Posted by Ed Kiser on September 17, 2005 at 04:02:31 from 205.188.116.6 user Kisered.
In Swallowdale, CH12:
"We can see Holly Howe. I thought we could."
"It's fine," said John. "We could even signal to mother if we
wanted anything, or she could signal to us. "
------------------------
This seems to suggest that the mother of the Swallows did have the ability to perform at least some form of signalling.
There seems to be the common need in these stories that the responsible adult, while not necessarily camping out with the children, does expect to receive some information from
them, usually every day, to assure that all was well. In PP, this was done by sending a daily Pigeon. In SA, there was Native Mail to deliver the handwritten brief notes.
In Swallowdale, this daily communication was not always done, since Mother was on the opposite side of the lake, but Captain Flint assisted with his relatively frequent visits to keep Mother informed of their welfare. There were times that Mother came to see for herself, on certain special occasions.
But with the lake being between mother and her children, it is a shame that they did not follow up on their observation regarding the possibility of signalling between Swallowdale and Holly Howe. The quote above indicates that such could have been done. If only a certain time could have been set up, when it gets dark enough, to schedule a time for the use of a good torch flashing between these two camps to effect this communication on a daily basis. It was possible, but they never did persue this concept.
Too bad. It was a wonderful opportunity to really do some long range signalling. It would seem that once sufficient darkness was achieved, even the light of a torch would be visible across that rather long distance to effect proper communication.
Perhaps it would be difficult because it would have to wait until it got very dark so the lights could be seen. In the warm season, the daylight lasts until rather late. Of course, in time of fog or severe weather conditions, the lights would not be of much use for communications.
However this lateness of the arrival of darkness did not seem to prevent John and Roger, who went to the gulch in PP to sleep on watch over night, to signal back to the main camp with flashes of the torch.
The problem seems that the concept of signalling did not really get a good start until Winter Holiday. While it is assumed here in Swallowdale that these young people did know how to do Morse Code, it is not specifically referenced, merely signalling in general. Winter Holiday seemed to really get into this concept with some vigor, making it a project for all to get some training in, especially the new kids from the city, the Callums.
But in Swallowdale, they could have at least tried to make it work all the way to Holly Howe.
Ed Kiser, South Florida