Chapter I: Front Matter

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR—WITH THE U. S. SECRET SERVICE

BOOKS BY
LEWIS E. THEISS

IN CAMP AT FORT BRADY. A Camping Story. 304 pages.

HIS BIG BROTHER. A Story of the Struggles and Triumphs of a Little Son of Liberty. 320 pages.

LUMBERJACK BOB. A Tale of the Alleghanies. 320 pages.

THE WIRELESS PATROL AT CAMP BRADY. A Story of How the Boy Campers, Through Their Knowledge of Wireless, “Did Their Bit.” 320 pages.

THE SECRET WIRELESS. A Story of the Camp Brady Patrol. 320 pages.

THE HIDDEN AERIAL. The Spy Line on the Mountain. 332 pages.

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR—AFLOAT. How Roy Mercer Won His Spurs in the Merchant Marine. 320 pages.

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR—AS A FIRE PATROL. The Story of a Young Wireless Amateur Who Made Good as a Fire Patrol. 352 pages.

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR—WITH THE OYSTER FLEET. How Alec Cunningham Won His Way to the Top in the Oyster Business. 328 pages.

Cloth Bound—Illustrated by Colored
Plates and Photographs

The Young Wireless Operator—
With the U. S. Secret Service

WINNING HIS WAY IN THE
SECRET SERVICE

By
LEWIS E. THEISS

ILLUSTRATED BY
FRANK T. MERRILL

W. A. WILDE COMPANY
CHICAGO BOSTON

Copyrighted, 1923,
By W. A. Wilde Company

All rights reserved

The Young Wireless Operator—With the
U. S. Secret Service

Made in U. S. A.

To
FRANCES WARREN THEISS

whose youthful interest in this story, as
it grew, chapter by chapter, has been a
real inspiration to its maker ∷ ∷

Foreword

It may interest readers of _The Young Wireless Operator_ series to know that most of the happenings in these books are based upon actual occurrences. Years ago, as a reporter, the author wrote for the New York _Sun_ the stories of the auction of bled wool, the cotton-lined cabin, the mystery of the wheat sacks, and other accounts of the work of the United States Secret Service, that appear in this present volume. Although some of the characters in the book are of course fictitious, others, like Sheridan of the Secret Service, are real characters who actually did the things they are portrayed as doing. Of course names have been changed. The practice of keeping note-books and clippings that had to do with work the writer was engaged in, has made all this material available for present use, and brought it once more freshly to mind. The descriptions of parts of New York and her wonderful waterways are written from intimate, personal knowledge of the places described. In effect, therefore, _The Young Wireless Operator—With the U. S. Secret Service_ is a true story.

To make all the tales in this series true has been the earnest desire of the writer. That does not mean that every incident described necessarily happened. It does mean that the incidents used are not only possible under the circumstances, but probable, and that the descriptions are exact and accurate. The picture of life portrayed is in each case as exact as careful observation and careful writing can make it.

Before the author prepared the preceding volume of this series, _The Young Wireless Operator—With the Oyster Fleet_, he first went to the Delaware Bay and made a cruise on an oyster boat, living aboard with the crew and sharing their life and labors. Furthermore, he had lived for twenty years in that country and had spent many weeks, in all, cruising about on oyster boats.

The writing of _The Young Wireless Operator—Afloat_, which deals with both New York City and ports on the Mexican Gulf was made possible by residence for some months on the Gulf, and through the coöperation of Southern newspaper men. Practically all the incidents related concerning the tidal wave that destroyed Corpus Christi are stories of actual occurrences, gathered by newspaper men on the spot. Most of the ships described in that story are real vessels and were actually afloat at the time and in the positions given to them by the author. The wireless stations and wireless calls are also real.

Before writing _The Young Wireless Operator—As a Fire Patrol_, the writer spent many days in the forest with a District Forester, studying the actual working of the Pennsylvania State Forestry system, though in earlier years he had spent weeks camping and tramping in those same mountain forests. Many of the incidents used in the book were contributed by forest rangers. The manuscript of the book was read and approved by both the District Forester and Gifford Pinchot, then Pennsylvania Commissioner of Forestry and now Governor of Pennsylvania, in order that there might be no mistakes in the text. Mr. Pinchot also showed his approval of the book by writing a foreword for it.

This present wireless series really had its inception, years ago, with the appearance of _In Camp at Fort Brady_. Readers of that book showed so much interest in some of the characters that, when it came to writing further volumes, the author naturally went on with the history of some of those boys. Thus Roy Mercer and Alec Cunningham and Charley Russell and Willie Brown, who have figured in _The Young Wireless Operator series_, are really old acquaintances, and made their first appearance in _In Camp at Fort Brady_, and their next in _The Secret Wireless_ and in _The Hidden Aerial_. The later volumes have dealt with individual members of the Camp Brady Wireless Patrol rather than with the Patrol as a whole. The author has become as much interested in this band of boys as he hopes any of his readers has. And it is his plan to go on with these individual histories until we know what became of each boy.

Lewis Edwin Theiss.

Otzinachson, Muncy, Pa.
January 29, 1923.

CONTENTS

I. An Unexpected Opportunity
II. An Adventure with a Secret Service Man
III. A Tip by Wireless
IV. The Capture of the Wool Smugglers
V. On the Trail of a Cotton Thief
VI. What Was Behind the False Partition
VII. Willie Gets His Chance
VIII. In the Armenian Quarter
IX. Under a Cloud
X. The Cloud Grows Darker
XI. Willie Makes a Discovery
XII. The Mystery of the Wheat Sacks
XIII. Saved by Wireless
XIV. Who Made the False Key?
XV. A Watch on a Diamond Smuggler
XVI. Where the Jewels Were Hidden
XVII. After the Whiskey Smugglers
XVIII. The Pursuit in the Dark
XIX. Victory

The Young Wireless Operator—
With the U.S. Secret Service