The Round Loaf

by David Hockey

  “We can’t find all of those, Jack,” said Nigel. “Lots of places sell round loaves in Mansworth.”

  “Well I know that, but I work for one of them and I’m starting with him.”

  “There’s another way to find him, trace where he’s signalling from.”

  “How would you do that?” asked Bob.

  “First, find the signal, second, move the wireless from place to place to find where the signal fades out or is strong. To do that I’d have to make a crystal set, one that doesn’t use valves or electricity.”

  “Would a crystal set work for short waves?” asked Bob.

  “Don’t see why not. I’ll look it up. If not, I’ll use valves. I’ll go home and start right now.”

  “How did you get here?” asked Jack. “By bike?”

  “Yes. It’s leaning against the fence near the path leading to the treehouse. Didn’t you see it?”

  “No, busy talking I guess. Well, let’s fetch it and show you where we live. It’s easier to get here if you use the road, the Coastal Trail can’t be easy to ride along.” They helped Nigel lift his bike over the fences and led him to Bob’s gate.

  “Meet here next Sunday, Nigel,” said Bob.

  “What time?”

  “What do you think, Jack? In the morning?”

  “Yes. We shouldn’t waste time. At nine thirty. Is that okay, Nigel?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay,” said Bob. “I’ll have finished the chores by then.”

  “I’ll show you where I live, Nigel. Follow me,” and they cycled to Bob’s home where they said goodbye.

  The week passed quickly for Jack. Up early, working all day, wearing an old pair of his gloves when needed. Mr. Lindsey often gave him vegetables to take home and once he gave him a rabbit that had caught in one of the snares that Mr. Lindsey put in the paths that led to their burrows. His mom cut it into pieces then fried them and made a rich-tasting pie that lasted four nights. Three evenings Jack cycled around the Coastal side of Mansworth, looking for houses a collaborator might have bought if he wanted to signal to Germany. There were many; none had any aerial he could see but about forty had trees that an aerial could be attached to. He drew a map and marked where they were, writing their addresses as well. ‘Now, if any of these buy round loaves,’ he thought, ‘maybe we’ll have our spy.’

  Chapter Nine. Saturday. August 3rd.

  Jack left early Saturday afternoon because he wanted to return his library books before going to Mr. Lindsey’s. They were due and he didn’t want to pay any late fees. He only borrowed one book this time, another Arthur Ransom story, because he knew he would be busy working or looking for the collaborator.

  Mr. Lindsey gave him the two lists and they bagged groceries for twelve families. “You’ll have to make two trips this time,” Jack, “four of the loads are big ones.” “That’s okay, Mr. Lindsey,” he replied.

  He was paid one and sixpence for that afternoon’s work and found two more people who ordered round loaves. He made a note of their names and added them to the list of names he made last weekend, but, thinking about what Nigel had said he wondered if he was wasting his time. He’d never discover all the round-loaf buyers there were in Mansworth because there must be four or five more shops that sold them.

  They had pork chops for supper, listening to the news. Jack read for an hour then went to bed. It had been a hard week and he was feeling tired.

  The boys met at Bob’s place Sunday morning. Nigel had a cardboard box in his bicycle basket and they took it to the treehouse. Once there, Nigel put the radio and several coils of wire on the table.

  “Look, this is the radio I made. To get any signal we’d need a long aerial and a good ground connection. We don’t have those here so we wouldn’t receive any signal. I brought it so you could see what I’ve made. I’ll explain how it works if you like.”

  “Yes,” said Jack. “Tell us. It doesn’t look very complicated. Our wireless is made of much more than you’ve got here.”

  “Yes, that’s right. Crystal sets are simple, but they work. Let me explain how; you connect the aerial to this knob. Wireless waves are oscillating electric and magnetic fields and when the magnetic field moves through the aerial it generates electricity and that goes through this coil” and he pointed to the coil, “and out to the ground through the ground wire. As they go through the coil it generates a varying magnetic field and that is picked up by this coil here,” and he pointed to a larger coil that lay next to the first. “That’s the secondary coil. It has more turns of wire and it magnifies the signal. The signal from it goes through the crystal and the earphones. The other parts, this variable capacitor and the fixed capacitors, alter the frequency the coils are tuned to and that’s how you can receive different wireless stations.”

  “What’s the crystal for?” asked Bob.

  “If you look at it you can see there’s two parts, the shiny crystal and a fine wire. The wire has to touch the crystal where it’s sensitive and when it does it cuts off half of the amplitude of the signal so it doesn’t cancel out the other half. The half that’s left makes the earphones work.”

  “You can’t use a loud speaker?” asked Jack.

  “There’s not enough strength to do that. At home I connect the earphone wires to an amplifier and that works a loud speaker. I say, why don’t you come to my house? The set works there; I’ve got a good aerial and ground connection.”

  “Yes,” said Jack. “Let’s do that.”

  “Shall we get sandwiches first?” asked Bob.

  “No. I’ll make some,” replied Nigel.

  He packed the crystal set and the coils in the box. They climbed down from the treehouse and walked to the farm where Bob introduced Nigel to his mom and said he was having lunch at Nigel’s place. Then they cycled to Jack’s to tell his mother what they were going to do.

  Nigel’s home was a large, detached, four bedroom house with a big garden. Mr. Thorne was working in the garage, doing something to the car when they arrived.

  “Hello, dad. Here are two new friends, Jack and Bob. We’re going to set up the crystal set I’ve just made in my bedroom.”

  “Hello Jack, Bob. Are you interested in making wirelesses too?”

  “Not me, Mr. Thorne,” said Jack. “It’s a short wave set and I want to find out what it can receive. Did Nigel tell why he made it?”

  “No. I just thought it was another project.”

  “No,” said Jack. “I think that there’s a spy or collaborator around here,” and he briefly summarised his reasons.

  “My, my, that’s interesting. Keep me informed about what you’re doing and don’t do anything dangerous. Let me know if you’re actually on to something. By the way, I read about you two in last weeks Post. It’s a pity you couldn’t have escaped earlier, Jack. We might have sunk the submarine as well as captured the pilot.”

  “Yes.”

  “Dad, I’ve invited them for lunch too. We’ve got something for sandwiches?”

  “I’ll find something.”

  One of the bedrooms had been turned into a study room for Nigel. Two easy chairs, were by the fireplace, a large table was next to the window and shelves covered with electrical equipment and books stood on either side. Nigel cleared the table and placed the crystal set on it. He connected a wire to the aerial terminal and another wire to the ground terminal. That done, he connected the headphone terminals to his amplifier and pushed its plug into a wall receptacle.

  “There’s a loud speaker on the side of the amplifier so we can all hear. Now I’ll try this pair of coils and see if anyone’s transmitting on this range of frequencies.” Nigel twisted four wires together then moved the fine wire that touched a shiny crystal into various positions while moving the tuning dial.

  “There, did you hear that? That’s a good spot on the crystal. Now, I’ll move the tuner more carefully. There, hear that? There’s a wireless station transmitting on that frequency.” Music faded in and out as they liste
ned.

  “Where’s it coming from?” asked Bob.

  “I don’t know. Somewhere on the continent, I think. At night time I sometimes receive signals that are coming from Australia and America. They bounce off an ionised layer in the sky. That’s why they can travel long distances.”

  “Then how will we know if someone’s transmitting from here?”

  “Just by listening from several places so we can triangulate it’s position. I’ll find out if I can make a directional antenna. That should help a lot Also, if we’re close to the transmitting aerial the signal strength will be pretty strong. I’ll change the aerial coils now and try another frequency range.” Nigel disconnected the first coil set and connected another one. “Do you want to try Bob?”

  “Yes. Do I have to move the fine wire like you did?”

  “No, don’t move the wire. It’s called the cat’s whisker. It should still work where it is.”

  Bob was able to find three signals, one playing some popular music and two transmitting in code.

  “That’s Morse code,” said Nigel. “I don’t know what they’re saying, it’s too fast for me to understand.”

  “This is not going to be as easy as I thought,” said Jack. “First, we don’t know what frequency he’ll be transmitting on. Second, we don’t know when he’ll transmit and third, we don’t know where he’s living. It’d be easier if we found an antenna and could watch the house.”

  “You’re right,” said Nigel. “It’s not going to be easy. How about talking to my dad? He has lots of good ideas. He’s a lawyer and has to think through difficulties and find solutions all the time.”

  “I’d be happier if we could,” said Bob. “if we walked around looking for aerials it could be dangerous.”

  “And he might take the aerial down when it’s not being used. Or it might be hidden in his attic.”

  “Right. Then let’s find my dad.”

  Chapter Ten. Sunday. August 4th.

  Mr. Thorne was in the lounge reading the Falmouth Post in front of a log fire when they found him.

  “Dad, we’ve got a problem. Can you help us?”

  “I’ll do my best. What’s the problem?”

  Nigel explained what they were trying to do and Jack summarised. “So we don’t know what frequency to check, when to check it and how, exactly, to triangulate where it’s coming from.”

  “Well, I think I could manage the triangulation,” said Nigel. “That’s if he transmitted for long enough.”

  “All right,” said Mr. Thorne. “Let’s separate the problems and look at them one at a time. The first concern; what frequency does he use. You said that to change frequencies you connect different pairs of aerial and tuning coils, right?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “How do you do that?”

  “Simple, I disconnect the old coils then connect the new ones. Why do you ask?”

  “Well, it must take time to do that.”

  “A bit, but all I have to do is untwist then re-twist four wires.”

  “Is there any way you can do that faster?”

  “Err, yes,” said Nigel. “I could use a multi-contact switch and wire all the coils to it. Then I could change frequencies quickly.”

  “Good. That’s one problem partly solved I think,” said Mr. Thorne.

  “Two, dad. If I used a switch I could solder the wires to the terminals instead of just twisting them together. That’d remove some of the crackles and the signal would be clearer and easier to hear.”

  “Good. Let me think about the other problems for a bit. We’re having lunch together, right?”

  “Yes, dad.”

  “Then let’s go to the kitchen and make it while I think.”

  A salad of lettuce, carrots, radishes, spring onions, spring peas and a dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar was the main dish. It was followed by slices of bread and plum jam. All the vegetables came from the garden and Jack made a note to himself to have a look at it before he left.

  “Right now you’ve made one short wave set, Nigel?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you have enough equipment to make more, two or three more? If so, we can all have one and help with the searching.”

  “I’ve got several tuning capacitors, plenty of wire and extra crystals. I’d need more multi-contact switches and a few fixed capacitors. Oh, and another pair of headphones, that is, if I make two more sets. Are you going to listen too, dad?”

  “Yes, I am, Nigel. This is an important matter. Anything I can do, I will. Buy what you need. I’ll give you the money for it. Oh,” he said, as the telephone rang, “That’s Grandpa, I bet, and I can guess what he wants. Excuse me for a minute.” Mr. Thorne left the kitchen where they were eating and went to the living room to answer the phone.

  “Where’s your mom, Nigel. Is she on holiday?” asked Bob.

  “No. She was killed with a friend about four years ago in a car accident. We’re all alone now.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” said Bob and Jack.

  “We’re managing,” said Nigel, “but I miss her. Dad does, too.”

  “Grandpa and Grandma send their love, Nigel,” said Mr. Thorne, as he came back into the kitchen.

  “Is that all they called for?” Nigel asked.

  “No, he asked if I had the typing and was upset that it wasn’t ready. We’re too busy at the office right now.”

  “Does he want a typist?” asked Jack. “My mom types and she’s looking for a job.”

  “Is she? Well she might have one. I’ll ask my father to think about hiring someone, that’d be a lot easier on me and the office. Now, back to our problem. Three of us could listen and cover several frequency bands if we had two more sets. He’d probably transmit at night too, that could make it easier to spot him.”

  “I’ll wire in the multi-switch and start listening tonight, dad.”

  “And I’ll listen for a while after you’ve gone to bed.”

  “You’ll make the wirelesses for us next week Nigel?” asked Jack.

  “I’ll have them ready for you on Sunday if I can get all the parts. I might have to go to Falmouth to get them, dad.”

  “Okay. I might be able to take you, I’ve a client I should see in Falmouth. Right, let me call Grandpa and find out what he thinks about hiring his own typist.” He went to the lounge, phoned then called out to Jack, “Is your mother free right now? Can I take her to see my father?”

  “Oh, yes, she’d be free.”

  “Do you have a telephone?”

  “No.”

  “Okay. Once we’ve finished here you cycle home and let her know and I’ll collect her half-an-hour later. What’s your address?”

  Jack told him then suggested they leave now and let Nigel begin making the sets. Bob agreed and they set off after agreeing to meet at nine thirty next Sunday at Mr. Thorne’s house.

  Chapter Eleven. Sunday. August 4th.

  Mr. Thorne arrived fifteen minutes after Jack arrived home and Mrs. Jones got in the car, telling Jack to cut the grass before doing anything else.

  While sharpening the blades on the mower Jack wondered how he could fasten a long aerial. There were no trees in the front or back garden. He could let a wire drop from his bedroom window but it would be better if he could fasten it to the chimney. He could borrow the long ladder from Mr. Symonds, the neighbour but his mum wouldn’t let him climb onto the roof, he was sure of that. He’d just have to try hanging the wire from the window. As for an earth wire he could fasten the end to the fork and push that into the ground. ‘I’ll get the wire from Nigel on Sunday when I get the wireless,’ he thought.

  Mrs. Jones arrived back just as he was putting the mower in the garden shed and she waved a ‘Goodbye’ to Mr. Thorne as he drove away.

  “Mr. Thorne, Gerry’s father, hired me Jack,” she called as she walked towards him. “Three mornings a week, nine to one, and he’ll pay me fifteen shillings a week. Isn’t that grand,” she said as she hugged him. “W
e’ll be earning as much as your dad gave me when he was a linesman before the war.”

  “Is that all he gave you, mom?”

  “Well, he paid the rent, electricity, rates and things like that. And for meals when we went out.”

  “We didn’t do that very often,” muttered Jack.

  Monday evening, after the supper dishes had been washed and put away, Mrs. Jones told Jack a little about what she had done that morning. “Mr. Thorne, Ernest, he asked me to call him, told me to read the first three chapters of the autobiography he’s writing. That way, he said, I’d know what happened to him before I started typing chapter four. He was born in 1875 and went to the same school that Nigel is going to now. He became a lawyer, married, joined a firm of solicitors, had a son, Gerard, that’s Nigel’s dad, and a daughter, Edith. I sat with him and read chapter four during the rest of the morning. I had to do that because his writing is hard to read, although it became easier as I got used to it, and he told me what the words I had difficulty with, were. I’ll type it on Wednesday.”

  “Did he fight in the first war?”

  “No, he was thirty nine and too old. He spent some weeks in some kind of Cavalry unit, training, but didn’t fight and kept doing his regular job.”

  “Does Edith live around here?”

  “She’s a nurse and works in Southampton. They’re very worried about her because of all the bombing.”

  “So you met Mrs. Thorne?”

  “Oh, yes. We stopped at ten thirty, when she brought coffee and biscuits in, and chatted for a while. They’re nice people. I’m going to enjoy my time there.”

  The week sped by. Jack worked each day, inside the greenhouse on Tuesday, when it rained most of the time and Thursday he was given another rabbit, plus a few potatoes that were too badly cut by the spade and some small carrots that were pulled by mistake when thinning the rows. Wednesday, after supper, he cycled to Bob’s house and they quickly decided that the aerial wire could run from Bob’s bedroom window to a corner of the barn. While searching the pile of discarded machinery for a long rod to bang into the ground Mr. Forester came by and asked them what they were doing. Bob told him about their search for a spy and that he would be listening for signals using a wireless set that Nigel was making. “Oh, you think there’s someone around here?” Asked Mr. Forester. “That’s very interesting. Several of us in the Home Guard were wondering the same thing, that someone might be telling the Germans about the convoys and ships that move around here and Land’s End. U-boats seem to know when and where to look, we think. A spy might explain what was happening. You know that anyone from Germany and Italy living in England have been questioned but I bet there’s some we don’t know about. You’re probably right that there’s a spy living near here. Let me know if you pick up any signals.”