other part of radio knowledge more necessary if the operator would
make full use of his set.

"The bedtime story is just concluded, Amy," Jessie said when her chum
came in. "Sit down. I am going to get that talk on 'Hairpins and
Haricots' by that extremely funny newspaper man--what is his name?"

"I don't know. What's in a name, anyhow?" answered her chum, lightly.

Amy adjusted the earphones while her friend manipulated the slides on
the tuning coil. They did not catch the first of the talk, but they
heard considerable of it. Then something happened--just what it was
Amy had no idea. She tore off the ear-tabs and demanded:

"What _are_ you doing, Jess? That doesn't sound like anything I ever
heard before. Is it static interference?"

"It certainly is interference," admitted Jessie, trying to tune the
set so as to get back upon the wave that had brought the funny talk
about 'Hairpins and Haricots.'

But it did not work. Jessie could not get in touch with the lecture.
Instead, out of the ether came one word, over and over again. And that
word in a voice that Jessie was confident must come from a woman or a
girl:

"Help! He-lp! He-e-lp!"

Over and over again it was repeated. Amy who had put on her head
harness again, snatched at her chum's arm.

"Listen! Do you hear that?" she cried in an awed tone.

A MYSTERY OF THE ETHER

CHAPTER XVIII

A MYSTERY OF THE ETHER

Jessie knew that by carefully moving the slides on her tuning coil she
could get into touch again with the talk to which she and Amy had been
listening. But now the broadcasted cry for "Help!" seemed of so much
importance that she wanted to hear more of this air mystery.

"He-lp!" The word came to their ears over and over again. Then: "I am
a prisoner. They brought me here and locked me in. There is a red barn
and 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 barn
and a silo and two fallen trees. These points the strange voice
insisted 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 two
awful women?"

"Bertha Blair?"

"Yes. Of course, I suppose that is awfully far-fet