"A gentleman to see you, sir; O'Reilly by name."
"Our excitable Irishman," said Eves.
"Ask him in, Mrs. Pouncey, please," said Templeton.
O'Reilly came in like a tornado, waving his arms and wearing his capacious smile.
"Sure, I'm delighted to see the two of you, and me not knowing the way," he said as he shook hands. "The Government, or the colonel anyway, has taken my tender for the camp waste, and 'tis to you I owe it, and I'll beg you to drink to the colonel, or anyway the Government; I have the champagne in my pocket ready."
He produced a bottle from the deep pocket of his waterproof coat.
"Jolly good of you, Mr. O'Reilly," said Eves. "You've come in the nick of time. My friend Templeton wants something to cheer him up."
"Do you say so? What might be the trouble, now?"
"Expound, Bob; your invention, I mean. I should only make a mess of it."
"It was just a notion for driving a car in the opposite direction to what it has been going, the driver swinging round on his seat and automatically bringing into action steering-gear affecting the back wheels instead of the front, or vice versa."