"They'll do to keep going with for a bit."

"Then you're not going to hang yourself, after all?"

"You've better cause to go that way, if you ask me," said Falkenberg.

But I, too, was less despairing now. When the Captain heard about my
machine idea, he wanted to know more about it at once. He saw at the first
glance that my drawings were far from perfect, being made on small pieces
of paper, and without so much as a pair of dividers to work with. He lent
me a set of drawing instruments, and gave me some useful hints about how
such things were done. He, too, was afraid my saw would prove too
cumbersome. "But keep on with it, anyway," he said. "Get the whole thing
drawn to a definite scale, then we can see."

I realized, however, that a decently constructed model of the thing would
give a better idea of it, and as soon as I was through with the drawings I
set to work carving a model in wood. I had no lathe, and had to whittle
out the two rollers and several wheels and screws by hand. I was working
at this on the Sunday, and so taken up with it I never heard the
dinner-bell. The Captain came out and called, "Dinner!" Then, when he saw
what I was doing, he offered to drive over himself to the smithy the very
next day, and get the parts I needed cut on the lathe. "All you need do is
to give me the measurements," he said. "And you must want some tools,
surely? Saw and drills; right! Screws, yes, and a fine chisel ... is that
all?"

He made a note of the things on the spot. A first-rate man to work under.