The manager had been an expert forge man long before he became a capitalist. He now took charge.
“Steady!” he cautioned. “One thing at a time. First we’ll cut those bars in two. A chisel edge on that anvil there. That’s right. There you are. Now forge that one while I cut the other one.”
Whang-whang-whang went the hammer. One perfect connecting-rod. Whang-whang-whang—another. Three times more, then with perspiration standing out on their faces, Johnny and his employer sat facing one another while the connecting-rods cooled. To Johnny it seemed that they must resemble nothing quite so much as two puppies, who, after succeeding in killing a rat, sit on their haunches to grin at one another.
Suddenly Johnny sprang up;
“Hello! Here’s Pant,” he shouted. “Where you been? Look what we’ve got!” He pointed at the forgings.
Pant smiled a strangely noncommittal smile. “Why, I—happened to think of something,” was all he said. There was again that teasing smile about the corners of his mouth.
“Well, now, I’d like to know more about that transcontinental auto trip,” smiled Johnny, turning to his employer.
“Not to-night. All the details are not worked out yet. Besides, it’s late, and old fellows like me belong in bed. But I want to congratulate you.” He put out his hand. Johnny shook it warmly. “The more I think of it, Johnny, the more I’m inclined to think your ghost is a scientific enigma.” With a nod to Pant which might have meant merely “good night” and which also might have indicated something more mysterious, he was gone.
“You see,” said Mr. McFarland, as Johnny took the chair by his desk next morning, “you helped us to speed things up quite a bit by getting those connecting-rods forged. This new steel must be tested out in actual service. Even had we the formula, this would be true. Now, with this set of connecting-rods in our possession, we are in a position to give the steel a thorough testing out.
“My proposition is this,” he wheeled about, and leveled his eyes upon Johnny. “We’ll get those connecting-rods milled down to the shape and surface needed, if we have to use diamond millers to do it. When they are in perfect shape, we’ll put them into one of our chummy roadster engines, and you take that roadster across the continent and back again to test them out. What do you say to that?” His face broadened into a smile. “It’ll be some trip, but by George you deserve it!”