“A what? Believe me, I wouldn’t know a teaspoon if I saw one,” said Archer.
“If we had a wrench to get the cylinder head off,” said Tom, “I could show you.”
“It’s the end of that engine,” said Archer.
“Depends on how bad it is. If it’s only a little crack sometimes you can fix it with a chemical—sal ammoniac. It kind of—corrodes, I think they call it—right where the crack is and it’ll work all right for quite a while. We had a cracked cylinder on our scout boat one time.”
Archer was generously pleased at Tom’s sagacity and showed no professional jealousy. Before that day was over every prisoner in the camp knew that the rusty, dilapidated engine which languished near the pump was good for another season of usefulness. If Archer was not a good engineer he was at least a good promoter, and he started a grand drive for a rejuvenated pump. The R’s rolled out of his busy mouth as the water had not flowed from the pump in many a day.
A petition a yard long was passed about and everybody signed it with lukewarm interest. It besought General von Griffenhaus either to have the cylinder head of the engine removed or a wrench loaned to Tom Slade for that purpose.
The prisoners did not lose any sleep over this enterprise, for both Tom and Archer were young and Archer at least was regarded as an irresponsible soul, whose mission on earth was to cause trifling annoyance and much amusement. Tom, sober, silent and new among them, was an unknown quantity.
“Doncher care,” said Archer. “Robert Fulton had a lot o’ trouble and nobuddy b’lieved him, and all that.”
Tom was ready to stand upon his pronouncement of a cracked water jacket and, that established, he believed a little bottle of sal ammoniac would be easy to procure. When the pump was running again they would all be glad to use it and meanwhile they might laugh and call him the “consulting engineer” if they wanted to.
At last Archer, having boosted this laggard campaign with amazing energy, elected himself the one to present the imposing petition to General von Griffenhaus, because, as he said, he was never rattled in the presence of greatness, which was quite true. He caught the general on inspection tour and prayed for a monkey wrench with the humility but determination of the old barons before King John.