Page:Cornelia Meigs--The Pool of Stars.djvu/60

 eyes under heavy white brows, alight with high excitement.

"Did you have an accident?" Betsey inquired breathlessly. "I don't understand what happened. Are you hurt?"

"The rod caught me a crack across the knuckles when it first gave way, but it does not signify," he replied cheerily.

The boy had come nearer and was examining the machine with what seemed a practiced eye.

"It was a flaw in the steel, I suppose," he said. "But what is this machine? I never saw anything like it before."

Mr. Reynolds began explaining as fully as though the stranger were a fellow engineer, just how he was trying to perfect a new power engine that would run on less fuel than the old ones. "For," he said, "as there grows to be less and less of coal and oil in the world, men must be keeping their wits alive to improve mechanics and keep the wheels of industry turning." The boy became more and more interested, asking quick questions and receiving eager answers. Elizabeth began to feel a little left out as technical terms flew back and forth concerning things she did not understand. She stood soothing black Dick who, still excited, was talking to himself in a corner.

"I have tried a good many models," Mr.