There were clicks from telegraph wires, scraps of talk from other telephones, and curious little squeals that were unlike any known sound.

The lines running east and west were noisier than the lines running north and south.

The night was noisier than the day, and at the ghostly hour of midnight, for what strange reason no one knows, the babel was at its height.

Watson, who had a fanciful mind, suggested that perhaps these sounds were signals from the inhabitants of Mars or some other sociable planet.

But the matter-of-fact young telephonists agreed to lay the blame on "induction"-- a hazy word which usually meant the natural meddlesomeness of electricity.
Whatever else the mysterious noises were, they were a nuisance.