The Mystery of the Fifteen Sounds Read online

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  THE MYSTERY OF THE FIFTEEN SOUNDS

  By Van Powell

  Title page graphic]

  The Goldsmith Publishing Company CHICAGO

  Copyright 1937 by The Goldsmith Publishing Company MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  FOREWORD

  "_No wonder I'm blue," Roger told his father, "You're packing to head amuseum expedition into the heart of Borneo._ You'll _have thrills_."

  "_Probably I will get my sort of excitement in plenty, Roger. It won'tbe what you are always dreaming about--the 'good old days' of Piratesand Cowboys and Stage-Coach Bandits._"

  _"No," Roger agreed, "the real thrills are all gone. But you can go onan expedition, instead of having school and_----"

  "_There will be vacation time--baseball_----"

  "_But I want real excitement. I'd like to be a Modern Pioneer. You areone, going off to Borneo for the museum just the way Columbus set outfor Queen Isabella._"

  _His father looked up._

  "_You can be a Modern Pioneer. I will show you a House of Mystery, andonce you step into its door you are in a land where there are moreexciting activities packed into one day than you could get being acombination cow-hand, bad man, pirate and pony express rider. You maynot be able to convoy an ox-team across a prairie, carry a squirrel gunand stand off scalping Sioux; but you will help battle against PirateFire, and Bad Man Erosion, and Bandit Microbe._"

  "_You mean--work in cousin Grover's research lab?_"

  _That was it, he found. And under the brilliant training of his oldercousin, as he came to be the supply clerk and learned more about thework of the active place, Roger saw how truly his father had spoken._

  _There was fun, and mystery, and excitement, even in the work. Also,there was the feeling of being a Modern Pioneer, one who belonged to theband that had substituted electricity and wings for ox-wagon andcandles, who gave the world instead of the pony rider carrying news, theradio and radio-telephone. Science was the Modern Pioneer._

  _Where their forefathers sought new borderlands, these modernway-showers explore the stratosphere. As their trail-blazing ancestorsfought Indians and hardship and poor crops, these men battle againstdisease germs, and soil erosion, and eye-straining light and every otherdetriment to safer, happier existence._

  _As great as the feat of Columbus, Roger found the announcement that acure had been found for a terrible disease._

  _On a par with Daniel Boone's fame was the renown of the research workerwho extended the range of compact radio receivers._

  _In such privately owned laboratories as that of his cousin, GroverBrown, and in those associated with universities and colleges and otherinstitutions, the work of the Modern Pioneers went on._

  _They loved it, found adventure in it, and joy of achievement._

  _Not always was there the sort of mystery usually read about indetective stories; but when such problems did come up, Roger realizedhow the equipment of scientific research could be a useful aid to theclever deductive brain in solving the puzzle._

  _It is to show how much of adventure and thrill, excitement and romancecan hide behind electrical transformers and tubes of germs, bags ofsodium carbonate and humming motors that this experience of a boy in ascientific research laboratory is offered. Perhaps some boy, who hasalmost decided that the only "real" life involves guns and "rackets,"will be shown how the useful life of the fellow who fights for humanityand not against it brings more thrill and joy and contentment than anyof the risky, falsely stimulating adventures that only lead todiscredit, sorrow and punishment._

  Van Powell

  NOTE

  Names used in this story are purely fictitious and if any name is likethat of a real person it is coincidence and no libel or aspersion oncharacter is intended or implied. However, every scientific device,process and theory herein is based on electrical, chemical and otherdata of developed apparatus and procedure or on theories so farperfected as to be acceptable to Science.