"Yes?" Tom inquired. "Did you see us?"
"Yes, and we also saw you making an assay."
"You did."
"Of course we did. Say, friend, how did that assay come out?"
"It came out of the furnace," Tom answered still writing.
"'Course it did. But say, how did that assay read?"
"Read?" repeated Tom. "Why, bless me, I never knew that an assay could read."
"You know what I meant, younker. How did it figger?"
"To the best of my belief," said Tom, "an assay is as much unable to figure as it is to read."
"Don't waste any more time on the kid, Dolph," growled another of the group. "He won't tell you anything that you want to know."