ore ought to have been put in a proper fire-clay
crucible."

"What's a crucible, sir?" I said.

"A pot made of a particular material that will bear any amount of heat.
Now perhaps while we are patiently waiting here that pot in the furnace
may have cracked and fallen to pieces, or perhaps melted away instead of
the ore inside."

"Oh, but a pot would not melt, sir, would it?" I said.

"Melt? To be sure it would, if you make the fire hot enough. Did you
ever see a brick-kiln?"

"Yes, sir."

"And did you never see how sometimes, when the fire has been too hot,
the bricks have all run together?"

"And formed clinkers, sir? Oh yes, often."

"Well, then, there you have seen how a mixture of sand and powdered
stone and clay will melt, so, why should not that earthen pot?"

"Then if that pot melts or breaks all our trouble will have been for
nothing, sir?"

"Yes, Sep, and we must begin again."

"But shouldn't we find the stuff melted down at the bottom of the fire?"

"Perhaps; perhaps not; we might find it run into a lump, but we should
most likely find it not melted at all, and then, as I said, we should
have to begin over again."

"That would be tiresome," I said. "But never mind, we should succeed
next time, perhaps."

"We should try till we did succeed, Sep, my lad. There, that's the last
of the charcoal."

"Shall I fetch some more?" I cried.

"No, my lad, perhaps what has been burned may have melted it, so we'll
wait and see."

"And take out the pot?"

"No, we couldn't do that. We must wait till it cools down. Maybe by
and by I can take out a brick, and we shall be able to see whether the
ore has melted."

I waited impatiently for this to be done, and about an hour later the
doctor took the top brick from the glowing furnace with the tongs, and
touched the charcoal embers, which fell at once down to a level with the
top of the pot, the interior having burned away, so as to leave quite a
glowing basket or cage of fire.

CHAPTER NINE.

THE RESULT OF THE SMELTING.

But there was nothing to see yet, and the brick was replaced, the fire
roared once more, and for what must have been quite another quarter of
an hour we waited before the doctor took out the brick again.

It was now possible to make out what seemed to be a regular ring red-hot
in the midst of so much glowing ember with which the pot was filled; and
into this the doctor thrust the poker, to find that it passed through