CHAPTER XVIII
A MYSTERY OF THE ETHER
Jessie knew that by carefully moving the slides on her tuning coil shecould get into touch again with the talk to which she and Amy had beenlistening. But now the broadcasted cry for "Help!" seemed of so muchimportance that she wanted to hear more of this air mystery.
"He-lp!" The word came to their ears over and over again. Then: "I ama prisoner. They brought me here and locked me in. There is a red barnand silo and two fallen trees. He-lp! Come and find me!"
"For pity's sake, Jess Norwood!" shrilled Amy. "Do you hear that?"
"I'm trying to," her chum replied. "Hush!"
"It must be a hoax."
"Wait!"
They listened and heard it repeated, almost word for word. A red barnand a silo and two fallen trees. These points the strange voiceinsisted on with each repetition.
"I can't believe it!" declared Amy.
"It is a girl. I am sure it is a girl. Oh, Amy!" gasped Jessie."Suppose it should be the girl whom we saw carried off by those twoawful women?"
"Bertha Blair?"
"Yes. Of course, I suppose that is awfully far-fetched----"
"Wait! Here it comes again," whispered Amy.
"Come and find me! Help! I am a prisoner! The red barn and the silowith the two fallen trees."
How many times this was repeated the girls did not know. Suddenlysomething cluttered up the airways--some sort of interference--and themystery of the ether died away. No matter what Jessie did to thetuning coil she could not bring that strangely broadcasted messageback to their ears.
"What do you know about that?" demanded Amy, breathlessly.
"Why--why," murmured her chum, "we don't know much of anything aboutit. Only, I am sure that was a girl calling. It was a youthfulvoice."
"And I feel that it is Bertha Blair!" exclaimed Amy. "Oh, Jessie, wemust do something for her."
"How can we? How can we find her?"
"A red barn with a silo and two fallen trees. Think of it! Did youever see a place like that when you have been riding about thecountry?"
"I--nev-er--did!" and Jessie shook her head despondently.
"But there must be such a place. It surely is not a hoax," said Amy,although at first she had thought it was a joke. "And there is anotherthing to mark, Jess."
"What is that?"
"The place where this girl is kept a prisoner has a broadcastingstation. You can't talk into a radio set like this. There has to beelectric power and a generator, and all that--such as Mark Stratfordshowed us there at Stratfordtown."
"Of course."
"Then don't you think, Jessie, the fact that it is a broadcastingplant where the girl is imprisoned must narrow the inquiry a gooddeal?"
"How clever you are, dear," declared Jessie. "But a red barn with asilo and two fallen trees! Why, Amy! we don't know in which directionto look. Whether to the north, south, east or west!"
"No-o. I suppose----Oh, wait, Jess!" cried the excited Amy. "We don'treally know where those women took that girl we saw carried off. Theydrove out the boulevard as far as we could see them. But, do youremember, we met that Mrs. Bothwell again in the big French car thatvery evening?"
"When we went to Parkville with Nell and the Brandons!" Jessie saideagerly. "I remember she passed us. You pointed her out to me."
"And she turned out of the very road we took to go to Parkville," saidAmy, with confidence. "I believe that red barn with the silo must beover beyond Parkville."
"It might be so," admitted her chum, thoughtfully. "I have never beenthrough that section of the state. But Chapman knows every road, Iguess."
"Doesn't your father know the roads, too?"
"But Daddy and Momsy have gone to Aunt Ann's in New York and will notbe back to-night," Jessie explained.
"Anyhow we couldn't go hunting around in the dark after thisbroadcasting station, wherever it is," Amy observed.
"Of course not," her chum agreed, taking the harness off her head."Come down to the telephone and I'll see if Chapman is in thegarage."
They ran downstairs, forgetting all about the radio concert they wereto have heard, and Jessie called up the garage to which a private wirewas strung.
The chauffeur, who had served the Norwoods ever since they had had acar, answered Jessie's request quickly, and appeared at the side door.Amy was just as eager as Jessie to cross-question the man about a redbarn with a silo. He had to ask the girls to stop and begin all overagain, and----
"If you please, Miss Jessie," he added, widely a-grin, "either letMiss Amy tell me or you tell me. I can't seem to get it right when youboth talk."
"Oh, I am dumb!" announced Amy. "Go ahead, Jess; you tell him."
So Jessie tried to put the case as plainly as possible; but from thelook on Chapman's face she knew that the chauffeur thought that thiswas rather a fantastic matter.
"Why, Chapman!" she cried, "you do not know much about this radiobusiness, do you?"
"Only what I have seen of it here, Miss Jessie. I heard the music overyour wires. But I did not suppose that anybody could talk into thething and other folks could hear like----"
"Oh! You don't understand," Jessie interrupted. "No ordinary radio setbroadcasts. It merely receives."
As clearly as she could she explained what sort of plant there must befrom which the strange girl had sent out her cry for help.
"Of course, you understand, the girl must have got a chance on the slyto speak into the broadcasting horn. Now, all the big broadcastingstations are registered with the Government. And if secret ones areestablished the Government agents soon find them out.
"It might be, if the people who imprisoned this girl are the ones wethink, they may have a plant for the sending out of information thatis illegal. For instance, it might have some connection with racetrack gambling. One of the women is interested in racing and the otherin automobile contests. If the broadcasting plant is near a racecourse or an autodrome----"
"Now you give me an idea, Miss Jessie!" exclaimed Chapman suddenly. "Iremember a stock farm over behind Parkville where the barns arepainted red. And there is a silo or two. Besides, it is near theHarrimay Race Course. I could drive over there in the morning, if youwant to go. Mr. Norwood won't mind, I am sure."
"Would you go, Amy?" Jessie asked, hesitatingly.
"Sure! It's a chance. And I am awfully anxious now to find out whatthat mysterious voice means."
A PUZZLING CIRCUMSTANCE
SOMETHING DOING AT THE STANLEY'S
The Campfire Girls of Roselawn; Or, a Strange Message from the Air Page 18
