“It will take me less than two days to cross and I can read the weather for that long; I know better than to run such a risk.”
“Good! but you know the weather probabilities sent out by the government are not reliable far out at sea.”
“I’m not depending on the government; I shall read the signs myself.”
“Good again! But suppose some part of your machinery breaks down.”
“It won’t break down; it is made too well and has been tested too often.”
“Or that that new kind of petrol or fluid should run short, owing to unexpected delays?”
“It won’t run short; I shall take enough to carry me to the other side and half way back without renewal. You talk like an idiot.”
“It is hard, Professor, to grasp your ideas, which stamp you as the equal of Edison in some respects. But may I offer a suggestion?”
This was said with so much deference that the inventor would have had to be a much more pronounced crank not to have been pleased. He growled:
“I’m listening; sometimes a fool can say something that a wise man should heed.”