"How much do you want?" asked King.
"One and four-tenths volts and six tenths of an ampere," replied Bob.
As the current was turned on, King watched the cylinder closely, and soon he could see that a dark brown powder was collecting on the outside.
"Hold on a minute," said Bob, "I forgot to insulate the outside of that cylinder. Have you a piece of rubber tubing, large enough to slip on over it?"
"I guess so, but it seems to me that you are all the time forgetting something or other."
The correction was soon made, and the cylinder returned to the bath. After the current had been running about half an hour, King purposed that they take the cylinder out and see if they were getting any results, as they could not see the inside of it while it was in the tank. Glad of any delay, Bob readily assented, and as soon as it was removed, it was seen that a very small amount of the powder had coated the inside.
"Humph," growled King. "It's mighty slow. Won't it go faster if we use more juice?"
"Yes," replied Bob, "but it will be too loose and spongy." This was the truth, as he had found by experiment, and he was very glad that this part of the work would have to go slowly, whether or no. When supper time came, King proposed that they leave the current running all night, but Bob wouldn't hear to it.
"No," he said, "I must be here to watch it, for I know what to expect if it don't pan out, and much depends on how that peroxide of lead is deposited. Either you turn off the current or I quit."
King knew from past experience that it would be useless to threaten and grudgingly yielded the point. "Shall we take the cylinder out?" he asked.