's offer to sell all Mr. Bell's patents for one hundredthousand dollars, the Company feeling that the price asked was much toohigh. Two years later, however, they would willingly have paidtwenty-five million dollars for the privilege they had so summarilyscorned. What was to be done? Money must be secured for without it allfurther progress was at a standstill. Was success to be sacrificed nowthat the goal was well within sight? And must the telephone be shutaway from the public and never take its place of service in the greatworld? Why, if a thing was not to be used it might almost as well neverhave been invented! The spirits of the telephone pioneers sank lowerand lower. The only way to raise money seemed to be to sell thetelephone instruments outright and this Mr. Bell, who desired simply tolease them, was unwilling to do. Then an avenue of escape from thisdilemma presented itself to him. "

"What was it?" asked Laurie. 

"He would give lectures, accompanying them with practicaldemonstrations of the telephone. This would bring in money and banishfor a time, at least, the possibility of having to sell instead of renttelephones. The plan succeeded admirably. The first lecture was givenat Salem where, because of Mr. Bell's previous residence and manyfriends, a large audience packed the hall. Then Boston desired to knowmore of the invention and an appeal for a lecture signed by Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and other distinguished citizens was forwardedto Mr. Bell. The Boston lectures were followed by others in New York, Providence, and the principal cities throughout New England. "

"It seems a shame Mr. Bell should have had to take his time to do that, doesn't it?" mused Ted. "How did they manage the lectures?"

"The lectures had a checkered existence, " smiled Mr. Hazen. "Many veryamusing incidents centered about them. Were I to talk until doomsday Icould not begin to tell you the multitudinous adventures Mr. Bell andMr. Watson had during their platform career; for although Mr. Watsonwas never really before the footlights as Mr. Bell was, he was anindispensable part of the show, --the power behind the scenes, the manat the other end of the wire, who furnished the lecture hall with suchstunts as would not only convince an audience but also entertain them. It was a dull, thankless position, perhaps, to be so far removed fromthe excitement and glamor, to be always playing or singing into alittle wooden box and never catching a glimpse of the fun that wasgoing on at the other end of the line; but since Mr. Watson was arather shy person it is possible he was quite as well pleased. Afterall, it was Mr. Bell whom everybody wanted to see and of course Mr. Watson understood this. Therefore he was quite content to act hismodest rôle and not only gather together at his end of the wire cornetsoloists, electric organs, brass bands, or whatever startling noveltiesthe occasion demanded, but talk or sing himself. The shyest of men cansometimes out-Herod Herod if not obliged to face their listeners inperson. As Watson had spoken so much over the telephone, he wasthoroughly accustomed to it and played the parts assigned him farbetter than more gifted but less practically trained soloists did. Italways amused him intensely after he had bellowed _Pull for the Shore_, _Hold the Fort_ or _Yankee Doodle_ into the transmitter to hear theapplause that followed his efforts. Probably singing before a largecompany was about the last thing Tom Watson expected his electricalcareer would lead him into. Had he been told that such a fate awaitedhim, he would doubtless have jeered at the prophecy. But here he was, singing away with all his lung power, before a great hall full ofpeople and not minding it in the least; nay, I rather think he may haveenjoyed it. Once, desiring to give a finer touch than usual to theentertainment, Mr. Bell hired a professional singer; but this soloisthad never used a telephone and although he possessed the art of singinghe was not able to get it across the wire. No one in the lecture hallcould hear him. Mr. Bell promptly summoned Watson (who was doubtlesscongratulating himself on being off duty) to render _Hold the Fort_in his customary lusty fashion. After this Mr. Watson became the starsoloist and no more singers were engaged. "

A ripple of amusement passed over the faces of the lads listening. 

"Ironically enough, as Mr. Watson's work kept him always in thebackground furnishing the features of these entertainments, he neverhimself heard Mr. Bell lecture. He says, however, that the greatinventor was a very polished, magnetic speaker who never failed tosecure and hold the attention of his hearers. Of course, every venturehas its trials and these lecture tours were no exception to the generalrule. Once, for example, the Northern Lights were responsible fordemoralizing the current and spoiling a telephone demonstration atLawrence; and although both Watson and a cornetist strained their lungsto bursting, neither of them could be heard at the hall. Then thesparks began to play over the wires and the show had to be called off. Nevertheless such disasters occurred seldom, and for the most part theperformances went smoothly, the people were delighted, and Mr. Bellincreased not only his fame but his fortune. "

Mr. Hazen stopped a moment. 

"You must not for an instant suppose, " he resumed presently, "that thetelephone was a perfected product. Transmitters of sufficient delicacyto do away with shouting and screaming had not yet made theirappearance and in consequence when one telephoned all the world knewit; it was not until the Blake transmitter came into use that atelephone conversation could be to any extent confidential. In itspresent state, the longer the range the more lung power was demanded;and probably had not this been the condition, people would have shoutedanyway, simply from instinct. Even with our own delicately adjustedinstruments we are prone to forget and commit this folly. But in theearly days one was forced to uplift his voice at the telephone and ifhe had no voice to uplift woe betide his telephoning. And apropos ofthis matter, I recall reading that once, when Mr. Bell was to lecturein New York, he thought what a drawing card it would be if he couldhave his music and other features of entertainment come from Boston. Therefore he arranged to use the wires of the Atlantic and PacificTelegraph Company and to this end he and Watson planned a dressrehearsal at midnight in order to try out the inspiration. Now itchanced that the same inflexible landlady ruled at Number 5 ExeterPlace, and remembering his former experience, Mr. Watson felt somethingmust be done to stifle the shouting he foresaw he would be compelled todo at that nocturnal hour. So he gathered together all the blankets androlled them into a sort of cone and to the small end of this he tiedhis telephone. Then he crept into this stuffy, breathless shelter, theancestor of our sound-proof telephone booth, and for nearly three hoursshouted to Mr. Bell in New York--or tried to. But the experiment wasnot a success. He could be heard, it is true, but not distinctly enoughto risk such an unsatisfactory demonstration before an uninitiatedaudience. Hence the scheme was abandoned and Mr. Watson scrambled histhings together and betook himself to a point nearer the center ofaction. "

"It must all have been great fun, mustn't it?" said Lauriethoughtfully. 

"Great fun, no doubt, but very hard work, " was the tutor's answer. "Many a long, discouraging hour was yet to follow before the telephonebecame a factor in the everyday world. Yet each step of the climb tosuccess had its sunlight as well as its shadow, its humor as well asits pathos; and it was fortunate both men appreciated this fact for itfloated them over many a rough sea. Man can spare almost any otherattribute better than his sense of humor. Without this touchstone he isill equipped to battle with life, " concluded Mr. Hazen whimsically. 

CHAPTER XI

THE REST OF THE STORY

"I should think, " commented Laurie one day, when Ted and Mr. Hazen weresitting in his room, "that Mr. Bell's landlady would have fussed no endto have his telephone ringing all the time. "

"My dear boy, you do not for an instant suppose that the telephones ofthat period had bells, do you?" replied Mr. Hazen with amusement. "No, indeed! There was no method for signaling. Unless two persons agreed totalk at a specified hour of the day or night and timed theirconversation by the clock, or else had recourse to the Morse code, there was no satisfactory way they could call one another. This did notgreatly matter when you recollect how few telephones there were inexistence. Mr. Williams used to summon a listener by tapping on themetal diaphragm of the instrument with his pencil, a practice none toobeneficial to the transmitter; nor was the resulting sound powerfulenough to reach any one who was not close at hand. Furthermore, personscould not stand and hold their telephones and wait until they couldarouse the party at the other end of the line for a telephone weighedalmost ten pounds and----"

"Ten pounds!" repeated Ted in consternation. 

Mr. Hazen nodded. 

"Yes, " answered he, "the early telephones were heavy, cumbersomeobjects and not at all like the trim, compact instruments we haveto-day. In fact, they were quite similar to the top of a sewing-machinebox, only, perhaps, they were a trifle smaller. You can understand thatone would not care to carry on a very long conversation if he must inthe meantime stand and hold in his arms a ten-pound object about teninches long, six inches wide, and six inches high. "

"I should say not!" Laurie returned. "It must have acted as a finecheck, though, on people who just wanted to gabble. "

Both Ted and the tutor laughed. 

"Of course telephone owners could not go on that way, " Ted said, afterthe merriment had subsided. "What did Mr. Bell do about it?"

"The initial step for betterment was not taken by Mr. Bell but by Mr. Watson, " Mr. Hazen responded. "He rigged a little hammer inside the boxand afterwards put a button on the outside. This _thumper_ was thefirst calling device ever in use. Later on, however, the assistant felthe could improve on this method and he adapted the buzzer of theharmonic telegraph to the telephone; this proved to be a distinctadvance over the more primitive _thumper_ but nevertheless he wasnot satisfied with it as a signaling apparatus. So he searched fartherstill, and with the aid of one of the shabby little books onelectricity that he had purchased for a quarter from Williams's tinyshowcase, he evolved the magneto-electric call bell such as we useto-day. This answered every purpose and nothing has ever been foundthat has supplanted it. It is something of a pity that Watson did notthink to affix his name to this invention; but he was too deeplyinterested in what he was doing and probably too busy to consider itsvalue. His one idea was to help Mr. Bell to improve the telephone inevery way possible and measuring what he was going to get out of it wasapparently very far from his thought. Of course, the first of thesecall bells were not perfect, any more than were the first telephones;by and by, however, their defects were remedied until they becameentirely satisfactory. "

"So they now had telephones, transmitters, and call bells, " reflectedTed. "I should say they were pretty well ready for business. "

"You forget the switchboard, " was Mr. Hazen's retort. "A one-party linewas a luxury and a thing practically beyond the reach of the public. Atbest there were very few of them. No, some method for connectingparties who wished to speak to one another had to be found and it is atthis juncture of the telephone's career that a new contributor to theinvention's success comes upon the scene. 

"Doing business at Number 342 Washington Street was a young New Yorkerby the name of Edwin T. Holmes, who had charge of his father'sburglar-alarm office. As all the electrical equipment he used was madeat Williams's shop, he used frequently to go there and one day, when heentered, he came upon Charles Williams, the proprietor of the store, standing before a little box that rested on a shelf and shouting intoit. Hearing Mr. Holmes's step, he glanced over his shoulder, met hisvisitor's astonished gaze, and laughed. 

"'For Heaven's sake, Williams, what have you got in that box?' demandedMr. Holmes. 

"'Oh, this is what that fellow out there by Watson's bench, Mr. Bell, calls a telephone, ' replied Mr. Williams. 

"'So that's the thing I have seen squibs in the paper about!' observedthe burglar-alarm man with curiosity. 

"'Yes, he and Watson have been working at it for some time. '

"Now Mr. Holmes knew Tom Watson well for the young electrician had donea great deal of work for him in the past; moreover, the New York manwas a person who kept well abreast of the times and was always alertfor novel ideas. Therefore quite naturally he became interested in theembryo enterprise and dropped into Williams's shop almost every day tosee how the infant invention was progressing. In this way he met bothMr. Gardiner Hubbard and Mr. Thomas Saunders, who were Mr. Bell'sfinancial sponsors. After Mr. Holmes had been a spectator of thetelephone for some time, he remarked to Mr. Hubbard:

"'If you succeed in getting two or three of those things to work andwill lend them to me, I will show them to Boston. '

"'Show them to Boston, ' repeated Mr. Hubbard. 'How will you do that?'

"'Well, ' said Mr. Holmes, 'I have a Central Office down at Number 342Washington Street from which I have individual wires running to most ofthe banks, many jeweler's shops, and other stores. I can ring a bell ina bank from my office and the bank can ring one to me in return. Byusing switches and giving a prearranged signal to the Exchange Bank, both of us could throw a switch which would put the telephones incircuit and we could talk together. '

"After looking at Mr. Holmes for a moment with great surprise, Mr. Hubbard slapped him on the back and said, 'I will do it! Get yourswitches and other things ready. '

"Of course Mr. Holmes was greatly elated to be the first one to show onhis wires this wonderful new instrument and connect two or more partiesthrough a Central Office. He immediately had a switchboard made (itsactual size was five by thirty-six inches) through which he ran a fewof his burglar-alarm circuits and by means of plugs he arranged so thathe could throw the circuit from the burglar-alarm instruments to thetelephone. He also had a shelf made to rest the telephones on and hadothers like it built at the Exchange National and the Hide and Leatherbanks. In a few days the telephones, numbered 6, 7, and 8, arrived andwere quickly installed, and the marvellous exhibition opened. Soon twomore instruments were added, one of which was placed in the bankinghouse of Brewster, Bassett and Company and the other in the Shoe andLeather Bank. When the Williams shop was connected, it gave Mr. Holmesa working exchange of five connections, the first telephone exchange inhistory. "

"I'll bet they had some queer times with it, " asserted Ted. 

"They did, indeed!" smiled Mr. Hazen. "The papers announced the event, although in very retiring type, and persons of every walk in lifeflocked to the Holmes office to see the wonder with their own eyes. Somany came that Mr. Holmes had a long bench made so that visitors couldsit down and watch the show. One day a cornetist played from the Holmesbuilding so that the members of the Boston Stock Exchange, assembled atthe office of Brewster, Bassett and Company, could hear theperformance. Considering the innovation a great boon, the New York mansecured another instrument and after meditating some time on whom hewould bestow it he decided to install it in the Revere Bank, thinkingthe bank people would be delighted to be recipients of the favor. Hisburglar-alarm department had pass-keys to all the banks and therefore, when banking hours were over, he and one of his men obtained entranceand put the telephone in place. The following morning he had word thatthe president of the bank wished to see him and expecting to receivethanks for the happy little surprise he had given the official, hehurried to the bank. Instead of expressing gratitude, however, thepresident of the institution said in an injured tone:

"'Mr. Holmes, what is that play toy you have taken the liberty ofputting up out there in the banking room?'

"'Why, that is what they are going to call a telephone, ' explained Mr. Holmes. 

"'A telephone! What's a telephone?' inquired the president. 

"With enthusiasm the New Yorker carefully sketched in the new inventionand told what could be done with it. 

"After he had finished he was greatly astonished to have the head ofthe bank reply with scorn:

"'Mr. Holmes, you take that plaything out of my bank and don't evertake such liberties again. '

"You may be sure the _plaything_ was quickly removed and the RevereBank went on record as having the first telephone disconnection in thecountry. 

"Having exhibited the telephones for a couple of weeks, Mr. Holmes wentto Mr. Hubbard and suggested that he would like to continue to carry onthe exchange but he should like it put on a business basis. 

"'Have you any money?' asked Mr. Hubbard. 

"'Mighty little, ' was the frank answer. 

"'Well, that's more than we have got, ' Mr. Hubbard responded. 'However, if you have got enough money to do the business and build the exchange, we will rent you the telephones. '

"By August, 1877, when Bell's patent was sixteen months' old, Casson'sHistory tells us there were seven hundred and seventy-eight telephonesin use and the Bell Telephone Association was formed. The organizationwas held together by an extremely simple agreement which gave Bell, Hubbard, and Saunders a three-tenths' interest apiece in the patentsand Watson one-tenth. The business possessed no capital, as there wasnone to be had; and these four men at that time had an absolutemonopoly of the telephone business, --and everybody else was quitewilling they should have. 

"In addition to these four associates was Charles Williams, who hadfrom the first been a believer in the venture, and Mr. Holmes who builtthe first telephone exchange with his own money, and had about sevenhundred of the seven hundred and seventy-eight instruments on hiswires. Mr. Robert W. Devonshire joined the others in August, 1877, asbookkeeper and general secretary and has since become an official inthe American Telephone and Telegraph Company. 

"Mr. Holmes rented the telephones for ten dollars a year and throughhis exchange was the first practical man who had the temerity to offertelephone service for sale. It was the arrival of a new idea in thebusiness world. 

"Now the business world is not a tranquil place and as soon as the newinvention began to prosper, every sort of difficulty beset its path. 

"There were those who denied that Mr. Bell had been first in the fieldwith the telephone idea, and they began to contest his right to thepatents. Other telephone companies sprang up and began to compete withthe rugged-hearted pioneers who had launched the industry. Lawsuitsfollowed and for years Mr. Bell's days were one continual fight tomaintain his claims and keep others from wresting his hard-earnedprosperity from him. But in time smoother waters were reached and nowAlexander Graham Bell has been universally conceded to be the inventorof this marvel without which we of the present should scarcely know howto get on. "

"I don't believe we could live without telephones now, do you?"remarked Laurie thoughtfully. 

"Oh, I suppose we could keep alive, " laughed Mr. Hazen, "but I amafraid our present order of civilization would have to be changed agood deal. We scarcely realize what a part the telephone plays inalmost everything we attempt to do. Certainly the invention helps tospeed up our existence; and, convenient as it is, I sometimes amungrateful enough to wonder whether we should not be a less highlystrung and nervous nation without it. However that may be, thetelephone is here, and here to stay, and you now have a pretty clearidea of its early history. How from these slender beginnings theindustry spread until it spanned continents and circled the globe, youcan easily read elsewhere. Yet mighty as this factor has become in thebusiness world, it is not from this angle of its greatness that I likebest to view it. I would rather think of the lives it has saved; thegood news it has often borne; the misunderstandings it has prevented;the better unity it has promoted among all peoples. Just as therailroad was a gigantic agent in bringing North, South, East, and Westcloser together, so the telephone has helped to make our vast country, with its many diverse elements, 'one nation, indivisible. '"

CHAPTER XII

CONSPIRATORS

With September a tint of scarlet crept into the foliage bordering thelittle creeks that stole from the river into the Aldercliffe meadows;tangles of goldenrod and purple asters breathed of autumn, and themornings were now too chilly for a swim. Had it not been for the greatfireplace the shack would not have been livable. For the first timeboth Ted and Laurie realized that the summer they had each enjoyed soheartily was at an end and they were face to face with a differentphase of life. 

The harvest, with its horde of vegetables and fruit, had been gatheredinto the yawning barns and cellars and the earth that had given sopatiently of its increase had earned the right to lay fallow until theplanting of another spring. Ted's work was done. He had helped depositthe last barrel of ruddy apples, the last golden pumpkins within doors, and now he had nothing more to do but to pack up his possessionspreparatory to returning to Freeman's Falls, there to rejoin his familyand continue his studies. 

Once the thought that the drudgery of summer was over would have been adelightful one. Why, he could remember the exultation with which he hadburned the last cornstalks at the end of the season when at home inVermont. The ceremony had been a rite of hilarious rejoicing. But thisyear, strange to say, a dull sadness stole over him whenever he lookedupon the devastated gardens and the reaches of bare brown earth. Therewas nothing to keep him longer either at Aldercliffe or Pine Lea. Hiswork henceforth lay at school. 

It was strange that a little sigh accompanied the thought for had henot always looked forward to this very prospect? What was the matternow? Was not studying the thing he had longed to be free to do? Whythis regret and depression? And why was his own vague sadness reflectedin Laurie's eyes and in those of Mr. Hazen? Summer could not lastforever; it was childish to ask that it should. They all had known fromthe beginning that these days of companionship must slip away and cometo an end. And yet the end had come so quickly. Why, it had scarcelybeen midsummer before the twilight had deepened and the days mellowedinto autumn. 

Well, they had held many happy, happy hours for Ted, at least. Neverhad he dreamed of such pleasures. He had enjoyed his work, constantthough it had been, and had come to cherish as much pride in thegardens of Aldercliffe and Pine Lea, in the vast crops of hay thatbulged from the barn lofts, as if they had been his own. And whenworking hours were over there was Laurie Fernald and the new andpleasant friendship that existed between them. 

As Ted began to drag out from beneath his bunk the empty wooden boxeshe purposed to pack his books in, his heart sank. Soon the cosy housein which he had passed so many perfect hours would be quite denuded. Frosts would nip the flowers nodding in a final glory of color outsidethe windows; the telephone would be disconnected; his belongings wouldonce more be crowded into the stuffy little flat at home; and the doorof the camp on the river's edge would be tightly locked on a desertedparadise. 

Of course, everything had to come to an end some time and often when hehad been weeding long, and what seemed interminable rows of seedlingsand had been making only feeble progress at the task, the thought thattermination of his task was an ultimate certainty had been aconsolation mighty and sustaining. Such an uninteresting undertakingcould not last forever, he told himself over and over again; nothingever did. And now with ironic conformity to law, his philosophy hadturned on him, demonstrating beyond cavil that not only did the thingsone longed to be free of come to a sure finality but so did those onepined to have linger. 

Although night was approaching, too intent had he been on his reveriesto notice that the room was in darkness. How still everything was! Thatwas the way the little hut would be after he was gone, --cold, dark, andsilent. He wondered as he sat there whether he should ever come back. Would the Fernalds want him next season and again offer him theboathouse for a home? They had said nothing about it but if he thoughthe was to return another summer it would not be so hard to go now. Itwas leaving forever that saddened him. 

He must have remained immovable there in the twilight for a much longertime than he realized; and perhaps he would have sat there even longerhad not a sound startled him into breathless attention. It was therhythmic stroke of a canoe paddle and as it came nearer it wasintermingled with the whispers of muffled voices. Possibly he mighthave thought nothing of the happening had there not been a note oftense caution in the words that came to his ear. 

Who could be navigating the river at this hour of the night? Surely notpleasure-seekers, for it was very cold and an approaching storm hadclouded in the sky until it had become a dome of velvet blackness. Whoever was venturing out upon the river must either know the streamvery well or be reckless of his own safety. 

Ted did not move but listened intently. 

"Let's take a chance and land, " he heard a thick voice murmur. "The boyhas evidently either gone to bed or he isn't here. Whichever the case, he can do us no harm and I'm not for risking the river any farther. It's black as midnight. We might get into the current and havetrouble. "

"What's the sense of running our heads into a noose by landing?"objected a second speaker. "We can't talk here--that's nonsense. "

"I tell you the boy isn't in the hut, " retorted his comrade. "Iremember now that I heard he was going back to the Falls to school. Likely he has gone already. In any case we can try the door and examinethe windows; if the place is locked, we shall be sure he is not here. And should it prove to be inhabited, we can easy hatch up some excusefor coming. He'll be none the wiser. Even if he should be here, " addedthe man after a pause, "he is probably asleep. After a hard day's worka boy his age sleeps like a log. There'll be no waking him, so don'tfret. Come! Let's steer for the float. "

"But I----"

"Great Heavens, Cronin! We've got to take some chances. You're notgetting cold feet so soon, are you?" burst out the other scornfully. 

"N--o! Of course not, " his companion declared with forced bravado. "ButI don't like taking needless risks. The boy might be awake and hearus. "

"What if he does? Haven't I told you I will invent some yarn to put himoff the scent? He wouldn't be suspecting mischief, anyhow. I tell youI'm not going drifting round this river in the dark any longer. Nextthing we know we may hit a snag and upset. "

"But you insisted on coming. "

"I know I did, " snapped the sharp voice. "What chance had we to talk ina crowded boarding-house whose very walls had ears? Or on the villagestreets? I knew the river would have no listeners and you see I wasright; it hasn't. But I did expect there would be a trifle more light. It is like ink, isn't it? You can't see your hand before your face. "

"I don't believe we could find the float even if we tried for it, "piped his friend with malicious satisfaction. 

"Find it? Of course we can. I've traveled this river too many times toget lost on it. I know every inch of the stream. "

"But aren't there boats at the landing?"

"Oh, they've been hauled in for the season long ago. I know that to bea fact. "

"Then I guess young Turner must have gone. "

"That's what I've been trying to tell you for the last half-hour, "asserted the other voice with high-pitched irritation. "Why waste allthis time? Let's land, talk things over, lay our plans, and be gettingback to Freeman's Falls. We mustn't be seen returning to the towntogether too late for it might arouse suspicion. "

"You're right there. "

"Then go ahead and paddle for the landing. I'll steer. Just have yourhand out so we won't bump. "

The lapping of the paddles came nearer and nearer. Then there was acrash as the nose of the canoe struck the float. 

"You darned idiot, Cronin! Why didn't you fend her off as I told youto?"

"I couldn't see. I----"

"Hush!"

A moment of breathless silence followed and then there was a derisivelaugh. 

"I told you the boy wasn't here, " one of the men declared aloud. "If hehad been he would have had his head out the window by now. We've madenoise enough to wake the dead. "

"But he may be here for all that, " cautioned the other speaker. "Don'ttalk so loud. "

"Nonsense!" his comrade retorted without lowering his tone. "I tell youthe boy has gone back home and the hut is as empty as a last year'sbird's nest. I'll stake my oath on it. The place is shut and lockedtight as a drum. You'll see I'm right presently. "

Instantly Ted's brain was alert. The door was locked, that he knew, forwhen he came in he had bolted it for the night. One window, however, was open and he dared not attempt to close it lest he make somebetraying sound; and even were he able to shut it noiselessly hereflected that the procedure would be an unwise one since it would cuthim off from hearing the conversation. No, he must keep perfectly stilland trust that his nocturnal visitors would not make too thorough aninvestigation of the premises. 

To judge from the scuffling of feet outside, both of them had nowalighted from the canoe and were approaching the door. Soon he heard ahand fumbling with the latch and afterward came a heavy knock. 

Slipping breathlessly from his chair he crouched upon the floor, greatbeads of perspiration starting out on his forehead. 

"The door is locked, as I told you, " he heard some one mutter. 

"He may be asleep. "

"We can soon make sure. Ah, there! Turner! Turner!"

Once more a series of blows descended upon the wooden panel. 

"Does that convince you, Cronin?"

"Y--e--s, " owned Cronin reluctantly. "I guess he's gone. "

"Of course he's gone! Come, brace up, can't you?" urged his companion. "Where's your backbone?"

"I'm not afraid. "

"Tell that to the marines! You're timid and jumpy as a girl. How are weever to put this thing over if you don't pull yourself together? Imight as well have a baby to help me, " sneered the gruff voice. 

"Don't be so hard on me, Alf, " whined his comrade. "I ain't donenothin'. Ain't I right here and ready?"

"You're here, all right, " snarled the first speaker, "but whetheryou're ready or not is another matter. Now I'm going to give you a lastchance to pull out. Do you want to go ahead or don't you? It's no goodfor us to be laying plans if you are going to be weak-kneed at the endand balk at carrying them out. Do you mean to stand by me and see thisthing to a finish or don't you?"

"I--sure I do!"

"Cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart!" This time the words echoed with more positiveness. 

"You're not going to back out or squeal?" his pal persisted. 

"Why, Alf, how can you----"

"Because I've got to be sure before I stir another inch. "

"But ain't I told you over and over again that I----"

"I don't trust you. "

"What makes you so hard on a feller, Alf?" whimpered Cronin. "I haven'tbeen mixed up in as many of these jobs as you have and is it surprisingthat I'm a mite nervous? It's no sign that I'm crawling. "

"You're ready to stick it out, then?"

"Sure!"

There was another pause. 

"Well, let me just tell you this, Jim Cronin. If you swear to stand byme and don't do it, your miserable life won't be worth afarthing--understand? I'll wring your neck, wring it good and thorough. I'm not afraid to do it and I will. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes. "

The terror-stricken monosyllable made it perfectly apparent that Cronindid know. 

"Then suppose we get down to hard tacks, " asserted his companion, thenote of fierceness suddenly dying out of his tone. "Come and sit downand we'll plan the thing from start to finish. We may as well becomfortable while we talk. There's no extra charge for sitting. "

As Ted bent to put his ear to the crack of the door, the thud of aheavy body jarred the shack. 

"Jove!" he heard Cronin cry. "The ground is some way down, ain't it?"

"And it's none to soft at that, " came grimly from his comrade, as asecond person slumped upon the planks outside. 

Somebody drew a long breath and while the men were making themselvesmore comfortable on the float Ted waited expectantly in the darkness. 

CHAPTER XIII

WHAT TED HEARD

"Now the question is which way are we going to get the biggest results, "Alf began, when they were both comfortably settled with their backs tothe door. "That must be the thing that governs us--that, and thesacrifice of as few lives as possible. Not _their_ lives, of course. Idon't care a curse for the Fernalds; the more of them that go sky-highthe better, in my estimation. It's the men I mean, our own people. Someof them will have to die, I know that. It's unavoidable, since thefactories are never empty. Even when no night shifts are working, thereare always watchmen and engineers on the job. But fortunately just now, owing to the dull season, there are no night gangs on duty. If wedecide on the mills it can be done at night; if on the Fernaldsthemselves, why we can set the bombs when we are sure that they are intheir houses. "

Ted bit his lips to suppress the sudden exclamation of horror that roseto them. He must not cry out, he told himself. Terrible as were thewords he heard, unbelievable as they seemed, if he were to be of anyhelp at all he must know the entire plot. Therefore he listened dumbly, struggling to still the beating of his heart. 

For a moment there was no response from Cronin. 

"Come, Jim, don't sit there like a graven image!" the leader of theproposed expedition exclaimed impatiently. "Haven't you a tongue inyour head? What's your idea? Out with it. I'm not going to shoulder allthe job. "

The man called Cronin cleared his throat. 

"As I see it, we gain nothing by blowing up the Fernald houses, "answered he deliberately. "So long as the mills remain, their income issure. After they're gone, the young one will just rebuild and go onwringing money out of the people as his father and grandfather aredoing. "

"But we mean to get him, too. "

A murmured protest came from Cronin. 

"I'm not for injuring that poor, unlucky lad, " asserted he. "He'snothing but a cripple who can't help himself. It would be like killinga baby. "

"Nonsense! What a sentimental milksop you are, Jim!" Alf cut in. "Youcan't go letting your feelings run away with you like that, old man. I'm sorry for the young chap, too. He's the most decent one of the lot. But that isn't the point. He's a Fernald and because he is----"

"But he isn't to blame for that, is he?"

"You make me tired, Cronin, with all this cry-baby stuff!" Alfejaculated. "You've simply got to cut it out--shut your ears to it--ifwe are ever to accomplish anything. You can't let your sympathies runaway with you like this. "

"I ain't letting my sympathies run away with me, " objected Cronin, in asurly tone. "And I'm no milksop, either. But I won't be a party toharming that unfortunate Mr. Laurie and you may as well understand thatat the outset. I'm willing to do my share in blowing the Fernald millshigher than a kite, and the two Fernalds with 'em; or I'll blow the twoFernalds to glory in their beds. I could do it without turning a hair. But to injure that helpless boy of theirs I can't and won't. That wouldbe too low-down a deed for me, bad as I am. He hasn't the show theothers have. They can fend for themselves. "

"You make me sick!" replied Alf scornfully. "Why, you might as wellthrow up the whole job as to only half do it. What use will it be totake the old men of the family if the young one still lives on?"

"I ain't going to argue with you, Alf, " responded Cronin stubbornly. "If I were to talk all night you likely would never see my point. Butthere I stand and you can take it or leave it. If you want to go on onthese terms, well and good; if not, I wash my hands of the whole affairand you can find somebody else to help you. "

"Of course I can't find somebody else, " was the exasperated retort. "You know that well enough. Do you suppose I would go on with a schemelike this and leave you wandering round to blab broadcast whatever youthought fit?"

"I shouldn't blab, Alf, " declared Cronin. "You could trust me to holdmy tongue and not peach on a pal. I should just pull out, that's all. Iwarn you, though, that if our ways parted and you went yours, I shoulddo what I could to keep Mr. Laurie out of your path. "

"You'd try the patience of Job, Cronin. "

"I'm sorry. "

"No, you're not, " snarled Alf. "You're just doing this whole thing tobe cussed. You know you've got me where I can't stir hand or foot. Iwas a fool ever to have got mixed up with such a white-livered, pulingbaby. I might have known you hadn't an ounce of sand. "

"Take care, Sullivan, " cautioned Cronin in a low, tense voice. 

"But hang it all--why do you want to balk and torment me so?"

"I ain't balking and tormenting you. "

"Yes, you are. You're just pulling the other way from sheercontrariness. Why can't you be decent and come across?"

"Haven't I been decent?" Cronin answered. "Haven't I fallen in withevery idea you've suggested? You've had your way fully and freely. Ihaven't stood out for a single thing but this, have I?"

"N--o. But----"

"Well, why not give in and let me have this one thing as I want it? Itdon't amount to much, one way or the other. The boy is sickly and isn'tlikely to live long at best. "

"But I can't for the life of me see why you should be so keen onsparing him. What is he to you?"

Cronin hesitated; then in a very low voice he said:

"Once, two years ago, my little kid got out of the yard and unbeknownto his mother wandered down by the river. We hunted high and low forhim and were well-nigh crazy, for he's all the child we have, you know. It seems Mr. Laurie was riding along the shore in his automobile and hespied the baby creeping out on the thin ice. He stopped his car andcalled to the little one and coaxed him back until the chauffeur couldget to him and lift him aboard the car. Then they fetched the child tothe village, hunted up where he lived, and brought him home to hismother. I--I've never forgotten it and I shan't. "

"That was mighty decent of Mr. Laurie--mighty decent, " Sullivanadmitted slowly. "I've got a kid at home myself. "

For a few moments neither man spoke; then Sullivan continued in quick, brisk fashion, as if he were trying to banish some reverie that plaguedhim:

"Well, have your way. We'll leave Mr. Laurie out of this altogether. "

"Thank you, Alf. "

Sullivan paid no heed to the interruption. 

"Now let's can all this twaddle and get down to work, " he said sharply. "We've wasted too much time squabbling over that miserable cripple. Let's brace up and make our plans. You are for destroying the mills, eh?"

"It's the only thing that will be any use, it seems to me, " Croninreplied. "If the mills are blown up, it will not only serve as awarning to the Fernalds but it will mean the loss of a big lot ofmoney. They will rebuild, of course, but it will take time, and in theinterval everything will be at a standstill. "

"It will throw several hundred men out of work, " Sullivan objected. 

"That can't be helped, " retorted Cronin. "They will get out at leastwith their lives and will be almighty thankful for that. They can getother jobs, I guess. But even if they are out of work, I figure some ofthem won't be so sorry to see the Fernalds get what's coming to them, "chuckled Cronin. 

"You're right there, Jim!"

"I'll bet I am!" cried Cronin. 

"Then your notion would be to plant time bombs at the factories so theywill go off in the night?"

"Yes, " confessed Cronin, a shadow of regret in his tone. "That willcarry off only a few watchmen and engineers. Mighty tough luck forthem. "

"It can't be helped, " Sullivan said ruthlessly. "You can't expect tocarry through a thing of this sort without some sacrifice. All we cando is to believe that the end justifies the means. It's a case of thegreatest good to the greatest number. "

"I--suppose--so. "

"Well, then, why hesitate?"

"I ain't hesitating, " announced Cronin quickly. "I just happened toremember Maguire. He's one of the night watchmen at the upper mill anda friend of mine. "

"But we can't remember him, Cronin, " Sullivan burst out. "It is unluckythat he chances to be on duty, of course; but that is his misfortune. We'd spare him if we could. "

"I know, I know, " Cronin said. "It's a pitiless business. " Then, as ifhis last feeble compunction vanished with the words, he added, "It's tobe the mills, then. "

"Yes. We seem to be agreed on that, " Sullivan replied eagerly. "I haveeverything ready and I don't see why we can't go right ahead to-nightand plant the machines with their fuses timed for early morning. Iguess we can sneak into the factories all right--you to the upper milland I to the lower. If you get caught you can say you are hunting forMaguire; and if I do--well, I must trust to my wits to invent a story. But they won't catch me. I've never been caught yet, and I have handleda number of bigger jobs than this one, " concluded he with pride. 

"Anything more you want to say to me?" asked Cronin. 

"No, I guess not. I don't believe I need to hand you any advice. Juststiffen up, that's all. Anything you want to say to me?"

"No. I shan't worry my head about you, you old fox. You're too much ofa master hand, " Cronin returned, with an inflection that sounded like agrin. "I imagine you can hold up your end. "

"I rather imagine I can, " drawled Sullivan. 

"Then if there's nothing more to be said, I move we start back to town. It must be late, " Cronin asserted. 

"It's black enough to be midnight, " grumbled Sullivan. "We'd best godirectly to our houses--I to mine and you to yours. The explosives andbombs I'll pack into two grips. Yours I'll hide in your back yardunderneath that boat. How'll that be?"

"O. K. "

"You've got it straight in your head what you are to do?"

"Yes. "

"And I can count on you?"

"Sure!"

"Then let's be off. "

There was a splash as the canoe slipped into the water and afterwardTed heard the regular dip of the paddles as the craft moved away. Helistened until the sound became imperceptible and when he was certainthat the conspirators were well out of earshot he sped to the telephoneand called up the police station at Freeman's Falls. It did not takelong for him to hurriedly repeat to an officer what he had heard. Afterward, in order to make caution doubly sure, he called up the millsand got his old friend Maguire at the other end of the line. It was notuntil all this had been done and he could do no more that he sanklimply down on the couch and stared into the darkness. Now thateverything was over he found that he was shaking like a leaf. His handswere icy cold and he quivered in every muscle of his body. It wasuseless for him to try to sleep; he was far too excited and worried forthat. Therefore he lay rigidly on his bunk, thinking and waitingfor--he knew not what. 

It might have been an hour later that he was aroused from a doze by thesharp reverberation of the telephone bell. Dizzily he sprang to hisfeet and stood stupid and inert in the middle of the floor. Again thesignal rang and this time he was broad awake. He rushed forward tograsp the receiver. 

"Turner? Ted Turner?"

"Yes, sir. "

"This is the police station at Freeman's Falls. We have your men--bothof them--and the goods on them. They are safe and sound under lock andkey. I just thought you might like to know it. We shall want to see youin the morning. You've done a good night's work, young one. The StatePolice have been after these fellows for two years. Sullivan has arecord for deeds of this sort. Mighty lucky we got a line on him thistime before he did any mischief. "

"It was. "

"That's all, thanks to you, kid. I advise you to go to bed now and tosleep. I'll hunt you up to-morrow. I'll bet the Fernalds will, too. They owe you something. "

CHAPTER XIV

THE FERNALDS WIN THEIR POINT

The trial of Alf Sullivan and Jim Cronin was one of the mostspectacular and thrilling events Freeman's Falls had ever witnessed. That two such notorious criminals should have been captured through theefforts of a young boy was almost inconceivable to the police, especially to the State detectives whom they had continually outwitted. And yet here they were in the dock and the town officers made not theslightest pretense that any part of the glory of their apprehensionbelonged to them. To Ted Turner's prompt action, and to that alone, thetriumph was due. 

In consequence the boy became the hero of the village. He had alwaysbeen a favorite with both young and old, for every one liked hisfather, and it followed that they liked his father's son. Now, however, they had greater cause to admire that son for his own sake and cherishtoward him the warmest gratitude. Many a man and woman reflected thatit was this slender boy who had stood between them and a calamityalmost too horrible to be believed; and as a result their gratitude wastremendous. And if the townsfolk were sensible of this great obligationhow much more keenly alive to it were the Fernalds whose property hadbeen thus menaced. 

"You have topped one service with another, Ted, " Mr. Lawrence Fernalddeclared. "We do not see how we are ever to thank you. Come, there mustbe something that you would like--some wish you would be happy to havegratified. Tell us what it is and perhaps we can act as magicians andmake it come true. "

"Yes, " pleaded Mr. Clarence Fernald, "speak out, Ted. Do not hesitate. Remember you have done us a favor the magnitude of which can never bemeasured and which we can never repay. "

"But I do not want to be paid, sir, " the lad answered. "I am quite asthankful as you that the wretches who purposed harm were caught beforethey had had opportunity to destroy either life or property. Certainlythat is reward enough. "

"It _is_ a reward in its way, " the elder Mr. Fernald asserted. "Thethought that it was you who were the savior of an entire community willbring you happiness as long as you live. Nevertheless we should like togive you something more tangible than pleasant thoughts. We want you tohave something by which to remember this marvelous escape from tragedy. Deep down in your heart there must be some wish you cherish. If youknew the satisfaction it would give us to gratify it, I am sure youwould not be so reluctant to express it. "

Ted colored, and after hesitating an instant, shyly replied:

"Since you are both so kind and really seem to wish to know, there issomething I should like. "

"Name it!" the Fernalds cried in unison. 

"I should like to feel I can return to the shack next summer, " the boyremarked timidly. "You see, I have become very fond of Aldercliffe andPine Lea, fond of Laurie, of Mr. Hazen, and of the little hut. I havefelt far more sorry than perhaps you realize to go away from here. " Hisvoice quivered. 

"You poor youngster!" Mr. Clarence exclaimed. "Why in the name ofgoodness didn't you say so? There is no more need of your leaving thisplace than there is of my going, or Laurie. We ought to have sensedyour feeling and seen to it that other plans were made long ago. Indeed, you shall come back to your little riverside abode nextsummer--never fear! And as for Aldercliffe, Pine Lea, Laurie and allthe rest of it, you shall not be parted from any of them. "

"But I must go back to school now, sir. "

"What's the matter with your staying on at Pine Lea and having yourlessons with Laurie and Mr. Hazen instead?"

"Oh--why----"

"Should you like to?"

"Oh, Mr. Fernald, it would be----"

Laurie's father laughed. 

"I guess we do not need an answer to that question, " GrandfatherFernald remarked, smiling. "His face tells the tale. "

"Then the thing is as good as done, " Mr. Clarence announced. "Hazenwill be as set up as an old hen to have two chicks. He likes you, Ted. "

"And well he may, " growled Grandfather Fernald. "But for Ted's prayersand pleas he would not now be here. "

"Yes, Hazen will be much pleased, " reiterated Mr. Clarence Fernald, ignoring his father's comment. "As for Laurie--I wonder we neverthought of all this before. It is no more work to teach two boys thanone, and in the meantime each will act as a stimulus for the other. Thespur of rivalry will be a splendid incentive for Laurie, to say nothingof the joy he will take in your companionship. He needs young peopleabout him. It is a great scheme, a great scheme!" mused Mr. Fernald, rubbing his hands with increasing satisfaction as one advantage of thearrangement after another rotated through his mind. 

"If only my father does not object, " murmured Ted. 

"Object! Object!" blustered Grandfather Fernald. "And why, pray, shouldhe object?"

That a man of Mr. Turner's station in life should view the plan withanything but pride and complacency was evidently a new thought to thefinancier. 

"Why, sir, my father and sisters are very fond of me and may not wishto have me remain longer away from home. They have missed me a lot thissummer, I know that. You see I am the youngest one, the only boy. "

"Humph!" interpolated the elder Mr. Fernald. 

"In spite of the fact that we are crowded at home and too busy to seemuch of one another, Father likes to feel I'm around, " continued Ted. 

"I--suppose--so, " came slowly from the old gentleman. 

"I am sure I can fix all that, " asserted Mr. Clarence Fernald briskly. "I will see your father and sisters myself, and I feel sure they willnot stand in the way of your getting a fine education when it isoffered you--that is, if they care as much for you as you say they do. On the contrary, they will be the first persons to realize that such aplan is greatly to your advantage. "

"It is going to be almightily to your advantage, " Mr. Lawrence Fernaldadded. "Who can tell where it all may lead? If you do well at yourstudies, perhaps it may mean college some day, and a big, well-paid jobafterward. "

Ted's eyes shone. 

"Would you like to go to college if you could?" persisted the elderman. 

"You bet I would--I mean yes, sir. "

The old gentleman chuckled at the fervor of the reply. 

"Well, well, " said he, "time must decide all that. First lay a goodfoundation. You cannot build anything worth building without somethingto build upon. You get your cellar dug and we will then see what wewill put on top of it. "

With this parting remark he and his son moved away. 

When the project was laid before Laurie, his delight knew no bounds. Tohave Ted come and live at Pine Lea for the winter, what a lark! Thinkof having some one to read and study with every day! Nothing could bejollier! And Mr. Hazen was every whit as pleased. 

"It is the very thing!" he exclaimed to Laurie's father. "Ted will notbe the least trouble. He is a fine student and it will be asatisfaction to work with him. Besides, unless I greatly miss my guess, he will cheer Laurie on to much larger accomplishments. Ted's influencehas never been anything but good. "

And what said Laurie's mother?

"It is splendid, Clarence, splendid! We can refurnish that extra roomthat adjoins Laurie's suite and let Mr. Hazen and the boys have thatentire wing of the house. Nothing could be simpler. I shall be glad tohave Ted here. Not only is he a fine boy but he has proved himself agood friend to us all. If we can do anything for him, we certainlyshould do it. The lad has had none too easy a time in this world. "

Yes, all went well with the plan so far as the Fernalds were concerned;but the Turners--ah, there was the stumbling block!

"It's no doubt a fine thing you're offering to do for my son, " Ted'sfather replied to Mr. Clarence Fernald, "and I assure you I am notunmindful of your kindness; but you see he is our only boy and when heisn't here whistling round the house we miss him. 'Tain't as if we hadhim at home during his vacation. If he goes up to your place to worksummers and stays there winters as well, we shall scarcely see him atall. All we have had of him this last year was an occasional teatimevisit. Folks don't like having their children go out from the familyroof so young. "

"But, Father, " put in Nancy, "think what such a chance as this willmean to Ted. You yourself have said over and over again that there wasnothing like having an education. "

"I know it, " mused the man. "There's nothing can equal knowingsomething. I never did and look where I've landed. I'll never go aheadnone. But I want it to be different with my boy. He's going to havesome stock in trade in the way of training for life. It will be a kindof capital nothing can sweep away. As I figure it, it will be a sureinvestment--that is, if the boy has any stuff in him. "

"An education is a pretty solid investment, " agreed the elder Mr. Fernald, "and you are wise to recognize its value, Mr. Turner. Toplunge into life without such a weapon is like entering battle withouta sword. I know, for I have tried it. "

"Have you indeed, sir?"

Grandfather Fernald nodded. 

"I was brought up on a Vermont farm when I was a boy. "

"You don't say so! Well, well!"

"Yes, I never had much schooling, " went on the old man. "Of course Ipicked up a lot of practical knowledge, as a boy will; and in some waysit has not been so bad. But it was a pretty mixed-up lot of stuff and Ihave been all my life sorting it out and putting it in order. Isometimes wonder when I think things over that I got ahead at all; itwas more happen than anything else, I guess. "

"The Vermonters have good heads on their shoulders, " Mr. Turnerremarked. 

"Oh, you can't beat the Green Mountain State, " laughed the senior Mr. Fernald, unbending into cordiality in the face of a common interest. "Still, when it came to bringing up my boy I felt as you do. I wasn'tsatisfied to have him get nothing more than I had. So I sent him tocollege and gave him all the education I never got myself. It has stoodhim in good stead, too, and I've lived to be proud of what he's donewith it. "

"And well you may be, sir, " Mr. Turner observed. 

Mr. Clarence Fernald flushed in the face of these plaudits and cut theconversation short by saying:

"It is that kind of an education that we want to give your boy, Mr. Turner. We like the youngster and believe he has promise of somethingfine. We should like to prepare him for college or some technicalschool and send him through it. He has quite a pronounced bent forscience and given the proper opportunities he might develop intosomething beyond the ordinary rank and file. "

"Do you think so, sir?" asked Mr. Turner, glowing with pleasure. "Well, I don't know but that he has a sort of knack with wire, nails, andqueer machinery. He has tinkered with such things since he was a littlelad. Of late he has been fussing round with electricity and scaring usall to death here at home. His sisters were always expecting he'd meethis end or blow up the house with some claptraption he'd put together. "

Nancy blushed; then added, with a shy glance toward the Fernalds:

"They say down at the school that Ted is quite handy with telephonesand such things. "

"Mr. Hazen, my son's tutor, thinks your brother has a knowledge ofelectricity far beyond his years, " replied Mr. Clarence Fernald. "Thatis why it seems a pity his talents in that direction should not becultivated. Who knows but he may be an embryo genius? You never cantell what may be inside a child. "

"You're right there, sir, " Mr. Turner assented cordially. Then after amoment of thought, he continued, "Likely an education such as you arefiguring on would cost a mint of money. "

The Fernalds, both father and son, smiled at the naïve comment. 

"Well--yes, " confessed Mr. Clarence slowly. "It would cost something. "

"A whole lot?"

"If you wanted the best. "

Mr. Turner scratched his head. 

"I'm afraid I couldn't swing it, " declared he, regret in his tone. 

"But we are offering to do this for you, " put in Grandfather Fernald. 

"I know you are, sir; I know you are and I'm grateful, " Ted's fatheranswered. "But if I could manage it myself, I'd----"

"Come, Mr. Turner, I beg you won't say that, " interrupted the elder Mr. Fernald. "Think what we owe to your son. Why, we never in all the worldcan repay what he has done for us. This is no favor. We are simplypaying our debts. You like to pay your bills, don't you?"

"Indeed I do, sir!" was the hearty reply. "There's no happier momentthan the one when I take my pay envelope and go to square up what Iowe. True, I don't run up many bills; still, there is not always moneyenough on hand to make both ends meet without depending some oncredit. "

"How much do you get in the shipping room?"

"Eighty dollars a month, sir. "

"And your daughters are working?"

"They are in the spinning mills. "

Mr. Fernald glanced about over the little room. Although scrupulouslyneat, it was quite apparent that the apartment was far too crowded forcomfort. The furnishings also bespoke frugality in the extreme. It wasnot necessary to be told that the Turners' life was a closearithmetical problem. 

"Your family stand by us loyally, " observed the financier. 

"We have your mills to thank for our daily bread, sir, " Mr. Turneranswered. 

"And your boy--if he does not go on with his studies shall you have himenter the factories?"

Mr. Turner squared his shoulders with a swift gesture of protest. 

"No, sir--not if I can help it!" he burst out. Then as if he suddenlysensed his discourtesy, he added, "I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Iwasn't thinking who I was talking to. It isn't that I do not like themills. It's only that there is so little chance for the lad to getahead there. I wouldn't want the boy to spend his life grubbing away asI have. "

"And yet you are denying him the chance to better himself. "

"I am kinder going round in a circle, ain't I?" returned Mr. Turnergently. "Like as not it is hard for you to understand how I feel. It'sonly that you hate to let somebody else do for your children. It seemslike charity. "

"Charity! Charity--when we owe the life of our boy, the lives of manyof our workmen, the safety of our mills to your son?" ejaculated Mr. Clarence Fernald with unmistakable sincerity. 

"When you pile it up that way it does sound like a pretty big debt, doesn't it?" mused Mr. Turner. 

"Of course it's a big debt--it is a tremendous one. Now try, Mr. Turner, and see our point of view. We want to take our envelope in ourhands and although we have not fortune enough in the world to wipe outall we owe, we wish to pay part of it, at least. No matter how much wemay be able to do for Ted in the future, we shall never be paying infull all that he has done for us. Much of his service we must accept asan obligation and give in return for it nothing but gratitude andaffection. But if you will grant us the privilege of doing this little, it will give us the greatest pleasure. "

If any one had told the stately Mr. Lawrence Fernald weeks before thathe would be in the home of one of his workmen, pleading for a favor, hewould probably have shrugged his shoulders and laughed; and even Mr. Clarence Fernald, who was less of an aristocrat than his father, woulddoubtless have questioned a prediction of his being obliged actually toimplore one of the men in his employ to accept a benefaction from him. Yet here they both were, almost upon their knees, theoretically, beforethis self-respecting artisan. 

In the face of such entreaty who could have remained obdurate?Certainly not Mr. Turner who in spite of his pride was thekindest-hearted creature alive. 

"Well, you shall have your way, gentlemen, " he at length replied, "Tedshall stay on at Pine Lea, since you wish it, and you shall plan hiseducation as you think best. I know little of such matters and feelsure the problem is better in your hands than mine. I know you willwork for the boy's good. And I beg you won't think me ungratefulbecause I have hesitated to accept your offer. We all have our scruplesand I have mine. But now that I have put them in the background, Ishall take whole-heartedly what you give and be most thankful for it. "

Thus did the Fernalds win their point. Nevertheless they came away fromthe Turner's humble home with a consciousness that instead of bestowinga favor, as they had expected to do, they had really received one. Perhaps they did not respect Ted's father the less because of hisreluctance to take the splendid gift they had put within his reach. They themselves were proud men and they had a sympathy for the pride ofothers. There could be no question that the interview had furnishedboth of them with food for thought for as they drove home in theirgreat touring car they did not speak immediately. By and by, however, Grandfather Fernald observed:

"Don't you think, Clarence, Turner's pay should be increased? Eightydollars isn't much to keep a roof over one's head and feed a family ofthree persons. "

"I have been thinking that, too, " returned his son. "They tell me he isa very faithful workman and he has been here long enough to have earneda substantial increase in wages. I don't see why I never got round todoing something for him before. The fellow was probably too proud toask for more money and unless some kick comes to me those things slipmy mind. I'll see right away what can be done. "

There was a pause and then the senior Mr. Fernald spoke again:

"Do you ever feel that we ought to do something about furnishing betterquarters for the men?" he asked. "I have had the matter on myconscience for months. Look at that tenement of the Turners! It is old, out of date, crowded and stuffy. There isn't a ray of sunshine in it. It's a disgrace to herd a family into such a place. And I suppose thereare ever so many others like it in Freeman's Falls. "

"I'm afraid there are, Father. "

"I don't like the idea of it, " growled old Mr. Fernald. "The houses alllook well enough until one goes inside. But they're terrible, terrible!Why, they are actually depressing. I haven't shaken off the gloom ofthat room yet. We own land enough on the other side of the river. Whycouldn't we build a handsome bridge and then develop that unused areaby putting up some decent houses for our people? It would increase thevalue of the property and at the same time improve the livingconditions of our employees. What do you say to the notion?"

"I am ready to go in on any such scheme!" cried Mr. Clarence Fernaldheartily. "I'd like nothing better. I have always wanted to take up thematter with you; but I fancied from something you said once when Isuggested it that you----"

"I didn't realize what those houses down along the water front werelike, " interrupted Grandfather Fernald. "Ugh! At least sunshine doesnot cost money. We must see that our people get more of it. "

CHAPTER XV

WHAT CAME OF THE PLOT

The Fernalds were as good as their word. All winter long father, son, and grandson worked at the scheme for the new cottages and by New Year, with the assistance of an architect, they had on paper plans for amodel village to be built on the opposite side of the river as soon asthe weather permitted. The houses were gems of careful thought, no twoof them being alike. Nevertheless, although each tiny domain wasindividual in design, a general uniformity of construction existedbetween them which resulted in a delightfully harmonious ensemble. Theentire Fernald family was enthusiastic over the project. It was thechief topic of conversation both at Aldercliffe and at Pine Lea. Rollsof blue prints littered office and library table and cluttered thebureaus, chairs, and even the pockets of the elder men of eachhousehold. 

"We are going to make a little Normandy on the other shore of the riverbefore we have done with it, " asserted Grandfather Fernald to Laurie. "It will be as pretty a settlement as one would wish to see. I mean, too, to build coöperative stores, a clubhouse, and a theater; perhaps Imay even go farther and put up a chapel. I have gone clean daft overthe notion of a model village and since I am started I may as well behung for a sheep as a lamb. I do not believe we shall be sinking ourmoney, either, for in addition to bettering the living conditions ofour men I feel we shall also draw to the locality a finer class ofworking people. This will boom our section of the country and shouldmake property here more valuable. But even if it doesn't work out thatway, I shall take pride in the proposed village. I have always insistedthat our mills be spotless and up to date and the fact that they havebeen has been a source of great gratification. Now I shall carry thatidea farther and see that the new settlement comes up to our standards. I have gone over and over the plans to see if in any way they can bebettered; suppose you and I look at them together once more. Some newinspiration may come to us--something that will be an improvement. "

Patiently and for the twentieth time Laurie examined the blue printswhile his grandfather volubly explained just where each building of themany was to stand. 

"This little park, with a fountain in the middle and a bandstand nearby, will slope down toward the river. As there are many fine treesalong the shore it will be a cool and pleasant place to sit in summer. The stone bridge I am to put up will cross just above and serve as asort of entrance to the park. We intend that everything shall be laidout with a view to making the river front attractive. As for thevillage itself--the streets are to be wide so that each dwelling shallhave plenty of fresh air and sunshine. No more of those dingy flatssuch as the Turners live in! Each family is also to have land enoughfor a small garden, and each house will have a piazza and the best ofplumbing; and because many of the women live in their kitchens morethan in any other part of their abode, I am insisting that that room beas comfortable and airy as it can be made. "

"It is all bully, Grandfather, " Laurie answered. "But isn't it going tocost a fortune to do the thing as you want it done?"

"It is going to cost money, " nodded the elder man. "I am not deceivingmyself as to that. But I have the money and if I chose to spend it onthis _fad_ (as one of my friends called it) I don't see why I shouldn'tdo it. Since your grandmother died I have not felt the same interest inAldercliffe that I used to. When she was alive that was my hobby. Ishall simply be putting out the money in a different direction, that isall. Perhaps it will be a less selfish direction, too. "

"It certainly is a bully fine fad, Grandfather, " Laurie exclaimed. 

"Somehow I believe it is, laddie, " the old gentleman answeredthoughtfully. "Your father thinks so. Time only can tell whether I havechucked my fortune in a hole or really invested it wisely. I have beendoing a good deal of serious thinking lately, thanks to those chaps whotried to blow up the mills. As I have turned matters over in my mindsince the trial, and struggled to get their point of view, I have aboutcome to the conclusion that they had a fair measure of right on theirside. Not that I approve of their methods, " continued he hastily, raising a protesting hand, when Laurie offered an angry interruption. "Do not misunderstand me. The means they took was cowardly and criminaland I do not for a moment uphold it. But the thing that led them to actas they planned to act was that they honestly believed we had not giventhem and their comrades a square deal. As I have pondered over thisconviction of theirs, I am not so sure but they were right in thatbelief. "

He paused to light a fresh cigar which he silently puffed for a fewmoments. 

"This village plan of mine has grown to some extent out of the thinkingto which this tragedy has stimulated me. There can be no question thatour fortunes have come to us as a result of the hard labor of ouremployees. I know that. And I also know that we have rolled up a farlarger proportion of the profits than they have. In fact, I am not surewe have not accepted a larger slice than was our due; and I am notsurprised that some of them are also of that opinion. I would not go sofar as to say we have been actually dishonest but I am afraid we havenot been generous. The matter never came to me before in precisely thislight and I confess frankly I am sorry that I have blundered. Nevertheless, as I tell your father, it is never too late to mend. Ifwe have made mistakes we at least do not need to continue to make them. So I have resolved to pay up some of my past obligations by buildingthis village and afterward your dad and I plan to raise the wages ofthe workers--raise them voluntarily without their asking. I figure weshall have enough to keep the wolf from the door, even then, " he added, smiling, "and if we should find we had not why we should simply have tocome back on you and Ted Turner to support us, that's all. "

Laurie broke into a ringing laugh. 

"I would much rather you and Dad spent the money this way than to haveyou leave it all to me, " he said presently. 

"One person does not need so much money. It is more than his share ofthe world's profits--especially if he has earned none of it. Besides, when a fortune is handed over to you, it spoils all the fun of makingone for yourself. " The boy's eyes clouded wistfully. "I suppose anyhowI never shall be able to work as hard as you and Father have; stillI----"

"Pooh! Pooh! Nonsense!" his grandfather interrupted huskily. 

"I believe I shall be able to earn enough to take care of myself, "continued Laurie steadily. "In any case I mean to try. "

"Of course you will!" cried the elder man heartily. "Why, aren't youexpecting to be an engineer or something?"

"I--I--hope--to, " replied the boy. 

"Certainly! Certainly!" fidgeted Grandfather Fernald nervously. "Youare going to be a great man some day, Laurie--a consulting engineer, maybe; or a famous electrician, or something of the sort. "

"I wish I might, " the lad repeated. "You see, Grandfather, it isworking out your own career that is the fun, making something allyourself. That is why I hate the idea of ever stepping into your shoesand having to manage the mills. All the interesting part is donealready. You and Dad had the pleasure----"

"The damned hard work, you mean, " cut in his grandfather. 

"Well, the hard work, then, " chuckled Laurie, "of building the businessup. "

"That is true, my boy, " replied Mr. Fernald. "It was a great game, too. Why, you know when I came here and we staked out the site for themills, there wasn't a house in sight. There was nothing but that river. To one little wooden factory and that rushing torrent of water I pinnedmy faith. Every cent I possessed in the world was in the venture. Imust make good or go under. Nobody will ever know how I slaved in thoseearly days. For years I worked day and night, never giving myself timeto realize that I was tired. But I was young and eager and although Igot fagged sometimes a few hours of sleep sent me forth each morningwith faith that I could slay whatever dragons I might encounter. As Ilook back on those years, hard though they were, they will always standout as the happiest ones of my life. It was the fight that was thesport. Now I am an old man and I have won the thing I wasafter--success. Of course, it is a satisfaction to have done what youset out to do. But I tell you, laddie, that after your money is made, the zest of the game is gone. Your fortune rolls up then without youand all you have to do is to sit back and watch it grow of itself. Itdoesn't seem to be a part of you any more. You feel old, andunnecessary, and out of it. You are on the shelf. "

"That is why I want to begin at the beginning and earn my own money, Grandfather, " Laurie put in. "Think what you would have missed if someone had deprived you of all your fun when you were young. You wouldn'thave liked it. "

"You bet I wouldn't!" cried the old gentleman. 

"I don't want to lose my fun either, " persisted Laurie. "I want to winmy way just as you and Dad have done--just as Ted Turner is going todo. I want to find out what is in me and what I can do with it. "

Grandfather Fernald rubbed his hands. 

"Bully for you, Laurie! Bully for you!" he ejaculated. "That's the trueFernald spirit. It was that stuff that took me away from my father'sfarm in Vermont and started me out in the world with only six dollarsin my pocket. I was bound I would try my muscle and I did. I got somepretty hard knocks, too, while I was doing it. Still, they were all inthe day's work and I never have regretted them. But I didn't mean tohave your father go through all I did and so I saw that he got aneducation and started different. He knew what he was fighting and wasarmed with the proper weapons instead of going blind into thescrimmage. That is what we are trying to do for you and what we mean todo for Ted Turner. We do not intend to take either of you out of thefray but we are going to put into your hands the things you need to winthe battle. Then the making good will depend solely on you. "

"I mean to try to do my part. "

"I know you do, laddie; and you'll do it, too. "

"I just wish I was stronger--as well as Ted is, " murmured the boy. 

"I wish you were, " his grandfather responded gently, touching hisgrandson's shoulder affectionately with his strong hand. "If moneycould give you health you should have every farthing I possess. Butthere are things that money cannot do, Laurie. I used to think it wasall-powerful and that if I had it there was nothing I could not makemine. But I realize now that many of the best gifts of life are beyondits reach. We grow wiser as we grow older, " he concluded, with a sadshake of his head. "Sometimes I think we should have been granted twolives, one to experiment with and the other to live. "

He rose, a weary shadow clouding his eyes. 

"Well, to live and learn is all we can do; and thank goodness it isnever too late to profit by our errors. I have learned many things fromTed Turner; I have learned some more from his father; and I have addedto all these certain things that those unlucky wretches, Sullivan andCronin, have demonstrated to me. Who knows but I may make Freeman'sFalls a better place in consequence? We shall see. "

With these parting reflections the old gentleman slowly left the room. 

CHAPTER XVI

ANOTHER CALAMITY

The winter was a long and tedious one with much cold weather and ice. Great drifts leveled the fields about Aldercliffe and Pine Lea, shrouding the vast expanse of fields along the river in a glisteningcloak of ermine spangled with gold. The stream itself was buried sodeep beneath the snow that it was difficult not to believe it haddisappeared altogether. Freeman's Falls had never known a more severeseason and among the mill employees there was much illness anddepression. Prices were high, business slack, and the work ran light. Nevertheless, the Fernalds refused to shorten the hours. There were nonight shifts on duty, to be sure, but the hum of the machinery thatceased at twilight resumed its buzzing every morning and by its musicgladdened many a home where anxiety might otherwise have reigned. 

That the factories were being operated at a loss rather than throw themen out of employment Ted Turner could not help knowing for since hehad become a member of the Fernald household he had been included sointimately in the family circle that it was unavoidable he should becognizant of much that went on there. As a result, an entirely newaspect of manufacture came before him. Up to this time he had seen butone side of the picture, that with which the working man was familiar. But now the capitalist's side was turned toward him and on confrontingits many intricate phases he gained a very different conception of themill-owner's conundrums. He learned now for the first time who it wasthat tided over business in its seasons of stress and advanced themoney that kept bread in the mouths of the workers. He sensed, too, ashe might never have done otherwise, who shouldered the burden of carenot alone during working hours but outside of them; he glimpsedsomething of the struggles of competition; the problems of securing rawmaterial; the work concerning credits. 

A very novel viewpoint it was to the boy, and as he regarded thecomplicated web, he found himself wondering how much of all this tanglewas known to the men, and whether they were always fair to theiremployer. He had frequently overheard conversations at his father'swhen they had proclaimed how easy and care-free a life the rich led, and while they had envied and criticized and slandered the Fernalds andasserted that they did nothing but enjoy themselves, he had listened. Ah, how far from the truth this estimate had been! He speculated, as hereviewed the facts and vaguely rehearsed the capitalist's enigmaswhether, if shown the actual conditions, the townsfolk would have beenwilling to exchange places with either of these men whose fortunes theyso greedily coveted. 

For in very truth the Fernalds seemed to Ted persons to be pitied farmore than envied. Stripped of illusions, what was Mr. Lawrence Fernaldbut an old man who had devoted himself to money-making until he hadrolled up a fortune so large that its management left him no leisure toenjoy it? Eager to accumulate more and ever more wealth, he toiled andworried quite as hard as he would have done had he had no money at all;he often passed sleepless nights and could never be persuaded to take aday away from his office. He slaved harder than any of those he paid towork for him and he had none of their respite from care. 

Mr. Clarence Fernald, being of a younger generation, had perhapslearned greater wisdom. At any rate, he went away twice a year forextended pleasure trips. Possibly the fact that his father haddegenerated into a mere money-making machine was ever before him, serving as a warning against a similar fate. However that may havebeen, he did break resolutely away from business at intervals, or triedto. Nevertheless, he never could contrive to be wholly free. Telegramspursued him wherever he went; his secretary often went in search ofhim; and many a time, like a defeated runaway whose escape is cutshort, he was compelled to abandon his holiday and return to the mills, there to straighten out some unlooked-for complication. Day and nightthe responsibilities of his position, the welfare of the hundreds ofpersons dependent on him, weighed down his shoulders. And even when hewas at home in the bosom of his family, there was Laurie, his son, hisidol, who could probably never be well! What man in all Freeman's Fallscould have envied him if acquainted with all the conditions of hislife?

This and many another such reflection engrossed Ted, causing him towonder whether there was not in the divine plan a certain element ofequalization. 

In the meantime, his lessons with Laurie and Mr. Hazen went steadilyand delightfully on. How much more could be accomplished with a tutorwho devoted all his time simply to two pupils! And how much greaterpleasure one derived from studying under these intimate circumstances!In every way the arrangement was ideal. Thus the winter passed with itsbalancing factors of work and play. The friendship between the two boysstrengthened daily and in a similar proportion Ted's affection for theentire Fernald family increased. 

It was when the first thaw made its appearance late in March thattrouble came. Laurie was stricken with measles, and because of thecontagion, Ted's little shack near the river was hastily equipped foroccupancy, and the lad was transferred there. 

"I can't have two boys sick, " declared Mr. Clarence Fernald, "and asyou have not been exposed to the disease there is no sense in ourthrusting you into its midst. Plenty of wood will keep your fireplaceblazing and as the weather is comparatively mild I fancy you cancontrive to be comfortable. We will connect the telephone so you won'tbe lonely and so you can talk with Laurie every day. The doctor says hewill soon be well again and after the house has been fumigated you cancome back to Pine Lea. "

Accordingly, Ted was once more ensconced in the little hut and how goodit seemed to be again in that familiar haunt only he realized. Beforethe first day was over, he felt as if he had never been away. Pine Leamight boast its conservatories, its sun parlors, its tiled baths, itsluxuries of every sort; they all faded into nothingness beside thefreedom and peace of the tiny shack at the river's margin. 

Meanwhile, with the gradual approach of spring, the sun mounted higherand the great snow drifts settled and began to disappear. Already theice in the stream was breaking up and the turbid yellow waters wentrushing along, carrying with them whirling blocks of snow. As thetorrent swept past, it flooded the meadows and piled up against the damopposite the factories great frozen, jagged masses of ice which groundand crashed against one another, so that the sounds could be distinctlyheard within the mills. At some points these miniature icebergs blockedthe falls and held the waters in check until, instead of cascading overthe dam, they spread inland, inundating the shores. The float beforeTed's door was covered and at night, when all was still and his windowsopen, he could hear the roaring of the stream, and the impact of thebumping ice as it sped along. Daily, as the snows on the far distanthillsides near the river's source melted, the flood increased andpoured down in an ever rising tide its seething waters. 

Yet notwithstanding the fact that each day saw the stream higher, noone experienced any actual anxiety from the conditions, althougheverybody granted they were abnormal. Of course, there was more ice inthe river than there had been for many years. Even Grandfather Fernald, who had lived in the vicinity for close on to half a century, could notrecall ever having witnessed such a spring freshet; nor did he denythat the weight of ice and water against the dam must be tremendous. However, the structure was strong and there was no question of itsability to hold, even though this chaos of grinding ice-cakes boomedagainst it with defiant reverberation. 

In spite of the conditions, Ted felt no nervousness about remaining byhimself in the shack and perhaps every premonition of evil might haveescaped him had he not been awakened one morning very early by a rippleof lapping water that seemed near at hand. Sleepily he opened his eyesand looked about him. The floor of the hut was wet and through thecrack beneath the door a thread of muddy water was steadily seeping. Inan instant he was on his feet and as he stood looking about him inbewilderment he heard the roar of the river and detected in the sound athreatening intonation that had not been there on the previous day. Hehurried to the window and stared out into the grayness of the dawn. Thescene that confronted him chilled his blood. The river had risenunbelievably during the night. Not only were the little bushes alongthe shore entirely submerged but many of the pines standing upon higherground were also under water. 

As he threw on his clothes, he tried to decide whether there wasanything he ought to do. Would it be well to call up the Fernalds, ortelephone to the mills, or to the village, and give warning of theconditions? It was barely four o'clock and the first streaks of lightwere but just appearing. Nevertheless, there must be persons who wereawake and as alert as he to the transformation the darkness hadwrought. Moreover, perhaps there was no actual danger, and should thisprove to be the case, how absurd he would feel to arouse people atdaybreak for a mere nothing. It was while he paused there indecisivelythat a sight met his eye which spurred hesitancy to immediate action. Around the bend far up the stream came sweeping a tangle ofwreckage--trees, and brush, and floating timber--and swirling along inits wake was a small lean-to which he recognized as one that had stoodon the bank of the river at Melton, the village located five milesabove Freeman's Falls. If the water were high enough to carry away thisbuilding, it must indeed have risen to a menacing height and there wasnot a moment to be lost. 

He rushed to the telephone and called up Mr. Clarence Fernald whoreplied to his summons in irritable, half-dazed fashion. 

"Is there any way of lifting the water gates at the mills?" asked Tedbreathlessly. "The river has risen so high that it is sweeping awaytrees and even some of the smaller houses from the Melton shore. If thedebris piles up against the dam, the pressure may be more than thething can stand. Besides, the water will spread and flood bothAldercliffe and Pine Lea. I thought I'd better tell you. "

Mr. Fernald was not dazed now; he was broad awake. 

"Where are you?" inquired he sharply. 

"At the shack, sir. The water is ankle deep. "

"Don't stay there another moment. It is not safe. At any instant thewhole hut may be carried away. Gather your traps together and callWharton or Stevens--or both of them--to come and help you take them upto Aldercliffe. I'll attend to notifying the mills. You've done us agood turn, my boy. "

During the next hour Ted himself was too busy to appreciate the hecticrush of events that he had set moving, or realize the feverish energywith which the Fernalds and their employees worked to avert a tragedywhich, but for his warning, might have been a very terrible one. Themills were reached by wire and the sluices at the sides of the centraldam immediately lifted to make way for the torrent of snow, ice, wreckage, and water. In what a fierce and maddened chaos it surged overthe falls and dashed into the chasm beneath! All day the mighty currentboiled and seethed, overflowing the outlying fields with its yellowflood. Nevertheless, the great brick factories that bordered the streamstood firm and so did the residences at Aldercliffe and Pine Lea, bothof which were fortunately situated on high ground. 

Ted had not made his escape from his little camp a moment too soon, forwhile he stood looking out on the freshet from one of the attic windowsat Pine Lea, he shivered to behold his little hut bob past him amid therushing waters and drift into an eddy on the opposite shore along witha mass of uprooted pines. 

A sob burst from him. 

"It's gone, Mr. Hazen--our little house!" he murmured brokenly to theyoung tutor who was standing beside him. "We never shall see it again. "

"You mustn't take it so to heart, Ted, " the teacher answered, layinghis hand sympathetically on the lad's shoulder. "Suppose you had beenin it and borne away to almost certain death. That would have been acalamity indeed. What is an empty boathouse when we consider how manypeople are to suffer actual financial loss and perhaps forfeiteverything they have, as a result of this tragedy. The villagers wholive along the river will lose practically everything they own--boats, poultry, barns; and many of them both houses and furniture. We allloved the shack; but it is not as if its destruction left you with noother roof above your head. You can stay at Aldercliffe, Pine Lea, orjoin your family at Freeman's Falls. Three shelters are open to you. But these poor souls in the town----"

"I had not thought about the villagers, " blushed Ted. 

"The Fernalds have been in the settlement since dawn and along withevery man they could summon have been working to save life andproperty. If I had not had to stay here with Laurie, I should have goneto help, too. "

Ted hung his head. 

"I'm ashamed to have been so selfish, " said he. "Instead of thinkingonly of myself, I ought to have been lending a hand to aid somebodyelse. It was rotten of me. Why can't I go down to the village now?There must be things I can do. Certainly I'm no use here. "

"No, there is nothing to be done here, " the tutor agreed. "If you couldstay with Laurie and calm him down there would be some sense in yourremaining; but as it is, I don't see why you shouldn't go along to thetown and fill in wherever you can. I fancy there will be plenty to do. The Fernalds, Wharton, Stevens, and the rest of the men are moving thefamilies who lived along the water front out of their houses and intoothers. All our trucks and cars are busy at the job. "

"I know I could help, " cried Ted eagerly, his foot on the top step ofthe staircase. 

"I am sure you can, " Mr. Hazen replied. "Already by your timely warningyou have helped more than you will ever know. I tremble to think whatmight have happened if you had not awakened Mr. Clarence just when youdid. Had the dam at the mills gone down, the whole town would have beendevastated. Mr. Fernald told me so himself. "

"I'm mighty glad if I----"

"So you see you have been far from selfish, " continued the tutor, in acheery tone. "As for the shack, it can be rebuilt, so I should notmourn about that. "

"I guess Mr. Fernald is glad now that he has his plans ready for hismodel village. "

"Yes, he is. He said right away that it was providential. The snow willdisappear after this thaw and as soon as the earth dries up enough toadmit of building, the workmen will begin to break ground for the newsettlement. The prospect of other and better houses than the old oneswill encourage many of the mill people who have had their dwellingsruined to-day and in consequence been forced to move into temporaryquarters where they are crowded and uncomfortable. We can all endureinconvenience when we know it is not to last indefinitely. Mr. Fernaldtold me over the telephone that the promise of new houses by summer orfall at the latest was buoying up the courage of all those who hadsuffered from this terrible disaster. He is going to grant specialprivileges to every family that has met with loss. They are to be giventhe first houses that are finished. "

"I do hope another freshet like this one won't sweep away the newvillage, " reflected Ted. 

"Oh, we shall probably never again be treated to an excitement similarto this one, " smiled Mr. Hazen reassuringly. "Didn't you hear them saythat it was the bursting of the Melton reservoir which was largelyresponsible for this catastrophe? Mr. Fernald declared all along thatthis was no ordinary freshet. He has seen the river every spring fornearly forty years and watched it through all its annual thaws; andalthough it has often been high, it has never been a danger to thecommunity. He told me over the telephone about the reservoir bursting. He had just got the news. It seems the reservoir above Melton was anold one which the authorities have realized for some time must berebuilt. They let it go one year too long. With the weight of water, snow, and ice, it could not bear the pressure put upon it andcollapsed. I'm afraid it has been a severe lesson to the officials ofthe place for the chance they took has caused terrible damage. "

"Were people killed?" asked Ted in an awed whisper. 

"We have heard so--two or three who were trapped asleep in theirhouses. As for the town, practically all the buildings that fronted theriver were destroyed. Of course, as yet we have not been able to getvery satisfactory details, for most of the wires were down andcommunication was pretty well cut off. I suppose that is why they didnot notify us of our peril. People were probably too busy with theirown affairs, too intent on saving their own lives and possessions tothink of anything else. Then, too, the thing came suddenly. If therehadn't been somebody awake here, I don't know where we should havebeen. I don't see how you happened to be astir so early. "

"Nor I, " returned Ted modestly. "I think it must have been the sound ofthe water coming in that woke me. I just happened to hear it. "

"Well, it was an almighty fortunate happen--that is all I can say, "asserted Mr. Hazen, as the boy sped down the stairs. 

CHAPTER XVII

SURPRISES

During the next few days tidings of the Melton disaster proved thetruth of Mr. Hazen's charitable suppositions, for it was definitelylearned that the calamity which befell the village came entirelywithout warning, and as the main part of the town was wiped out almostcompletely and the river front destroyed, all communication between theunfortunate settlement and the outside world had been cut off so thatto send warnings to the communities below had been impossible. Considering the enormity of the catastrophe, it was miraculous thatthere had not been greater loss of life and wider spread devastation. 

A week of demoralization all along the river followed the tragedy; butafter the bulk of wreckage was cleared away and the stream had droppedto normal, the Fernalds actually began to congratulate themselves onthe direful event. 

"Well, the thing has not been all to the bad, by any means, " commentedGrandfather Fernald. "We have at least got rid of those unsightlytenements bordering the water which were such a blot on Freeman'sFalls; and once gone, I do not mean to allow them ever to be put backagain. I have bought up the land and shall use it as the site of thenew granite bridge I intend to build across the stream. And in case Ihave more land than is needed for this purpose, the extra area can beused for a park which will be an ornament to the spot rather than aneyesore. Therefore, take it altogether, I consider that freshet acapital thing. "

He glanced at Ted who chanced to be standing near by. 

"I suppose you, my lad, do not entirely agree with me, " added he, atwinkle gleaming beneath his shaggy brows. "You are thinking of thatplayhouse of yours and Laurie's that was carried off by the deluge. "

"I am afraid I was, sir. "

"Pooh! Nonsense!" blustered the old gentleman. "What's a thing likethat? Besides, Laurie's father proposes to rebuild it for you. Hasn'the told you?" questioned the man, noticing the surprise in the boy'sface. "Oh, yes, indeed! He is going to put up another house for you;and judging from his plans, you will find yourself far better off thanyou were in the first place for this time he is to give you a realcottage, not simply a made-over boathouse. Yes, there is to be runningwater; a bedroom, study, and kitchenette; to say nothing of a bath andsteam heat. He plans to connect it by piping with the central heatingplant. So you see you will have a regular housekeeping bungalow insteadof a camp. "

Ted gasped. 

"But--but--I can't let Mr. Fernald do all this for me, " he protested. "It's--it's--too much. "

"I shouldn't worry about him, if I were you, " smiled the elder man. "Itwon't scrimp him, I imagine. Furthermore, it will be an excellentinvestment, for should the time ever come when you did not need thehouse it could be rented to one of our tenants. He is to put afoundation under it this time and build it more solidly; and possiblyhe may decide to set it a trifle farther back from the water. In anycase, he will see that it is right; you can trust him for that. It willnot be carried away a second time. "

"I certainly hope not, " Ted agreed. "What a pity it was they did nothave some way of notifying us from Melton! If they had only had awireless apparatus----" he broke off thoughtfully. 

"I doubt if all the wireless in the world could have saved your littlehut, " answered Mr. Fernald kindly. "It was nothing but a pasteboardhouse and wireless or no wireless it would have gone anyway. I oftenspeculate as to how ships ever dared to go to sea before they had theprotection of wireless communication. Ignorance was bliss, I suppose. They knew nothing about it and therefore did not miss it. When we canboast no better way we are satisfied with the old. But think of theshipwrecks and accidents that might have been averted! You will bestudying about all this some day when you go to Technology or college. "

Ted's face lighted at the words. 

"You have all been so kind to me, Mr. Fernald, " he murmured. "When Ithink of your sending me to college it almost bowls me over. "

"You must never look upon it as an obligation, my boy, " the oldgentleman declared. "If there is any obligation at all (and there is avery real one) it is ours. The only obligation you have will be to dowell at your studies and make us proud of you, and that you are doingall the time. Mr. Hazen tells me you are showing splendid progress. Ihope by another week Laurie will be out of the woods, Pine Lea will befumigated, and you can resume your former way of living there withoutfurther interruptions from floods and illness. Still, I shall be sorryto have your little visit at Aldercliffe come to an end. You seem tohave grown into the ways of the whole family and to fit in wherever youfind yourself. "

Mr. Fernald smiled affectionately at the lad. 

"There is something that has been on my tongue's end to whisper to youfor some time, " he went on, after a brief interval of hesitancy. "Iknow you can keep a secret and so I mean to tell you one. In the springwe are going to take Laurie over to New York to see a very celebratedsurgeon who is coming from Vienna to this country. We hear he has hadgreat success with cases such as Laurie's and we hope he may be able todo something for the boy. Of course, no one knows this as yet, not evenLaurie himself. "

"Oh, Mr. Fernald! Do you mean there would be a chance that Laurie couldwalk sometime?" Ted cried. 

The old man looked into the young and shining face and nervouslybrushed the back of his hand across his eyes. 

"Perhaps; perhaps!" responded he gruffly. "Who can tell? This doctorhas certainly performed some marvelous cures. Who knows but the lad maysome day not only walk about, but leap and run as you do!"

"Oh, sir--!"

"But we must not be too sure or allow ourselves to be swept away byhope, " cautioned Grandfather Fernald. "No one knows what can be doneyet and we might be disappointed--sadly disappointed. Still, there isno denying that there is a fighting chance. But keep this to yourself, Ted. I must trust you to do that. If Laurie were to know anything aboutit, it would be very unfortunate, for the ordeal will mean both painand suffering for him and he must not be worried about it in advance. He will need all his nerve and courage when the time for action comes. Moreover, we feel it would be cruel for him to glimpse such a visionand then find it only a mirage. So we have told him nothing. But I havetold you because you are fond of him and I wanted you to share thesecret. "

"It shall remain a secret, Mr. Fernald. "

"I feel sure of that, " the man replied. "You are a good boy, Ted. Itwas a lucky day that brought you to Pine Lea. "

"A lucky one for me, sir!"

"For all of us, son! For all of us!" reiterated the old gentleman. "Theyear of your coming here will be one we never shall forget. It has beenvery eventful. "

Certainly the final comment was no idle one. Not only had the year beena red-letter one but it was destined to prove even more conspicuouslymemorable. With the spring the plans for the new village went rapidlyforward and soon pretty little concrete houses with roofs of scarletand trimmings of green dotted the slopes on the opposite side of theriver. The laying out and building of this community became GrandfatherFernald's recreation and delight. Morning, noon, and evening he couldbe seen either perusing curling sheets of blue prints, consorting withhis architects, or rolling off in his car to inspect the progress ofthe venture. Sometimes he took Ted with him, sometimes his son, andwhen Laurie was strong enough, the entire family frequently made thepilgrimage to the new settlement. 

It was very attractive, there was no denying that; and it seemed as ifnothing that could give pleasure to its future residents had beenomitted. The tiny library had been Laurie's pet scheme, and not onlyhad his grandfather eagerly carried out the boy's own plans but he hadproudly ordered the lad's name to be chiselled across the front of thebuilding. Ted's plea had been for a playground and this request hadalso been granted, since it appeared to be a wise one. It was awonderful playground, bordering on the river and having swings and sandboxes for the children; seats for tired mothers; and a large ball-fieldwith bleachers for the men and boys. The inhabitants of Freeman's Fallshad never dreamed of such an ideal realm in which to live, and astidings of the paradise went forth, strangers began to flock into townin the hope of securing work in the mills and homes in the newsettlement. 

The Fernalds, however, soon made it plain that the preference was to begiven to their old employees who had served them well and faithfullyfor so many years. Therefore, as fast as the houses were completed, they were assigned to those who had been longest in the company'semploy and soon the streets of the new village were no longer silentbut teemed with life and the laughter of a happy people. And amongthose for whom a charming little abode was reserved were the Turners, Ted's family. 

Then came the tearing down of the temporary bridge of wood and theopening of the beautiful stone structure that arched the stream. Ah, what a holiday that was! The mills were closed, there was a bandconcert in the little park, dedication exercises, and fireworks in theevening. And great was Ted's surprise when he spied cut in the stonethe words "Turner's Bridge!" Near the entrance was a modest bronzetablet stating that the memorial had been constructed in honor ofTheodore Turner who, by his forethought in giving warning of thefreshet of 1912 had saved the village of Freeman's Falls frominestimable calamity. 

How the boy blushed when Mr. Lawrence Fernald mentioned him by name inthe dedication speech! And yet he was pleased, too. And how the peoplecheered; and how proud his father and sisters were! Perhaps, however, the most delighted person of all was Laurie who had been in the secretall along and who now smiled radiantly to see his friend so honored. 

"The townspeople may not go to my library, " he laughed, "but every oneof them will use your bridge. They will have to; they can't help it!"

The thought seemed to amuse him vastly and he always referred to theexquisite granite structure with its triple arch and richly carvedpiers of stone as _Ted's Bridge_. 

Thus did the year with its varied experiences slip by and when Junecame the Fernalds carried Laurie to New York to consult the muchheralded Viennese surgeon. Ah, those were feverish, anxious days, notonly for the Fernald family but for Ted and Mr. Hazen as well. The boyand the tutor had remained at Pine Lea there to continue their studiesand await the tidings Laurie's father had promised to send them; andwhen the ominous yellow telegrams with their momentous messages beganto arrive, they hardly knew whether to greet them with sorrow orrejoicing. 

They need not, however, have dreaded the news for after carefulexamination the eminent specialist had decided to take a singledesperate chance and operate with the hope of success. Laurie, theywere told, was a monument of courage and had the spirit of a Spartan. Unquestionably he merited the good luck that followed for fortune didreward his heroism, --smiling fortune. Of course, the miracle of healthcould not come all in a moment; months of convalescence must followwhich would be unavoidably tedious with suffering. But beyond this aridstretch of pain lay the goal of recovery. 

No lips could tell what this knowledge meant to those who loved theboy. In time he was to be as strong as any one! It was unbelievable. Nevertheless, the roseate promise was no dream. Laurie was brought hometo Pine Lea and immediately the mending process began. Already onecould read in the patient face the transformation hope had wrought. There was some day to be college, not alone for Ted but for Lauriehimself, --college, and sports, and a career. 

In the fullness of time these long-anticipated joys began to arrive. Health made its appearance and at its heels trouped success andhappiness; and to balance them came gratitude, humility, and service. In the meantime, with every lengthening year, the friendship betweenLaurie and Ted toughened in fiber and became a closer bond. And it wasnot engineering or electricity that ultimately claimed the constructiveinterest of the two comrades but instead the Fernald mills, which uponGrandfather Fernald's retirement called for younger men at their helm. So after going forth into the great world and whetting the weapons oftheir intellect they found the dragon they had planned to slay waitingfor them at home in Freeman's Falls. Yet notwithstanding its familiarenvironment, it was a very real dragon and resolutely the two young menattacked it, putting into their management of the extensive industryall the spirit of brotherhood that burned in their hearts and all thedesire for service which they cherished. With the aim of bringing abouta kindlier coöperation and fuller sympathy between capital and laborthey toiled, and the world to which they gave their efforts was thebetter for it. 

Nevertheless, they did not entirely abandon their scientific interestsfor on the border of the river stood a tiny shack equipped with apowerful wireless apparatus. Here on a leisure afternoon Ted Turner andhis comrade could often be found capturing from the atmosphere thosemagic sounds that spelled the intercourse of peoples, and the thoughtof nations; and often they spoke of Alexander Graham Bell and thosepatient pioneers who, together with him, had made it possible for thespeech of man to traverse continents and circle a universe. 

FINIS