ompared to it."

"I hadn't thought of learning to read code."

"You have to, son, if you are going into wireless. With a tutor here
on the spot, it should not be difficult. Besides, that is half the
fun. I want you to learn this thing intelligently and not just make a
plaything of it. I've done my part by buying you the best outfit there
was to be had. The rest is up to you."

"That's square, Dick," chimed in Walter.

"Sure it is. I'll go to it and do my darndest, too, Dad," returned the
boy.

"That's the proper spirit!" exclaimed his father.

His Highness smiled with ironic satisfaction.

"If Bob is to tutor you you will study harder than you ever did in
your precious life," whispered he. "I know Bob. He can be stiff as any
college professor. He tutored me in Latin once to pull me through my
exams and I barely lived. I don't envy you, old man."

"Gee! Will it be that bad?"

"You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's all. Take it from
me," was the teasing rejoinder.

"Oh, I hope he won't bone down as hard as that," wailed Dick
dolefully. "I want to get some sport out of this thing. I wasn't
planning to be turned into a galley slave during hot weather."

Seeing that he had his victim thoroughly terrified Walter thought it
time to shift the jest.

"Don't fret. I was only jollying, old chap," declared he. "Bob won't
really stand over you with a whip. He is the best fellow alive. Still,
he will expect you to work if you set out to do so. He is always
terribly in earnest about whatever he undertakes. I suppose that is
why he has got on so well and never failed to make a success of what
he has tried to do. You can count on him to duff into this job with
the same spirit. You'll get your money's worth of instruction, you may
be sure, if he has been hired to give it."

Dick shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I guess I can stand it if he is not too rough on me," responded
he. "I do not mind studying so much if it is about a subject I like;
and I am crazy about wireless."

[Illustration: "You will get all the wireless coming to you, that's
all. Take it from me." _Page_ 154.]

"Oh, it isn't the wireless part I object to," drawled His Highness.
"It is that dot and dash code that gets me. I never could learn it if
I tried ten years; and as for taking twenty words a minute in any
language--well, they could have the whole outfit before I'd do it."

"I shall be interested to see what speed I can make," mused