g in the meantime?"

"Growing to be a very old man, alas!" McPhearson answered in a saddened
voice. "It was not until 1773 that the last of the L20,000 for which he
had so valiantly struggled was given him."

"I'm thankful he got it and hadn't died."

"He died three years later--an old man of eighty-three. Nevertheless he
lived long enough to see his dream fulfilled. Sixty years of his life he
had devoted to experimenting with and perfecting his chronometer. It was
a great service to the world--a deed that influenced not only all
subsequent clockmaking but ultimately all marine enterprises. It also,
by making navigation easier, saved innumerable lives. Other scientists
followed and built on his discoveries until now, thanks to them all, the
sea is practically as safe and familiar a spot to dwell upon as is the
land. No longer are vessels at a loss to know where they are. With the
finely adjusted nautical instruments at their command, scientific books,
wireless communication, and the correct time sent out each day by radio
they have no excuse for failing to make and maintain accurate
observations."

"But poor old Harrison--I cannot help regretting he had to wait so long
for his prize money," bewailed Christopher.

"I rather think, laddie, had you asked the inventor of the chronometer
which gave him the greater satisfaction--the award the English
Government paid him or the joy derived from successfully working out the
puzzle it propounded--he would have told you that in his estimation,
when weighed the one against the other, the money counted for
nothing--nothing!"

CHAPTER XIV

HOW RUBIES, SAPPHIRES, AND GARNETS HELPED TO TELL TIME

"Well, Christopher, what do you think of the jewelry business?" his
father inquired one day after he had been for several months a regular
visitor at the store.

Christopher smiled.

"I like parts of it very much," replied he. "The clocks and watches are
all right. There's sense in those. I shouldn't mind a bit becoming a
repairer if I could be as good a one as Mr. McPhearson. But the rings,
bracelets and all those ruby-emerald-diamond fol-de-rols make me sick."

"And yet you could have no fine watches without jewels--remember that."

Abashed, the lad colored.

"Oh, I know the best watches have their works dolled up with precious
stones."

"Scarcely _dolled up_, son," Mr. Burton answered.

"I thought that was what they were put in for."

"Just for ornament?"

"S