. Just how far you and your friends may be held
responsible, in case they can't find the one who actually threw the ball
that broke the window, I'm not lawyer enough to say. It's barely
possible that there may be some ground for action on the score of
culpable carelessness in taking part in a snowball fight in front of
store windows, and of course you were wrong in doing that. But the total
amount involved is not very great after all, and it would be divided up
among the parents of the four of you, so there's nothing much to worry
about. It would gall me though to have to pay for damages that were
really caused by that cub of Looker's."

"I'm sorry, Dad," said Bob. "I'm hoping yet that something may develop
that will put the thing up to Buck, or whoever it was of his gang that
actually threw the ball."

"Let's hope so," returned Mr. Layton, though without much conviction in
his voice, and dismissed the subject.

A little while afterward the other three boys came over to Bob's house
to listen in on the radio concert. So much time, however, had been taken
up in discussing the afternoon's adventure that they missed Larry's
offering, which was among the first on the program. This was a keen
disappointment, which was tempered, however, by the probability that
they could hear him some evening later in the week.

"Sorry," remarked Joe. "But it only means that we still have a treat in
store when the old boy begins to roar and growl and hiss so as to make
us think that a whole menagerie has broken loose and is chasing us. In
the meantime we can fix up that aerial so as to get a little better
results."

"Funny thing I noticed the other day," remarked Bob, as they embarked
upon some experiments.

"All sorts of funny things in the radio game," observed Joe. "Something
new turns up every day. Things in your set that you think you can't do
without you find you can do without and get results just about as
usual."

"Just what I was going to tell you," returned Bob. "You must be
something of a prophet."

"Oh, I wouldn't go quite so far as to say that," replied Joe, with mock
modesty.

"Isn't he the shrinking violet?" chaffed Jimmy.

"Stop your kidding, you boobs, and let a regular fellow talk," chided
Bob. "What I was going to say was that while I was tinkering with the
set I disconnected the ground wire. Of course I thought that would put
the receiver out of business for the time, and I was almost knocked
silly when I fou