midnight
On the first floor were the old hand-forges , bellows , lathes , work benches , planing machines , and various other appliances . They were all out of date , to be sure , and some slightly rusty , but still quite usable after they had been cleaned up . On the second floor of the building were two rooms , one of which was used for meetings , while the other was converted into a wire room for the loop telegraph line that the lads had built through the town . This loop was connected with an instrument in the bedrooms of every member of the troop and the boys could be routed out of bed at midnight , if need be , by some one calling on any of the keys . A wireless system had also been erected on the roof of the building by the wireless enthusiasts of the troop and the helix , spark-gap and various coils and keys were also set up in the wire room . Headquarters immediately became popular with every member of the troop and always some one was to be found pottering about in the machine shop , building something that he was particularly interested in . Two of the boys , during the long Winter evenings , had made more or less serviceable motorcycles for themselves , and a half dozen of the young engineers had even essayed the construction of an automobile from old parts they were able to get for `` a song '' at various junk shops ; indeed , some serviceable material was found in scrap heaps about town .