ce in chorus, even Cub
appreciating the illustration.

"When did you begin to study radio, Mr. Perry?" asked Bud.

"Oh, I've been learning rapidly ever since I was thrown into the company
of you hams," was the reply. "But don't let me get you off the question."

"The question--what was the question?" asked Cub, digging his fingers
into his rather lengthy locks of hair.

"Mystery, wasn't it?" reminded Mr. Perry.

"Yes, that's it," Bud replied. "The mystery of the Radio Robinson Crusoe
in the Lake of the Thousand Isles."

"That sounds interesting, but it's mostly a poetic, or ecstatic, jumble
of words," said Mr. Perry. "And right there is the secret of many a
mystery. It's clothed in a maze of language. Remove the maze, and it
begins to look simple."

"Where is the maze of language in this affair?" Cub challenged.

"From what I've heard, the whole affair seems to have consisted
principally of language. Now, I tell you what we'll do. We'll go to bed
early and have a good sleep. In the morning, we'll shake this affair up
in a sieve and see if we can't get rid of everything but the main lumps
of the facts. Then we'll size them up and see what we can make of them.
In my opinion, we can get at the bottom of what you choose to regard as a
profound mystery."

"If you do, pa, you'll return my goat," said Cub.

"It's up to you, Bob," was his father's reply. "I've no desire to keep
him in my stable."

CHAPTER VII

Returning Cub's "Goat"

In the morning after breakfast Mr. Perry called a conference on deck for
the purpose of discussing "the mystery and Cub's goat", as Hal put it.

"Yes," said Bud, his sense of humor stimulated by this allusion; "all Mr.
Perry has to do to return Cub's goat is to prove there isn't any mystery
about the affair."

"I didn't say I was going to do that," objected the adult member of
the party.

"What--return the goat or disprove the mystery?" asked Bud.

"Now you're getting facetious," broke in Cub.

"Not necessarily," objected Mr. Perry. "I didn't promise, or have in
mind, to do either of those things. The fact of the matter is, a mystery
represents the state or condition of mind of the person mystified. Now, I
am not mystified over this affair at all; hence there is no mystery in
it, so far as I am concerned."

"Then explain it to us," Bud challenged.

"Oh, no; I didn't mean I could do that."

"Then you must be mystified," Bud argued.

"Suppose you have a difficult