His thoughts, however, were elsewhere. He was still pondering over those budgets of lies sent out from Moscow four of five times each twenty-four hours.
He placed his hand upon the knob of his “tuner,” and raised his wave-length to five thousand mètres. Other stations were transmitting, but he heard nothing of “M.S.K.”--the call-letters assigned to Moscow. Higher he raised the wave-length until, on seven thousand six hundred mètres, he found that high-pitched continuous-wave note, which he recognised as the lying voice from the ether.
He took up a pencil and began to write down rapidly in French a most scurrilous and untrue allegation against British rule in Ireland, intended for the anti-British press in America.
Halfway through he flung down the pencil with an exclamation of disgust, and removing the “Brown” head-’phones, switched off, and went upstairs to bed.
Next day, at the Marconi Works at Chelmsford, he discussed with several of his fellow-engineers the scandal of the Moscow Bolshevik propaganda, but each of them declared that nothing could be done to suppress it. Lenin and Trotsky ruled Red Russia, and certainly the tide of lies sent out broadcast into space could not be stemmed.
Sylvia’s words constantly recurred to him. She had urged him to do something to stifle the pernicious propaganda against law and order in Great Britain. But how?
Many days went by. He was busy in the experimental laboratory up at Marconi House, and had but little time to devote to anything except the highly scientific problem which he was assisting three great wireless experts to try to solve.
About three weeks had passed when one afternoon he happened to be in the great airy apartment at Chelmsford where various instruments were being subjected to severe tests before being passed as “O.K.”--note-magnifiers, direction-finders, calling-devices, amplifiers, and all the rest--when, with the telephones on his ears, he heard Moscow sending out “C.Q.”--or a request for all to listen. Then again came that never-ending praise of Soviet Russia, which, under the absolute rule of a little group of men, mostly Russian or German Jews obeying the orders of Lenin--the new Ivan the Terrible--and his war minister, Trotsky, was, it was said, converting Russia into a terrestrial paradise. On the contrary, it was well known that Russia was a terrestrial hell, where torture was deliberately being used on a great scale, and with a cruelty that had never been surpassed, even by the Spanish Inquisition. The recapture of Kharkoff by Deniken had revealed a most terrible state of affairs, atrocities of which even the terrible Turks would have been ashamed. And yet the Moscow wireless was inviting the people of Britain and America to rise and establish a similar régime!