rs a week
working at the garage."

Henry had feared that Mrs. Mercer would object to Roy's going. Roy's
father had been sick and unable to work for some weeks, and Henry knew
that the three dollars Roy earned each week were badly needed in the
Mercer home.

"I think that the government will pay Roy more than he earns now,"
explained Henry. "And I hope that you will let him go because Captain
Hardy wants only certain boys and Roy is one of them. He is very
necessary to the success of our work."

"I'll see what Roy's father says," was the reply, and Mrs. Mercer
vanished within the house.

Meantime Henry and Willie stood on the porch hardly daring to speak to
one another, so fearful were they that Roy might not be allowed to go.
When Mrs. Mercer suddenly appeared again and announced briefly that Roy
could go, they thanked her, and as soon as they could get around a
corner, they gave vent to their feelings in a loud whoop.

Lew Heinsling was picked up a few minutes later, with no objection on
the part of his parents, and the three boys raced to the garage, where
they imparted the news to Roy.

School, which normally should already have been in session, had been
kept from opening by an epidemic of measles; and no one knew when it
would convene. But there was no apparent chance of an early opening,
for the epidemic was then at its worst. There was no obstacle now in
the way of the four boys. Roy got his employer's permission to leave
the garage for an hour, and the four boys hurried to the wireless
patrol headquarters in Henry's shop, to discuss the adventure that lay
before them.

That night the entire patrol assembled in the little workshop and those
who were not to go enviously discussed the coming adventure with the
four who had been summoned to duty. For no one in the patrol doubted
that the expedition would end in adventure and excitement, to say
nothing of the delights of a trip to the nation's metropolis. Their
common experience in running down the dynamiters at the Elk City
reservoir gave these boys the certainty that both adventure and danger
lay ahead of their four lucky fellows. But could they have known how
truly thrilling and adventurous were the days ahead of their
companions; could they have foreseen all the strange and exciting
situations that would confront their fellows; could they have guessed
the part their comrades of the wireless patrol were about to play in
wiping out this hidden men