"Company manners don't go when your hands are black, eh?" remarked the man inside.
"Mechanics and surgeons seem a good deal alike at times," was the laughing reply.
"Can't tell 'em apart. Your lily-handed surgeon is an anomaly. I hear Aleck came out under his own steam to-night. How does it go?"
"First rate. It was great fun. He's like a boiling kettle full of steam, with the lid off just in time."
"Good. Be on your guard when he's driving, though, for a while. Don't let him stay at the wheel down Devil's Hill just yet."
"Why not? He has absolute control the way I've fixed it. You see the spark and gas are right where—"
"I don't want you to take one chance in a million on that back of yours yet. See? Or do I have to drive that order in and spike it down?"
"He seems to have a lot of conversation in him—for you," observed Chester to King as the two outside laughed at this explosion from within.
"Such as it is," replied King with an audacious wink. "I thought I'd got about through taking orders."
"I'll give you both two minutes to clear out," came from inside the window as Burns caught up a piece of steel and began narrowly to examine it. Over it he looked at Jordan King, and the two exchanged a glance which spoke of complete understanding.