e of dusters, and we commenced
again. At length we did get the thing into position; and the moment it
was in position he burst out laughing.

I said: "What's the joke?"

He said: "Well, I am an ass!"

It was the first thing he had said that made me respect him. I asked him
what had led him to the discovery.

He said: "We've forgotten the balls!"

I looked for my hat; it was lying topsy-turvy in the middle of the path,
and Ethelbertha's favourite hound was swallowing the balls as fast as he
could pick them up.

"He will kill himself," said Ebbson--I have never met him since that day,
thank the Lord; but I think his name was Ebbson--"they are solid steel."

I said: "I am not troubling about the dog. He has had a bootlace and a
packet of needles already this week. Nature's the best guide; puppies
seem to require this kind of stimulant. What I am thinking about is my
bicycle."

He was of a cheerful disposition. He said: "Well, we must put back all
we can find, and trust to Providence."

We found eleven. We fixed six on one side and five on the other, and
half an hour later the wheel was in its place again. It need hardly be
added that it really did wobble now; a child might have noticed it.
Ebbson said it would do for the present. He appeared to be getting a bit
tired himself. If I had let him, he would, I believe, at this point have
gone home. I was determined now, however, that he should stop and
finish; I had abandoned all thoughts of a ride. My pride in the machine
he had killed. My only interest lay now in seeing him scratch and bump
and pinch himself. I revived his drooping spirits with a glass of beer
and some judicious praise. I said:

"Watching you do this is of real use to me. It is not only your skill
and dexterity that fascinates me, it is your cheery confidence in
yourself, your inexplicable hopefulness, that does me good."

Thus encouraged, he set to work to refix the gear-case. He stood the
bicycle against the house, and worked from the off side. Then he stood
it against a tree, and worked from the near side. Then I held it for
him, while he lay on the ground with his head between the wheels, and
worked at it from below, and dropped oil upon himself. Then he took it
away from me, and doubled himself across it like a pack-saddle, till he
lost his balance and slid over on to his head. Three times he said:

"Thank Heaven, that's right at last!"

And twice he said:

"No, I'm