"I wish he would," exclaimed Christopher heartily.
They were sitting together at the repairing bench, the clockmaker busy with an old chronometer.
"That's a new variety of puzzle, isn't it?" commented the boy, motioning toward it.
"Oh, I tinker a chronometer once in a while," McPhearson answered. "I don't get them often, though."
"What on earth are they for?"
"You don't know?" The Scotchman raised his brows with surprise.
"Not really. I associate them vaguely with the sea and ships."
"So far, so good," granted the elder man.
"But the trouble is that's as far as I can go," Christopher said.
"Bless me!" ejaculated McPhearson.