The Secret Wireless | Page 2

had failed to find them, and had saved the city.
With Henry, to think was to act. "I'll write Captain Hardy at once," he
said to himself.
Captain Hardy was a young physician who had been leader of the club
of boys that had camped on his father's farm near old Fort Brady, and
that had subsequently become the Camp Brady Wireless Club. But
Captain Hardy was no longer leader of the club. He had offered his
services to his country, and was now Captain Hardy of the Medical
Officers' Reserve Corps. It was his standing and his friendship with the
Chief of the Radio Service that had made it possible to secure
permission for the Camp Brady boys to act as radio men for the state
troops the preceding summer, although the government had forbidden
amateurs to send wireless messages. And Henry, believing that his
idolized leader could accomplish anything, now cleared a space at his
desk in a corner of the shop, and wrote him a long letter, setting forth
all that was in his heart.
The promptness with which the answer came should have warned
Henry that the reply was not the one he hoped for. But his faith in his
leader was so great that he never doubted for a moment that if Captain
Hardy favored the proposal, he could effect its accomplishment. With a
shout of joy, Henry seized the letter from the hand of the postman and
ran to his favorite haunt, the workshop, to read it. As he did so, the
smile faded from his face and a look of utter despair succeeded it, for
this was what he read:

"MY DEAR HENRY:
"It was a very great pleasure to receive your letter, with the little items
of information about the members of the club, and your plan to be
helpful in the present emergency. I know exactly how you feel. Every
true American is filled with similar loathing for the treacherous
enemies that infest our land, and with the same ardent desire to hunt
them down and bring them to justice. You may be very sure that our
secret service men are hard on the trail of many of them. Yet the very
story of treachery that has so stirred your indignation shows that the
secret service men cannot cope with them. But the fault is not with the
secret service. It lies with Congress, which has persistently refused to
appropriate sufficient money to make the service adequate. As far as it
goes, it is the peer of any secret service. Of course help is needed, but I
very much fear it is not the sort of assistance that the Camp Brady boys
are prepared to give.
"You see, Henry, there are two possibilities. Either there is a leak in the
navy department itself, as your story says, or else the sailing of the
troops was observed at the port of embarkation and their destination
guessed at. There is nothing you could do in the way of apprehending a
spy in Washington, and I doubt if you could be of much assistance in
detecting German agents in our ports. Of course I know how skilful the
boys are with their wireless, especially you and Willie Brown, and I
know what close observers Roy Mercer and Lew Heinsling are. And I
realize, too, that in running down the dynamiters at the Elk City
reservoir after both the Pennsylvania troops and the state police had
failed, you proved that the wireless patrol was a mighty efficient
organization. But that campaign was accomplished in the mountains
and forests where your training in scouting and woodcraft has made
you at home. Conditions in a great seaport would be so strange and
confusing to all of you that I fear you would be more of a hindrance
than a help.
"I am sorry about it, for I know how keenly you feel and how eager you
are to help your country. The best way you can do that is to continue in
school, learning all you can and making yourselves more and more

efficient as wireless operators. In a very short time, I suspect, Uncle
Sam will be in pressing need of good radio men. Then, although you
are still young, your chance will come; for your ability is already
known to the Chief of the Radio Service through your capture of the
dynamiters last summer.
"As you know, our camp is just outside of Washington. I happen to be
going into the city to-morrow. Of course, I shall take occasion to lay
your suggestion before the Chief. But do not build any hopes on that
statement. I have no idea anything will come of it. But it may help the
Chief to bear you in mind later on.