“Professor,” he cried, “you shall build that machine. You shall have the highest facilities—the very highest facilities—I promise you, but it must be ready within a month at latest!”
“Why—why—what do you mean?” exclaimed the Professor with mingled joy and astonishment.
“Never mind!” retorted Kearns. “Suffice it that the King will refuse me nothing I need to assist me in my investigations. And now, I have one other question to ask. Does your machine leak at times?”
“Leak!” repeated the Professor, bewildered.
“Well, I mean,” explained Kearns, “does it ever exude, drop, drip, let fall—or whatever you like to call it—a liquid of any kind?”
“Oh, I see what you mean!” exclaimed the Professor, his face lighting up. “Why, yes. To the right side and below the level of the main turret, there is a secondary storage box. The decomposition of the chemicals in this box produces the power to——”
“Now, Professor,” interrupted Kearns, “please don’t wax technical. Remember, as I told you, a stone wall is a light and airy thing compared to my density as to matters mechanical.”
“Very well, O marvel of density!” retorted the Professor with light sarcasm; “I will endeavor to explain so that even your benighted brain may grasp and understand. What would you do if you had a grate full of coals and the coals had burned out and you wanted more fire?”
“I suppose,” replied Kearns mischievously, “that I should ring the bell and tell the servant to make up the fire.”
“And how would the servant do it?”