A MYSTERIOUS THEFT


"Would yo' kindly permit me t' prognostigate yo' attention fo' de
monumental contraction of impossibilitiness in de circomlocution
ob attaining de maximum nutrition ob internal combustion?" asked
Washington White about an hour later, as he poked his head into
the workshop, where the professor, the boys and Mr. Roumann,
together with the machinists, were busily engaged.

"What's that, Wash?" asked Jack with a wink at Mark. "Would you
mind saying that over again?"

"Not in de leastest, Massa Jack," replied the colored man. "What
I done intended to convey to de auditory sensibilities ob de
auricular nerves ob do exterior contraption ob de--"

"Hold on, Washington!" cried Professor Henderson with a laugh.
"That sounds as if it was going in be worse than the other. Did
I understand you to say that you wanted us to come to dinner?"

"Dat's jest it, pertesser. I done 'spress mahself in de most
disproportionate language what I knows how, an' yet it seems laik
some pussons cain't understand de appreciableness ob simplisosity."

"Simplisosity is a new one," murmured Mark, while Washington,
with an injured look at Jack, who was laughing, went back to his
kitchen to prepare to serve the meal.

"I wonder what we'll get to eat when we get up above?" asked