"That man is insane!" the professor whispered to the German scientist. "Let me deal with him."
"Do something quickly," pleaded Mr. Roumann, "or he will damage the projectile."
"This is the way I work!" cried the insane man, and he brought down the hammer with great force on the rounded sides of the Annihilator. He made quite a dent in it.
"Stop him!" begged Mr. Ronan.
Mark and Jack had retreated out of reach of the big hammer, the professor and the German were consulting together, and in the door of the shop appeared Andy Sudds with his gun. He had gone away for a moment, in which interval the crazy machinist had appeared.
"Andy will scare him with his gun," whispered Jack to Mark.
Just then Mr. Henderson called out:
"If you want work, I can give it to you."
Axtell stopped his pounding of the projectile, laid his hammer down, and asked in a mild voice:
"Can you give me work now?"