tical periods, such as
times of war, the government takes no chances and orders all but
certain specified stations dismantled. That puts an end to intruders
unless a spy has a hidden wireless somewhere; and if he has he takes
an almighty risk with his neck, that is all I can say," concluded Bob
with a grin.

"But operators have tongues and can talk," Mrs. Crowninshield
suggested. "Don't they sometimes?"

"Usually they do not know what the message passing through their hands
means," Bob answered. "But even should they contrive to study it out
they would not dare repeat it because of the penalty entailed."

"Penalty?"

The young operator nodded.

"You would not have to concern yourself much about blabbers if you
heard what happens to them," piped Walter, who suddenly found himself
on ground which previous instruction had rendered familiar. "It's off
with their heads!"

"Not really!" gasped the horrified Nancy.

"Oh, he does not mean literally," the elder brother explained. "But it
is away with their license which is almost as disastrous a fate to a
man who has planned to make his living by wireless. Nor is the loss of
the license all that happens. In addition one is liable to a
two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar fine or three years' imprisonment."

"Jove! They do come down on you!" Dick averred.

"Ra-_ther_! You know, of course, that if you violate any clause of
your radio agreement you may be fined one hundred dollars; and should
an operator fake a distress call the fine is twenty-five hundred
dollars, or five years in prison and perhaps both. Even the smallest
fine one can get off with for such an offense is two years behind the
bars. It makes you think twice before playing that little joke. The
government is wise, too, to spread it on thick, for to fake an S O S
which is given the right of way over every other signal would be a
contemptible trick. Mild punishments like fines and imprisonments
would be too good for the wretch who would so deliberately mislead
people. Moreover a few such offenses would cause the importance of the
call to be discredited so that in time nobody would be in a rush to
pay attention to it."

"I didn't realize an S O S so invariably had the right of way,"
meditated Dick. "Of course I knew it was the distress signal at sea."

"S O S in the International Morse Code is the universal distress call
adopted by the common consent of our civilized nations at the wireless
convention held at Ber