After supper, Dick asked Aunt Abbie if she had a closet that had an electric light in it, and found to his delight that she had.
He borrowed some flat dishes from her, and then went to the closet she indicated and proceeded to make a darkroom of it. There was a flat-topped trunk there, and this he converted into a table.
In the flat dishes he put the necessary water, and then from his knapsack got the hypo and developer and a piece of red cloth that he had bought for just such a purpose.
This red cloth he twisted around the bulb of the electric light, and in this way made his darkroom. Requesting Aunt Abbie to turn off the lights in the room, he entered the closet and proceeded to prepare his developer and fixing bath.
Dick was no mean hand at developing pictures, and he did the job speedily but carefully. After the necessary developing, he left the developed negatives in the water for several minutes, sloshing them around occasionally to wash them free of all the acid that was used in developing them. Then he let them dry somewhat, and held them up to the ruby light he made with the red cloth. The negative showed the upright figure of a man, but he could not make out who it was.
It would be necessary to make prints. Having finished with his developing, he went out of the closet and turned on the light in the outer room.
“Now, Aunt Abbie, can I bother you for one more thing?” he asked.
“Bless your heart, a dozen more if you want them. What is it now?” she replied.
“I’d like a small piece of glass and a flat piece of wood. I am going to try and print some pictures, but have no printing frame; although with the two things mentioned, I can improvise one that will do the work.”
Aunt Abbie directed him to the cellar, and he rummaged around until he found a piece of glass that was of the size he wanted. It was evidently one that had been procured to mend a light in the cellar window which he observed was broken. Then he found a board, and proceeded to saw it to the same size as the glass. He now had the principal parts of the frame.