d. Then Marconi
came to London to upbuild and link nation to nation more closely. He was
well received in England and began his further work with all the
encouragement possible. A series of tests followed that were astounding.
Messages were sent through walls, houses, through hill and dale, proving
beyond a doubt that the electric waves penetrate everything.

"A few years later, when Marconi was twenty-four, he made wireless
reports of the Kingston regatta for evening papers in Dublin, Ireland.
This attracted Queen Victoria's attention at her summer residence at
Osborne House, also on the Isle of Wight. At this time the Prince of
Wales, who afterward became King Edward the Seventh, was ill on his
yacht. This was soon connected with the Queen's summer castle and one
hundred and fifty messages passed between the suffering prince and his
royal mother.

"All these wireless marvels--they seemed miracles then--made William
Marconi world-famous before he finished his twenty-fifth year.

"But Guglielmo--I like the Italian pronunciation of his name better,"
continued Tony, "for I am afraid, if I did geeve the English form, I
should turn it into Beel." He smiled at our hero who had come down from
the platform to a front seat and sat listening intently, and Bill Brown
shook his head deprecatingly.

"Guglielmo did not cease with these triumphs. No, not he. He saw success
only in greater distances and he went at this problem with his usual
quiet determination. He made no announcements, but sailed for the Island
of Newfoundland and there he set up his instruments in an old barracks
at the mouth of the harbor near St. Johns. In a few days his
preparations were made, quite secretly. His plans were communicated to
no one, except his assistants, for he knew there would be the general
skepticism concerning his effort to send wireless messages across the
Atlantic Ocean, but he felt assured of success. A transmitting station
had been established near Poldhu, Cornwall, the southwestern point of
England. The aerial wires were on masts two hundred and ten feet high.

"As an aerial Guglielmo sent up a large kite made of bamboo and silk,
flown on a wire, of course; the wind increased, snapping the wire and
blowing the kite into the ocean. Thereupon Guglielmo used a balloon
filled with hydrogen gas and sent it up when the weather was clear, but
the balloon broke away and disappeared.

"It was on December 12, 1901 that he sent up another kit