The Brighton Boys in the Radio ServiceDriscoll, James R.
General
The Brighton Boys in the Radio Service
Driscoll, James R.
United States. Army. Signal Corps -- Juvenile fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Juvenile fiction
The entire tractor, including crew, weighs close to five tons, and it
can be easily imagined that its operation on a steep and treacherous
mountain road was far from easy and anything but entirely safe.
With them the lads carried sufficient rations to last them five days, it
being understood that their larder would be replenished at the necessary
intervals.
They also took with them a radio pack-set, which is another wireless
apparatus that can be carried about with little difficulty. This they
had in the event of any unexpected emergency. The entire pack-set could
be carried about in a suitcase, and after it was set up its current was
generated by turning a crank by hand. Its range, under ordinary
atmospheric conditions, was about twenty-five miles.
The first few miles of their journey were accomplished with little
difficulty, but as they struck the uneven, newly-made road, their
troubles began to increase. At times the jolts were so severe that it
seemed they would shake the electrical apparatus loose from the tractor,
while some of the inclines were so steep that, after attempting and
failing to make them once, they had to go backward and then try again,
with increased speed.
It was bitterly cold, and while Frank and whoever at the time sat beside
him on the front seat kept reasonably warm, being directly behind the
hard-working motor, the others frequently got out, to run along for a
quarter or half a mile to limber up their stiffened joints and get their
blood in circulation again.
One of their greatest difficulties came when, more than three-fourths
the distance to their destination, and at one of the narrowest points
along the road, they met the large truck bearing back toward camp the
company of engineers.
The wireless tractor was chugging along under a heavy strain, but the
other truck was coming down the steep grade under the compression of its
engine, to accelerate the use of the brakes. And with the little warning
they had, the two drivers brought their big machines to a stop less than
ten feet apart.
It was impossible for the truck containing the engineers to back up. And
the first widening in the road over which the wireless men had come was
fully a quarter of a mile behind. There was no other course than for
Frank to reverse, and, with a man on either side of the tractor in the
rear, directing every slight turn of the wheel, to go back to that
point.
Once the engine stalled, making the stability of the whole weight of the
heavy tractor depend upon the brakes. Frank grabbed the emergency, and
jammed it on with all his strength, but not before the machine had
gained a momentum which made it a question for a few thrilling seconds
whether or not the brakes would grip and hold it.
As they finally rounded the turn which gave them the brief space of
wider road, and the engineers' truck passed by, the men waving each
other a cheery farewell, the boys from Brighton gave a sigh of relief.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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