"Well, sit down there before the fire, and I'll see if we can't find a button to press that will enable you to hear them. They're most of 'em nonsense poems, but as they are perfect nonsense they're good nonsense."
"It is some time since I've used the library," said the Imp, gazing about him as if in search of some particular object. "For that reason I have forgotten where everything is. However, we can hunt for what we want until we find it. Perhaps this is it," he added, grasping a wire and fastening it to the battery. "I'll turn on the current and let her go."
"NO WONDER IT WOULDN'T SAY ANYTHING," HE CRIED.
The crank was turned, and the two little fellows listened very intently, but there came no sound whatever.
"That's very strange," said the Imp, "I don't hear a thing."
"Neither do I," observed Jimmieboy, in a tone of disappointment. "Perhaps the library is out of order, or the battery may be."
"I'll have to take the wire and follow it along until I come to the book it is attached to," said the Imp, stopping the current and loosening the wire. "If the library is out of order it's going to be a very serious matter getting it all right again, because we have all the books in the world here, and that's a good many, you know—more'n a hundred by several millions. Ah! Here is the book this wire worked. Now let's see what was the matter."
In a moment the whole room rang with the Imp's laughter.
"No wonder it wouldn't say anything," he cried. "What do you suppose the book was?"