"Me not git, Master. He git on bang-bang machine and go off—puff!"
"So we heard, Koku. Never mind, we'll get him yet."
"Hu! Ef I had de fust chanst at him, I'd a cotched dat coon suah!" declared Eradicate, following the giant. "Koku he done git in mah way!" and he glared indignantly at the big man.
"That's all right, Rad," consoled Tom. "You did your best. Now we'll all get to bed. I don't believe he'll come back." Nor did he.
Tom and Ned were up at the first sign of daylight, for they wanted to go to the steel works, some miles away, in time to see the cannon taken out of the mould, and preparations made for boring the rifle channels. They found the manager, anxiously waiting for them.
"Some of my men are as interested in this as you are," he said to the young inventor. "A number of them declare that the cast will be a failure, while some think it will be a success."
"I think it will be all right, if my plans were followed," said Tom. "However, we'll see. By the way, what became of that German who made such a disturbance the day we cast the core?"
"Oh, you mean Baudermann?"
"Yes."
"Why, it's rather queer about him. The foreman of the shop where he was detailed, saw that he was an experienced man, in spite of his seemingly stupid ways, and he was going to promote him, only he never came back."