nnounced the master
triumphantly.

Very hot and very uncomfortable under the general banter Jerry
blushed.

"Now where do you wish to put us, Dick?" inquired the boy's mother.
"We are under your orders to-night--yours and Bob's."

"I think you will be able to hear in any of these chairs--that is, if
we hear at all," Dick responded nervously.

"What do you mean by _able to hear at all_?" put in his father
sharply.

"Why--eh--sometimes conditions vary," was the ambiguous answer. "One
does not always hear equally well." It seemed wiser to prepare his
father's mind for possible disappointment.

In the meantime Bob was tinkering with the plugs.

"Everybody ready?" he asked.

"All on deck!" came from Mr. Crowninshield whose depression, it was
plain to be seen, had momentarily vanished.

"Then here goes!" cried Bob.

Instantly the quiet of the room was transformed into a chaos of sound.
There was a shrill piping as of a singing wind, and a wail that echoed
hauntingly through the air as the tuner revolved.

"What in the name of goodness----?" began Mr. Crowninshield.

"Hush, Dad! It is always like that," explained Dick hastily.

"But it's horrible."

"Yes, I know. But wait."

"Isn't something out of order?"

"No." Dick smiled patronizingly.

"My soul and body," whispered Jerry from his corner, "did anybody ever
hear such a sound? Ain't it the wind outside. Seems as if a gale must
have come up--a hurricane, tornado, or something. If a storm's coming
I can't sit round here. I'll have to be seeing to the awnings or
they'll be ripped to pieces." He half rose from his chair.

"Don't worry, Jerry; everything's all right outside," interrupted
Walter reassuringly.

"You mean to say it's just in here?" murmured the bewildered Jerry.
Enjoying the old man's confusion, Walter nodded.

"What you hear is the rise of our pitch," explained Dick.

"I should think it was the rise of something," grumbled Mr.
Crowninshield.

"We are running up our meters in order to catch the higher tuned
waves," Bob added. "That is part of the bedlam."

"And the rest?"

"It is static interference."

"What's that?"

"Well, static is the big bugbear of radio," answered Bob, pausing a
moment in regulating his tuner and detector. "It is caused by stray
waves moving in various directions through the atmosphere, and by
electrical conditions. It is the defect all wireless people have to
fight. Sometimes it is worse than others and un