“Donner wetter; what will he end with then?” asked Küpper astonished; of course he knew S—— did not understand the remark, which was made in German.
Dick B—— next declared in point blank Saxon, that for his part “he had got his second wind,” and the steaks having restored Mr. S—— by their timely arrival, we managed to pull through; the teacher having taught us already more than one important lesson, and, what is more, illustrated them with his own knife and fork, again fell to with an appetite which was tremendous, considering that he was generous with his coffee and had confessed to a couple of seidels of Beirisch before he put in an appearance.
This, our first substantial breakfast went off very well considering B——’s sallies and noble example.
“Now to business,” he said, after receiving our thanks for his service at table.
Outside in the gardens, we could perceive one or two gas-men with their chief engineer, and Abraham himself in his smoking cap, and a long tight-fitting dressing gown, which reached to his slippers; in this attire we noticed how sturdy he was, and withal how commanding.
“He turns sixteen and a half centners,” said B——, and their weights are heavier than ours—“but come gentlemen, I perceive Küpper is getting impatient.”
We thought that B—— toned down a good deal as we drew near to the monarch of Johannisberg, who puffed his cigar, and then brushed off, or rather hit aside a bit of steak adhering to B——’s coat.
What a change in manner and deportment, I thought. The fact was we had kept them all waiting to get instructions as to the laying of the gas pipes, while the teacher kept us pottering about inside, merely to gratify his own inordinate propensity for creature comforts.
“Meester Coxvel,” cried Küpper—one might have heard his voice half round Elberfeld.
B—— translated with a tremulous accent, as if he were funky; the plain English of it was this—Would I point out, or stamp my foot, to use Küpper’s definition, on the exact spot where the pipes were to terminate in the inner circle, just where the balloon was to be filled.