"In other words, he wants you to make a shining example of him," said Bumbus.
"Excuse me," said Drone; "you haven't a cot here, have you? I've lost so much sleep lately I——"
"Lost sleep," exclaimed Nickel Plate in disgust.
"Yes, I have not had more than twenty hours sleep in the last twenty-four; they've kept me busy looking for Billy Bounce."
At mention of his name Billy drew back into the shadow.
"And Honey Girl, too," said Bumbus, "I can't guess what has become of her."
"Ay! we are foiled at every turn, but wait, wait, our day is coming—let me but get rid of these rust spots and restore my polish, and they cannot escape us."
Now when Billy heard about Honey Girl and her safety, it made him very happy, but the thought that Nickel Plate was going to get back his polish worried him considerably.
"I do hope something will happen to prevent the plating," he said to himself.
Bumbus by this time was running about in his usual inquisitive way, peering into everything and handling all the tools and chemicals. Suddenly, "Boom, sizzle, bang!" went the Alchemist's unfinished cartridge, on which Bumbus at that moment was standing to reach a shelf, and up, up, up, went Bumbus through the hot-air shaft that supplied the furnaces. Luckily for everybody there were very few things in the cartridge—not enough to make even a first-class sample eruption. Even Bumbus wasn't hurt, only very, very much surprised and blown too many miles away from Vociferous to get back that day.