CHAPTER XX
THE WIRELESS PLANT
The castaways had been on Earthquake Island a week now, and in thattime had suffered many shocks. Some were mere tremors, and some wereso severe as to throw whole portions of the isle into the sea. Theynever could tell when a shock was coming, and often one awakenedthem in the night.
But, in spite of this, the refugees were as cheerful as it waspossible to be under the circumstances. Only Mr. Jenks seemednervous and ill at ease, and he kept much by himself.
As for Tom, Mr. Damon and Mr. Fenwick, the three were busy in theirshack. The others had ceased to ask questions about what they weredoing, and Mr. Nestor and his wife took it for granted that Tom wasbuilding a boat.
Captain Mentor and the mate spent much time gazing off to sea,hoping for a sight of the sail of some vessel, or the haze thatwould indicate the smoke of a steamer. But they saw nothing.
"I haven't much hope of sighting anything," the captain said. "Iknow we are off the track of the regular liners, and our only chancewould be that some tramp steamer, or some ship blown off her course,would see our signal. I tell you, friends, we're in a bad way."
"If money was any object--," began Mr. Jenks.
"What good would money be?" demanded Mr. Hosbrook. "What we need todo is to get a message to some one--some of my friends--to send outa party to rescue us."
"That's right," chimed in Mr. Parker, the scientist. "And themessage needs to go off soon, if we are to be saved."
"Why so?" asked Mr. Anderson.
"Because I think this island will sink inside of a week!"
A scream came from the two ladies.
"Why don't you keep such thoughts to yourself?" demanded themillionaire yacht owner, indignantly.
"Well, it's true," stubbornly insisted the scientist.
"What if it is? It doesn't do any good to remind us of it."
"Bless my gizzard, no!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Suppose we havedinner. I'm hungry."
That seemed to be his remedy for a number of ills.
"If we only could get a message off, summoning help, it WOULD be thevery thing," sighed Mrs. Nestor. "Oh, how I wish I could send mydaughter, Mary, word of where we are. She may hear of the wreck ofthe RESOLUTE, and worry herself to death."
"But it is out of the question to send a message for help fromEarthquake Island," added Mrs. Anderson. "We are totally cut offfrom the rest of the world here."
"Perhaps not," spoke Tom Swift, quietly. He had come up silently,and had heard the conversation.
"What's that you said?" cried Mr. Nestor, springing to his feet, andcrossing the sandy beach toward the lad.
"I said perhaps we weren't altogether cut off from the rest of theworld," repeated Tom.
"Why not," demanded Captain Mentor. "You don't mean to say that youhave been building a boat up there in your little shack, do you?"
"Not a boat," replied Tom, "but I think I have a means of sendingout a call for help!"
"Oh, Tom--Mr. Swift--how?" exclaimed Mrs. Nestor. "Do you mean wecan send a message to my Mary?"
"Well, not exactly to her," answered the young inventor, though hewished that such a thing were possible. "But I think I can summonhelp."
"How?" demanded Mr. Hosbrook. "Have you managed to discover somecable line running past the island, and have you tapped it?"
"Not exactly." was Tom's calm answer, "but I have succeeded, withthe help of Mr. Damon and Mr. Fenwick, in building an apparatus thatwill send out wireless messages!"
"Wireless messages!" gasped the millionaire. "Are you sure?"
"Wireless messages!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I'll give--" He paused,clasped his hands on his belt, and turned away.
"Oh, Tom!" cried Mrs. Nestor, and she went up to the lad, threw herarms about his neck, and kissed him; whereat Tom blushed.
"Perhaps you'd better explain," suggested Mr. Anderson.
"I will," said the lad. "That is the secret we have been engagedupon--Mr. Damon, Mr. Fenwick and myself. We did not want to sayanything about it until we were sure we could succeed."
"And are you sure now?" asked Captain Mentor.
"Fairly so."
"How could you build a wireless station?" inquired Mr. Hosbrook.
"From the electrical machinery that was in the wrecked WHIZZER,"spoke Tom. "Fortunately, that was not damaged by the shock of thefall, and I have managed to set up the gasolene engine, and attachthe dynamo to it so that we can generate a powerful current. We alsohave a fairly good storage battery, though that was slightly damagedby the fall."
"I have just tested the machinery, and I think we can send out astrong enough message to carry at least a thousand miles."
"Then that will reach some station, or some passing ship," murmuredCaptain Mentor. "There is a chance that we may be saved."
"If it isn't too late," gloomily murmured the scientist. "There isno telling when the island will disappear beneath the sea."
But they were all so interested in Tom's announcement that they paidlittle attention to this dire foreboding.
"Tell us about it," suggested Mr. Nestor. And Tom did.
He related how he had set up the dynamo and gasolene engine, andhow, by means of the proper coils and other electrical apparatus,all of which, fortunately, was aboard the WHIZZER, he could producea powerful spark.
"I had to make a key out of strips of brass, to produce the Morsecharacters," the lad said. "This took considerable time, but itworks, though it is rather crude. I can click out a message withit."
"That may be," said Mr. Hosbrook, who had been consideringinstalling a wireless plant on his yacht, and who, therefore, knewsomething about it, "you may send a message, but can you receive ananswer?"
"I have also provided for that," replied Tom. "I have made areceiving instrument, though that is even more crude than thesending plant, for it had to be delicately adjusted, and I did nothave just the magnets, carbons, coherers and needles that I needed.But I think it will work."
"Did you have a telephone receiver to use?"
"Yes. There was a small interior telephone arrangement on Mr.Fenwick's airship, and part of that came in handy. Oh, I think I canhear any messages that may come in answer to ours."
"But what about the aerial wires for sending and receivingmessages?" asked Mr. Nestor.
"Don't you have to have several wires on a tall mast?"
"Yes, and that is the last thing to do," declared Tom. "I need allyour help in putting up those wires. That tall tree on the crest ofthe island will do," and he pointed to a dead palm that toweredgaunt and bare like a ship's mast, on a pile of rocks in the centreof Earthquake Island.
Tom Swift and His Wireless Message; Or, The Castaways of Earthquake Island Page 20