battered Shaker rocking-chair by the fire, woke in broad daylight, drank
more cold tea, and went at once to his lathe, for the new piece was in
the nature of a cylinder, and a good deal of the work could be done by
turning.

The chisel and the lathe seemed to be talking to each other over the
block of wood, and what they said rang like a tune in John Henry's head.

"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw, bricks without straw,"
repeated the lathe regularly, at each revolution, and when it said
"bricks" the treadle was up, and when it said "straw" the treadle was
down, for of course it was only a foot lathe, though a good one.
"Sh--sh--sh--ever so much better than no bricks at all--sh--sh--sh,"
answered the sharp chisel as it pressed and bit the wood, and made a
little irregular clattering when it was drawn away, and then came
forward against the block again with a long hushing sound; and Overholt
was inclined to accept its opinion, and worked on as if an obliging
brassfounder were waiting outside to take the model away at once and
cast it for nothing, or at least on credit.

But no such worthy and confiding manufacturer appeared, even on the
evening of the second day, when the wooden model was beautifully
finished and ready for the foundry. While the inventor was busy, Newton
had worked alone in a corner when he had time to spare from his lessons,
but he understood what was going on, and he did not accomplish much
beyond painting the front of the National Bank in the City of Hope and
planning a possible Wild West Show to be set up on the outskirts; the
tents would be easy to make, but the horses were beyond his skill, or
his father's; it would not be enough that they should have a leg at each
corner and a head and a tail.