Visitors and workmen eagerly crowded around the retort. A little sponge of gold was all that remained in it.
Mundon took it out and weighed it while the others curiously watched him.
Ben was visibly horribly disappointed. He had a sickening conviction that the whole thing was a failure. He could read the triumph in Syd’s face, and it cost him an effort to put on a bold front and see them all through the gates.
“It’s no go, I’m afraid,” he whispered to Beth. For answer she pressed his hand. He closed the gates and turned to Mundon.
“Well,—it’s a failure. You needn’t tell me—I know it.”
“Failure? No, ’tain’t a failure.”
“Are you saying that to let me down easy?”
“Before God, I ain’t! Why, boy, what you got tears in your eyes fur? Brace up and be a man!”
“I’m trying to, Mundon.” Ben’s voice shook.